Reely Melanated

https://feed.podbean.com/reelymelanated/feed.xml

Two black film writers sit down to have a conversation about a film they love.

Episodes

Thursday Feb 04, 2021

When SVU Was Good [Diva]

Thursday Feb 04, 2021

Carolyn dusts off her French and nostalgia for Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1981 caper, Diva.

Ashlee is just here to make Law & Order: Special Victims Unit references and point out the many conspiracies that this intriguing film highlights.

Jean-Jacques Beineix: The Hollywood Interview

A Brief History of Cinéma Du Look

NEW ART thanks to Samara Banks of Mixed Hues

FRESH NOISE Reely Melanated Theme by Razaq El Toro

Tuesday Dec 22, 2020

I'll Write Some Songs About A White Man's Butt [The 40-Year-Old Version]

Tuesday Dec 22, 2020

Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo...

For our final episode of the year, Ashlee wanted to ramble about arguably the best movie of the year, Radha Blank's Kool-Aid Man debut, The 40-Year-Old Version.

Dealing with grief? Having a hard time acheiving the level of being a working artist AND comfortably paying your bills? Unearthed a raw talent that your age and circumstance is now pushing you to share with the world?

The 40-Year-Old Version has every hearty nutrient your soul needs. Especially after 2020 being *a year* for us all.

Carolyn recommends Radha's African American Film Critics Association roundtable and Ashlee offers Radha's guest spot on Justin Simien’s podcast, Don’t @ Me

Additional mentions:

Rantin and Ravin with Yamaneika and Friends
Tea With Queen and J

Wednesday Nov 18, 2020

Brotherly Love in Motor City [KIN]

Wednesday Nov 18, 2020

Carolyn's Summer sci-fi fave KIN, a story about a working-class kid just trying to find some normalcy after a family loss turns into a journey of destiny tied to a an otherworldly device that only he (Myles Truitt's Elijah) has the power to wield!

KIN was based on a short film (BAG MAN) by Josh and Jonathan Baker who have talked about in-depth the deeper meanings that Ashlee and Carolyn find is the beating heart of this narrative.

You can also purchase the score here!

Monday Oct 12, 2020

Feminisms For K-12! [Born In Flames]

Monday Oct 12, 2020

bell hooks wrote the book, Feminism Is For Everybody, Lizzie Borden made the penultimate film exemplifying that.

Listen to Carolyn lead the lesson on Borden's 1983 docu-fiction Born In Flames.

You can also read Carolyn’s essay, “Born in Flames’ Adelaide Norris, A Sci-Fi Joan of Arc” for further reference.

The Political Science Fiction of “Born In Flames”

The Incredible Black Canadian Women You Should Know

First Run Features website: https://www.firstrunfeatures.com/

For the Canadian rare DVD collector, check out Suspect Video's online store: https://www.suspectvideo.ca/

Carolyn on Twitter @vfdpixie
Ashlee on Twitter @AshleeTakesNote

Sound edits by Carolyn

Graphics by Ashlee

Intro/Outro Music: I Got This by David Renda (felisyanstudios.com)

Tuesday Sep 15, 2020

The Great Multiplicitous Blackness Caper [Jumpin’ Jack Flash]

Tuesday Sep 15, 2020

…it’s a gas, gas, gas.

Ashlee breaks out the tissues and nostalgia for 1986's Jumpin’ Jack Flash while Carolyn adds even more context for the broader discussions about Whoopi’s career in the mid-1980’s.

What backlash ensued?

Can we still look back in fondness and enjoy it today?

The answers may be as complicated as British intelligence spies, moles, and KGB meddling.

Dive into Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films by Donald Bogle

Bogle talks about Whoopi's roles and how she doesn't necessarily represent the Black diaspora. That's okay with us because we saw ourselves in her and Black women are dynamic and unique, just like Whoopi.

Learn more about Whoopi’s career in Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film by Mia Mask:

Mask talks about how Whoopi Goldberg’s stardom is unconventional and to a degree, unprecedented because foundationally as a comedic actress and performer, she already defies convention of who is seen as funny and respected in the space, and doubled with her race and appearance. She defies "acceptable" femininity with her dark skin and natural hair (locs) which was not a everyday/common American style in the early-mid 1980’s.

Consistently, Goldberg has played characters that challenge assumptions and, to an extent, pushed back on racial stereotypes.

She’s also had to fight to be seen as desirable in films. A love scene was cut from the film, Fatal Beauty despite her protests.

“Closer reading of her star vehicles demonstrates the way her characters—and the situations in which they are place—trouble supposedly stable gender categories, critique notions of white identity, question whiteness as a social formation, and identify white racism.”

Carolyn on Twitter @vfdpixie
Ashlee on Twitter @AshleeTakesNote

Sound edits by Carolyn

Graphics by Ashlee

Intro/Outro Music: I Got This by David Renda (felisyanstudios.com)

Thursday Aug 13, 2020

We’re Rooting For Everyone Black [Alien vs. Predator]

Thursday Aug 13, 2020

Carolyn throws roses at the feet of Sanaa Lathan in her most radical ass starring vehicle, 2004’s Alien vs. Predator.

Our bad: we forgot to note the under critiqued, ‘aliens built the pyramids’ myth the film plays with which, we both agree undermines how African civilizations haven’t been fully respected… ever.

“Last One Standing: Alien vs. Predator” in Where No Black Woman Has Gone Before: Subversive Portrayals in Speculative Film and TV by Diana Adesola Mafe

Kroft Talks about Movies: Predators, Engineers, and Aliens: Complete Timeline

Carolyn on Twitter @vfdpixie
Ashlee on Twitter @AshleeTakesNote

Sound edits by Carolyn

Graphics by Ashlee

Intro/Outro Music: I Got This by David Renda (felisyanstudios.com)