Reely Melanated Reely Melanated

It’s been quite awhile, and thank goodness Ashlee and Carolyn were at the ready to almost completely unpack the meticulously crafted balance of subtly and clarion call for the cumbersome nature of swallowing intersectional micro (and honestly, macro) aggressions in Mariama Diallo’s anticipated feature film debut, Master (2022).
Our music folk razaq el toro has new music out!

Secrets are complicated, right? A multi-generational magical realist, sci-fi, drama furthers even the mess out of what is a superhero in the context of Black women and girls in Julia Hart's 2019 well received, Fast Color.
In Plain Sight: Fast Color by Carolyn Mauricette
Dayglo: The Poly Styrene Story
FAST COLOR Q&A with Gugu Mbatha-Raw & director Julia Hart - April 28, 2019
I Am A Clique
 
 
 

With Carolyn on the verge of a bionic hip and Ashlee on the verge of a losing some good sanity, the two chose the unwind this holiday season with a 90s action comedy, Keenan Ivory Wayans' A Low Down Dirty Shame.
What's its historical context? How does it function as a potentially progressive vehicle and be questionably problematic at the same time? Let's talk... 

It's all fire dicks and armageddon in Wormwood, New Mexico in the mid-1990's. Thank the seven star alignments that we're still here to talk of the tale...
Ashlee couldn't believe she found even more to unpack in the film she's dissected to death, 1995's Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight, a pretty under-discussed and underappreciated (to a degree) horror film that everyone should watch this Halloween season. 
Director Ernest Dickerson throws in homages to Alien which, Carolyn loves even more because of the Cleo the cat/Jonesy connection.
Plus! There's a whole lot about this sometimes surpisingly Black feminist work that incorporates a range of characters that are not easy to label, which is the fun of it all, including some cheesy, on-brand humor from a self-aware work both from cast and crew who were just having fun.
We've noted the following for consideration:
The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators by bell hooks
Subjects of Desire (2021) Official Trailer
Modern Etiquette: The Despicable World of Spitting
 
 

I mean, of course Black women do. And are we believed when we say they're out there?
Carolyn leads an exploration into J.D. Dillard's minimalist masterpiece, Sweetheart from 2019.
And a 'lil bonus somethin' somethin' :)
The Invisible Black Women Epidemic
Ashlee's Sweetheart blurb
Sweetheart: A Creature Feature with Heart (Carolyn's Review)
Trey Anthony On Putting Her Self First and Why She’ll Never Share Her Relationships on Social Media Again
Sweetheart Q&A
J.D. Dillard's new film Devotion
Black Horror Creators Sound Off on "Candyman"

Carolyn and Ashlee have another sentimental chat about Black mothers and inter-generational relationships between Black women and girls in 1994's underrated Spike Lee jawn, Crooklyn.
Speaking of Black women, DON'T MISS Carolyn's virtual lecture, A Different Monster: Black Women and the Monstrous for Fantastia Film Festival 2021 on August 21 at 4:00PM EST.
Register here!
 
Sorrowful black death is not a hot ticket: bell hooks on Spike Lee’s Crooklyn
Spike Lee Looks Back On Crooklyn
Remember Zelda Harris Who Played Troy Carmichael in 'Crooklyn'? This Is How She Looks Now after Painful Battle with Fibroids
Video: bell hooks - Cultural Criticism (Spike Lee)
Crooklyn Dodgers (Special Ed, Masta Ace & Buckshot) - Crooklyn (Official Video)