Madam CJ Walker's great granddaughter throws Netflix series UNDER the salon chair

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boy said:
This is the thing. There are enough period and historical dramas out there that have been incredibly successful to know that there is an audience for it. The reality is the support is going to come from an overwhelming white majority who have an appreciation of historicity and authentic storytelling without the need for serious embellishment.

The truth of the matter is that it's a cultural thing. We're a colorful people, we love flash, drama, and exaggeration. We live our lives with "extra-seasoning" and want that reflected in our entertainment. So I get it.

However, there are black people that share in the appreciation of historicity and every much enjoy historical productions that are true to it's authenticity.

You appeal to them and you appeal to their white counterparts. Because overseasoned meat is less edible than underseasoned meat.

The reality is that today, a black historical retelling like this is going to only appeal to black history Lovers, black academians, black feminist, black LGBT(taking account the LGBT angle), and black literarians. The black hip hop generation will largely be non-plussed without the extras.
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Interesting take.
Enyertainment industry is driven by trends and numbers. I think that SelfMade did ok domestically, and is performing well internationally. Better than projected, I guess ,but not the blockbuster that the producers had in mind when they made those artistic/accuracy compromises. The extras didn't pay off as much as they thought.
Hopefully the team doing the next next biopic or miniseries makes note of this .

===

I want to ask your opinion about another Black centered project.
Years ago, I picked up an epic audiobook project that was made for the Black Christian audience.

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Everybody was in this project, EVERYBODY.

Now, it's actually a great project. Great casting choices, in my opinion as someone who grew up in Sunday School/Church.

I got several of them as gifts, and for older relatives I transferred the file to mp3 for players that their children had purchased for them. Now, as I'm done doing the converting, something confuses me. I thought it was a straightforward audiobook of the bible, but I hear singing. ?????? What?

There were a few breaks for gospel songs throughout the audio bible. I guess, because of the role of the choir in the history of the Black church, the producers decided to incorporate that component.
The video in the spoiler shows part of the cast list. This project has Black entertainers from near every artfrom, age range, region. Apparently, having the creme de la creme of Black entertainers attached to the project wasn't enough to sell/market it.

Would you consider the addition of the gospel songs as an extra in this audio bible? Or would you say that singing/praise is such an integral part of the church that it had to be included to market/sell to a Black audience?
 
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Get These Nets said:
Would you consider the addition of the gospel songs as an extra in this audio bible? Or would you say that singing/praise is such an integral part of the church that it had to be included to market/sell to a Black audience?
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As someone that also grew up in the church, I wouldn't say that it is extra at all.

It appears that this is a project to remake holy scriptures, our connection to the divine, "in our own image." With that being said, and understanding the black church experience, there are some people that connect on a deeper level to God through song. I know in my own area, there is a very popular and nationally known church, who is known for their music ministry. Everyone who goes to that church proclaim that their music is anointed and so song and music is the emphasis and primarily reason for attendance. On the flip side, there is another popular and nationally known black church, also in the area, that purposely de-emphasizes their music ministry because they want the focus to be on the scripture and not "entertainment." I'm talking about purposely having a very bland choir even though it is a megachurch and has the resources to develop an amazing choir, their emphasis is on the word.

The black church experience is so diverse and colorful that there are so many things that resonate for people differently. In a project that is trying to remake God in our image, I see nothing wrong incorporating that diversity and don't really view it as an extra.
 
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boy said:
As someone that also grew up in the church, I wouldn't say that it is extra at all.

It appears that this is a project to remake holy scriptures, our connection to the divine, "in our own image." With that being said, and understanding the black church experience, there are some people that connect on a deeper level to God through song. I know in my own area, there is a very popular and nationally known church, who is known for their music ministry. Everyone who goes to that church proclaim that their music is anointed and so song and music is the emphasis and primarily reason for attendance. On the flip side, there is another popular and nationally known black church, also in the area, that purposely de-emphasizes their music ministry because they want the focus to be on the scripture and not "entertainment." I'm talking about purposely having a very bland choir even though it is a megachurch and has the resources to develop an amazing choir, their emphasis is on the word.

The black church experience is so diverse and colorful that there are so many things that resonate for people differently. In a project that is trying to remake God in our image, I see nothing wrong incorporating that diversity and don't really view it as an extra.
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thanks

will reply later

but when I say the casting was great, I mean it.
quick question.
Who do you think they got to play Goliath?
 
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boy said:
But when I heard about the LGBT angle being taken with respect to her, it did not surprise me at all. From pictures that I've seen and from some details that I know of her, I've speculated on whether A'lelia was a closet lesbian myself. In her adult years, she presents very "masculine" in photos and I've heard accounts that some of her Harlem parties were very "open" and "wild". A'lelia was close friends with all of Harlem's literati and creatives, many of whom were LGBTQ, and that her parties reflected that demographic and that it was a space for them to be "themselves". So you can imagine the types of things that may have went on.

Personally, I find it hard to believe that a black woman at the beginning of the 20th centuty, who is at the top of a society that is highly regulated by codes of respectability, propriety, and decorum, to have entertained the type of people that she did, and to allow unmitigated certain liberal activities under her watch, I find it hard to believe that she wasn't slant herself. There is no doubt in my mind that A'lelia was on the spectrum.

But, the producers should not have went down that road and just stuck with the known facts, if at most alluded to it in a very discrete way (because of the circumstantial evidence).

Other than that, I don't think it's right to recolor historical figures lives in a way that deviates from the facts of their personas.
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article from Indianapolis newspaper

Octavia Spencer is an Emmy nominee for her portrayal of Madam C.J. Walker
July 28, 2020



Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer has a chance to pick up her first Emmy Award for a portrayal of Indianapolis entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker.

Spencer is nominated for lead actress in a limited series or movie for her work on "Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker." The four-episode story premiered March 20 on Netflix.

Other Indiana connections to Emmy nominations announced today: "Stranger Things" in the drama series category and "The Masked Singer" in the reality competition category.

The third season of "Stranger Things," set in fictional Hawkins, Indiana, premiered last July on Netflix. Indiana Pacers star Victor Oladipo advanced to the semifinals of "The Masked Singer" competition on Fox. He concealed his identity as a character known as Thingamajig.

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Octavia Spencer portrays hair care entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker in "Self Made." (Photo: Netflix photo)

“Self Made" depicts Walker’s rise as a hair care entrepreneur from 1910 until her death in 1919. Born Sarah Breedlove in Louisiana, she washed clothes by hand for a living until launching a line of products, including Madam Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower. By age 50, she was known as the country's "first self-made female millionaire."



“Self Made” shows Walker living in St. Louis, Indianapolis and New York City, but Indianapolis is the setting for the majority of the series (which was filmed in Ontario, Canada).

The show is an adaptation of 2001 book "On Her Own Ground," written by A'Lelia Bundles, Walker’s great-great-granddaughter and a graduate of North Central High School.
 
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