Everything Old is Old Again, Almost

REMEDIAL DOC CLASS SCREENINGS
My documentary video production prof is craming film history homework into a tight syllabus of actual video making assignments. Every week it's down to the reserve room to watch Flaherty, Vertov, Bunuel, Pennebaker, the Maysleses, Trinh T. Minh-ha ... What's her last name, Trinh or Minh-ha?

Unfortunately, I've already seen most of the films on the syllabus. The prof and the kids have discussions I already had 15 years ago. Is it this film the Truth? Is this Propaganda? Whatever. So Nanook of the North is a false ethnography, at least it has cute puppies in it. Triumph of the Will might offend me if it weren't so relentlessly boring. How many freaking flags do we have to look at, Leni? Perhaps the axis powers would have lasted a little longer if they spent more money on arms and less on banners.

But this week I watched Tongues Untied again and I really enjoyed it. When I first saw Marlon Rigg's work in my college's modern cinema class, the Euro TA was appalled that our professor stooped so low as to screen anything shot of video. Sadly, the only thing dated in this this poetic video about black men loving black men are the segments on voguing and snap queens. Everything else is totally relevant today. Stupid culture wars.

IMDB RACE TALK
And along those lines, what's up with Will Smith? Years ago, he was advised not to kiss men on screen in Six Degrees of Seperation. Now the fine journalists of England have more weirdness to report. Smith was strategically paired with a latina woman in Hitch because, supposedly, international audiences don't want to see him with a black woman, and American audiences don't want to see him with a white woman. I don't want to see Hitch, so I wouldn't care if Nanook plays his love interest, but I suspected that Eva Mendes was chosen for safety reasons. When I saw the trailer, I thought, ooo, the people who are going to be pissed that Smith isn't with a black woman will say "at least she's not white" and relax a bit. Perhaps they'll think "she's just light skinneded with good hair." It's possible that Cuban-American Mendes could be white and latina at the same time. Maybe Smith should star with Cameron Diaz next. But no! Then everyone's heads would just explode!!!

I've just about given up on trying to untangle these unwritten rules and invisible barriers. Will Smith is playing along all the way to the bank and I don't blame him. But Marlon Riggs did not, and we should all be grateful for that.