Hannah Collins, Comic Book Resources; Black Panther’s Shuri Is the Genius Movies Need Right Now
"“As far as the technologically advanced side, in our mind, and in our incarnation, Shuri is the head of the Wakanda Design Group,” Moore explained of Shuri’s role during a Black Panther set visit. “She’s the smartest person in the world, smarter than Tony Stark, but she’s a 16-year-old girl, which we thought was really interesting. Again, black faces in positions of power or positions of technological know-how, that’s a rarity. So it’s something that’s a big part of the film.”
There are plenty of strong, smart black women in superhero comics — Storm, Spectrum, Amanda Waller and Misty Knight, for starters — but super-intelligent ones who can rival the genre’s heaviest intellectual hitters are few and far between. That isn’t a problem exclusive to comics, though. When we think of a stereotypical genius in any medium — comics, prose, television, film — we tend to envision a white man. Upon further deliberation, we might conjure a white woman, or a black man. But a black woman? While superhero comics aren’t solely to blame for that, it doesn’t mean the industry can shirk the responsibility of tackling the problem, especially when the likes of Marvel and DC Comics wield such mighty cultural influence at the moment. In fact, Marvel has made a pointed effort to rectify that disproportion in recent years with the introduction of Riri Williams and Moon Girl, the latter of whom now holds the title of smartest person in the Marvel Comics universe; Letitia Wright’s Shuri will ascend to that throne in the Marvel Cinematic Universe when Black Panther premieres next month."
Sunday, January 28, 2018
Saturday, January 27, 2018
‘This Is Me’ From ‘The Greatest Showman’ Is an Anthem for Outcasts; Variety, January 4, 2018
Jon Burlingame, Variety; ‘This Is Me’ From ‘The Greatest Showman’ Is an Anthem for Outcasts
"Oscar and Tony winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (“La La Land,” “Dear Evan Hansen”) wrote nine songs for “The Greatest Showman,” starring Hugh Jackman as 19th-century circus entrepreneur P.T. Barnum, but one is grabbing the most attention (including Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award nominations): “This Is Me.”
The song, which was introduced to audiences early via the movie’s trailer, appears to have a future as an anthem for the marginalized, disenfranchised, the bullied and the outcast. And in a year when “diversity” is on everyone’s minds and lips, that means it could gain traction during awards season."
"Oscar and Tony winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (“La La Land,” “Dear Evan Hansen”) wrote nine songs for “The Greatest Showman,” starring Hugh Jackman as 19th-century circus entrepreneur P.T. Barnum, but one is grabbing the most attention (including Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award nominations): “This Is Me.”
The song, which was introduced to audiences early via the movie’s trailer, appears to have a future as an anthem for the marginalized, disenfranchised, the bullied and the outcast. And in a year when “diversity” is on everyone’s minds and lips, that means it could gain traction during awards season."
Sunday, January 21, 2018
Can Philippe Jaroussky Help Fix Classical Music’s Diversity Problem?; New York Times, January 18, 2018
Elian Peltier, New York Times; Can Philippe Jaroussky Help Fix Classical Music’s Diversity Problem?
"The new academy is rooted in the need for more diversity in classical music, both onstage and in the audience, he explained. As the audience for classical music ages and fewer young people embrace it across Europe and the United States, the genre is facing a serious challenge to renew its devotees, let alone to fill its venues."
"The new academy is rooted in the need for more diversity in classical music, both onstage and in the audience, he explained. As the audience for classical music ages and fewer young people embrace it across Europe and the United States, the genre is facing a serious challenge to renew its devotees, let alone to fill its venues."
Black Mirror star Aldis Hodge paints a portrait of divided America; Guardian, January 20, 2018
Lucy Rock, Guardian;
Black Mirror star Aldis Hodge paints a portrait of divided America
"Despite Hollywood’s increasing awareness of diversity issues, a University of Southern California study published last summer of 900 popular films from 2007 to 2016 showed that almost nothing had changed in terms of representation on screen around gender, race, LGBTQ status and disability. The pool of directors proved even less diverse.
Hodge said people should think about inclusion rather than diversity, which “has been turned into a diminutive tool that is regressive”.
“They say, ‘We need some diversity – throw a black guy in there, or a Latin girl.’ They still don’t look at these people as normal. They don’t understand the normalcy of walking around America and seeing all folk integrating naturally.”"
Monday, January 15, 2018
The Least Racist People We’ve Ever Interviewed; The Atlantic, January 15, 2018
The Editors, The Atlantic; The Least Racist People We’ve Ever Interviewed
"This question is absurd, and uncomfortable, and of course that’s the point. But it does have me thinking about my time as a reporter on Capitol Hill, and the members of Congress who spoke frequently about how racial injustices informed their public service. Senator Daniel Inouye, who died in 2012, was one of them.
“Can you imagine that when I got here in 1959, the restaurant in the Congress of the United States was segregated?” Inouye once told me. “Can you imagine that a member of the United States House, a chairman of a committee, could not go there? But at that time, no one thought it was a big deal. Well, I thought it was a big deal.”
So Inouye took a fellow representative, who was black, to lunch with him one day. “I literally drag this guy into the dining room, and all the waiters are black. They smiled. They knew what was happening. Because they would have had to throw me out.” They didn’t.
“Well, I’m used to racism,” Inouye told me another time I interviewed him. “I was in an all-Japanese unit... This is in the war. To go to a combat zone and see signs [that say] ‘White Officers Only,’ you want to shoot that sign off. What war are we fighting here?”
— Adrienne LaFrance"
"This question is absurd, and uncomfortable, and of course that’s the point. But it does have me thinking about my time as a reporter on Capitol Hill, and the members of Congress who spoke frequently about how racial injustices informed their public service. Senator Daniel Inouye, who died in 2012, was one of them.
“Can you imagine that when I got here in 1959, the restaurant in the Congress of the United States was segregated?” Inouye once told me. “Can you imagine that a member of the United States House, a chairman of a committee, could not go there? But at that time, no one thought it was a big deal. Well, I thought it was a big deal.”
So Inouye took a fellow representative, who was black, to lunch with him one day. “I literally drag this guy into the dining room, and all the waiters are black. They smiled. They knew what was happening. Because they would have had to throw me out.” They didn’t.
“Well, I’m used to racism,” Inouye told me another time I interviewed him. “I was in an all-Japanese unit... This is in the war. To go to a combat zone and see signs [that say] ‘White Officers Only,’ you want to shoot that sign off. What war are we fighting here?”
— Adrienne LaFrance"
Guess Who’s Coming to ‘Peanuts’; New York Times, January 13, 2018
David Kamp, New York Times; Guess Who’s Coming to ‘Peanuts’
"For Barbara Brandon-Croft, who in 1991 became the first African-American woman to have a nationally syndicated comic strip in the mainstream press, “Where I’m Coming From,” the simple fact of Franklin’s addition to the mix was downright exhilarating. Ms. Brandon-Croft was 10 years old in 1968, and she told me: “I remember feeling affirmed by seeing Franklin in ‘Peanuts.’ ‘There’s a little black kid! Thank goodness! We do matter.’”"
"For Barbara Brandon-Croft, who in 1991 became the first African-American woman to have a nationally syndicated comic strip in the mainstream press, “Where I’m Coming From,” the simple fact of Franklin’s addition to the mix was downright exhilarating. Ms. Brandon-Croft was 10 years old in 1968, and she told me: “I remember feeling affirmed by seeing Franklin in ‘Peanuts.’ ‘There’s a little black kid! Thank goodness! We do matter.’”"
Sunday, January 14, 2018
How a man’s first-ever tweet, about Obama’s respect, proved more popular than Trump’s bluster; Washington Post, January 14, 2018
Avi Selk, Washington Post; How a man’s first-ever tweet, about Obama’s respect, proved more popular than Trump’s bluster
"“My Korean-born-and-raised parents both came to America as young adults, knowing a bare minimum of English, having a handful of family to rely on, and coping with a true culture shock,” Lee once wrote. One generation later, their son had a bachelor's degree in political science and was working for the president.
And even if not many outside the White House knew who Lee was when he left the staff in 2011, Obama did."
"“My Korean-born-and-raised parents both came to America as young adults, knowing a bare minimum of English, having a handful of family to rely on, and coping with a true culture shock,” Lee once wrote. One generation later, their son had a bachelor's degree in political science and was working for the president.
And even if not many outside the White House knew who Lee was when he left the staff in 2011, Obama did."
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