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Black Is Black Ain T Essay

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Film Evaluation: Black Is… Black Ain’t The final film by Marlon Riggs, Black is…Black Ain't, is concerned with the state of the African American community. This film essentially asks the question, what does it mean to be black? The director and producer, Marlon Riggs, guides viewers along an “an up-front examination of racism, sexism, and homophobia within the black community itself. Bringing together personal stories, interviews, music, history, and performance, Black Is...Black Ain’t asks African Americans: What is black, black enough, or too black?”1 Unfortunately, the AIDS-stricken director died before the film was completed. This film operates as a kind of last will and testament for Marlon Riggs. “He bequeaths the idea that rigid …show more content…

The film reminds us that “slavery and its aftermath involved the emasculation-physical as well as psychological - of black men, the drive for black power was usually taken to mean a call for black male power, despite the needs of (and often with the complicity of) black women. That continues to result in the devaluing of black female contributions to the liberation struggle and in the subordination of black women in general.”4 The result of emasculation became hyper masculinity. This phenomenon confined the meaning of what it meant to be black even further. For example, to be black is not to be homosexual. This is due to the notion of homosexuality as the ultimate weakness. Hence there is often prejudice of homosexuals in the black community. The homophobic initiative from the black Catholic Church doesn’t make the situation any better. Hence, Marlon Riggs ties in his own story as a gay black man with AIDS. It really assists the film in showing the restrictions that exist in black unity. So what is the black identity? Are you black enough? Do you talk black? Are you a hyper masculine heterosexual male with kinky hair and a criminal record? I can see how it must be difficult to maintain a sense of communal self. Angela Davis one of the speakers in the film, provides this answer: "You take some color, a dash

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