Curtis Marez's article "Cesar Chavez, the UFW and Star Wars" describes the history of struggles between agribusiness and farm workers in California. More importantly, Marez successfully illustrates how farm worker unions produced their own press, photography, and film in response to "the agribusiness media monopoly," (90).
In response to Marez's article, I wanted to look into how African Americans are using media, particularly film, in response to the issue of racial profiling in the murders of unarmed African American men.
To put this issue in context, I should first acknowledge that in the past year, films from the last year targeted towards a multicultural audience were not only about the shooting of young Black boys. In fact, 2013 was highlighted with several films surrounding slavery. In her article "How 2013 Became the Year of the Slavery Film", Allison Samuels writes how several critics were actually confused as to why several films about slavery were being released during the age of a Black president. She cites Reginald Hudlin, producer of Django Unchained saying:
In response to Marez's article, I wanted to look into how African Americans are using media, particularly film, in response to the issue of racial profiling in the murders of unarmed African American men.
To put this issue in context, I should first acknowledge that in the past year, films from the last year targeted towards a multicultural audience were not only about the shooting of young Black boys. In fact, 2013 was highlighted with several films surrounding slavery. In her article "How 2013 Became the Year of the Slavery Film", Allison Samuels writes how several critics were actually confused as to why several films about slavery were being released during the age of a Black president. She cites Reginald Hudlin, producer of Django Unchained saying:
"I do feel [that] some coming are the result of remembering days gone by and rejecting where we are today. I mean President Obama has been subjected to a great deal of disrespect so it’s not surprising that stories about the days where African-Americans didn’t have the kind of power that we have now would be interesting to many people. A kind of longing for used to be. Someone actually yelled ‘you lie’ to our president during the State of the Union. What does that tell you?”
Similarly, there are now films emerging in response to the trend of young African American males being murdered by White men claiming self-defense. Fruitvale Station, a film directed by Ryan Coogler, is based on the true story of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old man who was shot and killed by BART transit-police officer on New Years Day 2009. The film garnered even more attention after the George Zimmerman trial came to a close just as the film debuted.
Several film reviewers had a bone or two to pick with the film. For example, several reviewers made it a point to recall Grant's past as a drug dealer or claiming that the shooting was not racially motivated and happened by mistake. In contrast, reviewers like LA Weekly/Village Voice critic Stephanie Zacharek make the point that Coogler wasn't trying to "turn Oscar Grant into a martyr," but to "simply to shrink the distance between him and us.”
Additionally, Eric Arnold suggests in his article for The Oakland Local that instead of Coogler using to film to make a political or social justice statement, Coogler realized that making the film was in itself a social/political statement. Arnold goes on to say that Coogler's main point was to address the elephant in the room: "Fear, particularly fear of the unknown, drives prejudice, and can lead to sudden, deadly, and irrevocable consequences." We see this reverberated in the deaths of Kimani Gray, Kendrec McDade, Ervin Jefferson, Amadou Diallo, Timothy Stansbury Jr., Sean Bell, Aaron Campbell, Trayvon Martin and countless others.
For more insight, check out this interview with Fruitvale Station director Ryan Coogler as he talks about the impact of the Oscar Grant story on his life, his inspiration for making the film, his thoughts about the George Zimmerman murder case and if he sees any similarities.
Several film reviewers had a bone or two to pick with the film. For example, several reviewers made it a point to recall Grant's past as a drug dealer or claiming that the shooting was not racially motivated and happened by mistake. In contrast, reviewers like LA Weekly/Village Voice critic Stephanie Zacharek make the point that Coogler wasn't trying to "turn Oscar Grant into a martyr," but to "simply to shrink the distance between him and us.”
Additionally, Eric Arnold suggests in his article for The Oakland Local that instead of Coogler using to film to make a political or social justice statement, Coogler realized that making the film was in itself a social/political statement. Arnold goes on to say that Coogler's main point was to address the elephant in the room: "Fear, particularly fear of the unknown, drives prejudice, and can lead to sudden, deadly, and irrevocable consequences." We see this reverberated in the deaths of Kimani Gray, Kendrec McDade, Ervin Jefferson, Amadou Diallo, Timothy Stansbury Jr., Sean Bell, Aaron Campbell, Trayvon Martin and countless others.
For more insight, check out this interview with Fruitvale Station director Ryan Coogler as he talks about the impact of the Oscar Grant story on his life, his inspiration for making the film, his thoughts about the George Zimmerman murder case and if he sees any similarities.