Happy Hump Day, friends! Halfway to another weekend.
My expectations when I do the bare minimum
Ever read an article and go, “Yeah, that’ll be a movie one day?” Going to go ahead and call that this New York Times piece will be one of the first COVID-19 movies: “After the Virus Came, 22 Parents Moved Into Their Children’s Hospital.” Touching, affecting stuff.
If you’ve got some time for a #longread tonight, might I plug some of my own writing? My year-long 2010s decade retrospective is finally coming to a head this week with the final three pieces on 2017-19 receiving publication. While I would have loved them to see the light earlier, the timing works out pretty well on two pieces: Get Out and meme culture as well as Black Panther and Hollywood’s racist production and marketing pipelines. The latter in particular is chock full of historical background on the industry’s history that I think you’ll find as shocking as I did when researching. (For example, did you know Eva Mendes got the female lead in Hitch because the studio would not finance the movie if Will Smith starred opposite a Black woman?)
Am I sounding like a broken record yet? I’ll once again plug that my employer is matching donations to racial justice organizations up to $1,000 — and there’s still plenty that can be matched under my name! Venmo me at @marSHAffer and note any organization preferences for your donation. (Supported organizations listed here.) Still more than $500 of match available. Maybe a certain childhood favorite author of yours doubled down on transphobia today and you want to help the trans community by supporting The Trevor Project, one of the organizations on the list…
Now, what you came for…
DAY 90: Homecoming (available on Netflix)
I doubt too many people need convincing that Beyoncé is one of our truly visionary contemporary artists, but these people do exist! (Don’t worry, I’m not the kind of Beyhive crazy that would pelt Ariana Grande with a lemon.) I think she’s especially built for this moment in history when so many are willing to approach and examine culture through an anti-racist lens because she’s been doing this through her own work for years now.
I was inspired to rewatch Homecoming, Beyoncé’s self-directed behind the scenes concert documentary of her legendary 2018 Coachella concert, after reading a passage in Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Anti-Racist on culture. He quotes anthropologist Ashley Montagu on the concept of cultural relativity: “All cultures must be judged in relation to their own history, and all individuals and groups in relation to their cultural history, and definitely not by the arbitrary standard of any single culture.” Most conversations I have with anyone who tries to downplay the brilliance of Beyoncé end up with people trying to negatively compare her against exemplars of artistic merit largely embodied by white men. She lets other people write her songs, she’s more of a dancer or performer than singer, the list goes on and on…
Homecoming is such a joy to behold because we can see laid out explicitly what we feel from watching the performance: Beyoncé is using her platform and stage to spotlight elements of culture that go undervalued and underappreciated in the mainstream. “I want every person that has been dismissed for the way they look to feel represented on that stage,” she narrates over rehearsal footage. By embracing the exuberant musicality and dance of HBCUs, Beyoncé makes the declaration that this form of artistry belongs on the highest pedestal. They cannot be treated as separate and unequal.
It doesn’t strike me as an accident that the music video for “Apeshit,” which used unprecedented access to an empty Louvre to spotlight Black culture and artistry, dropped shortly after her Coachella set. Beyoncé is not trying to dethrone or devalue the long-appreciated masterworks from other cultures and movements. She’s simply asking for the best of Black culture to be considered within the same space (a space that, by the way, makes very little room for Black artists or subjects). If we as a culture will understand and allow it, Beyoncé will expand our canon for better and for always.
(By the way, if you are looking for a much more granular analysis of Homecoming’s references, I’d recommend this much more qualified take from The Atlantic.)
Be good to yourselves and to each other,
Marshall