Entertainment

MTV Causes Stir with Film on White People

Published

9 years ago

July 18, 2015

In this image released by MTV, filmmaker Jose Antonio Vargas, right, listens to a group of young people during the filming of his documentary “White People.” The full film debuts Wednesday, July 22, at 8 p.m. ET/PT, offered simultaneously online. (MTV via AP)

David Bauder, ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK (AP) — One of the challenges for makers of the MTV documentary “White People” was getting folks to talk about race when they didn’t feel the issue concerned them — like those quoted as saying they consider white the “default race” or “normal.”

So filmmaker Jose Antonio Vargas recorded white Americans in situations where they were forced to confront racial identity issues. He found to a white man who attends a traditionally black college, teachers on a South Dakota reservation where resentment toward whites is palpable, a young Brooklyn man bewildered by the Asian immigrants on his block, a white man who teaches a college course on white privilege.

The documentary’s trailer alone created a stir. The full film debuts Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT, offered simultaneously online.

“The only thing I fear is not having these conversations,” Vargas said. “What I fear is the silence, the indifference, the ignorance. We can no longer have a conversation about race and diversity without having white people in it.”

Racial issues are timely, topping the news during the past several months with the “black lives matter” campaign in response to police shootings and the debate over the Confederate flag. MTV President Stephen Friedman said he’s wanted to look at how whites perceive themselves for several years, but it wasn’t until he met Vargas that he felt he’d found the right person to do it.

Vargas is best known for “Documented,” a film where the Philippines-born journalist talks about his status as an undocumented U.S. resident. (His status hasn’t changed since then).

Race was a difficult topic, not simply because it’s uncomfortable to talk about. Shuns, slights and stereotypes aren’t a regular part of life for most whites. More than four-fifths of MTV viewers polled said their families had taught them that everyone should be treated the same, regardless of differences.

A colorblind upbringing is admirable, an attitude that no doubt leads to young people being more accepting of gay marriage, for example, than older Americans, Friedman said. But many also look past the lessons of history to question the need for affirmative action. Vargas talks to a white student with a 3.8 grade point average in high school who now goes to a community college; she and her mother are convinced that racial minorities get the edge in college scholarships and admissions. “I feel like I’m being discriminated against,” she said.

Attitudes hidden beneath the surface are revealed when Vargas talks to the white student who goes to a black college and some of his friends. A white Italian-American from Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst neighborhood is angered by many of the Asians who moved into his neighborhood not wanting to help with a block party until it was pointed out that how his ancestors were looked down upon generations earlier.

Vargas is a facilitator who poses questions throughout the film. His eyebrow is a character of its own, each exaggerated lift conveying skepticism or surprise.

“Part of our job with this special is to really create the space to have an honest dialogue,” he said, “and I think we achieved that.”

Some critics have pounced on MTV before seeing the documentary. Rush Limbaugh’s website proclaims, “MTV Documentary Shames White Youth.” The conservative Breitbart news service headlined a story, “Dear Morons: You are Paying for an Illegal Alien’s MTV White-Shaming Film.” The “paying for” reference alludes to cable subscribers being required to pay for MTV as part of their service even if they don’t necessarily want the network.

“So this is a documentary produced by an illegal immigrant that’s going to run starting July 22nd on MTV on the problems white people have caused in America,” Limbaugh said on his show last week. “Everybody’s shaking their head in there, ‘Oh, this is horrible, this is terrible.’ Yeah, it is, but nobody is going to do anything about it.”

Friedman said he believed the film doesn’t shame white people. Quite the opposite, he said.

“If you see the young people in that film, I think every one of them, because it was done in a respectful way, feels like they came away with a deeper understanding of their community and different people,” he said. “It enabled them to walk in their shoes.”

Given the attention on racial issues now, it’s not surprising that the idea of the film itself will grate on some nerves, he said.

“What I would hope is that people would watch the documentary, because there is nothing about it that is provocative when you sit through it,” he said.

___

Follow David Bauder at twitter.com/dbauder. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/david-bauder.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

###

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Afrostream is Netflix for African and African-American Movies

Don't Miss

Emmys 2015: Eight Young Black Actors to Watch

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Arts and Culture

In ‘Affrilachia: Testimonies,’ Puts Blacks in Appalacia on the Map

Published

11 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Oakland Post

Author Chris Aluka. Photo courtesy of Chris Aluka.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez

An average oak tree is bigger around than two people together can reach.

That mighty tree starts out with an acorn the size of a nickel, ultimately growing to some 80 feet tall, with a canopy of a hundred feet or more across.

And like the new book, “Affrilachia” by Chris Aluka Berry (with Kelly Elaine Navies and Maia A. Surdam), its roots spread wide and wider.

Affriclachia is a term a Kentucky poet coined in the 1990s referring to the Black communities in Appalachia who are similarly referred to as Affrilachians.

In 2016, “on a foggy Sunday morning in March,” Berry visited Affrilachia for the first time by going the Mount Zion AME Zion Church in Cullowhee, North Carolina. The congregation was tiny; just a handful of people were there that day, but a pair of siblings stood out to him.

According to Berry, Ann Rogers and Mae Louise Allen lived on opposite sides of town, and neither had a driver’s license. He surmised that church was the only time the elderly sisters were together then, but their devotion to one another was clear.

As the service ended, he asked Allen if he could visit her. Was she willing to talk about her life in the Appalachians, her parents, her town?

She was, and arrangements were made, but before Barry could get back to Cullowhee, he learned that Allen had died. Saddened, he wondered how many stories are lost each day in mountain communities where African Americans have lived for more than a century.

“I couldn’t make photographs of the past,” he says, “but I could document the people and places living now.”

In doing so he also offers photographs that he collected from people he met in ‘Affrilachia,’ in North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, at a rustic “camp” that was likely created by enslaved people, at churches, and in modest houses along highways.

The people he interviewed recalled family tales and community stories of support, hardship, and home.

Says coauthor Navies, “These images shout without making a sound.”

If it’s true what they say about a picture being worth 1,000 words, then “Affrilachia,” as packed with photos as it is, is worth a million.

With that in mind, there’s not a lot of narrative inside this book, just a few poems, a small number of very brief interviews, a handful of memories passed down, and some background stories from author Berry and his co-authors. The tales are interesting but scant.

For most readers, though, that lack of narrative isn’t going to matter much. The photographs are the reason why you’d have this book.

Here are pictures of life as it was 50 years or a century ago: group photos, pictures taken of proud moments, worn pews, and happy children. Some of the modern pictures may make you wonder why they’re included, but they set a tone and tell a tale.

This is the kind of book you’ll take off the shelf, and notice something different every time you do. “Affrilachia” doesn’t contain a lot of words, but it’s a good choice when it’s time to branch out in your reading.

“Affrilachia: Testimonies,” by Chris Aluka Berry with Kelly Elaine Navies and Maia A. Surdam

c.2024, University of Kentucky Press, $50.00.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of December 18 – 24, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 18 – 24, 2024

Published

2 days ago

December 20, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Arts and Culture

Promise Marks Performs Songs of Etta James in One-Woman Show, “A Sunday Kind of Love” at the Black Repertory Theater in Berkeley

“The (show) is a fictional story about a character named Etta, aka Lady Peaches,” said Marks. “She falls in love with Johnny Rhythm, leader of the Rhythm Players Band and headliners of Madam G’s Glitta Lounge.” Marks channeled the essence of Etta James, singing favorites such as “Sugar on the Floor” and “At Last.”

Published

5 days ago

December 18, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo Courtesy Of Promise Marks.

Special to the Post

It was “A Sunday Kind of Love” at the Black Repertory Group Theater in Berkeley on Saturday night, Dec. 7. The one-woman musical based on the music of Etta James featured the multi-talented singer Promise Marks

Marks, who wrote and directed the musical, also owns PM Productions.

Marks channeled the essence of Etta James, singing favorites such as “Sugar on the Floor” and “At Last.”

In between her soulful songs, Marks narrated impactful moments of the love story and journey of blues and forgiveness.

Marks sultry voice carried the audience back to an era that echoed with the power of Black music and a time of great change.

Marks said James shared love for the Black community by singing at gatherings during the Civil Rights Movement uplifting the people.

“She spoke to the movement, spoke to the people, and let her music speak for itself,” Marks said.

Backing the musical’s monologues, images and videos of Etta James are projected for the audience to view. While the production is fictional, Marks infused script with the unfairness and heartbreak James experienced while performing.

Marks performed gospel artist Donnie McClurkin’s “We Fall Down” as she narrated acts of reconciliation and forgiveness among the characters at Johnny Rhythm’s deathbed.

Marks, who regularly sings for the Miss America Pageant, was asked to perform as Etta James last year. “(At the event) a lady yelled out to me: ‘You’re Etta James!’ And then the audience went crazy. I said to myself, ‘I may have something here,’” she said.

Within 12 months, Marks created the musical production, which featured a dozen songs honoring “the great legacy of Etta James,” she said.

Marks says she was saddened to see how Etta James was often judged by the struggles in her life and wanted to offer attendees a more layered view.

“Etta’s life was so big. I want people to know that she was more than her drug addiction,” said Marks. “We can’t make that her legacy. Her catalog is too amazing. You can’t just be that and have the catalog that she (created). I don’t want the addiction to be the focus: I want her music, her element, her sassiness, and what she brought to be the focus – her woman-ness, that she was strong, and I wanted to honor that.”

Set Designer Nora Burnette says she created the set segments to mirror James’ life story. A set designer for BRG since 2016, she explained that her process of researching the scenario and the character serve as her inspiration for her design.

“I try to design a set as close to real life as possible so that the actress can deliver the performance sincerely,” said Burnette. “By creating the right setting, it helps the actors release the true essence of a character.”

The set brought the story to life and absolutely floored Marks. “Once Promise (Marks) saw the actual set, she understood my vision: ‘Wow, you get me. You get it,'” Marks told the designer.

Born Jamesetta Hawkins, Etta James, began her career in 1954 and gained fame with hits such “At Last” and “I’d Rather Go Blind.” She faced a number of personal problems, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album “Seven Year Itch.”

Co-producer and BRG Development Director, Sean Vaughn Scott, works with Overseer Production. According to producer Pamela Spikes, “Marks talent truly does Etta’s life story justice.”

Pam Jacobs of Hercules, a friend of Marks’ mom, Jackie Smith, said, Marks “was fabulous and sang all of those songs flawlessly.”

“I’m so proud of my daughter,” said Smith.

Marks, who has served as an instructor for BRG, will return on Feb. 21- 23 for an encore run of the musical.

“It’s an honor to be a part of the BRG (Black Repertory Group) family and continue our executive director Dr. Mona Vaughn Scott’s vision for the Black Repertory Group theater,” said Marks.

The Black Repertory Group Theatre is located at 3201 Adeline St., Berkeley, CA 94703. For information, visit: BlackRepertoryGroup.com