January Musings & Recommendations
I consumed a lot of culture in January - is it the winter? Is it the never ending horrible world we live in that I want to avoid? or do I actually like all this stuff?
Yes.
Speaking of the world we live in: Tyre Nichols and Police Brutality
Please consider supporting the family of Tyre Nichols if you are financially able.
Make time to learn more about abolition of police - because police reform is not, has not and will not be the solution.
Mariame Kaba, Derecka Purnell, Alex Vitale all led me to abolition with their writing and work. You can also listen to Kaba’s discussions on some podcasts.
Speaking of the world we live in: Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay Shootings
Please consider supporting families & survivors of Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay(2nd fundraiser for HMB) mass shootings if you are financially able.
These images were created by Xīn Shēng project, read the full post here.
Academy Awards
Over the last 10 years, I have moved/continue to move from avid awards show participant to divesting from awards and their institutions as the systemic issues around race and gender specifically continue to thrive, no matter the internal changes. Since they reflect our society, both United States and global, I still have opinions!
Every year I remind myself that the Oscars are not a meritocracy, and 2023 is no different. But in a year chock-full of outstanding, interesting, challenging and varied work in Black cinema, the academy voted once again to undermine its own relevance. - Soraya McDonald, The Oscars Shutting Out ‘The Woman King’ is a Real Disgrace
I’m disappointed that Brendan Fraser’s comeback arrives with “The Whale” as the vehicle. The movie reaffirms long accepted, and wrong, prejudices and assumptions about fat people spurring yet again, discussion around who gets to be fat on screen and to what end. Roxane Gay says it best.
Mr. Fraser brings pathos to this role, though I wish he had been given better material, more worthy of his talent. His performance makes him a strong contender for all the major awards, and that’s a shame — not because he doesn’t deserve them but because what’s also being rewarded is such a demeaning portrayal of a fat man. We’ll hear about how brave Mr. Fraser is for taking on a role like this, for wearing a fat suit, for being willing to embody so many people’s worst fears. Hollywood loves to reward actors who dare to take on roles that require them to abandon the good looks that enabled their careers…And how this film deals with Charlie’s fatness is egregious: exploitative and at times cruel …. “The Whale” exemplifies the blurry line between creative license and cultural harm. Creators are free to tell the stories they want, in the ways they want. But there are consequences. A movie like this will only reinforce the dehumanizing ways in which many people understand fatness. - Roxane Gay, The Cruel Spectacle of ‘The Whale’
Another convo, every year with awards is about people of color getting nominated. This convo needs to also be specific about Black Women. In particular this year, when an excellent Asian centered movie, Everything Everywhere All At Once, rightfully received praise and nominations, we must continue to acknowledge that for establishment Hollywood, it’s a zero sum game — all diversity is the same.
“… If a director like Prince-Bythewood, a creative with decades of critically lauded films, can’t break through with a studio-backed crowd-pleaser like “The Woman King” — the kind of film the academy has awarded in the past, like “Gladiator” and “Braveheart” — then what hope does that leave for others? If Davis, a performer who might be the Meryl Streep of her generation, can be honored with an Oscar only by running supporting rather than lead, as she did with “Fences,” then who will break through? Why is the work of Black women continually seen as lesser?” - It’s Not Just the Oscars That Fail Black Women. It’s the Entire Awards Ecosystem
I love culture and consume it voraciously, and culture reflects what our society values and society’s power circles. Culture can also disrupt and change society for the better when it’s not censored and banned and allowed to be seen and lifted up.
Dispatches from the Hospital - Hanif Kureishi
Author Hanif Kureishi (My Beautiful Launderette) fell in late December and lost use of his limbs. He started dictating twitter threads to his son while he convalesces in an Italian hospital. The dispatches (now a newsletter as well) are brilliant, moving, funny, contemplative, existential and worth your time. Here is just one example to click through.
To Watch
Bad Sisters (Available on Apple TV+): This is fun but often dark and violent - written by and starring the talented Sharon Horgan (who wrote and starred in one of my all time fave shows - Catastrophe). This show follows a group of sisters after one of their partners dies. It’s about family and pain and obligation, and the small and big ways that men get away with things and are not questioned. It also stars the excellent Daryl McCormack who was in one of my 2022 movie recommendations, Good Luck to You Leo Grande.
Causeway (Available on Apple TV+): This is a very quiet movie about a veteran returning home to get better and the friendship she has with a mechanic who also has some trauma to heal from. It is so good, so quiet, and both Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry are fantastic, with Henry being nominated for an Oscar.
Inside Man (Available on Netflix in the US): This is a 4-episode tv show that aired on BBC in 2022 - not one of my all time faves with the same name, a Spike Lee-Denzel Washington movie. The cast is excellent (Stanley Tucci, David Tennant, Dolly Wells, Dylan Baker). It’s dark and goes to what even the best people can be made to do when pushed, and it is violent.
Little America (available on Apple TV +): First season was perfect and came out right before Pandemic so it didn’t get a lot of focus but was critically acclaimed. Second season was recently released and it continues to be lovely, well written and moving to watch these true stories. Produced by Kumail Nanjiani, Emily Gordon and Alan Yang.
The Menu (Available on HBOMax and to rent on streaming): This is a mix of genres and very dark and violent (sense a pattern?), and also good. I watched it soon after the news of acclaimed restaurant NOMA announcing its closing as the chef complained about his business model (which has always meant lots of exploitative labor). It was worth watching in this context. Hong Chau, who was recently nominated for an Oscar for another movie is excellent in this.
Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor: This is a very long novel, from multiple perspectives and basically a crime and corruption novel. It’s already been picked up to be a tv series. It’s the beginning of a trilogy. And while it ended abruptly (perhaps in prep for the 2nd book), I still liked it!
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff: This is about a woman who is rumored to have killed her husband (she didn’t) but other women in her micro-loan group ask her to help them “deal” with their abusive husbands. I laughed a lot and it was also tense and mysterious, and about finding your tribe and on the real real about what it is to live as a woman in this village, and the world. And I loved how it took on patriarchal parts of the Ramayana (all of them)!
Daughters of Smoke and Fire by Ava Homa: A novel focused on a young woman and her Kurdish family throughout the recent past and present. This is the first novel published in English by a female Kurdish writer. We get a few perspectives in this novel, but it’s mostly from Leila and Chia (her brother) perspectives.
“In this country we are subhuman. We’re women, and we’re also Kurdish.” - Ava Homa, Daughters of Smoke and Fire
The Rise of English: Global Politics and the Power of Language by Rosemary Salomone: Excellent foundation in history, politics, colonialism (of the church and of nations) in how English grew and expanded and what it means NOW both in the context of US and UK (post Brexit). Case Studies focus on Rwanda, Netherlands, and India. Much time is also spent on French and Chinese and how France and China are investing to keep their languages thriving in a key part of the globe for economic and political power (Africa).
I also read/listened to Prince Harry’s memoir Spare so you dont have to!