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Blog Post #10: Afronauts

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     Nuotama Bodomo   For this week's blog, I chose to read "Parsing the Real and Unreal Stories of the Zambian Space A cademy" by Dessane Lopez Cassell. In this reading, we see an interview with Nautama Bodomo, the filmmaker of the 2014 short Afronauts. Throughout the interview, we learn about why Bodomo became a filmmaker and her inspiration for the films she makes. The interviewer starts out by simply asking Bodomo how she started her career in filmmaking. She credited it to a language problem she had growing up. She was born in Ghana but was raised all over the world for short periods of time. This caused her to have a hard time with languages but she realized that films were something people everywhere discussed and she could use it as her language. Throughout the interview, she continues to talk about her film making but specifically Afronauts . This is where I think the most interesting quote of the interview comes from.  " It was in that practice that I...
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Blog Post #10: Afropunk: A movement

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      The article for this week's blog is called, "How Afropunk Became a Full-Blown Movement," by Nikita Richardson. This article argues how the Afropunk Festival that started in Brooklyn has evolved into a cultural movement that celebrates black identity, creativity, and self-expression. the article writes, " This weekend, the black-centric fest will celebrate its eleventh year in Brooklyn's Fort Greene neighborhood, proving that it's not a blip, but a movement — one that's needed more than ever before." The article also discusses the origins of Afropunk and its evolution over the years, highlighting the festival's focus on black artists and its role in creating a space for black people to express themselves and connect with each other. Image of the Afropunk Festival Crowds      Richardson argues that Afropunk's success is due to its ability to tap into a larger cultural movement that is focused on black empowerment and liberation. She notes...
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Blog Post #9: You cant change the past

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       For this week's blog post, I chose to read ""See You Yesterday" and The Perils--and Promise--of Time-Travelling While B lack," by Maya Phillips. This article argues that the film "See You Yesterday," uses science fiction to address issues of police brutality and systemic racism faced by black communities in America. In "See You Yesterday,"  we learn the story of a black teenager names CJ whose brother was shot by the police. This causes her to become angry and she uses time travel to go back into the future and stop his murder from happening. Image of CJ building and using the time-traveling machine      P hillips also argues that the film presents time travel as a means of confronting and changing past injustices, but it also shows how the past cannot be easily altered and how the present-day consequences of racism and police brutality persist.      The article also highlights how the film raises important questions about th...
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Blog Post # 7: Androids

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For this week's blog post, I chose to read Aja Romano's article about Janelle Monáe's music video for "Dirty Computer." The article explores how Monáe draws inspiration from science fiction and Afrofuturism in her music and art. According to the article, Monáe spent many years crafting a dystopian universe where she wove themes of Afrofuturism and queer exploration into the story of her alter ego, Cindi Mayweather. Monáe described this alter ego, "a tuxedo-wearing cyborg," as how she hid from the real world. In her most recent album, "Dirty Computer," Monáe revealed that this alter-ego Cindi was actually Jane, the protagonist, all along. In the article, this introduction is seen as a sort of transformation. "Jane hides within Cindi's glammed-up but constricting tuxedoed aesthetic, but over time, by tapping into her cultural heritage, Jane is able to free the android via Afrofuturism and queer exploration." The album shows Monáe...
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Blog Post #5: Get Out: A movie Of Slavery

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Get Out Witten and Directed by Jordan Peele     For this week's blog post, I chose to critique the article "Why Get Out is the Best Movie Ever Made About American Slavery" by Steven Thrasher. Thrasher argues that Get Out is a masterwork of Afrofuturism, using science fiction to help the viewer understand race through time and space. He writes, " Get Out is really a masterwork of Afrofuturism, the artistic and scientific framework for understanding race as a technology across time and space" (first paragraph). The film is a powerful and thought-provoking work that tackles the ongoing issue of the theft of the Black body. In the article, Thrasher writes, "A recurring image in Afrofuturism is the Black body abducted by aliens as an allegory for enslavement in different eras and places" (paragraph 1). Peele, the director of the film, uses classical Afrofuturist imagery to depict this allegory, exploring the theft of Africans, Henrietta Lacks' HeLa ce...
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Blog Post #5: Ramzi Fawaz: Metaphors and meanings

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     For this week's blog post, I chose to read Ramzi Fawaz's article "Space, That Bottomless Pit." The article explores the use of space and science fiction in African American cultural expression and films. Fawaz's main argument in the article is that science fiction and Afrofuturism offer a way for African Americans to imagine alternative futures of space and belonging.      The article examines several films, including "Space is the Place," which we have watched, as well as our current film "The Brother from Another Planet." Fawaz notes that these films use science fiction and space as a metaphor for the experiences of African Americans who have historically been excluded from larger racial communities with power and privilege. For example, Fawaz writes, "These are films that depict the arrival of an African American space traveler to Earth who, whether intending to or not, forces those around him to reconsider their relationship to a ...
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Blog #4: Why We Should Watch Science Fiction Films to Change Racial Ideologies.

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Adilifu Nama  This week I focused on the reading, "Black Space: Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film," by Adilifu Nama. This reading explores the representation of race in science fiction films. Nama analyzes the ways in which science fiction films have represented blackness, and how these representations have evolved over time.  Nama argues that science fiction films often have negative stereotypes and radicalized representations of blackness. Although he does argue this he also says that three have been significant efforts to make a more positive and nuanced portrayal of blackness in science fiction films. It is important to analyze these films because it helps shape our understanding of race and racial identity. Science fiction films have the potential to change racial ideologies and stereotypes and make a more inclusive future.  Some films Nama looks at are Birth of a Nation and The Time Machine.   Nama uses many different films to supp...
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