“White ladies don’t have to pay attention or learn things or be capable. There is an entire world designed to make their confusion attractive.”
Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom, quoted in a piece on Carmela Soprano, but also making me think long and hard.
Wednesday, July 21
My journey through Harvard’s PhD film program list hit a massive brick wall upon arriving at Birth of a Nation. I went on vacation in Colorado. I watched all three Fear Streets in succession (recommend!). I finished 3 books. But the inevitable had to be faced. I am determined to watch every film on this list, even if only enough of some of them to get the gist. And this particular movie seems awfully important to a lot of people, as it is Historic in its Filmmaking Achievements and a Precedent Setter.
It’s also 3 hours long. That’s three hours of silent, constant racism to sit through. Here was my review upon conclusion, and rewarding it my first-ever zero stars:
“No amount of filmmaking innovation or artistic precedence is worth sitting through 3 hours of nonstop racism. Fuck this movie.”
Two things about the new Space Jam because its existence pisses me off
“Space Jam: A New Legacy isn’t really a movie — it’s a crash course in vertical integration and brand identity, a marketing slideshow with a two-hour running time.”
And the most-liked review of last week on Letterboxd:
I have giggled at this every few days for the past week.
“Stupidity is saying two plus two equals five. Elevated Stupidity is doing the same thing, except you invoke Pythagoras, decry cancel culture when someone corrects you, then get a seven-figure book deal and a speaking tour out of it.”
Esquire is going to make you sign in to read this piece but you should throw ‘em a bone and do so.
I wasn’t terribly surprised at the news of Simone Biles bowing out of the Olympics today, not after I read this piece in the NYT this weekend. I think she made a sane, brave decision to protect herself and hope she’s headed to a silent retreat in the woods for a good long while.
“At the end of the day, I’m such a huge athlete, but who am I? If you take off that mask, you know, who will I be? I’m still trying to find that out.”
That’s all for this week, folks. Tell me what you’re reading, watching, and resenting in the comments.