Back in the familiar cradle and routine of my life I find myself adjusting to new elements to the routine. I’m back to early morning drop offs, for example, giving me time to think and write and eat hastily pulled together Village Inn breakfasts. I’m not mad about that. I’m not really mad at all these days. I’ve sunken into observer mode instead. So when I watch the commercial for the Superfly remake by Director X I do not fall into straight up anger. Instead I shake my head, pause, and remember that the original film was in fact a blaxploitation film, despite how it reflected iconic cool.
Taking a moment to think vs. be angry reminds me that ‘the culture’ doesn’t exactly belong to me. Director X, the Canadian auteur responsible for ‘hotline bling’ is riffing on the culture. He is remaking it in the way he sees it the way Sergio Leone riffed on western culture to provide us with the spaghetti western. This is Poutine Blackness at it’s loudest; the idea of the culture that becomes the ideal of the culture.
Some Thoughts:
- It took me a good 40 yrs to put this together… Robbie Dupree’s ‘Steal Away’ is a straight up rip from the ‘What a fool believes’ which happens to be one of my all time favorite songs. I don’t think I’ve heard ‘Steal away’ (note the ironic title) since the early 80’s, so I can be forgiven at least a little. Less so, because the internet clearly knew.
- Our American President is still running the nation like a reality TV show as opposed to any form of serious government. While the rest of the planet is basically losing their shit (and respect for us) over this, a sizable portion of our 300 million plus simply don’t care or absolutely approve of this.