Sinners: The Black AF Episode
It’s Jackie McGriff, your host on today’s Representation in Cinema episode for another deep dive into the film, Sinners!
That’s right this is PART TWO of our talk on Sinners, so if you didn’t listen to the first episode, we highly recommend listening to that one on our website at ourvoicesproject.com/podcast or any where you listen to your favorite podcasts - Spotify, Apple, all of them! We’re calling it our Black as YOU KNOW WHAT or Black AF episode because it had to be US breaking this movie down - thanks again to Ryan Coogler, the team at Proximity Media, and cast and crew for this one. This film is truly a gift!
SO, if you haven’t watched the film already, you can watch it in theaters now—please go see it in IMAX NOW! We encourage you to watch it and then come back to listen to our podcast. From here on out though, we’ll be discussing the film in depth so SPOILERS AHEAD and as always, you have been warned.
HUGE THANK YOU to our guests joining us in the studio and virtually, Cocoa Rae David, CaTyra Polland, Brianna Milon, Hernease Davis, Heather Thompson, Iasia Lorick, and DJ T.A.G.O.E.
CaTyra Polland is a published author, editor, copywriter, poet, speaker, Founder/CEO of Love For Words and the creator of National Black Authors Day. She's an essayist for Christopher Coles who's being honored along with CaTyra on May 19 at 6:30pm at the George Eastman Museum. It's free to attend and every guest gets a copy of the book. You can register for the book launch and panel discussion at https://www.eastman.org/event/free-all-talks-special-events/moment-revolution-reckoning-reparation-volume-3.
She's also co-hosting a virtual Masterclass with Write, Edit, Publish for those who are looking to publish a book on June 7 at 1pm ET/10am PT. You can register here: https://winnpublications.com/write-edit-publish-a-self-publishing-masterclass. Purchase your ticket before the price goes up on June 3!
You can follow CaTyra at @catyrapolland on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn as well as her business page Love For Words on Facebook and LinkedIn.
DJ. T.A.G.O.E. is a Raleigh-based DJ, who seeks to bring community together through music and dance, blended with collective education rooted in history and liberation-based politics. Follow him on Instagram and Tiktok at @djtagoe.
Brianna Milon is a published author, communications professional, and model who blends creativity and connection in everything she does. With a background in media, public relations, and storytelling, she’s passionate about using her voice and presence to inspire and uplift others. You can follow Bri on Instagram at @suunnybri.
Cocoa Rae David is a New York-based visual artist, curator, photographer, award-winning filmmaker, and business owner of By Cocoa Rae LLC and Da Purp. You can also find her on all social media platforms at @bycocoarae. She’s currently raising money to make her studio and art space for accessible for creatives and artists. You can donate monetarily or in-kind with studio needs like camera and lighting equipment and/or yoga mats by visiting https://checkout.square.site/merchant/MLTR86SCCSSKM/checkout/U2TDPNZWTRWMOQ4XBQM4IMSK OR contacting Cocoa at info@cocoa-rae.com.
Hernease Davis is a photo-based artist and curator born and raised in South Los Angeles with roots in Southern Louisiana. Her practice is spurred by her curiosity about process, one’s psychological nature and the meaningful connections made possible through art when individual complexities are acknowledged and welcomed. You can find her on Instagram at @hernease and follow her at https://www.herneasedavis.com. Follow the work that she and other artists do at Visual Studies Workshop at @visualstudiesworkshop on all social media platforms and https://www.vsw.org.
Heather Thompson is a psychology student and mother. She’s in the process of making a mockumentary– we will keep you updated on the progress of that project!
Iasia Lorick is a filmmaker.
If you’d like to be a guest on our podcast, you can email us at info@ourvoicesproject.com. Please note that while we welcome all, we prioritize hearing from Black, Brown, and Indigenous folks especially since this podcast is about highlighting the films telling authentic and multifaceted stories of Black, Brown, and Native peoples.
Mentioned in this episode:
Behind the Glass
Podcast and gallery focusing on underrepresented artists utilize the space to amplify their work. Curated by @Richardbcolon @qua.jay. Check out the podcast or join them in person first Fridays at 240 E Main St, Rochester, NY! https://behind-the-glass-gallery.captivate.fm
Behind the Studio Door
Behind the Studio Door, hosted by Molly Darling and Christian Rivera, takes listeners on a captivating exploration of artists and their creative processes. Through deep and meaningful conversations, they uncover the stories and experiences that shape the outward expression of their work. https://behind-the-studio-door.captivate.fm/
Our Voices Project - Land Acknowledgement
Transcript
Hello listeners and viewers, it's Jackie McGriff, your host on today's Representation in Cinema episode for another deep dive into the film Sinners.
Speaker A:That's right, this is part two of our talk on Sinners.
Speaker A:So if you didn't listen to the first episode, we highly recommend listening and or watching that one on our website@ourvoicesproject.com podcast or anywhere you listen to your favorite podcast.
Speaker A:Spotify, Apple, all of them.
Speaker A:We're calling it our Black as you know what or Black AF episode because it had to be us breaking this film down.
Speaker A:Thanks again to Ryan Coogler, the team at Proximity Media and cast and crew for this one.
Speaker A:This film is truly a gift.
Speaker A:Before we get into today's episode, we want to remind folks that we are a production company.
Speaker A:That's our Voices project and you can find out more about our films on our website@ourvoicesproject.com if you'd like to be a guest on our podcast, you can email us at inforvoicesproject.
Speaker A:Please note that while we welcome all, we prioritize hearing from black, brown and indigenous folks.
Speaker A:Especially since this podcast is about highlighting the films centering and telling authentic and multifaceted stories of black, brown and native peoples.
Speaker A:Now there's a lot to cover with this film, so we're going to quickly introduce our guests and then head right into the discussion.
Speaker A:So here in the studio, let us start first and foremost with Coco Ray David, who is a New York based visual artist, curator, photographer, award winning filmmaker.
Speaker A:I know that's right.
Speaker A:And business owner of Buy Coco Ray LLC and d' Perp.
Speaker A:Welcome Coco.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:Next we have Bri.
Speaker A:Bri is a community, is a published author, communications professional and model who blends creativity and connection in everything she does with with a background in media, public relations and storytelling, she's passionate about using her voice and presence to inspire and uplift others.
Speaker A:Welcome Bri.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker D:Thank you.
Speaker D:Hello.
Speaker A:All right, so next up we have someone who is not new to the podcast.
Speaker A:She was on our last installation of our Sinners saga, I guess, or series, whatever.
Speaker A:Saga.
Speaker A:It's definitely a saga.
Speaker A:Katara Poland is a published author, editor, copywriter, poet, speaker, founder and CEO of Love for Words and the creator of National Black Authors Day.
Speaker A:Again, happy to have you back here, Katyra.
Speaker E:Thanks for having me.
Speaker A:We also have Ernes Davis, who is also the first time on the podcast.
Speaker A:I can't believe it's actually the first time.
Speaker A:I feel like we talk about movies all the time.
Speaker A:We definitely do so we're gonna definitely have to have you back, Hernaz.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:So Hernandez Davis is a photo based artist and curator, born and raised in South Los Angeles with roots in Southern Louisiana.
Speaker A:Her practice is spurred by her curiosity about process one's psychological nature and the meaningful connections made possible through art when individual complexities are acknowledged and welcomed.
Speaker A:Welcome to the podcast, Ernest.
Speaker D:Thank you for having me.
Speaker A:Happy to have you.
Speaker A:All right, so now we are also going to.
Speaker A:We also have people joining us remotely.
Speaker A:All right, so first and foremost, back to the podcast, who was also on our last podcast of the sinner saga.
Speaker A:Now we're calling it is DJ Tego, a Raleigh based DJ who seeks to bring community together through music and dance blended with collective education rooted in history and liberation based politics.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the podcast, dj.
Speaker F:Happy to be back.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then we have two more newcomers to the podcast.
Speaker A:We also have joining us remotely Heather Thompson, who is a psychology student and mother.
Speaker A:Welcome to the podcast, Heather.
Speaker A:Hey.
Speaker A:And last but certainly not least, we have Iasia, who is a filmmaker.
Speaker A:It's happy to.
Speaker A:We're happy to see and have a fellow filmmaker also joining us on the podcast.
Speaker A:Welcome, Iasia.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:All right, so now that we've got all the introductions, it's on to the film for our listeners and viewers.
Speaker A:Sinners is a horror adventure film written and directed by Ryan Coogler, starring Michael B.
Speaker A: e in the Mississippi Delta in: Speaker A:In reuniting with family, friends and neighbors, they gather a crew of entertainers, one of them being their younger cousin Sammy, played by newcomer Miles Canton, who.
Speaker A:Who has an incredible talent that not only brings people together, but also attracts an evil force that dares to rip all of that apart.
Speaker A:The film also stars Wunmi Mosaku, who you may know from Loki or the series that should have never been canceled.
Speaker A:Argue with your mama.
Speaker A:Lovecraft country.
Speaker A:Say it.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker F:Love that talk.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:Omar Miller, Delroy Lindo and Hailee Steinfeld.
Speaker A:So if you haven't watched the film already, you can watch it now in theaters.
Speaker A:I believe it is back in IMAX as of today.
Speaker A:Is it in select theaters, though?
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Not.
Speaker A:Not fair at all.
Speaker C:I was ready.
Speaker C:However much IMAX is, I was gonna pay at this time.
Speaker A:Listen, I was so ready.
Speaker A:They're only behind, I think.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:I think it's like a 85 million.
Speaker F:85.
Speaker A:Yeah, 85 million.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:To reach, you know, what is it like?
Speaker A:I think 300,300,300.
Speaker A:Which would move it past Avatar at this point.
Speaker A:So we can do it, but you got to bring it back into more theaters.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Just saying.
Speaker A:Anyway, if you haven't watched the film already, please.
Speaker A:We highly recommend you watching it, especially if you can find an IMAX theater near you.
Speaker A:But from here on out, we'll be discussing the film in depth.
Speaker A:So spoilers ahead.
Speaker A:And as always, you have been warned.
Speaker A:Okay, so the first thing that we usually ask for, folks, and of course, we, you know, have a few people who joined us the last time.
Speaker A:So my question to you.
Speaker A:There's going to be a two parter.
Speaker A:My question to you is going to be, you know, what has this film meant to you?
Speaker A:And, you know, for the new people on the podcast, feel free to also answer that.
Speaker A:But I also want to know what your reaction was when you first.
Speaker A:When you first watched the film.
Speaker A:The credits are rolling.
Speaker A:What's going on through your head?
Speaker A:Coco, I'll start with you.
Speaker B:I'm thinking I had like a.
Speaker B:I had like an artist exit, like, existential crisis, because I was just like, oh, my gosh.
Speaker B:And I was really inspired.
Speaker B:Like, I can't stop talking about it.
Speaker B:Not only just from, like.
Speaker B:No, I'm sorry I have to do this because I know you're.
Speaker D:We're no longer.
Speaker B:You're not my professor anymore.
Speaker B:I'm your colleague, so.
Speaker B:Oh, sorry.
Speaker B:I hope.
Speaker B:No, but a part of the process of, like, making art and like, sitting on it and kind of like research and everything like, this was like a, to me, a master's level of, like, filmmaking.
Speaker B:And for me, it was very inspiring, like, storytelling.
Speaker B:It brought back, I feel like it just grounded me to myself.
Speaker B:It made me think about my younger self respect, reading, listening to books, storytelling, visual storytelling, especially as a visual artist, like, how to move a story.
Speaker B:For me brought me back to when I was living in Charleston, like, working down on plantations and the slave dwellings and thinking about the history with that and even seeing in the movie slave dwellings, the accuracy of people live, folks living on top of each other in slave dwellings and stuff like that.
Speaker B:And then it made me think about being from Rochester.
Speaker B:Like I said earlier, my beef with not having IMAX here for us to see it, I'm like, we're Rochester.
Speaker B:Like, how the heck, you know, you're breaking down film?
Speaker B:You're talking about the process and everything.
Speaker B:And I feel like sometimes we always get like the bitter end of the stick with stuff like that, you know, I mean, I know there'll be other things, but it's like it inspired.
Speaker B:It inspired me to my core, for sure.
Speaker B:And it gave me a lot of mixed emotions, but it made me feel.
Speaker B:That was something I like about it made me feel.
Speaker A:Bri, how about you?
Speaker C:Yeah, I was.
Speaker C:I think I was in awe after, like, just like stunned.
Speaker C:I love vampires.
Speaker C:You know what?
Speaker C:I grew up Twilight.
Speaker C:I was a Twilight girl.
Speaker C:I was a hard Twilight girl.
Speaker C:And that love of vampires, you know, whenever I can see that kind of lore, I love it.
Speaker C:So to see it so enriched in history and education.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So teaching us small things like the idea that they were paying with slave money still, you know, like that start that we were supposed to have gotten, we never really got.
Speaker C:And when you know that part of your history, you start to understand so much of why things are the way they are now, why your family is the way, why they are the way they are now.
Speaker C:And it just makes things make sense.
Speaker C:So that educational part of it all.
Speaker C:And just learning so much just from the little bit of time in the movies, you know, I feel like I'm always.
Speaker C:I'm always antsy.
Speaker C:I'm not a huge movie person.
Speaker C:I like movies, you know, but sometimes I'm like, I'm ready to get out the theater, though.
Speaker C:It's a little cold, you know, something else could be going on.
Speaker C:There was not one second that I wanted to get out my seat or that I wanted the story to be done telling itself.
Speaker C:And I think it really took so many chances in the education and including things, the small details that were included to make sure it was really representative of that time and also represented so many different cultures.
Speaker C:Like, we got a lot of black culture, but we also got some snippets of other marginalized folks.
Speaker C:And it was so nice to have a movie that I love that we were such a heavy focus because during that time our struggle was such.
Speaker C:Was so monumental.
Speaker C:But the fact that we also got to see other pieces of struggle as well was great.
Speaker A:K.
Speaker A:What does this film meant to you?
Speaker E:Yes, for me, it was very inspirational because.
Speaker E:I'm sorry, your name again?
Speaker C:Briana.
Speaker E:Brianna.
Speaker E:Like you were saying, the infusion of history.
Speaker E:So I love to learn, but I'm not necessarily a history buff.
Speaker E:So there was a lot in there.
Speaker E:I was like, I didn't know about that.
Speaker E:I didn't know that either.
Speaker E:So it was refreshing, especially in the society we live in today, where everything is, you know, by the minute tidbit.
Speaker E:You get a little bit here, a little bit there.
Speaker E:He was able to really go in depth and help People understand what was happening.
Speaker E:So I appreciated the historical component.
Speaker E:As a creative, I was thinking about the innovation that it took to get to the movie.
Speaker E:So he had to write the movie.
Speaker E:He had to find a cast who was capable of embodying these characters, not only physically, but do they know their lines?
Speaker E:Are they projecting the appropriate tone?
Speaker E:Do they have chemistry together?
Speaker E:So for me, for it to go from mind to paper to screen was very.
Speaker E:Just inspirational for me.
Speaker E:And I love to see creatives in their best light, in their best spot.
Speaker E:So I am a silent artist, which I define as like, a writer, editor.
Speaker E:So I'm behind the scenes, but I definitely appreciate the visual arts and performance.
Speaker E:And I just really love to see or I would love.
Speaker E:I didn't watch any of the, like, interviews leading up to it or any of the behind the scenes, but I would have loved to have seen that progression.
Speaker E:And just imagine how much, you know, energy and passion and love went into that.
Speaker E:From paper to screen.
Speaker E:That just really blew my mind.
Speaker A:Ernes, what was going through your mind as the credits rolled?
Speaker D:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker D:Okay, I'll say this.
Speaker D:I had a lot of complicated feelings about this film.
Speaker D:And it's funny that you say as the credits were rolling, because seriously, as the credits were rolling, because I love to sit at the end of all films.
Speaker D:I wait till the very end, till it's darkened and they turn on the lights.
Speaker D:And I'm glad that I did, because there's.
Speaker D:Spoiler alert.
Speaker D:There's so many end credits.
Speaker D:And so I'll say my complicated feelings really were complicated by the ending of the film, the many endings.
Speaker D:I'll say.
Speaker D:And so I went on a roller coaster of emotions because I thought there was just so many powerful moments in the film.
Speaker D:And then there are a lot of things I left wanting more of.
Speaker D:And it wasn't necessarily a criticism.
Speaker D:And I'll say it started off as a criticism where I was like, oh, my God, like, why didn't we get more of this?
Speaker D:And what's going on?
Speaker D:And that was mostly a response to the overwhelming response that I was trying to avoid before going into the movie, because I didn't want anything spoiled.
Speaker D:I didn't even know that Ryan B.
Speaker D:Johnson.
Speaker D:I mean, Michael B.
Speaker D:Jordan, Brian B.
Speaker D:Johnson.
Speaker D:I didn't even know that Michael B.
Speaker D:Jordan played twins, because where I saw it, for some reason, how it was being projected, it was a digital projection.
Speaker D:The coloring, I felt like they were.
Speaker D:They were lighting one of the twins face on enough where they didn't look like twins to me.
Speaker D:And it got far, not like a little further into the film where I'm like, oh, my God, no, they actually are twins.
Speaker D:And that.
Speaker D:I didn't even know that.
Speaker D:And so I avoided everything.
Speaker D:And I had different expectations for the film.
Speaker D:And then watching it, there are just certain things that went up and down for me.
Speaker D:And I have more to say about the ending and the many endings of it.
Speaker D:But what has happened is, since the first viewing, I've since watched it again.
Speaker D:I wanted to see it projected in film.
Speaker D:And I think it was like two weeks between the first time I saw it and the second time I saw it.
Speaker D:And so it's been a slow burn.
Speaker D:It's not a perfect film.
Speaker D:And I think it's working in really interesting ways through the culture and also through the actual story and the way things are told, but also because of the.
Speaker D:The histories that it's touching on, it's just kind of unfurling in ways that is really, really fascinating to me, despite all the problems I have with the film.
Speaker D:So, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Iasia, what were your thoughts as the credits were rolling?
Speaker G:Really?
Speaker G:I left the movie feeling pretty proud and happy.
Speaker G:Pretty much the same feelings I had after watching Black Panther in Wakanda Forever.
Speaker G:You know, to see a cast of primarily black people on screen telling a story like that or a story where we're heroes is really inspiring.
Speaker G:So I went with my mom, and we didn't even know they were going to be end credits.
Speaker G:We were getting up at our feet and we saw all the other black people sitting in their seats.
Speaker H:We're like, oh.
Speaker G:And some other scenes start to happen.
Speaker G:And since we left off on that scene with Stack and Tammy and how that ended and the choice of music they played, I think it was a mix of sadness, but.
Speaker G:I don't know.
Speaker B:Kind of.
Speaker G:I was content with how it ended.
Speaker A:Heather, how about you?
Speaker A:Same question.
Speaker A:I was going through your head.
Speaker G:Excuse me.
Speaker H:I was very proud, like, throughout the whole movie.
Speaker H:I remember going in, and when it started, I had.
Speaker H:I hadn't seen the trailers or anything, so I just went in and I was like, oh, I heard there's a movie Michael B.
Speaker H:Jordan and he's gonna be a vampire.
Speaker H:So I didn't know anything about it.
Speaker H: so when it started and I saw: Speaker H:I just remember thinking that, because I just.
Speaker H:I'm just kind of done seeing black history always come in that area of our history.
Speaker H:And so I loved how they showed the joy in the community and the togetherness.
Speaker H:Even like the beginning scene after that jump scare where preacher boy is showing the day before and how he came in the house after work and everybody's playing, the kids are playing, the mother's doing the laundry.
Speaker H:But there's love and there's joy and there's community.
Speaker H:And even when, you know, they drive down and Stack gets cornbread and they're picking the cotton, there's still this sense of pride and community.
Speaker H:Like it never came off as this sad.
Speaker H:What was me?
Speaker H:Oh, look at what they've done to us.
Speaker H:Like the whole movie was black people proud, black people strong, regardless of what timing it was.
Speaker H:And I loved that.
Speaker H:And then that music scene gave me chills and I cried a little bit.
Speaker H:What's that?
Speaker H:Once the, the, the guitar came in and they showed everybody around like the future, the past and all that.
Speaker H:So by the time the second, because I looked it up, I was like, they have post credit scenes.
Speaker H:I actually told the.
Speaker H:Oh hello, can you hear me?
Speaker H:Yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker H:I actually told the.
Speaker H:There was one other black gentleman.
Speaker H:I live in a primarily white area.
Speaker A:I'm sorry.
Speaker H:And so the only other black gentleman was about to leave and I said, wait, there's another post credits.
Speaker H:And then after I saw Sammy singing this little line of mine, I was like, I need to go home and look at all my photo albums.
Speaker B:Because you know what?
Speaker H:This is beautiful.
Speaker H:We are a strong, resilient people and we gonna be ok.
Speaker H:Like that.
Speaker H:That's how I left it.
Speaker H:Like this was beautiful.
Speaker H:I want a prequel.
Speaker H:Three sequels and another prequel and I just.
Speaker C:And a TV series.
Speaker H:Right, Right.
Speaker H:I just felt so extremely proud of, of my blackness.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Tego.
Speaker A:So what has the.
Speaker A:So first and foremost for anyone who is not familiar with DJ Tego.
Speaker A:So I've been following.
Speaker A:I've been following this man's tick tock ever since he joined us with the last podcast.
Speaker A:And he's been making multiple.
Speaker A:Okay, multiple videos dedicated to sinners.
Speaker A:Not only that, he's also made a few mixes.
Speaker A:So I think I can kind of.
Speaker A:I mean I can definitely see.
Speaker A:And of course I'm going to allow you to obviously like talk about what the film is meant to you, but clearly it has done something because what he's done is he's taken songs from the soundtrack and mixed it, you know, with other songs and it's.
Speaker A:They're incredible.
Speaker A:I suggest you all go follow him on TikTok right now just like all of the.
Speaker A:Our guests.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You know, to, to go and follow Them, of course, we'll have that in the show notes later on.
Speaker A:But, DJ Tego, what was.
Speaker A:What has this film meant to you?
Speaker F:I mean, if y' all can hear me, like, fundamentally, it was truly just like, if you have a creative talent, if you have a creative passion, if you have an art that speaks to you and speaks to your talents and abilities, do it.
Speaker F:Like, you don't need anyone's permission, you don't need any kind of gateway in front of you.
Speaker F:Like, do it, like, go all in.
Speaker F:Be a nerd about it, be outrageous about it.
Speaker F:Just go all in.
Speaker F:In.
Speaker F:Because you don't know what's going to happen.
Speaker F:You don't know what opportunities are going to open up for you.
Speaker F:But as long as you're rooted in just.
Speaker F:This is what I love to do, and I want to do it for this purpose.
Speaker F:Like, just go balls to the wall with it.
Speaker F:Like, it was clear from the interviews of Coogler that, like, now he's about this film stuff.
Speaker F:And it's funny because he was saying, like, before he, I think, just wanted to be a doctor, because that's just what, you know, you just do.
Speaker F:But then one of his teachers was like, you know, you should write.
Speaker F:Like, I read, like, your, I think, project.
Speaker F:It was like, you're a good writer.
Speaker F:You should look into screenplays and imagine just the universe where he just ended up not writing, where he ended up not going into the arts of this in this manner and didn't discover that love for it.
Speaker F:And we never got sinners.
Speaker F:So it's just like, speak to the stuff within you.
Speaker F:Like, let that speak through you and let these just wonderful things come out and just allow it to happen and just fall, like, just admit to it, you know?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker F:Because.
Speaker F:Because, like, imagine you've made a movie and I saw your.
Speaker F:Your video, Jackie, that was like, imagine you have.
Speaker F:You made.
Speaker F:You made a movie that has people saying they changed you change their DNA.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So just for reference, yes, I made.
Speaker A:So someone to another video that I made about sinners had said that this film altered their DNA.
Speaker A:And so I was like, let me make movies that alter people, that people come out of the film saying it altered my DNA.
Speaker A:That is the new bar.
Speaker A:That is the bar for me right now as a filmmaker.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker F:Right.
Speaker F:So it was just like what everyone has been saying.
Speaker F:Like, this was very clearly like a masterclass.
Speaker F:This is very clearly someone who knows what they're doing and knows it well enough to say, all right, let's start breaking some rules.
Speaker F:Let's Start bending some rules.
Speaker F:Let's start adding in things that you won't ever see, like, done again that won't have that signature of, like, I did that first and it was just so cool.
Speaker F:And like, the music, like, oh, my God, like I talked about on the previous podcast episode, but, like, immersive.
Speaker F:You need to see it in imax and if you can't see it in theaters, get the best sound system you can if you guys see it at home.
Speaker F:Because the music is part of the message delivery.
Speaker F:Like, it's essential to it.
Speaker F:So it was just all encompassing.
Speaker F:I think it was something that really like, gripped you on all, like, kind of five senses in a way.
Speaker F:And the message was just so, like, layered and powerful.
Speaker F:And the discourse has just been like, nonstop because of, like, it hit at the right time.
Speaker F:I think it really opened up conversations and raised questions.
Speaker F:Especially now in our very chaotic, very, very wild time within.
Speaker F:You know, people say it's late stage capitalism and stuff, but, like, yeah, it's just like, these are essential questions now amongst our folks across the diaspora about, like, where.
Speaker F:What do we invite in?
Speaker F:Like, what do we facilitate?
Speaker F:What do we do with our time?
Speaker F:What does it mean to be free?
Speaker F:What do we do to build that freedom for ourselves?
Speaker F:Even if.
Speaker F:Even if it's temporary, what does it build because of that?
Speaker F:You know, so just.
Speaker F:Just so much to talk about from it, so much to read because of it.
Speaker F:People read, keep on getting them books open and read.
Speaker F:It's just like, yeah, it was just.
Speaker F:Is.
Speaker F:What is art?
Speaker F:Cinema.
Speaker A:Cinema, yeah.
Speaker A:Hearing all of you speak about, like, what you.
Speaker A:What your first thoughts were or, you know, what the film has meant to you, that.
Speaker A:That's the thing I really love about.
Speaker A:I mean, we can say this about all art, but, like, specifically for me, for me as a filmmaker, as someone who is a film fan, I really love seeing people's reactions and hearing from all of you just how vastly different, right, everyone's experience is, but that, you know, there are semblances of, like, all of these things, you know, just as a people, right.
Speaker A:Like, which is why I wanted to get all of us together, like, to talk about the film.
Speaker A:Because there's so much that hits home for so many of us, and it's all.
Speaker A:While there are similarities, there is something for everyone.
Speaker A:And this film, I.
Speaker A:I've seen people, you know, wanting to see it and saying, hey, I'm a scaredy cat.
Speaker A:Is this going to, like, am I going to be.
Speaker A:Is this film for me?
Speaker A:And despite being scared, they still went and saw the film and got a lot out of it.
Speaker A:So with this film, I.
Speaker A:And of course, we'll.
Speaker A:We'll touch on the.
Speaker A:The music scene.
Speaker A:Because, of course, so many of you, like, talked about that.
Speaker A:I want to talk about something we didn't get to talk about the last time.
Speaker A:And I haven't really seen a lot of discourse about, but the importance of black elders.
Speaker A:Especially when we're talking about Delta Slim.
Speaker A:That scene in the car where he's talking about his friends getting lynched.
Speaker A:And then you hear.
Speaker A:Shout out to the sound team, who.
Speaker A:There's sound editors.
Speaker A:You could hear as he's talking, what's happening.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:I think for me, again, just watching this as both a film fan and a filmmaker, I'm like, they didn't show what was happening, which is one thing it says.
Speaker A:I feel like anytime we talk about trauma, they are always shove us right back to that time.
Speaker A:And then we're seeing it, and then it's just re.
Speaker A:Traumatizing people.
Speaker A:But we're hearing what's happening.
Speaker A:And then he starts to kind of trail off and he goes right into, like, a song.
Speaker A:Because, of course, music, you know, it's.
Speaker A:It's a way for us to cope.
Speaker A:It's a way for us to.
Speaker A:To.
Speaker A:It's a safe space for us.
Speaker A:And I also just, like, want to dive deeper into again, like, having someone like Delta Slim around who has been through it, who has seen so much and.
Speaker A:But who is also being this.
Speaker A:Whether, you know, on purpose or accidentally.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:He.
Speaker A:To the rest of the people in the film, specifically, of course, the other black folks in the film is someone that, you know, they are, you know, leaning on for whatever purpose.
Speaker A:But who is important?
Speaker A:Who.
Speaker A:His role.
Speaker A:I mean, I would say, like, Delta Slim's role in this is vastly important.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:He's.
Speaker A:He's helping others.
Speaker A:He's, you know, trying to, you know, impart wisdom, you know, onto, you know, the other characters in this film.
Speaker A:So I want to talk about again, like, the importance of our elders.
Speaker A:Like, do you feel his role in this speaks to a larger discussion about the importance of elders?
Speaker A:Or am I just, you know, am I.
Speaker A:Am I off?
Speaker A:Or is there anything in particular you want to say, you know, to Delta Slim's character?
Speaker A:Because I think he is the only one, right.
Speaker A:That is technically older than the rest of the.
Speaker A:His counterparts.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:What do y' all think?
Speaker B:Oh, you just hit a wound for me.
Speaker B:Low key.
Speaker A:I'm sorry.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:Which is important.
Speaker B:And I like that you asked that question Cuz for me, I guess it's.
Speaker B:He's like.
Speaker B:He's an important guide.
Speaker B:Like.
Speaker B:So when I went to see this movie, I saw it once.
Speaker B:And to be honest, I've been kind of going through a lot from watching that movie just one time because I said I've had like, epiphanies and stuff with it.
Speaker B:But around the time I went to see it, I went to see it on the anniversary of my thesis opening.
Speaker B:And thinking about my grandmother.
Speaker B:And unfortunately she passed last year and.
Speaker B:Ooh, sorry.
Speaker B:And even thinking about the symbolism of spirituality and guides.
Speaker B:And even for her, she was really big in the church.
Speaker B:Like one of my yoga friends said she was like a spiritual guide for me.
Speaker B:Like, she really helped me ask a lot of tough questions with myself.
Speaker B:So seeing the movie touch on stuff like that, even for Delta Slim.
Speaker B:Like how even him kind of going into that hymn, going back to his roots of like consoling himself.
Speaker B:And I'm glad they didn't show the part of the lynchings because it made me think about my grandmother, who she died at 73.
Speaker B: Like, she was born in: Speaker B:During her teenage years, she was very active and vocal in the civil rights movement down there, you know, so how she passed on a lot of that stuff to me and my siblings.
Speaker B:Like music?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Negro spiritual stuff like that.
Speaker B:The national black anthem.
Speaker B:How much that was so vital.
Speaker B:Like, some kids don't even know that song.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:You know, so like, how important elders, especially black elders, are in the community when it comes to transition of time and hardship.
Speaker B:So for me, it was.
Speaker B:It got.
Speaker B:I was a little emotional watching the movie, thinking about my grandma and that.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Else want to add?
Speaker D:Yeah, I definitely want to add to that because.
Speaker D:So Delta Slim is as.
Speaker D:As are all the characters in this film, very complicated.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker D:And so I think what my mind goes to when that kind of.
Speaker D:When we ask that question.
Speaker D:And I always think about how, you know, no one was essentialized in this film.
Speaker D:And Delta Slim starts off as someone who is not supportive, who is territorial and not interested until he was given something.
Speaker D:And along the way, though, as we get to know him, he opens up about why he is the way he is.
Speaker D:And it makes me think about how, you know, in my family.
Speaker D:And I feel like all of us can relate who are descendants of slaves.
Speaker D:We have really complicated relationships with the elders because of the trauma that passes through lineage.
Speaker D:And I felt that through Delta Slim.
Speaker D:But also I have relatives who have passed away who I think about who I Love dearly.
Speaker D:Who were complete assholes sometimes, who are people who made me laugh harder than I've ever laughed before, who I couldn't trust with certain things, but who, you know, I miss all the time.
Speaker D:And that moment in the car when he's, when they pass by the chain gang and he tells them he knew all of them.
Speaker D:It goes back into his history as a traveling musician.
Speaker D:Like why is he just on the corner working daily at this one place for not that much money at the train station, you know, at the train station, busking in the, during the day and then not really and looking for, for work, but also always putting his, his money into alcohol.
Speaker D:And, and even that is explained to us going into the, the, the blues.
Speaker D:I thought what an amazing way of talking about the origin of the blues without, I mean, showing us, without telling us.
Speaker D:And also I, you know, I'm an artist.
Speaker D:And also, full disclosure, Coco was one of my former students.
Speaker D:That's why at the very beginning, Coco was like, look at me.
Speaker D:But I make hums and where I use my voice and I layer it on top of each other and I made those hums as a way of soothing myself.
Speaker D:And then learned over time that it is a way that you can soothe your, your nervous system.
Speaker D:Not knowing that that's what I was doing.
Speaker D:I just did it out of impulse because I needed to be soothed.
Speaker D:And also the history comes from my grandmother who was known as a hummer.
Speaker D:She hummed all the time.
Speaker D:But also that sound, the sound of the lynching, you know, you, you mentioning that Jackie made me think of the movie Zone of Interest.
Speaker D:Did anyone see that film?
Speaker A:That's on my list.
Speaker D:So Zone of Interest also uses film, also uses sound in a really interesting way.
Speaker D:Sound of trauma, sound of genocide actually.
Speaker D:So it takes place in this.
Speaker D:A very important high ranking officer in the Nazi party who was basically overseeing exterminations in Auschwitz.
Speaker D:So the sounds you're hearing are Auschwitz, but you don't ever see Auschwitz.
Speaker D:You don't ever see the gas chambers.
Speaker D:You don't ever see people being tortured.
Speaker D:You hear the sound almost the entire film.
Speaker D:And there's something about that where again they're showing us not telling us.
Speaker D:And you get this trauma in a way that I feel like is even felt more deeply and identified with more deeply because we don't have to see it.
Speaker D:It allows our imagination to go there.
Speaker D:We didn't have to be in that train station with that man who was lynched through Delta Sim Slim's story, but we get to experience it with Delta through his memories, this trauma.
Speaker D:And there's just a layer of that that I think is, again, like, it's relatable in a way that we can feel it in our complicated.
Speaker D:And I'll say my complicated relationship with my elders, who I love but are not perfect for very, very good reasons, but still are people who, you know, are very important in showing us who we are and where we come from.
Speaker D:So.
Speaker A:Anyone else have anything to add?
Speaker C:I think 1.
Speaker C:Shout out to Delroy Lindo.
Speaker C:Like, he is my favorite.
Speaker C:Like, when I found out he was British, I was hurt.
Speaker D:What?
Speaker C:Wait a second.
Speaker B:I didn't know that.
Speaker C:You didn't know he was doing that?
Speaker C:He's British.
Speaker G:Sorry I'm yelling.
Speaker C:He's British.
Speaker C:It's okay.
Speaker C:That's what I did.
Speaker C:That is what I did.
Speaker C:Because that man plays black American trauma and black American men so well.
Speaker C:And it's just.
Speaker C:What is it?
Speaker C:I also just watched him in Unprisoned, right?
Speaker C:Have y' all seen Unprison?
Speaker C:I haven't, but I've heard he plays a father who's coming home from prison after leaving his daughter when she was, like, 10.
Speaker C:And he.
Speaker C:She was.
Speaker C:He was in prison for the rest of her life, or not rest of her life, but up until then for about 15 years, and left her with her white stepmother to raise her.
Speaker A:Her.
Speaker C:And they got all kinds of issues.
Speaker C:But he.
Speaker C:What he puts into that role as someone who had, like, a father who wasn't there, also dealt with the impact of, like, the prison system.
Speaker C:And just talking about the impact of prison system with black men in America specifically, I was like, this man's not.
Speaker C:What.
Speaker C:He's not American, He's British, but he.
Speaker C:But he understands and he gets it, and he just puts it forth in such a.
Speaker D:It's in the diaspora, though.
Speaker C:Like, he's not British, but within the diaspora, and that's.
Speaker C:And it's the same roots.
Speaker C:And I mean, that goes back to sinners, right?
Speaker C:Because it shows us we all have these shared roots of people that we will never, ever know their names, and we will never know what their lives were truly like, but they tie us all together.
Speaker C:And I feel like that's what his role really.
Speaker C:It bridged that gap of a time when these people that he's around will not know that because they weren't born yet.
Speaker C:You know, he has memories that they could never fathom.
Speaker C:And he.
Speaker C:And of course, he shared one that, of course, was really traumatizing.
Speaker C:And that's only the tip.
Speaker C:We don't know what else that man went through, Burying his life in alcohol as often as he can.
Speaker C:He obviously is fighting some demons bigger than we can even fathom.
Speaker C:And I think that was a juxtaposition.
Speaker C:The only other person that we see around like.
Speaker C:Like, older, older is Sammy at the end, when he is a successful musician who's able to realize the dreams of Delta Slim and his ancestors.
Speaker C:And I think.
Speaker C:And he now is that elder, but look what he been, what he went through and the piece that we saw.
Speaker C:So I think he really.
Speaker C:Delta Slim played such an important role.
Speaker C:And just in that.
Speaker C:The fact that that scene of him humming was improvised.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:It was improvised.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker F:That's why.
Speaker F:Is why you don't see Sammy playing the guitar when he was like, hey, play something.
Speaker F:It was like he did not know what to do.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Delroy was just being Delroy.
Speaker C:And that's what I mean.
Speaker C:It's like people online, you know, they like to say they like to self cast and put other people in it.
Speaker C:I'm like, nah, don't play with me.
Speaker C:Delroy was meant to play Delta Sims.
Speaker C:Whatever connection he had to that role, it was.
Speaker C:It was phenomenally displayed.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:I want to go into the music scene, and then, of course, I have other things I want to get into.
Speaker A:Of course, after that, however, cannot let this podcast go on without talking about the iconic scene that everyone is talking about, where Miles or Sammy, like, breaks out the guitar and you start seeing, seeing.
Speaker A:And of course, you hear in the background, I believe it's Annie with the voiceovers talking about, you know, how this gift.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:That Sammy has brings out both, you know, the ancestors we have from.
Speaker A:From the past and also the future.
Speaker A:So, yes, let's talk about it.
Speaker A:Let's talk about, you know, your thoughts or feelings around it.
Speaker A:You know, how it made you feel, what was going on through your head.
Speaker A:Who wants to start?
Speaker H:I'll go.
Speaker A:Okay, go on.
Speaker H:That.
Speaker H:That was my absolute favorite part.
Speaker H:And when I left, I went on Spotify and I got the.
Speaker H:The album, and then I went on Amazon when they released it, I got the cd.
Speaker F:Oh, dang.
Speaker D:Amazing.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker C:That CD in years.
Speaker H:That part was so amazing visually, because the imac screen.
Speaker A:Yes, yes.
Speaker H:And when it opened up, I was like, oh.
Speaker F:That'S really what it felt like, though.
Speaker H:And.
Speaker H:And then as they added, you know, there were some people who had issues with, you know, the.
Speaker H:The instruments they were adding or the.
Speaker H:The.
Speaker H:You know, it sounded chaotic to some people, but I love that.
Speaker H:I love that it sounds.
Speaker H:It seemed chaotic, but it was a balance of joining the past with the present with the future.
Speaker H:And so it would seem chaotic, but it still harmonized so well, you know what I mean?
Speaker H:And then my favorite part, and everybody gets on me for this, is to see the.
Speaker H:I don't know what tribe it's from, but we saw, like, African dancers doing the girl in the shells, and then they kind of veered over, and you saw a girl twerking.
Speaker H:Because I've had this soapbox stance that, like, twerking is not inherently sexual.
Speaker H:It is a dance.
Speaker H:And we dance.
Speaker H:We have rhythm.
Speaker H:It's in our blood.
Speaker H:And I just.
Speaker H:I love the.
Speaker H:The comparison, like, the connection of, like, look, you guys, this is what we do.
Speaker H:This is who we are.
Speaker H:This is what we come from.
Speaker H:And I just thought it was.
Speaker H:So my grandmother was with me, and she didn't understand it because she's half deaf, but I thought it was just a beautiful blending of culture, times, music to get that point across.
Speaker H:And then that last note, when the fire starts burning from when he summons the vampires, basically.
Speaker F:By mistake.
Speaker F:Not on purpose.
Speaker H:Yeah, by mistake, Right.
Speaker H:But that.
Speaker H:Oh, I had chills.
Speaker H:Chills.
Speaker H:I wanted to stand up and clap, but again, I live in a primarily white neighborhood, and I did not want to scare anybody, but I was like, can we just rewind that one second?
Speaker H:I just want to hear it one more time.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker H:It was.
Speaker H:It was absolutely beautiful.
Speaker H:It was my.
Speaker H:Cinematically, I think it was my favorite scene from any movie.
Speaker H:It was beautiful to see.
Speaker H:And then they had, like, the.
Speaker H:The Asian dancers come out as well.
Speaker H:And I was like, oh, I.
Speaker H:I just recently started watching K dramas, so I.
Speaker A:Wonder.
Speaker A:Shit, right?
Speaker H:And so I was like.
Speaker H:Like, oh, I know.
Speaker H:I know what they're doing.
Speaker H:Not to say Korean, but I was like, I know what they're doing.
Speaker H:And I just thought it was a beautiful combination of.
Speaker H:Of just music and life.
Speaker H:And again, that joy, that passion, that spirit that.
Speaker H:I think we, as a black community specifically have that grandiose presence that we seem to embody wherever we go, whatever we do, whatever we wear.
Speaker H:It was, like, all on that screen.
Speaker H:And I loved it.
Speaker H:I think he should win an Oscar just for that reason.
Speaker D:For real?
Speaker A:For real.
Speaker C:It's like to see the painting that we've all seen since we were, however, young, from Good Times, we're seeing that come to life on screen in a way that, like, the blend, people have to remember there's beauty in chaos.
Speaker C:As a chaotic person, I gotta remind people that, okay, there's beauty in chaos.
Speaker C:And every piece of that scene was important.
Speaker C:Annie being the one to walk us through it.
Speaker C:Who is this?
Speaker C:Who is this healer and protector and this nurturing soul.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:That people need to stop playing with online.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker C:Because that was insane to me.
Speaker C:The reaction of Annie, which we can get into.
Speaker A:True story.
Speaker C:Listen.
Speaker C:Like that.
Speaker C:I just.
Speaker C:The music scene.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:One of my favorite scenes I could rewatch over and over and over again and find something else that I enjoyed from it.
Speaker C:And Miles Katon voice.
Speaker A:Oh, my.
Speaker F:He has such an interesting voice.
Speaker B:I loved his voice with that voice.
Speaker C:That's crazy.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:It was just.
Speaker C:It was such a beautifully well done scene.
Speaker C:That's like.
Speaker C:Like Kyra brought up earlier, like, the.
Speaker C:The idea of, like, from pen to.
Speaker C:To screen.
Speaker C:This man wrote that scene and brought it to life like that.
Speaker C:And that's just astonishing.
Speaker C:I feel.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker A:It's also small note.
Speaker A:Not small, actually, because it's huge.
Speaker A:Miles did not know how to play guitar.
Speaker H:Right.
Speaker H:Yeah.
Speaker A:He learned specifically for the part.
Speaker H:That's that black excellence.
Speaker A:Listen, listen, Talk about it.
Speaker F:Everybody locked in for this movie.
Speaker F:Just absolutely everybody locked in.
Speaker H:The casting.
Speaker H:The casting directors, whoever was in charge.
Speaker H:Phenomenal job.
Speaker C:I will say.
Speaker C:Haley, I know.
Speaker C:That girl from Pitch Perfect.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker C:I was so confused and surprised.
Speaker B:How do you think I felt about Remic?
Speaker B:I watched him.
Speaker B:Jack O.
Speaker B:Connell since, like, Skins.
Speaker D:Oh, my.
Speaker B:The British act.
Speaker B:I'm telling you, the British actors are coming.
Speaker E:They're coming.
Speaker C:The British are coming.
Speaker C:Are coming.
Speaker B:Nosferatu, the monkey man.
Speaker A:Oh, my gosh, they're already here.
Speaker H:Vitamin.
Speaker A:Well, seriously.
Speaker D:And I wanted to.
Speaker D:Well, because I wanted to say something about the dance scene because there's something that.
Speaker D:Wait, the person who just spoke, what is her name again?
Speaker H:Heather.
Speaker D:Heather.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:Thank you, Heather.
Speaker D:So Heather reminded me it's not that scene, but it's the other scene when.
Speaker D:Oh, gosh, what is.
Speaker D:Sam.
Speaker D:The Irish.
Speaker A:We're getting the Irish Ginger.
Speaker C:Pearline.
Speaker D:Pearline.
Speaker C:Love me some Pearline.
Speaker D:When Pearline starts singing.
Speaker D:And there's that other music scene that is.
Speaker D:And to me, it reminded me of those paintings that we all have.
Speaker D:Or maybe not we all.
Speaker D:I'll say.
Speaker D:Like, I had this painting in my house growing up and a lot of my relatives had this painting, but it's an Ernie Barnes painting.
Speaker D:And it is almost of, like, black people dancing in a juke joint.
Speaker D:And I could have sworn that it was on purpose, the way she was dressed.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:And there was one scene where the way they were moving.
Speaker A:Shout out to Ruth Carter.
Speaker D:It looks just like those paintings.
Speaker D:And so.
Speaker D:But I was thinking about the word chaos.
Speaker D:And I think I've been really interested in people's responses to this because I think that's also what's really interesting, how this movie is working on people on many different levels.
Speaker D:But I didn't think chaos at all with that dance scene.
Speaker D:And I don't think it had anything to do with me understanding what was going on.
Speaker D:It's just that there is a.
Speaker D: ence to the present, which is: Speaker D:It was working with time in a way that was so amazing and very moving.
Speaker D:And the way we kind of circled around the dance floor.
Speaker D:This is how I also.
Speaker D:I didn't want to really look into any spoilers, but I know that there is a video about how the cinematographer shot that scene.
Speaker D:It is very difficult to shoot a scene like that, and I don't want to know, but I am actually very interested in how they choreograph that, but how we follow each other through.
Speaker D:And then you hear the references in the music as well.
Speaker D:But I also think it's really interesting people's responses to this in, like, you know, negative or critical or.
Speaker D:I would.
Speaker D:I would say, like internal.
Speaker D:Ashamed over certain things where, you know, there was a.
Speaker D:Because I'm from la and there were Bloods and Crips were represented on there.
Speaker D:And I've been going through a whole other thing with.
Speaker D:With rap music and hip hop, you know, think.
Speaker D:Thanks to Kendrick Lamar.
Speaker D:And I'm.
Speaker D:Because I'm from.
Speaker D:I'm.
Speaker D:I grew up.
Speaker D:No, should I say I grew up in a neighborhood where there are people I know who know people.
Speaker D:And I grew up.
Speaker D:I'll just say.
Speaker D:And.
Speaker D:And I grew up with a lot of stigma around that way of dancing, that type of music.
Speaker D:And what's been happening is a lot of things have been happening where it's felt more safe to do certain things that you wouldn't do outside the neighborhood and to see it on the screen.
Speaker D:And I know Coogler is from California as well, so he has those references.
Speaker D:It just filled me with a lot of just connection.
Speaker D:And I will say, in the theater I went to, there weren't many other black people there, but.
Speaker D:So when the Irish jig park came up, there's a man across the aisle who had my reaction.
Speaker D:His reaction to that Irish jig was my reaction to this mainly African, Black American, African American scene on the dance floor.
Speaker D:And I was just like, oh, this is just really fascinating.
Speaker D:And again, like, my only issue is that I want it more.
Speaker D:I want it more Chinese.
Speaker D:I want it more of those representations too.
Speaker D:I want it more in the Irish section as well.
Speaker D:But also, the last thing is, like, the roof actually burned.
Speaker D:Can we curse on here?
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker D:They burned the motherfucking roof.
Speaker D:You know, the roof was on fire.
Speaker D:And when that happened, I was just like, oh, my God.
Speaker D:Like, does anyone know, like, the roof is on?
Speaker D:Yes, they're letting this motherfucker burn, burn, burn.
Speaker D:Just like, are you kidding me?
Speaker D:And so when they're in, they're outside, it's burned.
Speaker D:And then.
Speaker D:But it didn't really burn because I was like, wait, is it really burn now?
Speaker D:But that, that flashback.
Speaker D:But even that reference, even that was something that was like, the roof is on fire.
Speaker D:This is incredible.
Speaker D:So, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:And then the white people came and messed up all the joy.
Speaker E:Okay?
Speaker C:Men are dangerous, right?
Speaker A:Men are dangerous.
Speaker C:If that wasn't a scene, like, just seeing them see these folks be happy and joyous and it's like.
Speaker C:And be like, I'm gonna go fuck it up.
Speaker C:And it's just.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker H:You're never really alone.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:When you're black, you're never alone.
Speaker A:For anyone who knows that sound on TikTok, another note.
Speaker A:So when you're talking about when you mentioned Bri Ram and he had to come and, and mess it up.
Speaker A:So when he, I, I, I looked up.
Speaker A:I was trying to look up like, the other songs.
Speaker A:So, like the, the Irish, you know, songs, or specifically actually the song pick Poor Robin Clean.
Speaker A:So, like, that's the first.
Speaker A:I think that's the first one that we're introduced to.
Speaker A:I looked this up.
Speaker A:It is actually, it comes from us.
Speaker A:It's a black.
Speaker A:It's a black song.
Speaker A:Black American song.
Speaker A:And the reason.
Speaker A:So Remick is singing that when he's approaching the people in the, in the juke joint.
Speaker A:And to me, that just, I mean, there's, of course, there's so many layers.
Speaker A:There's so many layers packed into the film.
Speaker A:But the fact that Remick is singing that a song that he knows that black folks are going to know, he shows up right?
Speaker A:Clean.
Speaker A:Like, cleaned up, dressed up.
Speaker A:I heard tales of a party, right?
Speaker A:To try to get into the juke joint.
Speaker A:And then just to add the layer on top of that, to be singing this song because he knows that black folks Are familiar with it.
Speaker A:Just another way of, like, again, trying to use someone's culture, use someone's music in order to get an in for your own selfish and destructive purposes.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, go ahead.
Speaker A:Sorry.
Speaker F:That's a.
Speaker F:Like, the whole, like, the dramatic irony of that whole scene.
Speaker F:Yeah, I loved it because I was just like, you know, they don't know that they're literal monsters.
Speaker F:They don't know that they're literal vampires.
Speaker F:But it's still like, you're not coming in here.
Speaker F:Because we know the monstrosity of this white supremacist system is always just going to mess us up.
Speaker F:Because he was like, if we look at them funny, if we step on their shoe, if they get mad and they call up the boys in the clan, it's raps for everybody anyway.
Speaker F:So it's already just like, yo, we don't even know that you're literally going to try and eat us, but we've already been burned by this system and this monstrosity.
Speaker F:And it's like the dramatic irony of, like, hey, this is a killing house, too, that they literally bought from, like, clan members.
Speaker F:Like, people have already been brutalized and died in here.
Speaker F:It's just like, just layers and layers upon that.
Speaker F:And then I didn't even realize.
Speaker F:Pick Poor Robin Clean was like a black American song, too.
Speaker F:And he's all right saying, hey, man, I'm going to.
Speaker F:I'm going to.
Speaker F:I'm going to take your shit.
Speaker F:Like, I know.
Speaker F:I'm going to take you.
Speaker F:Like.
Speaker F:Like, yo, audience knows what's going on.
Speaker F:And it's just like, y' all get it too, though.
Speaker F:Like, y' all see it, but you don't see it.
Speaker F:See it, but y' all see it.
Speaker F:You, like, get.
Speaker F:Get out.
Speaker F:Like, get from here.
Speaker F:Like, it's so funny.
Speaker A:I mean, it's just for.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's like, it's.
Speaker A:And I'm.
Speaker A:I'm leading.
Speaker A:I'm going to say this and lead into another question that's been a huge debate online in particular for me.
Speaker A:And I don't know if any of you, like, also got this, but a big.
Speaker A:A big theme.
Speaker A:There's a number of themes.
Speaker A:But a big theme in the film that I felt, you know, was just like, out there, was like, stop inviting people to the cookout.
Speaker A:Please stop inviting people to the proverbial.
Speaker F:Ginger.
Speaker F:Ginger.
Speaker F:People are black.
Speaker A:Oh, no.
Speaker D:What does that mean?
Speaker A:We're not.
Speaker H:That was just a joke.
Speaker H:And then people didn't understand the joke.
Speaker B:Yeah, pretty much, like, the joke pretty much was Like.
Speaker B:Well, because I feel like it was.
Speaker H:Because they get picked on.
Speaker B:No, but it's also like.
Speaker B:I feel like it's like watching people.
Speaker B:It's like watching telephone, the game of telephone.
Speaker B:So, like, the question.
Speaker B:The thing was pretty much like, redheads are.
Speaker B:And not saying that they are, but are the black.
Speaker B:Are the black folks of the white community, like, how they get treated outwardly because of their appearance and stuff.
Speaker B:So, of course, people taking something like that and just running with everything else, cutting things down to, oh, black.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, So I was.
Speaker B:That's what I've been watching, like, through the lens.
Speaker B:And I was like.
Speaker B:It was also funny thinking about the conversation of pick Poor Robin Clean.
Speaker B:Like, that part I learned.
Speaker B:The fact of him singing that song is so funny because that song came out a year before.
Speaker B:Not even a year before.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay, so the conversation of appropriation.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So that fact that he sang that.
Speaker C:Song at the door, does he know that song because he ate someone who.
Speaker D:Knew that he stole the memory.
Speaker H:Yo, real.
Speaker D:Ask the real question.
Speaker E:Look, I wanted to add to that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker E:And say that the same thing they did with using the music to try to befriend the black group, they did with religion.
Speaker E:So at one point, the woman, the one who was.
Speaker E:It was the two men, and then she was the woman vampire.
Speaker E:I think she said, this is a community of love.
Speaker E:And I'm like, how many times do we hear that?
Speaker E:And we know better.
Speaker E:They use certain language and words and terms and coins to make it sound.
Speaker E:Yes, exactly.
Speaker E:When, in fact, we know that's not the case.
Speaker E:So, you know, it's nothing new.
Speaker E:It's something that's been done.
Speaker E:But seeing it on screen and just seeing those examples of how people can appropriate and try to cause harm with this facade or this costume, that they're there with love and good intention.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:All were welcome with Remic because he was like, racist me, the Klan.
Speaker H:No, no, he was offended.
Speaker A:Legit.
Speaker F:I sent people up myself.
Speaker H:I think he had a moment because the other two were clan members and he had their memories and thoughts in his head.
Speaker H:So he was like.
Speaker C:Right, right.
Speaker A:So he specifically said, sir, he was offended.
Speaker A:How dare you?
Speaker H:He was like, I bit them.
Speaker H:And they will not.
Speaker C:They've been converted.
Speaker C:Don't worry.
Speaker A:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker A:All right, Big question.
Speaker A:Because I say, the reason I say big question, because it's been a bit of a debate.
Speaker A:Here we go.
Speaker A:Was Grace in the wrong?
Speaker H:Yes.
Speaker F:Yes.
Speaker C:Somebody said it.
Speaker C:We had options.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker H:I understand why she did.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker H:I don't understand, but it was still wrong.
Speaker D:Okay, I will say.
Speaker D:Wait, did anyone else have anything to say before?
Speaker D:Okay, because as I.
Speaker D:Because I.
Speaker D:So I saw this before I saw the.
Speaker D:I saw your question, Jackie, before I saw the movie the second time.
Speaker D:And I thought about that at those moments, and honestly, they.
Speaker D:They put Grace through a lot.
Speaker D:She.
Speaker F:They did.
Speaker D:They put her through so much.
Speaker D:I think out of everyone who had.
Speaker D:Who was going to lose someone, who had lost someone that we also had, like, kind of a relationship with that they had introduced as a character, she.
Speaker D:It was.
Speaker D:I was like, no, I get it.
Speaker D:I get.
Speaker D:Was so overwhelming at the end.
Speaker D:And also to know we don't know what happened to her daughter, but that was a real.
Speaker D:There was real chance that she was gonna lose her daughter as well.
Speaker D:And so in a way, I felt like out of everyone there, she was.
Speaker D:She was.
Speaker D:She was the one to kind of.
Speaker D:I.
Speaker D:I totally think that she was not necessarily in the wrong.
Speaker D:I totally understood.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:I wouldn't.
Speaker E:I wouldn't say that she was wrong.
Speaker E:I am not a mother.
Speaker E:I'm not a parent, but I can imagine if I was, that my child is going to be at the top of the list.
Speaker E:I don't give a damn who's in the room.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker E:And I don't think it was.
Speaker E:I don't care about the black community.
Speaker E:I hope you all die or become vampires.
Speaker E:It was more so.
Speaker E:I have a legacy.
Speaker E:I have a seed out there who needs me to protect her, and I need to get out.
Speaker E:Granted, it wasn't likely that they were gonna, you know, make it out, but just from hearing people talk about the love that they have for their children unconditionally, I can't blame her for sacrificing herself and everybody else to make sure or try to make sure that her child was going to be saved, safe, not be in harm's way.
Speaker E:The other element of that, though, is, I will say, I think it is a projection of how the black community interacts with each other versus other communities.
Speaker E:So she came to a point where she said, okay, yeah, I'm cool with y' all, but I got this kid over here, so that's more important than you.
Speaker E:And I just feel like in our community, we are already lumped into bipoc.
Speaker E:So we have us, and then everybody else is in there and we get lost in the sauce.
Speaker E:So I think that that scene kind of shows like, okay, you know, the Asian community, they're looking out for themselves.
Speaker E:They might help us up until a certain point, but when it gets to their preservation, they're like, okay, this is where.
Speaker E:This is where we.
Speaker E:We're parting ways.
Speaker E:But in the black community, a lot of times we sacrifice ourselves for others or we get sacrifice for others.
Speaker E:And I think that scene really was powerful in showing, you know, how we're different from other groups and maybe learning, like, maybe we.
Speaker E:We need to start.
Speaker E:And I can't ignore the fact that when we do have our own, it gets destroyed.
Speaker E:So I will not overlook that when we have our own.
Speaker E:You know, like, what was it, Greenwood in Oklahoma and all these other places that existed, outsiders came in and destroyed.
Speaker E:So it's not like we haven't tried to do that, but I think we still need to continue to do that.
Speaker E:So I really appreciated the elements in that particular scene and showing, you know, sacrifice of motherhood, sacrifice of self and others in order to protect your offspring, but also self preservation of your group, whatever that group may be.
Speaker D:And I will say in response to that, to go back to it, that there's.
Speaker D:I don't.
Speaker D:I don't think that it's real.
Speaker D:It's a.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:I.
Speaker D:I think that we.
Speaker D:I don't want to rep.
Speaker D:I don't want to put on Grace that she's representing the Chinese Southern community or that anyone else in this movie is representing, like, the black community, only to say, to go back to this character and what was done to her as Grace, as losing her husband, seeing him as one of the vampires who's so seductive at that.
Speaker H:Those.
Speaker D:Those threshold scenes were so painful because they were so seductive.
Speaker D:And then here.
Speaker D:You.
Speaker D:Here it's.
Speaker D:And also so successful in seeing how.
Speaker D:How not easy, how difficult it is to stay inside to see your loved one talking and sounding just like the person that you love who left who you know is dead.
Speaker D:And.
Speaker D:And that.
Speaker D:And.
Speaker D:And the.
Speaker D:Also the scene of Remik talking to her in Chinese.
Speaker D:No one else could understand.
Speaker C:That's true.
Speaker D:No one could understand what he was saying, but she could.
Speaker D:So in that sense, it's not about self preservation as, like, you know, fuck y' all black people.
Speaker D:It's all.
Speaker D:For me, it's like, Grace, I've lost my husband.
Speaker D:I might lose my daughter, and here's this man threatening assaults of my daughter.
Speaker D:And it's just the response of a human being of something that is so overwhelmingly wrong and, yes, a violation that's so intimate and so deep that why would we expect her to be rational?
Speaker D:Why.
Speaker D:Why would we expect her to have a rational response like her response to me actually Was rational if you want to, you know, have it as to its logical end.
Speaker D:And also in a way it's so specific, so specific.
Speaker D:So many people of these characters were specific where it's like, yeah, I can't relate to that.
Speaker D:And so in a way all I have to do is step back and just kind of trust.
Speaker D:This is, this is the decision that Grace came up against.
Speaker D:But also I think it's also that thing of taking us outside of making it a general thing and appreciating just how well written this whole scenario was for this particular character as an individual.
Speaker B:Also I will also say I don't know if you.
Speaker B:Oh there it is.
Speaker B:And I'm glad you both said that because I agree with you both in that.
Speaker B:Cuz I was like, I'm an older sister, I don't have kids, my sister has kids.
Speaker B:So I understand that innate situation of not say everybody but right, my kids and stuff.
Speaker B:But I'm also saying even for me, because I had to sit with my own self, I'm like maybe I'm not mature enough for this, you know, to sit with this kind of conflict and everything because I was also like well this is what.
Speaker B:Nothing what happens.
Speaker B:But when we bring people into, into groups.
Speaker B:And especially because my.
Speaker B:I get what she went through was rough.
Speaker B:Like really rough.
Speaker B:But I was also like prior to when everything was already shifting, especially with stack like they're ready to go.
Speaker B:And I was like dang, the switch of well, this is not my problem.
Speaker B:This doesn't relate to me to oh my God, now this is my problem.
Speaker B:This is really hitting home type stuff.
Speaker B:So like I like that mix of conflict in that storyline because you know, I.
Speaker B:And the thing it took me a while because I was so frustrated with that scene.
Speaker B:I was so angry.
Speaker B:But when I sat and really thought about it, I was like, her name's Grace.
Speaker C:Grace.
Speaker B:Her name is Grace.
Speaker A:You know, and, and and to add to that.
Speaker A:So when you said grace, because I was thinking about it earlier today.
Speaker A:So the, the movie is called Sinners and what does it always say in the Bible?
Speaker A:You know, by grace.
Speaker A:Like sinners.
Speaker A:Like yeah, so sinners are saved by grace.
Speaker A:And I'm like.
Speaker B:And like I had to sit with.
Speaker A:It or not, right?
Speaker B:No, no, for real.
Speaker B:I had to really sit with that because I was like, I have been in situations where I had to like as an older sibling, protect my siblings.
Speaker B:That's the biggest role as an older sibling.
Speaker B:Don't come home and see without.
Speaker B:Without that, you know, so like it by Nature I couldn't understand because I've been in those situations where I had to protect a sibling just off of bat, like, not even thinking.
Speaker B:It's just moving, you know?
Speaker B:So that's why I was like.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker H:I was gonna say.
Speaker H:Oh, sorry.
Speaker F:Yeah, I was just gonna say, like, the entire.
Speaker F:Oh, my bad.
Speaker F:Actually.
Speaker F:No, you haven't spoken a bit.
Speaker F:You got it.
Speaker H:Yeah.
Speaker G:Oh, okay.
Speaker G:I'll just make it quick.
Speaker G:I totally agree with what Coco said.
Speaker G:I don't have any kids either, but I do have a nephew.
Speaker G:And horror movies, well, the whole genre is my favorite genre.
Speaker G:I watch horror movies a lot.
Speaker G:And I'm not gonna say I'm not loyal or anything, but as soon as things get rough or if I gotta choose something, I'm out.
Speaker G:If it was a family or, like, people, I'm just hanging around, I'm gonna choose family.
Speaker G:That's all.
Speaker F:Like, we all see the memes.
Speaker F:We all see the memes about black people in horror movies.
Speaker F:So we're like, why?
Speaker D:Why?
Speaker F:Following the waste.
Speaker F:We're going home.
Speaker H:But I just.
Speaker G:Oh, I'm sorry.
Speaker H:I'm gonna wrap it up.
Speaker G:I just want to say I think she held out for a good bit on going with what the twins, well, Smoke and everybody else wanted to do.
Speaker G:You know, she was like, okay, you say, we can just wait a little longer.
Speaker G:I'll wait.
Speaker G:And she tried, but she had a lot on the line and maybe how she was acting towards the twins and how the things they do made people think she was kind of like, it was like a racial betrayal.
Speaker G:But I think she just realized there's some danger involved with them.
Speaker G:So even though, you know, I'll work with them, I'll do this for them, I got to keep my distance.
Speaker G:That's all.
Speaker H:Yeah, I think that.
Speaker H:I think this is one of the underlying messages of the film, because I don't know if they meant to do it, but I was like, is this one of those.
Speaker H:The Asian community was dealing with the black community very strongly, very heavily, until white people got involved.
Speaker H:And white people and white supremacy literally was like, hey, we don't want you to like them.
Speaker H:We don't want you to get along with them.
Speaker H:Nobody can get along with them.
Speaker H:So come here.
Speaker H:We're going to give you loans.
Speaker H:We're going to let you buy property.
Speaker H:We're going to let you own stores.
Speaker H:And that literally put in the disconnect between the Asian community and the black community.
Speaker H:And so when I saw that scene, I was like, no, would they?
Speaker H:Because as a mother the first thing I thought was, I'm not gonna tell them to come inside.
Speaker H:Cause then if they kill all of us, who's gonna protect my baby?
Speaker H:We got to plan out what to do.
Speaker H:We have to plan how we gonna kill all these people.
Speaker H:Cause we got to kill all of them before we leave here because they know where my baby is.
Speaker H:That's what I thought as a mother watching that.
Speaker H:So when she called them in and then immediately died, I was like, and you see why we don't do stuff when we don't think and make a plan, especially when we have babies.
Speaker H:Do you see.
Speaker F:Went out in a literal blaze of glory?
Speaker A:Yes, Literal blaze of glory.
Speaker H:Yes.
Speaker A:I do have a note about.
Speaker A:So, Heather, what you were saying about the Chinese community.
Speaker A:So there is a.
Speaker A:I think it's eight minutes.
Speaker A:It's an eight minute documentary by Al Jazeera about six Southern Chinese in the Mississippi Delta.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:Okay, yes.
Speaker A:And so for everyone else who is watching, listening.
Speaker A:So as I would definitely say, go and watch that.
Speaker A:Like I said, it's only eight minutes, but it's packed with a lot of information.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Because, you know, the Chinese community at that time, you know, they were coming, I guess so, when.
Speaker A:When enslaved folks were freed.
Speaker A:And I'm putting quotes around freedom.
Speaker A:When they were freed.
Speaker A:Of course, now those enslavers, or former enslavers didn't have people to work the land, so they brought over Chinese Americans and Chinese Americans, because they were looking.
Speaker A:Or Chinese folks, they were looking for opportunities, you know, for jobs.
Speaker A:And of course they could.
Speaker A:They.
Speaker A:What they ended up doing was obviously.
Speaker A:Or not maybe not obvious, but they would charge them, you know, or they would give them, you know, smaller wages, but because, you know, they were willing to, you know, do whatever work they took that.
Speaker A:The thing is, though, like, they weren't allowed to be where, you know, white folks obviously were.
Speaker A:And because they're not white nor black, it's trying to find, like your place, right?
Speaker A:Because you don't.
Speaker A:You don't.
Speaker A:You can't.
Speaker A:Or, you know, you're not necessarily associating with white folks at the same time.
Speaker A:Like, you know, because again, white supremacy is at work.
Speaker A:You're now like, okay, you're in this community.
Speaker A:What would happen is.
Speaker A:So the.
Speaker A:The fam.
Speaker A:The specific family they talk about in the documentary, they served both the white and.
Speaker A:And the black community there.
Speaker A:They had two stores, one on either side of the street.
Speaker A:So that's why in the movie, you see, you know, there's two stores.
Speaker A:The thing is, and this is what we got me thinking back to, like, this question of, you know, regardless of whether or not, you know, Grace is this representation of, like, cross racial solidarity and all that.
Speaker A:What got me thinking about that was the fact that Grace is on the.
Speaker A:She serves the white side of the community, and Beau serves the black side of the community.
Speaker A:Beau also, though, you know, to that end has a relationship with smoke and stick.
Speaker A:More specifically smoke.
Speaker A:Um, so it just got me thinking about that.
Speaker A:And also, too, the thing is, you know, Heather, when you're talking about, you know, well, white folks, you know, they were offering, you know, Chinese Americans, they were offering them property.
Speaker A:They actually, I remember in that documentary.
Speaker A:So for.
Speaker A:Again, for everyone else who's listening, they were not allowed to own homes.
Speaker A:So a lot of them actually lived in their shops.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:And the.
Speaker A:The reason why they were able to, you know, make the money that they did, even if it was a little bit, they, you know, they thrived right off, off of, you know, what black Americans were giving them.
Speaker A:But at the same time, too, because, you know, black folks at the time were working as sharecroppers.
Speaker A:A lot of them didn't have the money to be able to pay, you know, things in the store.
Speaker A:So often what would happen is there'd be these agreements between, you know, the Chinese store owners, right.
Speaker A:And the black community where they would kind of work.
Speaker A:They would, you know, pay in installments.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You know, they would give them store credit and do this.
Speaker A:So it's this really kind of, like, complicated and not complicated in many different ways.
Speaker A:Like, relationship.
Speaker A:And, you know, we see things like that all the time.
Speaker D:I just have.
Speaker D:Sorry.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker D:One other thing to say.
Speaker D:When you brought up Bo's relationship with Smoke and Stack, Smoke and Stack were also some, like, rough.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker D:And so, yeah, I also got at the very beginning that Grace was kind of like, all right, they're back in town.
Speaker D:Like, oh, my God, here.
Speaker D:All trouble.
Speaker D:All trouble.
Speaker D:Always coming up with something.
Speaker D:You're wrapping my husband into whatever, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker D:And so it's.
Speaker D:That's.
Speaker D:That's.
Speaker D:Yeah, I feel like that's also.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker D:Factor in that as well.
Speaker D:But they were just like.
Speaker H:And they were troublemakers.
Speaker A:They were troublemakers.
Speaker F:They shot two men.
Speaker A:They shot two men.
Speaker A:They shot two men.
Speaker A:And then he turns around and is like, teaching this girl how to bargain.
Speaker D:Like, Exactly.
Speaker A:Wait a minute.
Speaker C:You are complicated people.
Speaker C:Multifaceted.
Speaker C:Okay, yes, multifaceted.
Speaker H:But I don't think that Grace, like, turned on them or.
Speaker H:I don't think Grace was anti Black.
Speaker H:Like, there was a lot of sentiment of Grace being, oh, well, she just wanted money from the black community, but she didn't really have any bond with them.
Speaker H:I was like, she absolutely seemed to have a bond with them.
Speaker H:When her and Smoke were going back and forth to haggle out, it made me think, wait a minute.
Speaker H:Did Grace teach Smoke, or did Smoke teach Grace, like, the little girl outside how to haggle?
Speaker H:Like, Price for Money?
Speaker H:Absolutely, because it paralleled that scene.
Speaker H:But I didn't get the sense that Grace was like, screw these black people.
Speaker H:I got to go.
Speaker D:Cause this whole time, it was actually.
Speaker D:Well, not the whole.
Speaker D:The whole time, but as we were talking and also during the film.
Speaker D:I'm from la, so I was alive during the riots.
Speaker D:And all the small stores in our neighborhood were owned by Koreans who didn't live in our neighborhood.
Speaker D:And of course, we didn't know about the systemic issues around that in terms of ownership and how that.
Speaker D:And so I'm saying we all know it exists in real life that there is a systemic thing around.
Speaker D:Who do we give access to, especially with property, in order to create these, like, class, racial, social divisions that are artificial, that wouldn't necessarily be there otherwise, you know, with, like, you know, whatever.
Speaker D:But.
Speaker D:But that, that, that.
Speaker D:As I'm saying what I'm saying about the specificity here, but that it.
Speaker D:This is also something that it points to and it comes from a real place that we all have experienced.
Speaker D:Because even though, like.
Speaker D:Yeah, I remember that.
Speaker D:Yeah, I think about the riots where all those doors burned.
Speaker D:People burn those stores down.
Speaker D:And even though they knew those store owners, the feeling was like, why do you get to own a store?
Speaker D:Why are you in our neighborhood when you live in such and such a place?
Speaker D:You don't live in la.
Speaker D:So.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah, it comes from a place.
Speaker A:Okay, so we will start.
Speaker A:Of course, I don't.
Speaker A:I want to keep talking forever, but a couple of things.
Speaker A:A couple of things.
Speaker A:1.
Speaker A:And then we can.
Speaker A:Again, we can talk about it.
Speaker A:But I kept thinking about.
Speaker A:I've seen.
Speaker A:I've seen memes about this, and I've just been loving.
Speaker A:I mean, I've been loving all of it, but specifically for.
Speaker A:Because I know, Bri, you said.
Speaker A:And we've had this conversation.
Speaker A:These conversations before, and you stated how much you love vampires.
Speaker A:I wanted to know.
Speaker A:And then for anyone else who's watching Interview with a Vampire, by the way, you should be watching Interview with the Vampire on amc.
Speaker A:That is what I'm saying.
Speaker A:Listen.
Speaker F:Quality tv.
Speaker A:Quality.
Speaker A:So I want to know Bri, if Stack, because we're talking about like one state over, pretty much.
Speaker A:Would Stack and Louie, do you think they would get along?
Speaker C:I think them and their white girlfriends would have a fantastic time on the town.
Speaker C:I think they would create a little covet.
Speaker F:Oh my God.
Speaker F:God.
Speaker C:And they would have a great time.
Speaker C:But I think Stack is a little like, Louie is fake rough.
Speaker C:I don't think he's rough rough.
Speaker C:I think Stack is rough rough.
Speaker C:Like he working for Capone, he out here stealing from the Irish Italians.
Speaker C:Like, I think Louie like a little spoiled at the end of.
Speaker C:I, I think it's the last season, he's like telling the other vampires to come get him.
Speaker C:And I'm like, you don't really mean that.
Speaker F:Like, you don't really.
Speaker F:He was taking care of him.
Speaker F:He was.
Speaker B:He, he.
Speaker C:It's not that he's not strong and can't hold himself.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:I think.
Speaker F:Right.
Speaker C:I think we do get to see Louis as a character who can hold himself, but I think he's also very easily manipulated.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Because why am I.
Speaker C:Armand?
Speaker C:Armand.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker C:That one, like he, he plays the timid, the one that's being controlled.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Like Louis thinks he's controlling Armand, but Armand is controlling Louis the whole time.
Speaker C:And the same goes for Lestat.
Speaker C:Like he is easily controlled by a pretty face.
Speaker C:And that's just a reality of Louis.
Speaker C:So I will say that Stack may be a little too hard for Louie.
Speaker C:Like for real.
Speaker E:For real.
Speaker C:But in my dream world, it's a covet.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh my God.
Speaker D:I would love that, right?
Speaker D:To be cute.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Real.
Speaker A:If we can, if we can be real quick about this.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I want to also, because we've, we've gotten into a lot of topics both heavy and not so heavy.
Speaker A:Of course it comes, you know, with the nature of.
Speaker A:Well, I can't even say a film like this because there is no film like this.
Speaker A:But can we please talk about like the funniest moments for you in this film?
Speaker A:For me, it was for me.
Speaker A:I mean, there's many, but me, we all gotta be kind to one another.
Speaker A:I'm like BS Cornbread.
Speaker F:Like, what do you mean?
Speaker A:What are you talking about?
Speaker C:I think what Mary said, boy, if you don't get the fuck out my face.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker C:I said, I believe your half black grandparents.
Speaker C:It was all in there when you, you said that, cuz even with the.
Speaker A:One drop rule and everything.
Speaker F:Listen, I felt that Delta Slim was carrying the comedy when Sammy was going in to check on, on Stack he saw them and then Delta said, oh, they busy.
Speaker C:He wasn't shit for that.
Speaker C:He wasn't shit for that.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:I love that moment when he was, you know, he was basically, like, sacrificing himself, this Delta Slam sacrifice himself.
Speaker D:And he admitted that that Irish beer was so nasty.
Speaker D:But he picked up.
Speaker D:He was like, still nasty.
Speaker D:He's about to get eaten alive.
Speaker D:And he's just like.
Speaker F:Terrible.
Speaker D:I was like, oh, my God, this is so.
Speaker D:And I needed that because that was when it was getting real intense.
Speaker D:I was like, no doubt.
Speaker D:But I loved how he went out like that.
Speaker G:You know, I'm gonna say the scene, the same thing with Cornbread at the door.
Speaker G:It was so tense and.
Speaker G:And Danny's questioning him and he's like, she like, why you not.
Speaker G:Why you won't just walk in the door?
Speaker G:You know?
Speaker G:And he tells him, first of all, I don't know why I'm talking to you with your stale.
Speaker A:First of all, that was the last straw.
Speaker F:Just about to say, smoke.
Speaker F:Smoke this, man.
Speaker H:What you talking about?
Speaker B:I have two points.
Speaker B:So my first one was, of course, when Stack turns into a vampire and Smoke answers, he's like, excuse me.
Speaker B:He's like, nigga, is that you?
Speaker B:Nah, it's Jim Crow.
Speaker B:And that scene with that door, I was telling Jackie about this one.
Speaker B:I said that whole scene.
Speaker B:I was like, why does this scene seem so familiar?
Speaker B:And I realized, I feel like that's supposed to be an homage to Quentin Tarantino scene in Django Unchained with the Clan scene where they're trying to get the masks and stuff on.
Speaker B:Like that whole comedic relief.
Speaker B:And you're just like, bro, like, what are you doing?
Speaker A:Get in here.
Speaker H:I can't see nothing in these beds.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:Heather, what was the funny moment for you?
Speaker H:I had two, and it was.
Speaker H:I don't think this was supposed to be comedy.
Speaker H:But at the very beginning, when the native dude, when she had the gun to his head and he looked past her, he's seen the hood.
Speaker H:And he was like, y' all have a good night.
Speaker A:Oh, I laughed.
Speaker H:Cause I was like, they're gonna.
Speaker H:Don't try to help them.
Speaker H:And when they just left, I was like, that's right.
Speaker F:God bless him and his native tongue.
Speaker F:He's like, you gotta stand this.
Speaker H:And then the cornbread scene.
Speaker H:But when.
Speaker H:But when Delta Slim was like, what are we supposed to be doing?
Speaker H:Because he seems so sincere.
Speaker H:Like, yeah, am I missing something?
Speaker H:Like, there's fucking vampires outside.
Speaker C:What are we supposed to be doing here?
Speaker H:I Thought that whole.
Speaker H:That whole exchange was for that.
Speaker H:That actor.
Speaker H:Omar.
Speaker A:Omar Miller.
Speaker H:Omar Miller.
Speaker H:He is hilarious.
Speaker H:I've been ODing on there, like, their interviews.
Speaker H:He is.
Speaker H:He is a whole mess.
Speaker H:Yes, yes.
Speaker A:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:Katara, did you talk about your funny moment for you?
Speaker E:I thought it was funny when Remick and his posse were leaving and he's like, well, we're gonna walk real slow.
Speaker E:I'm like.
Speaker F:Look at back.
Speaker D:Oh, my God.
Speaker D:That whole thing they did with their guitar.
Speaker F:Because.
Speaker D:And I was thinking about that when we're talking about the song and how that's supposed to ingratiate them to black people.
Speaker D:I'm like, but the way y' all perform it is ridiculous.
Speaker D:And the choreography is really lame.
Speaker D:But it was so.
Speaker D:It's so funny.
Speaker D:That was.
Speaker D:Yeah, that was hilarious.
Speaker A:DJ Tego.
Speaker A:Funny moment.
Speaker F:Oh, snap.
Speaker F:Funniest moment.
Speaker F:Oh, my God.
Speaker F:I blank.
Speaker F:I was saying the.
Speaker F:The one where Sammy was doing a check in on Stack and Mary, and then Delta Slim was sitting there and he was like, hey, oh, they busy in there.
Speaker F:But there's another one.
Speaker F:Shoot.
Speaker F:Low key.
Speaker F:When Delta Slim was starting to act funny with the garlic, I didn't know it was Loki too tense.
Speaker F:But I think Loki with the garlic scene, it was Perlene acting funny because I think it wasn't supposed to be funny.
Speaker F:But everyone was just like, stop playing games right now.
Speaker F:It's just like the collective.
Speaker F:Like, what is it?
Speaker A:Just eat it.
Speaker A:Like, to shove her for real.
Speaker C:It wasn't the time.
Speaker A:It was not the time.
Speaker D:Come on.
Speaker A:Like, for real.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:A thing about Pearling, which I.
Speaker A:I don't know if it was.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:It wasn't intentionally funny.
Speaker A:But here's the thing.
Speaker A:So for Pearling, for a few people, actually in this film, it was definitely 8 o' clock.
Speaker A:And like, let's just be real.
Speaker A:We're all adults, so let's be real.
Speaker H:His wife is pregnant right now.
Speaker A:Lie.
Speaker A:Come talk about it.
Speaker A:So anyway, so after.
Speaker A:After 8 o' clock for Praline, she gets on stage and tears the house down with Pale, Pale moon.
Speaker C:And I'm like, you feel good after that?
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker D:And I'm.
Speaker A:I'm sitting there and I'm like, he.
Speaker C:Didn'T care about her freshening up.
Speaker A:I'm like, here for it.
Speaker A:I'm like, not even five minutes ago, girl, you were okay.
Speaker A:Like, for me, that was just funny.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:I just thought it was a funny moment.
Speaker A:Like, like, again, not inherently.
Speaker A:Just thinking about, like, situationally.
Speaker A:And I'm like, huh?
Speaker A:Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:Got a barking.
Speaker A:Dragon.
Speaker A:Listen, dragon.
Speaker A:And also on all fours across the.
Speaker C:Stage, she was feeling it.
Speaker C:Okay?
Speaker C:So pepping her stuff.
Speaker B:That's it.
Speaker H:Well, he must have did a good job.
Speaker C:Cause she and he went on to live a long, happy life.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker C:I mean, thank you.
Speaker C:That's who should live.
Speaker B:No, thank him.
Speaker A:Not him.
Speaker E:That was good.
Speaker E:He was good.
Speaker F:I feel so bad.
Speaker B:He said, wrap it up.
Speaker F:I know Sammy had to be sick.
Speaker F:Seeing Pearling get bit.
Speaker B:Of course, of.
Speaker F:The trauma, seeing your families, you know, all that.
Speaker B:But it's just like, damn.
Speaker C:But I promise you, he had a whole house and kids picked out in his head.
Speaker C:He was ready to live a full, happy life with that woman.
Speaker C:And she was married.
Speaker C:Damn.
Speaker C:Her husband.
Speaker C:I don't think her husband was real.
Speaker C:For the record, yo, people been talking about that.
Speaker A:I don't think so either.
Speaker C:I don't think her husband was real.
Speaker C:I think it was like, you know, nowadays we say, I got a boyfriend.
Speaker C:I think she was like, I got a husband.
Speaker C:I don't know what you about yet.
Speaker C:And then when she saw what he was about, she.
Speaker C:After that you saw, she was like, where's Sammy?
Speaker A:Where's Sammy?
Speaker C:That was her only line for the rest of the movie.
Speaker F:I'm sorry, but, like, where did Sammy get time to go around?
Speaker F:Cause what do you mean?
Speaker F:Your first response to I'm married is happily.
Speaker H:He slicked like that as a preacher's son.
Speaker C:There it is, right?
Speaker D:Preacher kids.
Speaker C:Pks.
Speaker B:Pks.
Speaker C:Can't put nothing past them.
Speaker A:Oh, my goodness gracious.
Speaker A:Any.
Speaker A:Oh, I wanted to because of course, we didn't talk about.
Speaker A:We didn't talk about Annie.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker D:I have so much to say about Annie.
Speaker A:Me, too.
Speaker C:Same.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker F:Extension.
Speaker D:So much to say about her.
Speaker D:I wanted more of Annie.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker D:I wanted way more hoodoo in this film.
Speaker D:And so I.
Speaker D:I, you know, I go off on my whole little tangents, and that was one of the things that I left the first time I saw the movie.
Speaker D:Leaving the movie going like, where was the magic?
Speaker D:Where was the hoodoo at the end?
Speaker D:I mean, we got some of it.
Speaker D:We got the mojo bag.
Speaker D:We have inklings of it, you know, and also, I love the whole thing around smoke and smoke around smoke and how important smoke was for smoke and Annie.
Speaker D:But at the end, I just thought that there, you know, we had that amazing scene on the dance floor where we saw the ancestors, we saw the realms ripped open, and the levels that we.
Speaker D:We got there at the end when Remick is basically just like, you know, sign the Lord's Prayer with.
Speaker D:With Sammy at the end all.
Speaker D:It was just mostly the conventions of vampire lore that came in the end.
Speaker D:But I'm like, but where was that magic?
Speaker D:And I feel like that was something that was held back.
Speaker D:I didn't like that Annie died.
Speaker D:I don't mind.
Speaker D:I don't mind that she died.
Speaker D:Fine.
Speaker D:But, you know, sure, even people have to die.
Speaker D:But with.
Speaker D:With her, she was.
Speaker D:I feel like there was.
Speaker D:She was underused in her knowledge and underused in her power.
Speaker D:And we were also set up at the very beginning to even kind of doubt that power with the whole thing with their.
Speaker D:With their child.
Speaker D:So when.
Speaker D:When Smoke was like, oh, you know, this mojo bag say, you know, protected me when I was overseas in.
Speaker D:In Germany and when I was in Chicago.
Speaker D:But what did it do to our baby?
Speaker D:And her answer, like, I don't know.
Speaker D:And I get the faith part in there, but I also feel like it undermined her magic.
Speaker D:And so that was.
Speaker D:Oh, man, I wanted more.
Speaker D:I wanted more of her.
Speaker D:Yeah, that's my rant.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I definitely think Annie deserved more screen time.
Speaker C:I loved when she was like, don't let me turn.
Speaker C:Like, kill me before I turn, because I'd rather die and be with our child than to live with the this life.
Speaker C:And I think my biggest thing with Annie was seeing.
Speaker C:First of all, I thought that woman was beautiful since the moment I first laid eyes on her in Lovecraft.
Speaker C:I've been in love with Wy since then, and the love still carries on.
Speaker C:So it really bothers me that so much commentary around that sex scene with her and Smoke.
Speaker C:Oh, what people?
Speaker C:Have y' all not heard people saying.
Speaker H:I thought she was his mother?
Speaker C:They're like, yes, yes.
Speaker C:Yeah, they were like, that's not his mom.
Speaker C:That was so weird, like, all over TikTok and Instagram and it's.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:And it's so bothersome to me because I'm like, not one point did I think that that was that man, that man's mother, you know, Excuse me.
Speaker F:It was weird.
Speaker D:That is so what I'm not online.
Speaker C:And it's like, they're not used to seeing thicker, dark skinned, tall, broad, but still absolutely gorgeous black women.
Speaker C:Be desired, desirable.
Speaker A:And I mean, she said, your body remembers me.
Speaker H:I think that's when they knew it wasn't his mother.
Speaker A:Mine hasn't forgotten.
Speaker C:That's a good hint.
Speaker C:That's a good hint.
Speaker H:I might have read this a little wrong.
Speaker D:I cannot believe people thought that was his mom.
Speaker D:That is crazy.
Speaker C:And I'm talking not just, I'm talking black people.
Speaker C:That's crazy.
Speaker C:It's disappointing.
Speaker E:The other part of that I said this on the first episode is that there was this obsession with his chemistry with Haley versus nobody was really talking about the chemistry he had with.
Speaker E:Umi is pronounced right.
Speaker E:So I think, you know, we're programmed to see the light skin or white woman with the straight hair, the fine hair, the wavy hair with the black man.
Speaker E:So to see she was potentially larger than him.
Speaker E:I don't know if she was bigger than him, but.
Speaker H:No, they're the same height.
Speaker E:Okay, same height.
Speaker E:So to see again, her dark skin, her larger frame, her hair, even her hair, you know, just her wearing it natural.
Speaker E:I think it's uncomfortable when you, when you are faced with something you're not used to, you know, we're not used to seeing that.
Speaker E:So I'm not saying that the reactions were right, but it makes sense like that we're programmed to see certain people and it probably, you know, ruffle some feathers.
Speaker E:But that just means we need to do more of it.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker E:So that we don't have that reaction.
Speaker D:I don't know if it, if it means that we need to do.
Speaker D:I don't even.
Speaker D:Because we do it, we've done it.
Speaker D:And that's.
Speaker A:But it's not mainstream, right?
Speaker D:Sure.
Speaker D:But I feel like, I don't know, I have complicated feelings around representation and how, how far representation can go.
Speaker D:Because the, because the problems there are so deep that I don't think it has anything to do with.
Speaker D:We need to see this over and over and over again to be, for it to be acceptable.
Speaker D:Because there's so many things happening.
Speaker D:And I see that and I, you know, I'm so disappointed that people thought that.
Speaker D:I'm so disappointed.
Speaker D:Not only because is she beautiful, but because in the dialogue, in their rapport, in just in them talking, it's so obvious.
Speaker D:And I'm like, it's interesting how people are not paying attention because she, she distinctly talks about their baby, their son.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker D:What was he talking about?
Speaker D:Oh, your brother.
Speaker D:Like the smoke, is that coming?
Speaker D:Right?
Speaker D:Like that makes no sense.
Speaker C:Do they tune out once the bigger dark skinned woman gets on screen?
Speaker D:And that must be what's happening where there is a cognitive dissonance with what is actually happening on the screen.
Speaker D:And I don't know how much repetition or representation can do to fix that.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker F:Honestly, that's real.
Speaker C:So, I mean, I want to see it more because I want to see It.
Speaker D:Oh yeah.
Speaker C:Oh yeah.
Speaker C:I don't care about prov.
Speaker C:I feel like we should care about proving yes.
Speaker C:This to people because they're never going to believe that we are part of the beauty standard.
Speaker C:They're never going to put us.
Speaker D:We are.
Speaker D:And also we.
Speaker D:They.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:As a collective.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker C:The people who believe more in the Eurocentric and, and guiding towards that.
Speaker C:So even the, the kin folk who you don't have to invite to barbecue because they're already there, you still have to critique them too.
Speaker C:And it's just, I don't think they're ever going to see us on that level.
Speaker C:So there's no point in trying to prove it.
Speaker C:I want to see that representation for myself.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker C:And for, you know, younger dark skinned black women who are growing up and deserve to see themselves seen as desirable and loving and, and able to protect their people.
Speaker C:Like, I think she really serves such an amazing purpose in that movie.
Speaker E:But I also wanted to mention.
Speaker E:Oh, I just wanted to say Pearline was also, you know, dark skinned and I appreciated that as well.
Speaker E:So he did a good job with.
Speaker B:The casting, I think.
Speaker F:Oh, super quick.
Speaker F:It's just very interesting.
Speaker F:Kind of like the discourse that we can have about media and about sinners specifically and just how many like different, like, just like bifurcations there are online, which is how people absorb and like talk about things.
Speaker F:Because it's just completely outlandish that there are some folks who would think like Annie is like their mom.
Speaker F:It's just completely outlandish.
Speaker F:And that's not even something that came up to mind and everything like that.
Speaker F:And it's just like when it comes to representation and just how people absorb it like I'm so sorry, what is your name again?
Speaker F:I think the one who was saying that representation may not be like repeating it over and over.
Speaker D:Is that me?
Speaker F:Yeah.
Speaker F:It's just like what are kind of like the limits of representation?
Speaker F:Because I think another part like what you brought up with Hoodoo, it's like Hoodoo representation in the movie was amazing and it's great to see that root work and it's great to see that representation of like African rooted spirituality practices.
Speaker F:But now we got people on TikTok trying to make their own mojo bag within a closed practice.
Speaker D:Oh no.
Speaker F:Which is like, okay, I'm like, I don't know nothing about that.
Speaker D:But that's not something you mess with.
Speaker F:Or just put in making a content.
Speaker F:So why is it that like when things are put out into the world like that we Kind of have that response where it's like, no, this is not content.
Speaker F:This is like some deep stuff that you mess with.
Speaker F:You're going to have your life ruined and maybe a lot of other people's lives ruined.
Speaker C:And how are we ignoring the themes of the movie?
Speaker C:That it's like, stop touching what's not yours.
Speaker F:Yeah, right.
Speaker C:You know, like, it's like they're missing the whole point.
Speaker F:Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker F:Very interesting.
Speaker D:So this is another thing I think is just amazing about this because I'm so.
Speaker D:I'm in the.
Speaker D:You can't see me.
Speaker D:Dj, what is your name?
Speaker D:Sorry, DJ Tago Tego.
Speaker D:You can't see me.
Speaker D:I'm freaking out at people doing their own.
Speaker F:I saw you.
Speaker F:I saw you.
Speaker D:Oh, you can't see me.
Speaker D:Okay, okay, you see me because, you know, and that's another thing that I wonder about the film is, you know, the power.
Speaker D:And I have.
Speaker D:I have a bunch of.
Speaker D:So both my sides of my family are from Louisiana, grew up in la and we.
Speaker D:There's.
Speaker D:I've been talking to people about this a lot, that there's a stigma around people who are from Louisiana with voodoo and voodoo.
Speaker D:And my family, one side of the family particularly is very sensitive to that where they don't like it, they don't want any.
Speaker D:They don't want to claim it.
Speaker D:They don't like people assuming things.
Speaker D:And so there's.
Speaker D:There is this stigma around it.
Speaker D:And I know Coogler's family is also from the South.
Speaker D:I don't know where they're from.
Speaker D:But the hoodoo and all that also has connections in his family.
Speaker D:But I also wonder about the Sigma because it felt like he kind of pulled some punches with that.
Speaker D:But in pulling the punches, then you also, you don't really show the potential of the power.
Speaker D:And I'm wondering if he hadn't pulled the punches, I know it wouldn't stop people from doing stuff, but it's, it's, it's also a visceral reaction because of my awareness of certain things with.
Speaker D:And that.
Speaker D:But that's something that just comes with knowing.
Speaker D:And I think it's really interesting that people.
Speaker D:Because in my head I'm like, you'll find out.
Speaker D:Like, go ahead, play around and you'll around to find out.
Speaker H:But no, don't play around.
Speaker D:I know, I know, but it's sort of like.
Speaker D:But it's sort of like you, you, you can't.
Speaker D:I think that's, that's also an interesting response to that.
Speaker D:And the more you learn about it or something that you can't control the reaction of people to that part of the film.
Speaker D:So it's a lot of things in there.
Speaker D:But I also know that my response to oh, no, don't do it is because I understand what that means and I understand the potential of that.
Speaker D:And it's interesting that people who don't know or who aren't aware or who are being real disrespectful how, like, how they're inspired by this, this film to explore in some kind of way.
Speaker D:And in a way, I'm like.
Speaker E:I just want to piggyback on that and say that Coogler may have been intentional with holding punches because he didn't want to give away too much information.
Speaker E:Black community has a tendency to overshare, so to speak.
Speaker E:You see a lot of black creatives whose dances are being stolen, whose things are being taken because others had their hands on it, they were giving it to them freely, or they have access to it.
Speaker E:Just like you said, inviting everybody to the barbecue just because they can dance don't mean they need to come to the barbecue.
Speaker E:So it's okay to keep some things a secret.
Speaker E:It's okay.
Speaker E:Some of them, it's okay to hold things.
Speaker C:Sorry.
Speaker E:It's okay to hold things close to our chest and have things that are just for us.
Speaker E:So it may have been intentional on his part.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker A:I'mma have to have.
Speaker A:Listen, I think what I would need to do is just have this exact group back on a podcast because I have not stopped laughing for a while now here on the podcast.
Speaker A:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker A:See?
Speaker A:Can't take us anywhere, but also tickets everywhere.
Speaker A:For real.
Speaker A:Okay, Any final thoughts?
Speaker A:Any shout outs?
Speaker A:Because we're all creatives here, you know, where people can follow you.
Speaker A:And like I said, any final thoughts on the film Ernes, we'll start with you.
Speaker D:Oh, man.
Speaker D:You know, I got.
Speaker D:I think I got everything else out that I wanted to say, and definitely Annie.
Speaker D:Annie has been an inspiration to me.
Speaker D:Being someone who comes from a family has a very complicated history around the traditions of Southern Louisiana specifically, and how it's a part of how we live.
Speaker D:But then there's no acknowledgement of what it actually is and where it actually comes from.
Speaker D:And so there's so many things that.
Speaker D:So many memories that were brought up from growing up, because I grew up in la, but I spent my summers in Louisiana and things that I learned there and how we were raised in la.
Speaker D:It just.
Speaker D:There just.
Speaker D:She.
Speaker D:She really has inspired me to, to.
Speaker D:To think more about it, to learn more about it.
Speaker D:And then I Do I plug myself.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker D:Absolutely.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker D:So, yes.
Speaker D:So I, you know, if people are interested, I'm on Instagram.
Speaker D:I am.
Speaker D:I have a private account, but I will allow you to follow me if you see me.
Speaker D:But on all socials, I'm H E R N E A S E, which is actually like an old Cajun name, Ernes.
Speaker D:And I have a website, ernesdavis.com where you can follow me there.
Speaker D:And also I'm an assistant curator at VSW Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, which is an amazing organization.
Speaker D:And you can follow us there@vsw.org and Visual Studies Workshop on all socials.
Speaker A:Katyra.
Speaker E:Yes.
Speaker E:I just want to say I really appreciated the dichotomy of the movie and that Coogler embraces secular in church, good and evil, because we are both.
Speaker E:We have a spiritual component and we have a worldly component.
Speaker E:And there's a lot of history behind why the worldly is deemed evil or bad.
Speaker E:There are a lot of different, you know, misconceptions about that.
Speaker E:But I appreciate that he folds that in and doesn't ignore it or try to make us feel bad because there's certain things that we do that might not be ethical or lawful or things like that.
Speaker E:So that was really a huge takeaway.
Speaker E:Just seeing, you know, all elements and not just the good side.
Speaker E:As far as myself, I am on Instagram under my name, Katyra Poland.
Speaker E:My business is Love for Words, Editing, copywriting.
Speaker E:My website is love the number4words.com.
Speaker E:You're welcome to subscribe if you're interested in more editing tips, writing, publishing, etc, and then on Monday we have the in this moment on May 19th at George Eastman, I was the essayist for Christopher, an ASL interpreter.
Speaker E:So please do come out and join us on Monday at 6:30.
Speaker C:Are we all in this moment, people at the table?
Speaker D:Yes, we are.
Speaker A:Shout out to in this moment.
Speaker A:Bri.
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker C:Brain went blank, you know, was sitting here waiting.
Speaker C:Oh, you can.
Speaker C:So all right.
Speaker C:So you can follow me on Instagram.
Speaker C:Sunnybree with two U's.
Speaker C:I am a model, a writer as well as communications professional.
Speaker C:I also do some social media work and I'm always down to like collaborate and do fun things like this and just be in community with people.
Speaker C:So Jackie would happily come back but like also always looking to collab with everyone.
Speaker C:I had another sentence in my head, but it's gone now.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:So thank you so much.
Speaker C:Oh, it was about the movie.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Final thought.
Speaker C:Like Katyra said, I think the complexities, showing the complexities of the people and that like bringing up that Grace's name is Grace and and really like that's the one thing we don't give ourselves and maybe we should.
Speaker C:I should extend some to Grace.
Speaker E:Y arguments.
Speaker C:Y' all arguments for good.
Speaker C:And I really just enjoyed seeing both sides of people and being able to appreciate them.
Speaker C:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Thank you for being here.
Speaker A:Coco Ray, David.
Speaker B:That close enough?
Speaker D:No, not yet.
Speaker B:Thank you me and this mic man.
Speaker B:My final thoughts is thank you, Ryan Coogler for literally telling everybody to get the up I I especially to the youth.
Speaker B:Like for me, my.
Speaker B:My younger self is like, thank you.
Speaker B:Like, thank you especially because I feel like creative writing is about to be a popular course.
Speaker B:Just you wait.
Speaker B:It's about to be a very popular course for sure.
Speaker B:And thank you because between him and Kendrick and I'll even say Donald Glover because him and Donald both have 100% unrotten tomatoes.
Speaker B:So with their shows and movies and stuff.
Speaker B:But thank you for bringing back thinking and conscious thinking and conversation because I feel like this movie really inspired a lot of people to talk.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like telling, you know, and I love that everybody had different perspectives.
Speaker B:I think that was what was supposed to happen was for us to talk about our perspectives, like why should we extend grace to Grace or why we should.
Speaker B:You know, and it's okay because you have.
Speaker B:That's your experience with that.
Speaker B:And I'm so thankful that he really definitely brought that back to us for sure.
Speaker B:You can follow me at by cocoray on all social media platforms.
Speaker A:Talk about the fun.
Speaker B:I'm currently.
Speaker B:I appreciate you right now.
Speaker B:I'm currently campaigning a fundraiser to help with my studio space to perp with sustainable resources and accessibility for creative artists and creatives as well as yoga instructors because I just became a 200 hour yoga instructor.
Speaker B:So I'm all about creating space and just like Ryan, creating conversation and healing because I said this.
Speaker B:This is the last thing I said.
Speaker B:I feel like this movie broke a spell.
Speaker B:That's what I felt.
Speaker B:I feel like after this I was like, why am I so fixated on this movie?
Speaker B:I'm like, he, I think think this broke a spell.
Speaker B:He really did.
Speaker B:So thank you.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:All right, Aisha, final thoughts.
Speaker A:Where can we find you?
Speaker G:I think I'll just end it off by saying I really did enjoy the movie.
Speaker G:I'm still thinking about it constantly.
Speaker G:It's top my brain.
Speaker G:Listen to the soundtrack.
Speaker G:All the time.
Speaker G:And I'm really happy Ryan Coogler made this movie because I feel like maybe somebody said it earlier, I feel like when it comes to movies created by, like, black people, whether it's the screenwriting or the just direct directing in general, it follows one story.
Speaker G:It's either slavery or it's a story where, you know, I'll just say Tyler Perry type stuff.
Speaker G:And I'm glad.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:By the way.
Speaker A:By the way, when I say I'm your biggest hater.
Speaker F:Thank you.
Speaker A:When I say your biggest hater.
Speaker A:Sorry, continue.
Speaker A:Asia, you can keep going.
Speaker G:But I remember I used to talk to people about this all the time.
Speaker G:I'm like, why don't we ever go into, like, sci fi or horror more or all these other type of genres?
Speaker G:So I'm really happy that Ryan's doing it because I feel like we could do such a great job in those.
Speaker D:Those areas.
Speaker G:As far as social media, I am more of an observer.
Speaker G:I don't post much.
Speaker G:So I'm sorry.
Speaker A:Heather, final thoughts and where we can find you.
Speaker H:My final thoughts are.
Speaker H:I love this movie.
Speaker H:The lump sum message I got from it was, even in your imperfections, you deserve life.
Speaker H:You deserve life.
Speaker H:And whatever that is to you, you don't have to be perfect to get it.
Speaker H:You don't have to be perfect to deserve it.
Speaker H:You're here.
Speaker H:You deserve to live a life how you want to live a life.
Speaker H:None of these people in the movie at this point got to really live the life that they deserved to have.
Speaker H:And that was the freedom that I took away, that they lacked because they didn't understand that I deserve life how I want it to be.
Speaker H:Stack didn't have that choice.
Speaker H:Smoke didn't have that choice.
Speaker H:Annie didn't.
Speaker H:And so it was a good reminder that we're full of life and we need to live life regardless of how imperfect we are.
Speaker H:And don't find me, but I have a page on Facebook called Women Uplifting Women.
Speaker H:And it's just a page because about 12 or 14 years ago, I was very sick of the whole narrative that women can't get along.
Speaker H:And so I made the page to try to just speak positivity into women from women.
Speaker H:Just a positive place where no cattiness, just women who uplift each other.
Speaker H:And that is on Facebook.
Speaker H:Oh, and I am working on a Machia documentary, which there's a poet named Ty Grail.
Speaker H:He wrote this poem called A Black Woman's Smile, and he gave me permission to use it.
Speaker H:And so it's a documentary called Angry Black Woman.
Speaker H:And it just basically is an outline of black women from the time they got here in this country as enslaved Africans to today.
Speaker H:And why that angry black woman trope is so dangerous and hurtful to us as a group.
Speaker A:Gosh, where can we follow that along as well?
Speaker H:Oh, I don't know because I didn't make anything.
Speaker A:Listen, you have creatives, you have, you have a few filmmakers on here.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Heather, let's, let's, let's talk offline for real about.
Speaker A:Okay, yes, absolutely.
Speaker A:Anywhere else that people can follow you?
Speaker A:No, no, not even on TikTok.
Speaker H:Oh, oh, no.
Speaker H:I have.
Speaker H:I have an IG.
Speaker H:I have an Instagram.
Speaker H:Hold on.
Speaker H:I have an Instagram.
Speaker H:And it is.
Speaker G:Hold on.
Speaker A:She's finding it.
Speaker D:It's.
Speaker H:It's JL Thanksbel127.
Speaker A:Okay, thank you very much.
Speaker A:I will put that.
Speaker A:I'll put all of this in the show.
Speaker A:Notes for people to go back and be able to follow everyone.
Speaker A:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker A:And last but certainly not least, DJ Tego, final thoughts on where we can find you.
Speaker F:Yeah, so I'll start off with where you can find me.
Speaker F:You can find me at dj to the Ta, to the Goe, everywhere.
Speaker F:Pretty straightforward.
Speaker F:I try to keep it up on Instagram and tick tock, but yeah, Sinners, I think is definitely a movie that.
Speaker F:Coco, you said it perfectly.
Speaker F:Actually, it broke a spell.
Speaker F:I think Sinners absolutely broke a spell because it got us to focus on something, especially in an economy, in an ecosystem where we're constantly bombarded with 24, 7 just anti black stuff, classic stuff, just all the stuff that makes us feel bad and hate it.
Speaker F:Just messing with our self image, like how we perceive and work with each other.
Speaker F:Sinners was a movie that truly had us united on one, ranting about a good movie, but also had us thinking, always has us using our brains, always had us reading, always had us going back into the history and connecting with our past, our present, so we can actually create the future that we want to see.
Speaker F:We're seeing the work of someone who loves creation.
Speaker F:We're seeing someone who wants to work, to create, to create something for his community.
Speaker F:And the main message of it was do not get distracted.
Speaker F:Do not let this temptation and these things that seek to destroy us in build something for your people, even if you don't see the end results of it.
Speaker F:Take the time because that investment is going to inspire other people later on.
Speaker F:Because how many people, even if we are caught back up in the spell, because the discourse cycle, I think CIA put us into right now.
Speaker F:There's a lot going on right now and it's just like, dude, what happened?
Speaker F:But for the people who have managed to keep the eye on the ball, how many people are being inspired to like, no, we got to focus on creating something for our people.
Speaker F:How many more spells will be broken in the course of that work?
Speaker F:Let's focus up, let's build, let's make sure that we are being us because we're people of the drums.
Speaker F:We, we're people of music, we're people of rhythm, we're people of art, we're people of such beautiful things.
Speaker F:And we live in a world that wants that uniformity of white supremacy to destroy all that.
Speaker F:And it's like we can say no.
Speaker F:As long as we're working together in community and keeping up with each other, we don't have to succumb to it.
Speaker F:We just have to keep on being us and working on it together.
Speaker F:So long winded things short.
Speaker F:This was amazing.
Speaker F:Let's just keep on creating beautiful art for our people and keep it going.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:And I think that is a great note to end on.
Speaker A:I want to thank all of our guests, both here in studio and virtually for joining us.
Speaker A:Anyone who also tuned into the live.
Speaker A:I really appreciate again going back to the guests here for a second, just giving you all your flowers.
Speaker A:You brought so much energy, so much insight, so much encouragement.
Speaker A:It's really just been a joy to be among all of you.
Speaker A:So thank you so much for that.
Speaker A:And also to our listeners, we will put again all of the info where you can find all of our amazing guests in the show notes.
Speaker A:So when we do that, please go find them.
Speaker A:Thank you all for your support of our Voices project and our Representation in Cinema podcast.
Speaker A:You can find us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Blue sky and@ourvoicesproject.com for more information about what we do, sign up for our newsletter there too to be the first to get notifications about new podcast episodes and new projects.
Speaker A:You can listen to this episode and others under our Representation in Cinema on any of the platforms listed on our website.
Speaker A:So that's Spotify, Apple Podcast and you can also go to listen on our website@ourvoicesproject.com podcast.
Speaker A:This has been Jackie McGriff, your host on this episode of Representation in Cinema I of our Voices project.
Speaker A:As always, thank you again for listening.
Speaker A:This has been a presentation of the.
Speaker E:Lunchroom or podcast network.
