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brattywriters-anonymous · 5 years

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A Rose In Harlem

OC x Erik Story

Based on Teyana Taylor’s VII & KTSE

Warnings: Language

@chaneajoyyy

Chapter IX: Rize

February 6, 2014

22 HOURS BEFORE SHOWTIME.REHEARSAL, NINE PM.

"Ladies, Gents! Find Seats! Sit in them!" All twenty-four models followed Yani's request. We just wrapped our rehearsal, everyone did phenomenal. I can only pray that we get it like this at 583 Park Ave. Yani and I have been thee dynamic duo for the past seventy-two hours. I've been steaming outfits, she's been bagging accessories. I've been designing roll-away walls, she's been contacting every contractor in her contacts to design the black and gold glitter floors.

Honestly, in the past month, Yani and I have been on our hustle. I finished my last shoot and have been on go since. Erik and I have basically been like two ships passing in the night. I usually would leave before him, and come home after he arrived. We never talked about my father's birthday, our kiss..well..kisses. None of it. I've been too busy. Yasin and I have been texting here and there, but I haven't seen him either. He's been understanding about it though. The only person I've been spending my time with is Yani.

We've collectively gotten maybe eight hours of sleep in three days. So now, we're just exhausted and over it. We're trying to get this rehearsal over and done with. The theater's silence is my queue to step on the stage, I do so, scanning my models faces. They're looking like kids on Christmas Eve. So excited for what the next day has to bring. Their faces make me grateful, my smile spreads and everyone breaks out in applause. I decipher a few, "Yeah Syd!" "You did it girl!" and "Woos" in the crowd, I yield my hands up and down, they lower their yells. "Hey everybody, We're down to the wire here. We're less than a day away. We've been working our asses off for a month and a half. I couldn't have ever gotten this done without any of you. I'm excited for everyone to see our hard work. I'm even more excited for you to see your hard work pay off."

I point to Iyo in the control center, He dims the lights and lower the projector screen. "I now present to you.. UPTXWN." Applause rings out as the projector displays a drone clip of High Bridge among the sunrise and Syd's voiceover, "Uptown, Home of the greats. From The Bronx, to Harlem. The place I know, the place I love." The six models she started with appear on the screen, daringly sitting on the railing, laughing with one another in their high end garments. "Our hustles.. It always had this special..thing about it. We always went a little harder. Thought a little smarter. Emerged to the top a bit faster." Photos of me and all of Uptown's finest begins scrolling through from right to left. From a photo of me and Dapper Dan when I was fresh out of college. Diddy and I when I was an intern at Chanel. With Kerry Washington a bit after Save the Last Dance came out when I was twelve. Sistah Souljah, Kid Capri, Bianca (aka Young B), Cam'ron, Juelz, and Jim Jones back when Rock-a-fella were still together, Kalis, and finally, A$AP Mob & me when they were fresh in the game back in 2011.

"And when we're on top, we set trends. We define eras. Their stamps will forever be evident in our culture. Here's mine. Here's UPTXWN." All of the photos scroll backwards and the screen goes black for a few seconds. Images of the Big L tribute wall outside of the Harlem Up Deli Market, in black and white appear, then the same original six models; Sam, Levi, Von, Jade, Deanna, and Cass kneeling at different levels, crowded around the wall. Making sure not to block his face or name. Then Pretty Flako instrumental bangs through the theater's speakers. The TV flake transition changes to the Bailey house shoot. The drone shot pans around the corner of the property, all twenty four models posing looking like royalty draped in over $80,000 worth of clothes collectively. The visual pans over to a slowed down visual of Nina flashing her bottom grill, her thick frame vibing out to the up tempo beat. Then to Xierra kneeling beside her, giving face in her side profile. The screen shortly displays a wide pan of the property and models again, then switches to Levi. Iyo's suggested scene of displaying the details of his tattoos on his shirtless body-- while simultaneously showing the VVS necklace, the embroidery on the custom one of a kind jean jacket; came out perfectly.

The photos of each model in each of their looks scroll through at the right speed so each detail is fully displayed. Every model stands up, showing off as their photos went across the screen. As Gina's photoset emerges, I turn to the screen so I can roll my eyes. I instantly become reminded of how flirty she was with Erik before Yani had to snatch her up to take these. Yani stands beside me, peeping the entire scene, "Girl, suck it up. She in it now. Let's get it over with." I shake it off, turning back to the models.

The park Marcus Garvey Amphitheater scene pops up, it was a gloomy overcast. Which was perfect for the theme. As the looping instrumental repeats, each model was either sitting at the top of the folding seats, or crouched on the seat of the folding seats. The collective total of every look? $110,878. I'm lucky I got such great relationships with these clients and these models didn't fuck up any of they shit. The first visual was Von, on the center stage. His long hair hanging over his entire face. He rocked this black long open hooded jacket, shirtless. Displaying his massive musical themed chest piece. It gave me a grim reaper vibe that I was definitely looking for. The jacket was a piece I asked Chris Brown's people to create for their Black Pyramid line. They fucked with the vision and agreed to do it. Von flipped the bottom of the jacket back with force, the rest of the models appeared on stage, smoke filled the stage floor as the all black visual came to life. Gina and Cass rocked matching contrast dresses, Cass was the only model not in black that day. I put her in a white intricate lace Erdem Dress. Gina wore the matching Black dress.

Jade and Deanna were back to back. Jade was wearing a black deep v neck, with a leather ribbed comme des garcons jacket. With a cascading gold necklace reaching her stomach. Accompanied with black and gold aviator Louis Vuitton shades, Black ripped Levis I thrifted on the East side, and Jefferey Campbell's Legion booties. Deanna was wearing my favorite outfit of that day. A black long sleeved Oscar De La Renta ruffled shirt with cut out shoulders, a Burberry black ruffled skirt, and black Averil Doc Martin boots. Her bamboos and three finger ring spelling out her name put a street edge on her look that was near and dear to my Harlem bred heart. GG beat every woman's face and gave them the same cohesive smokey eye with the black, In The Spirit MAC lipstick. The only difference makeup wise was Cass' white undereye liner.

Once again the photos of every model starts cascading slideshow style. Johan was my second favorite look for that shoot, He rocked a black high low long sleeved Alexander Wang shirt, black distressed Givenchy jeans, and his personal black on black Ralph Lauren Hi Boots. I was going to put him in some other shoes, but I saw the ones he had on and they looked way better with the fit. We accompanied that look with a black Cuban link necklace, the matching bracelet, and Dolce & Gabana retro flip up round glasses.

Everyone's rave reactions trigger my tears of joy, it's all of our first times seeing the visual's final product and I couldn't be any more proud. This has really been my baby. I've nurtured it, I've put in the work for it. This moment was like its graduation. Everyone looks at me, "Awwwwww!" Yani gives me a big hug, "I'm proud of you, kid." I squeeze her, "I'm proud of us, kid." I push out a laugh.

The final shoot displayed the brownstones on Mount Morris Park, the street right outside of Marcus Garvey Park. Where my parents' old brownstone was. I only needed my original six for this one, since all twenty-four wouldn't fit on the stoop. That day, it was sunny. Not one cloud in sight. Perfect lighting for the intimate shoot. The theme was spring, specifically, pastel colors.

I dressed Jade in a pastel yellow Ted Baker maxi dress, I accessorized her outfit with vintage canary yellow teardrop earrings with a matching tennis bracelet. She wore some nude Christian Louboutin spiked peep toed heels. She stands up when she finds her face and yells while twerking, "Long Hair! Red Bottoms! Long Hair! Red Bottoms!" Everyone, including me burst out in laughter. She kept saying it so much during the shoot, I let her keep them. Paid the $1,500 tab too. Deanna was draped in a Monroe and Main white two piece suit with black accents on the collar and cuffs. We accompanied that with my personal pearls I got from my mom before she passed, some white Manolo Blahnic pumps, and some VVS diamond earrings while her hair popped in the sunlight. She wore her low cut with a rose gold tint. I put Cass in a pair of nude Emilio Pucci wide legged trousers, a White Alexander McQueen peplum top, and a matching nude blazer was draping over her shoulders. Her accessories was a silver double C Chanel choker, charm rings from Tiffany Co., and a vintage Chanel crossbody, gifted from Karl Lagerfeld himself. He said I needed something old for my collection.

The guys were matching my girls' fly. Von parallels Deanna with a Tom Ford cotton two piece suit, I laced him with some white Versace loafers with the gold Medusa emblem on the center, with the Cuban link chain Johan wore at the Marcus Garvey shoot, and golden Panthere De Cartier rounded sunglasses. Levi's parallel was for Jade's look. He wore a pastel yellow Calvin Klein. Accompanied with a large size canary ring on his index finger, and the Burberry vintage loafers. Sam paralleled Cass, in a nude ASOS suit with the matching vest. I kept it simple and just accessorized it with my dad's gold pocket watch and black Stacy Adams dress shoes.

I thought the presentation was over, but then the screen transitioned to me working behind the scenes. Me pointing and directing at the Bailey house, with the wind blowing like crazy, me filming on Highbridge at the crack of dawn, Iyo even snuck some footage of the meeting we had in Morningside Park. It looks like Yani snuck some footage of me putting the image board for the fashion show stage together as well. I'm just admiring the scene of watching the hard nights and amazing days I shared with an incredible team. The last shot was me sitting on my old stoop. I was just reminiscing, thinking of how my mom, dad, and I would eat ice cream in the spring in the same spot. I looked up, as I normally do when thinking of them, put my hands together and mumbled, 'allah , shkraan lak.' The camera was too far to catch my phrase. Afterward I bowed between my legs so I could have my emotional moment to myself.

Everyone hops on the stage to crowd around me and initiated a group hug. Once everyone slightly disbursed, I see Gina still sitting in the audience with Erik, I guess he just got here. I hear the doors open again and see Yasin, smiling at me.

By half past 10, everyone had gone home except for Yani, Nina, Gina, Erik, and Yasin. Nina is waiting on Rashad to pick her up, and I guess Gina is looking to Erik to take her home. She's literally been all up under him since his arrival.

"Tomorrow's gonna go great, babe. You got a great team behind you, you've been super focused. It can't go any other way." Yasin lands a kiss on my temple as I blush at his encouragement. I blink in Erik's direction, he's giving the same look he gave us at Rashad's party. He then grips Gina, pulling her closer to him, "Yeah. You got it Syd. We gon head out. See ya later." with that, Erik and Gina strut to the exit. Nina's phone dings, "Oh, bae is here! See ya tomorrow Syd! We gon kill it, boo!" She hugs me and Yani then jogs out the double doors, "Nice seeing you again Yasin!" he nods, "You too!"

"So tell me something about you, Sin! I've only talked about me when I see you. What was lil Yasin like?" We are strolling down Saint Nick Avenue after getting grilled jerk chicken from King Barka. We decide to sit on a park bench right outside Saint Nick Park to chat since I wasn't quite ready to go home. "Well, I was born and raised in Brooklyn. Flatbush. My moms is from Brooklyn as well. My dad's side of the family is from Harlem, the eastside, but they love uptown just as much." I grin as he continues, "I was a bad ass kid growing up. Always fighting, getting into trouble at school, I even got expelled in middle school." "Well damn! How did you go from that to--" I wave my hands around his silhouette, "This?" He takes a bite out of his chicken and flashes a sexy smile, "My mom sent me to live with my Uncle. The one that retired and gave me the maintenance business."

"Ahhhh, I see. He whipped you into shape?" He snorts, "Oh, he whipped me alright. A lot. He taught me what it is to be a man." "Where was your father?" He continues eating, pausing his story for a spell, "Uh.. He was in prison. He pushed weight for about ten years, he got caught up. He didn't snitch, so he got twenty. He got out after eight years for good behavior." "How's your relationship with him now?" He shugs, "We're cool. We had a little spat when he first got out. I had to be the man of the house for a while for my moms and sisters. I resented him for it." I take a hold of his free hand, "We patched things up recently." "So him and your mom still married?" He nods, "Yeah. Moms held him down. That lady.. She deserves the world." He finishes his dish as he glows at the mention of his mother.

"She had to get two jobs before I turned sixteen and worked with my Uncle. She held down our household for three years, alone, before I was able to step in and help her. After that, she went back to school. She finished the year before my pops got out, now she's a nurse. Doing what she loves to do." "That's great. That's what life is about, doing what you love." "Definitely." He throws away our empty plates and we keep walking down the avenue, "So what do you love to do Yasin?" "I love music." I stop in my tracks.

"Let me guess, you rap?" he sucks his teeth, "Nah, girl. I play instruments. Three; Acoustic guitar, piano, and snare drum." "Ah, okay! When did you discover your talent?" "I was... ten, I think?" "You make songs?" He pulls a slick move behind me, grabbing me by my waist. I roll my eyes as we continue to walk, "I haven't made a song in five years." "Why not?" I feel him shrug behind me, "I've been busy." I turn around to grab his hands, "You're never too busy to do what you love." He smiles at me, I sense the same glow about him that he had when he spoke of his mom. "Especially when it makes you this happy...just talking about it." Yasin closes the gap between us, "Maybe, you're right. Look at you. Doing what you love. You're inspiring Syeda. Beautiful, too." He strokes my left cheek with his palm. I freeze, much like I did a couple weeks back in my apartment with Erik.

Speaking of Erik, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do about what happened since my dad's birthday. I guess Erik knows what he wants, and that's Gina. So why am I freezing? What's stopping me? All of a sudden my inner thoughts are silenced when Yasin seals our distance, gently kissing me. My knees buckle and he hoists me up by my butt, cuffing the bottom of my cheeks. That makes me even weaker, he breaks off from me, "Damn girl. You good?" My eyes flutter as I respond, "Yeah. Yeah. I'm good." I pull him by his shirt to kiss him again.

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lifejustgotawkward · 6 years

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365 Day Movie Challenge (2017) - #348: Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - dir. Denis Villeneuve

As the end credits rolled on Blade Runner 2049 last Sunday night at the Regal Union Square multiplex, I turned to my friend and asked her my usual question, “So, what did you think?” She groaned out, “that was really boring,” and the wave of relief I felt at her response was the perfect summation of my feelings.

How did Blade Runner 2049 disappoint me? Let me count the ways.

I watched Ridley Scott’s original Blade Runner (1982) back in September. I was impressed, though not bowled over, by the theatrical cut, but I still wanted to give the final cut a chance. When I got around to watching that “definitive” version, I found that I actually missed Harrison Ford’s gruff, noiresque narration from the earlier edit of the film, but overall my appreciation for Blade Runner had grown and the second viewing allowed me to focus less on the plot and to better appreciate both the acting and the technical aspects of the production.

My expectations for Blade Runner 2049 were fairly high. I was eager to see how Denis Villeneuve built on Scott’s (and, of course, writer Philip K. Dick’s) visions of dystopian Los Angeles by pushing the narrative thirty years further into the future from the first Blade Runner’s setting in 2019. Although I missed the chance to see this new installment in IMAX - hey, those tickets are expensive when you don’t have spare cash to throw around! - I knew I still had to take the time to watch the film on the big screen. No TV could possibly do justice to an epic sci-fi tale of the Blade Runner variety, at least not for an introductory experience.

Bear with me, now, when I say that Blade Runner 2049 was a massive letdown. Yes, Roger Deakins’ stunning cinematography is practically guaranteed to earn him an Oscar nomination. And yes, the art direction, production design and set decoration further supports Denis Villeneuve‘s strengths regarding compelling visuals. I would also be totally fine with Renée April getting an Oscar nomination for costume design since the coat that Officer K (Ryan Gosling) wears throughout the film is incredible. Unfortunately, for the third year in a row (after Sicario and Arrival) my hopes for Villeneuve’s work have been dashed. For three years running he has fallen short of his ambitious ideas, whether attempting to concentrate on an idealistic DEA agent (Emily Blunt in Sicario), a linguist simultaneously mourning the death of her daughter and trying to make contact with aliens (Amy Adams in Arrival) or a Replicant Blade Runner (Ryan Gosling in Blade Runner 2049) who unravels a mystery about a female Replicant who was able to bear a child. All of these protagonists should be worthy of my undivided attention. Instead, Gosling - like one of Nexus’s new edition of Replicants - is just another in a continuing line of failed leads.

Part of the issue is Ryan Gosling’s own fault. In interviews I find him absolutely delightful, a funny and self-deprecating guy with a nicely offbeat sense of humor; in movies he is unremittingly bland. Whether we’re talking about The Notebook or Crazy, Stupid, Love or The Big Short, he never seems to have any discernible personality on film. It makes sense, then, that he would be chosen to play an android in Blade Runner 2049. But what does it say that he didn’t even play Officer K well? Replicants can be portrayed with emotion, if you recall Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Daryl Hannah, Brion James and Joanna Cassidy in the original Blade Runner. Each actor breathed life into their characters in unique styles. So why couldn’t Villeneuve and screenwriters Hampton Fancher and Michael Green find a way to inject some flavor into their film’s characters?

The posters for Blade Runner 2049 imply that Harrison Ford and Jared Leto play important roles in the film, but in actuality, Leto’s “antagonist,” Niander Wallace, barely has any screen time and Ford’s returning antihero, Rick Deckard, doesn’t show up until the last third of the film. I enjoyed every moment he was onscreen, spitting his dialogue out with the same jaded sarcasm he had in the first film, but I wish the character had had more time to develop in the film. Wallace bears an undistinguished aura of evil, but what was supposed to be so special about him? Given the spotlight often put on his sightless eyes during “creepy” closeups, was his blindness really intended to be read as part of what defined him as bad (in which case, uh, what is that saying about disabilities)?

Next we have to take a look at the women of Blade Runner 2049. There are six notable female characters: Joi (Ana de Armas), a hologram who is a product created by Niander Wallace and who functions solely as K’s live-in girlfriend; Luv (Sylvia Hoeks), a Replicant who acts as Niander Wallace’s right-hand woman; Lieutenant Joshi (Robin Wright), K’s supervisor on the police force; Mariette (Mackenzie Davis), a "pleasure model” Replicant; Dr. Ana Stelline (Carla Juri), who works for the Wallace corporation in a capacity that I shouldn’t spoil for those who have not seen the film; and Freysa (Hiam Abbass), who plays a role that I similarly should not divulge. Of these six, Joi and Ana Stelline are the most sympathetic characters, but regardless of how these women’s actions are meant to be interpreted, the designs of these ladies are problematic.

Joi is an immediately likeable character, but since she is a product (and one who does not initially have a corporeal form), she does not have autonomy. With the push of a button, K can turn her off any time he wants, which I’m sure is an option a lot of dudes wish they had available for their girlfriends. Joi exists only to serve K, telling him how wonderful he is when he gets home from a long work day and providing whatever eye candy he desires (she can shapeshift to alter her clothing, hair and makeup). Should I ignore the fact that Joi has zero character development and applaud Blade Runner 2049 anyway for highlighting the ickiness of a future society where Joi-models are prevalent (thus eliminating the need for actual human women)? Maybe, but the film doesn’t bother to make a statement about this element of social interaction, other than the fact that it exists.

K is finally able to experience physical contact with Joi when she “syncs” with Mariette, a prostitute, to combine their bodies for a sexual encounter with K, resulting in my favorite shot in the film: an unsettling image of Joi and Mariette’s four blurry hands wrapping around the back of K’s head and caressing his hair. While this interlude incorporates an interesting degree of romantic intrigue - to what extent do K, Joi and Mariette understand what love is? - there is something a little too weird in the film’s dependence on the Madonna and Whore tropes, suggesting an either/or dichotomy where the only time a woman can possess both attributes is when she finds another person (technically a Replicant) who can temporarily provide the missing skills.

Luv is probably the best-developed female character, although since she is Niander Wallace’s servant, it is impossible to say where her allegiance to him ends and her own taste for violent retribution begins. Luv seems to genuinely savor hurting people, but I suppose that attitude was programmed into her by Wallace, which somewhat minimizes the cool factor in her badass fight scenes. It’s kind of odd, though, that she manages to outshine the film’s other resident tough gal, Lt. Joshi (I didn’t think anyone could outdo Robin Wright in this department, especially after Wonder Woman). Villeneuve and his writers couldn’t settle on how best to represent Joshi, so the character fluctuates between a generically butch stereotype and a leering boss who drinks too much and flirts with K. Again, not that women have to be only one thing, but I like consistency in characters rather than mixed messages. I wonder how much of Blade Runner 2049′s muddled and archaic depictions of women are thanks to Hampton Fancher, who also co-wrote the original Blade Runner’s screenplay, which was full of troublesome approaches to womanhood, sexuality and sexual consent.

In the end, the difference between Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 is like the distinction between a human being and a Replicant. 2049 tries to live up to the originality of that which inspired it, but it lacks the soul of its predecessor. It really says something that the most heartfelt moments in Blade Runner 2049 are two references to Ridley Scott’s film: a pivotal scene in Wallace’s lair that conjures up the memory of Rachael (Sean Young) from the film, and a moment in the penultimate scene that reuses a key piece of music from Vangelis’s original Blade Runner score. I recognize that many viewers see Blade Runner 2049 as a masterpiece, and I have tried many times in the past week to understand why, but I’m hard-pressed to comprehend why I should have spent close to three hours sitting through such an unsatisfying project, other than being able to say I bravely weathered this particular storm.

P.S. (because I couldn’t figure out where else to write this): I don’t know how many viewers will know where I’m coming from, but for the cult classic freaks out there, let me propose this theory: Blade Runner 2049 is trying to be like Paul Morrissey’s notoriously wild horror-satire Flesh for Frankenstein (1973). Check it out: a really bizarre and wealthy man (Udo Kier/Jared Leto) and his devoted assistant (Arno Juerging/Sylvia Hoeks) endeavor to construct a set of superhumans (FfF) or humanoid robots (B42049), entities that will give birth to a new generation of superbeings that will take the place of their inferior progenitors and obediently do their master’s (Kier/Leto) bidding. In fact, there are two specific scenes that reminded me of Flesh for Frankenstein while watching Blade Runner 2049: when Niander Wallace kills the naked, infertile Replicant woman (ugh, what a terrible scene), it mirrors a moment in Flesh when Arno Juerging, the loyal assistant, tries to commence sex with Baron Frankenstein’s female zombie-monster by punching her in the stomach and fatally damaging her internal organs, resulting in a grotesque display of violence similar to what we see in Blade Runner 2049.

Secondly, when Luv battles K at the sea wall and she kisses him, she is mimicking an action that Niander Wallace carried out when he killed the Replicant woman; this is also reminiscent of Flesh for Frankenstein since the Arno Juerging character often does horrible, perverse things - like conflating his lust for the female zombie with a disturbingly compulsion for violence - because he is following his master’s patterns. Take all that analysis for what it’s worth, Blade Runner fans!

P.P.S. I am also convinced that Blade Runner 2049′s Las Vegas wasteland scene was either an homage to or a ripoff of Nastassja Kinski’s desert dream sequence from another of 1982′s finest cult offerings, Cat People. Even in the slightly faded YouTube upload of the clip, the orangeness cannot be overlooked.

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cynthiajayusa · 5 years

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‘Widows’ Star Viola Davis Talks LGBTQ Evolution

Viola Davis taps my hand when she really means what she says. Each time the actress reaches over to make contact, the big bar in the big skyscraper in big Chicago where we are sitting diminishes. She has a way of making any space feel intimate.

The first black actor to win an Oscar, Emmy and a Tony for acting, Davis is seated diagonally from me at a larger-than-we-need table more suited for a family’s Thanksgiving gathering than a conversation between two people. She is striking in a baby-blue pantsuit and a gorgeous, billowing afro, owning the space she occupies much like the way she owns the screen, having granted vulnerability and humanity to some of TV, theater and film’s most unforgettable women for three decades.

Her knack for investigating the deepest human depths of her characters is best illustrated in a single scene, as a loving, anguished mother in 2008’s Doubt, her indelible breakthrough. Later, she starred as Aibileen Clark in The Help (she previously played another maid in gay director Todd Haynes’ 2002 film Far From Heaven), and in Suicide Squad and Fences, which won her an Oscar. And as criminal defense attorney Annalise Keating on ABC’s hit drama How to Get Away with Murder, she is a mighty force.

Davis’s signature resilience once again pervades tenacious crime-boss Veronica Rawlins in 12 Years a Slave and in director Steve McQueen’s socially charged action-thriller Widows, notably featuring a lead cast mostly comprised of actresses of color.

After spending the early years of her career not recognizing her power even though we did, Davis, 53, does now, she tells me. The obvious question: “Do gay men feel compelled to bow down to you?” I ask, moments into the candid conversation that awaits us, which has Davis reflecting on how she learned to love the LGBTQ community and why she feels her best role was as a man. Smiling, she lights up and leans back. “You know what, yeah, they do.”

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These badass women doing badass things in a world where sometimes these women are told that they can’t do them…

Absolutely.

How do you explain the connection between these strong women you play and the LGBTQ community?

Because I think the LGBTQ community feels like they’re on the periphery. They feel like they’re not seen, they feel like they’re not worthy, they feel like they’re not valued. And there’s no answer to that, other than the fact that you’re not heterosexual. Really, that’s it. That’s what I think, and I certainly feel the same way, as someone who has been marginalized my entire life. Listen, when I think about myself, I am everything within me. I’ve had boyfriends, people think I’m cute (laughs). I’m funny! I’m telling you, I’m all of those things. And I cannot stand labels. I cannot stand them.

Did you have something to do with Annalise’s sexual fluidity, then?

I had everything to do with that. And so did (creator) Pete Nowak; I can’t leave him out. I really have to give him credit for that too. But yeah, absolutely. And also, I Am Jazz: I was watching that one night. I love that show. But I was watching that one night and (trans TV star and model Jazz Jennings) was playing in the closet with one of her friends who was a trans teenager, and it was just great. They were talking about who they see themselves with in the future, and they were like, “Whoever, you know. I’m open. I’m open to a boy, I’m open to a girl.” And they started talking about just the attributes of the people they wanted to be with.

That transformed me more than anything. I thought, “That is the greatest thing in the world,” and I thought that that was a great idea for Annalise because Annalise is so damaged, so traumatized that what if she just said, “I’m just open to love”? God, think about what we can explore there.

Are you inspired by this generation of young people who identify as sexually fluid?

Totally, with everything. My generation – I always say, “The black and Hispanic people liked disco and the white people liked rock ’n’ roll.” That was my generation. And there was no language for homosexuality – only fear.

Growing up in Rhode Island, what was your introduction to the LGBTQ community?

Hmm… probably through… that’s a difficult question. I’m gonna say this: My friend… shit. This is menopause, ’cause I was just talking about him. Slim! My friend Slim! And I’ll say him, even though it’s more than just him, because I just did have a lot of gay friends. I’m a theater geek!

But my introduction into, especially the gay and the trans community, was Slim. And the reason why I say that is because it challenged even my idea of sexuality, because we were just friends and he had a girlfriend, and then he announced to me that he was gay, and then it went from that to him borrowing my clothes, my dresses. I was like, “Oh, OK! You can borrow my dresses!” So he would take my dresses, and then it went from that to him dropping out of school – and of course we still continued our friendship. And then it went from that to him wearing my makeup.

I just remember going with it, of course, because I loved him. It was my first introduction into a different level of sexuality that no one talked about. He had a group of young men that lived with him who were all trans and he called them his “sons and daughters.” Some were gay, some were trans, some were transvestite, and it was my first introduction into the fluidity of sexuality.

You said this was going to be a difficult question for you to answer, but it wasn’t.

It wasn’t difficult, I know. I guess not.

Was reconciling your Christian upbringing with your acceptance of homosexuality a challenge for you?

I guess it was a little – it was. But I loved him. I have to say I loved him, so I felt it was on me to shift my thinking and it was up to me to understand him. I will say I went with it, but it was my first introduction to understanding it. When I was on Facebook, I did have my Facebook friend Nika (Lomazzo, a trans woman and activist) and she really schooled me. So every day I would go to her site and she would school me and I said, “I’ve been to school; I’m just gonna learn.” She’s a trans woman, so I was schooled (with) just certain language.

The first time you kiss a same-sex love interest played by Famke Janssen – did your mother ever see that episode of How to Get Away with Murder even though you didn’t want her to?

Yep!

You said that you weren’t gonna show it to her.

I didn’t show it to her! She saw it on her own!

And?

She was good with it – because my niece is gay and at 9, 10 years old she told her mom, my sister: “Mom, I like girls,” and my sister said, “OK. Well, are you OK?” She said, “I think I’m fine.” She was like, “OK, well I’m good too.” And that was their conversation.

youtube

You starred in one of the most notable queer films ever made: Todd Haynes’ Far From Heaven. How do you reflect on your role in that film?

The maid? I liked that movie. I loved that movie.

And the role?

I mean, the role was a maid. I’m done with the maids. But that was in the beginning of my career. I wasn’t really awoke then – not as awoken as I am.

You recently admitted to having issues with The Help.

Yeah, I did.

Looking back on The Help and Far From Heaven, what has that taught you about the importance of representation for the black and LGBTQ community?

I guess I already knew it then, too, but I never thought that I had any power. I was just happy to have a job. But I think it’s important to be seen, it’s important to see your own images on the screen – and in a way that is honest.

The reason I became an actor, and it’s absolutely the reason why I became an actor: I’m a total nerd and I fell in love with Arthur Miller. He said he wrote to make people feel less alone, and that’s why I do what I do. Seriously, that’s why I do what I do. I seriously do. And so I feel responsible for any image I put out there that makes people feel alone, that makes people feel not seen, that doesn’t show fully who they are – their anger, their pain, their joy, their sexuality. That’s your job as an artist, so yeah, that’s where I’m at right now.

Have you considered the importance of you not just portraying a lesbian but a lesbian of color, a demographic so rarely portrayed on screen, and the impact that could have on the LGBTQ community?

I’ve been offered, I played: God’s Heart with Julie Kavner. We were lesbians. I played a lesbian in King Lear. It was a workshop production (at the Public Theater in New York) and actually the guy who directed it was one of the people who put together Paris Is Burning and he set King Lear in one of the gay (ball-culture) “houses” of the ’90s. And I didn’t do it, because the director told me at the last minute I probably should’ve done it, but he wanted me to compete in those gay house shows. You have to be a man pretending to be a woman or a woman pretending to be a man and the more real you are, that’s a whole competition. It’s about being as real as you can be. To me, that was the best role I’d ever done, by the way. Bar none. TV, film. It was the best role.

Why was your role in King Lear so special to you?

Because I had to play a lesbian who was pretending to be a man and I went home – I am telling you, I said, “I am gonna hit this” (bangs fist against palm). So I felt like I really transformed into a man. I thought it was totally believable! And Nicole Ari Parker was my girlfriend! Every time we see each other, I’m like, (excitedly waves her arms) “Hey!”

I feel like gay men must come up to you all the time and quote Annalise’s iconic line, “Why is your penis on a dead girl’s phone?” Is that line still following you around?

I mean, I don’t know what it is about that line – maybe just ’cause it was so unexpected! So I keep quoting or thinking about Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, because I feel like gay men like that movie too. I love that movie. And there’s a lot of reasons why. I think its Judy Garland too, you know?

Right, a gay icon.

Yeah. You understand why. But also, this is my thing: She keeps talking about going home and wanting to go home, and then in the end the Good Witch tells her (she) had the power to go home all along. I know, even as a black woman, that feeling. I have the power within to be the change I wanna see, to have the life I wanna have; it’s already in me.

People strip us of our worth and the potency of our worth and the potency of our power so much. I see it because… listen, I’m socialized on steroids (laughs). The number of people I meet every day who interview me, who I have to meet at parties and social gatherings, because I’m an actor – one of the things I’ve noticed, ’cause I love looking at different reporters who come in and imagining who they are, who they love, and I love it. And there have been (people) who come in from the LGBTQ community – and now there’s more trans men, trans women reporters, and it’s a “coming out” and stepping into who you are. You gotta love it.

source https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2018/11/29/widows-star-viola-davis-talks-lgbtq-evolution/ from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazin.blogspot.com/2018/11/widows-star-viola-davis-talks-lgbtq.html

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demitgibbs · 5 years

Text

‘Widows’ Star Viola Davis Talks LGBTQ Evolution

youtube

These badass women doing badass things in a world where sometimes these women are told that they can’t do them…

Absolutely.

How do you explain the connection between these strong women you play and the LGBTQ community?

Did you have something to do with Annalise’s sexual fluidity, then?

Are you inspired by this generation of young people who identify as sexually fluid?

Growing up in Rhode Island, what was your introduction to the LGBTQ community?

You said this was going to be a difficult question for you to answer, but it wasn’t.

It wasn’t difficult, I know. I guess not.

Was reconciling your Christian upbringing with your acceptance of homosexuality a challenge for you?

The first time you kiss a same-sex love interest played by Famke Janssen – did your mother ever see that episode of How to Get Away with Murder even though you didn’t want her to?

Yep!

You said that you weren’t gonna show it to her.

I didn’t show it to her! She saw it on her own!

And?

youtube

You starred in one of the most notable queer films ever made: Todd Haynes’ Far From Heaven. How do you reflect on your role in that film?

The maid? I liked that movie. I loved that movie.

And the role?

I mean, the role was a maid. I’m done with the maids. But that was in the beginning of my career. I wasn’t really awoke then – not as awoken as I am.

You recently admitted to having issues with The Help.

Yeah, I did.

Looking back on The Help and Far From Heaven, what has that taught you about the importance of representation for the black and LGBTQ community?

Have you considered the importance of you not just portraying a lesbian but a lesbian of color, a demographic so rarely portrayed on screen, and the impact that could have on the LGBTQ community?

Why was your role in King Lear so special to you?

I feel like gay men must come up to you all the time and quote Annalise’s iconic line, “Why is your penis on a dead girl’s phone?” Is that line still following you around?

Right, a gay icon.

from Hotspots! Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2018/11/29/widows-star-viola-davis-talks-lgbtq-evolution/ from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.tumblr.com/post/180620914505

0 notes

hotspotsmagazine · 5 years

Text

‘Widows’ Star Viola Davis Talks LGBTQ Evolution

youtube

These badass women doing badass things in a world where sometimes these women are told that they can’t do them…

Absolutely.

How do you explain the connection between these strong women you play and the LGBTQ community?

Did you have something to do with Annalise’s sexual fluidity, then?

Are you inspired by this generation of young people who identify as sexually fluid?

Growing up in Rhode Island, what was your introduction to the LGBTQ community?

You said this was going to be a difficult question for you to answer, but it wasn’t.

It wasn’t difficult, I know. I guess not.

Was reconciling your Christian upbringing with your acceptance of homosexuality a challenge for you?

The first time you kiss a same-sex love interest played by Famke Janssen – did your mother ever see that episode of How to Get Away with Murder even though you didn’t want her to?

Yep!

You said that you weren’t gonna show it to her.

I didn’t show it to her! She saw it on her own!

And?

youtube

You starred in one of the most notable queer films ever made: Todd Haynes’ Far From Heaven. How do you reflect on your role in that film?

The maid? I liked that movie. I loved that movie.

And the role?

I mean, the role was a maid. I’m done with the maids. But that was in the beginning of my career. I wasn’t really awoke then – not as awoken as I am.

You recently admitted to having issues with The Help.

Yeah, I did.

Looking back on The Help and Far From Heaven, what has that taught you about the importance of representation for the black and LGBTQ community?

Have you considered the importance of you not just portraying a lesbian but a lesbian of color, a demographic so rarely portrayed on screen, and the impact that could have on the LGBTQ community?

Why was your role in King Lear so special to you?

I feel like gay men must come up to you all the time and quote Annalise’s iconic line, “Why is your penis on a dead girl’s phone?” Is that line still following you around?

Right, a gay icon.

from Hotspots! Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2018/11/29/widows-star-viola-davis-talks-lgbtq-evolution/

0 notes

theconservativebrief · 5 years

Link

Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” is so closely associated with Halloween that it can be easy to overlook the fact that it’s also the most influential music video ever made, for a host of reasons only partly related to its spooky subject matter.

For starters, it’s the most popular, critically acclaimed music video in history, one whose fame helped push the album it was a part of, 1982’s Thriller, to become the highest-selling album in music history, with some estimates claiming over 100 million copies sold worldwide. (For context, The Eagles’ hugely popular 1976 Greatest Hits album, which recently surpassed Thriller for album sales in the US, has only sold 51 million copies worldwide.)

It was legendarily scandalous, with a now-famous disclaimer that it “in no way endorses a belief in the occult” feeding into the era’s titillating frenzy over Satanic Panic. Its multi-layered storyline was destined to tease the squeamish: The narrative played with horror movie tropes, framing a vintage movie about a teenage were-person (Jackson) unexpectedly terrorizing his date (model Ola Ray), within a modern story about a teenage zombie also terrorizing his date — along with a grave-fresh dancing zombie uprising.

“Thriller” expanded the boundaries for music videos, single-handedly transforming what was then a new and oft-maligned genre that killed the radio star into a cultural phenomenon and an art form in its own right. Public demand to watch “Thriller” outside of its TV airings created a video-rental boom. And crucially, its popularity pushed FM radio stations and MTV to give equal time to black entertainers alongside white artists, on what had been until then tacitly segregated outlets.

And all of this was exactly according to plan. In his 1988 memoir Moonwalk, Jackson discussed how he had conceived of each of the three short films that were produced to accompany Thriller — the music videos for “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” and “Thriller” — to be genre-advancing, innovative, and inventive. “I wanted to be a pioneer in this relatively new medium and make the best short music movies we could make,” Jackson wrote. “On the set I explained that we were doing a film and that was how I approached it.”

To that end, Jackson recruited filmmaker John Landis, then famed for Blues Brothers and Animal House, to direct “Thriller.” Landis was fresh off of making American Werewolf in London, the film that established the “horror-comedy” as a galvanizing force within the horror genre. Jackson wanted to hire Landis because the concept of the “Thriller” music video also involved a were-transformation, and because Landis’s darkly comedic touch matched the comical pastiche of serious horror that Jackson was aiming for.

When the production budget ran over double the original proposal — “Thriller” ultimately cost $900,000, then an unprecedented cost for a music video — Jackson found an ingenious way to make up the difference: He hired a second film crew to document the production as it was happening, and convinced MTV and Showtime to pay to license The Making of Thriller, which ultimately premiered after the music video and (as Jackson reported in Moonwalk) sold a million copies all by itself. It was the first time a documentary film had ever been made about a music video, and it further legitimized the work Jackson was doing.

And then, of course, there was the impact of the video, released exclusively on MTV on December 2, 1983. Jackson reported in Moonwalk that the video and its title song, released as a single in February 1984, drove 14 million additional sales of Thriller in the first six months after their release.

Ultimately, the monumental success of the album Thriller — nominated for 12 Grammys and winning a record-breaking eight — made Jackson an unstoppable force who had to be taken seriously. “There were times during the Thriller project when I would get emotional or upset because I couldn’t get the people working with me to see what I was,” Jackson wrote in Moonwalk. But after “Thriller,” which would go on to become the first-ever music video added to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry, his creative genius spoke for itself.

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There’s a lot to unpack in the video’s 14-minute runtime. Its iconic choreography, horror narrative, dazzling costumes, and effects have all been the focus of decades of pop culture writing. But here are some facts you may have missed amid all the hype, analysis, and dance-offs.

While Epic Records was certainly thrilled (sorry) with the landmark success of Thriller after the hit singles “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” were released, the label viewed the album’s title track as something of a novelty and had no plans to release it as a single.

It wasn’t until the album started to fall on the charts in 1983, months after its November 1982 release, that promoter Frank DiLeo assuaged Jackson’s angst over declining sales by encouraging him to make a third video to join the other two. “Thriller” was considered an easy lift due to the content. “All you’ve got to do is dance, sing, and make it scary,” DiLeo recalled saying to Jackson in a 2010 Vanity Fair profile of Jackson and the film.

A screenshot from the “Thriller” video. Epic Records

At the time he was making Thriller, Jackson was a devout Jehovah’s Witness who would carry books about his and other religions around with him on set. After production wrapped on “Thriller,” as explained by Jackson’s longtime lawyer John Branca to Vanity Fair, Jackson started to panic because members of his church had told him the song promoted demonology.

Afraid the church was going to excommunicate him, Jackson begged Landis to have the film destroyed. Instead, Branca convinced him to include a disclaimer at the beginning of the film to distance it from his own personal beliefs. “Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult,” the title card read.

Ultimately, the disclaimer just added to the hype around the video and became an accidental stroke of marketing genius, even though it was only created to assuage Jackson himself.

Epic Records

Jackson undergoes two memorable transformations in the film: first as a were-creature and later a zombie. In the first scene, he transforms into what most people typically assume is a werewolf. This makes sense, given that he’s shown reacting to the full moon right before he changes.

In fact, Jackson’s transformation isn’t into a werewolf, but into a were-cat. The look was created by Rick Baker, fresh from winning the first Oscar given out for Best Makeup for his work on Landis’s American Werewolf.

“We made him into more of a werecat because I just didn’t want to do another werewolf,” Baker told Vulture in 2010. “At first I was thinking [it would be] almost like a black panther thing, but … I ended up putting a longer mane of hair on it and bigger ears.”

In a Guardian interview about the making of the film last year, Landis noted that he’d insisted Jackson’s transformation not be too unattractive. But Baker was amused at how into the idea of turning into the monster M.J. was. “I thought, he’s like a rock star — I don’t think he’s going to want to wear this makeup, but it turned out that’s what he wanted to do more than anything,” Baker said.

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Vincent Price’s famous “rap” had a rarely heard middle verse that was cut from the final performance in both the album and the video. Its lyrics — “Thriller” songwriter Rod Temperton allegedly wrote the lines the day of Price’s studio visit as a kind of Edgar Allan Poe pastiche — are arguably even more diabolically gleeful than the first half, and include the immortal lines, “The demons squeal in sheer delight / It’s you they spy, so plump, so right.”

Alas, Price’s meaty delivery of “Can you dig it?” also never made it into the final cut.

According to multiple accounts, Jackson would bring his pet snake, Muscles, to the set while filming “Thriller.” In a 2016 interview, Quincy Jones, who produced the album, said that Jackson’s menagerie — which also included chimpanzees — was ubiquitous in the studio. “One day I said, ‘Where’s Muscles?’ and we went downstairs and Muscles was in the parrot cage. He had just eaten the parrot and his head got stuck in the bars of the cage.”

Epic Records

When Jackson and his girlfriend in the film, Ola Ray, exit the theater after the movie-within-a-movie, they’re shown standing in front of a movie poster for a film called Schlock. This is a real movie directed by Landis, who cast his friend, the well-known makeup effects artist John Chambers, in his only credited acting role.

Chambers was a special-effects titan, most famous for crafting the apes in Planet of the Apes. He was also long rumored to have been responsible for a legendary hoax: the Bigfoot captured on camera in a blurry 1967 film known as the Patterson-Gimlin footage. Chambers reportedly always denied the rumor, but it’s worth noting that his protege, Baker, would go on to create a very similar creature when he created the giant puppet Bigfoot in Harry and the Hendersons.

Okay, we’re cheating. There’s no cool fact here; we just wanted to point out these hilariously intense members of Michael’s zombie squad. Maybe they’re un-born with it.

The modern era has given us some “Thriller” side effects that we never could have foreseen, such as:

The origin of popcorn.gif

Vox named the moment when Michael delightedly watches himself onscreen as the #1 reaction GIF of all time, suitable for reacting to basically everything.

Then there’s the sheer memetic quality of Jackson’s iconic “Thriller” dance itself, which has been endlessly mimicked, duplicated, and recreated in nostalgic pop culture moments. Among our favorite moments:

Taika Waititi’s Boy

Before he became a geek favorite for his adorable on-set antics as director of Thor: Ragnarok, Taika Waititi was a cult fave thanks to a charming cadre of films set in his home country of New Zealand. Among them was Boy (2010), a poignant coming-of-age dramedy about a kid whose obsession with Michael Jackson offers him an escape from dealing with his shiftless father. The movie is great, but the end credits, in which the cast performs a famous Maori anthem to “Thriller” moves, are the best.

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“Thriller” flash mobs

Ever since flash mobs started to become a whole thing, crowds around the world have broken out into the video’s iconic creepy-crawly dance. By far the most famous is this viral 2007 Philippine prison dance, featuring hundreds of convicts rocking their orange jumpsuits in style.

[embedded content]

Arguably worthy of equal and probably more fame is this truly epic 2009 gathering in Mexico City of 12,937 “Thriller” fans — and that’s just the official tally — to perform the dance routine en masse:

[embedded content]

The Indian “Thriller”

Kondaveeti Donga is a 1985 film that gained a second life on the internet around 2007, after its (in)famous “Thriller” parody scene went viral due to a video meme in which it gets a dose of misheard English lyrics. In it, legendary Indian actor Chiranjeevi does a tongue-in-cheek reenactment of the “Thriller” zombie sequence.

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The “Thriller” scene from 13 Going on 30

Okay, yes, it’s cheesy and emotionally manipulative, but you can’t help cheering for Jennifer Garner — a 13-year-old hailing from 1984 who’s trapped in a 30-year-old’s body — as she wins over a tough crowd by summoning their collective “Thriller” knowledge, which seems to have been magically encoded in each of their dance-loving genes. All of these people have the soul for getting down, and that’s the magic of rom-coms.

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One thing that’s striking about all of these modern moments is how fully global they are. Together, they paint a picture of the album Thriller’s universality. Writing for Vanity Fair in 2010, Nancy Griffin opined, “To me, Thriller seems like the last time that everyone on the planet got excited at the same time by the same thing: no matter where you went in the world, they were playing those songs, and you could dance to them. Since then, the fragmentation of pop culture has destroyed our sense of collective exhilaration, and I miss that.”

But if anything, the extended life that Thriller, and “Thriller,” have had all over the world suggests that we’re still capable of being brought together and feeling that collective sense of exhilaration. And while it’s true that our interest in “Thriller” peaks annually on Halloween, it’s really just an excuse to celebrate a love that flows year-round. After all, for fans of the King of Pop, every night is a Thriller night.

Original Source -> Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” is the eternal Halloween bop — and so much more

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

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trendingnewsb · 6 years

Text

How to Make Better Men

The women who came forward with tales of rape and abuse by Harvey Weinstein set off a cultural earthquake the likes of which hasnt been seen since the early days of the womens liberation movement. They spurred other women, many of whom had been pushing for years to be heard and believed, to share their own stories of sexual harassment and assault. Within one 24-hour period in October, more than 4.7 million people, most of them women, posted 12 million accounts of harassment or assault on Facebook, using the hashtag #MeToo. Almost every day another prominent malefactor is revealed. Movie stars and moguls have fallen. Lecherous journalists have been found out. So have celebrity chefs. And politicians.

Right now, the focus is on sexual harassment at work. Not so long ago it was about assault on college campuses. Before that, misogynistic online trolls. Catcalling. The fight for equal pay. None of these issues are new. Its just that women finally have enough collective power to do something about them. Slowly, incrementally, their demands are leading to real change.

This has inspired a fundamental reexamination of the cultural attitudes that for so long have treated women as an afterthought. Its a slight shift, but you can already see it starting to happen. Sometimes in the least likely of places.

“Mens magazines used to run hot liststhese are the 100 Hottest Women. We dont do that,” says Matt Bean, editor in chief of , which is consciously trying to move away from what he calls “the JFK and Steve McQueen icons of masculinity.” Three years ago, ran an essay marveling that some 42-year-old actresses were still attractive. In December, Editor-in-Chief Jay Fielden wrote in his editors letter, “Its wrong to sit by while women are treated as sex objects.” runs sex-advice columns written by women alongside articles about, for example, Joe Bidens recent lecture about rape and consent to male college students, which included the line “Please, act like men.” During her yearlong stint as editor-in-chief of , Kate Lanphear, now creative director at , replaced the magazines pinup spreads with something more closely resembling high fashion. It didnt sell, and Lanphear left the magazine in October 2015. Her tenure, however, did provide a real-world example of what sexualized photography might look like if the photos were taken by a woman instead of a man.

These magazines still write about womenand men who are attracted to them. recently ran an online roundup of hot Instagram models. has kept its recurring feature “Women We Love,” which consists mainly of women photographed in their underwear. But the magazines have undergone a changing of the editorial guard in recent years and are staffed by a new generationBean of is 39; at 49, s Fielden is more than a decade younger than his predecessorthats unalarmed by the word “feminism.” “A significant portion of our relationship advice is still focused on sex,” Bean says, “but as a culture I think the default used to be When in doubt, go for it! Hit the gas pedal! when it should have been Hit the brake.”

Brands have also started to change the way they depict masculinity in advertisements, especially as it relates to women. Axe body spray has moved from skirt-chasing commercials to ones focused on young mens self-esteem. Dove, which has been running its “Real Beauty” marketing campaign for 13 years, now uses the slogan “Real Strength” for its mens line, offering ads that focus on caring and fatherhood. Men wash clothes in laundry detergent commercials. Chase Bank ran an ad in which a father puts on makeup and plays fairy princess games with his daughter. “Advertising follows reality,” says Jeanie Caggiano, executive creative director of ad agency Leo Burnett Worldwide. “A decade ago it was so not OK if you were Mr. Mom. But now we have something like 40 percent of households headed by a female breadwinner. In order to sell something, you have to appeal to what rings true for them.”

That rule doesnt yet appear to apply to Hollywood. A disproportionate number of the public assault and harassment accusations have been made against directors and producers. The industry has reacted. A collection of studio executives recently launched a task force, headed by Anita Hill, whose accusations against Clarence Thomas roiled the nation in the early 1990s. She will help them address gender inequality in the entertainment industry. “Within the last month, on conference calls while casting a movie, I noticed people being more careful about what they say, that they shouldnt be talking about [a particular actresss] physical attributes as much,” says Ross Putman, an independent film producer who most recently worked with Ben Stillers company Red Hour Films. “But if theyre just reacting out of fear, thats not really change.”

So far, Putman says, Hollywood seems largely resistant to any real soul-searching. Weinsteins ouster doesnt change the fact that men disproportionately control studios and financing. They direct most of the movies and write most of the screenplays. When the Oscars air in March, 80 percent of the nonacting nominees will likely be men. Putman created a Twitter account in 2016 where he posted physical descriptions of female characters he came across in scripts submitted to himanonymized as Jane so as not to humiliate the writers who created themto highlight how often they were objectified. (Samples: “JANE, 17ripe with young womanhood”; “JANE, 54, a stunner even for her age.”) “There is a direct line between the way women are looked atobjects there to make men happyand the behavior of these people,” Putman says. “Imagine being a woman and going to audition for that part. You immediately see how youre valued in this business. That hasnt changed.”

Judd Apatow also noted Hollywoods hypocrisy when he was interviewed on , the podcast of former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. “Ronan Farrow writes these incredible articles about Harvey Weinstein,” he said, “but Ronan Farrow not that long ago wrote an article about his father [Woody Allen] molesting his sister. And if youll notice, nobody ever turns down a job in a Woody Allen movie.” Allens most recent film, , was released on Dec. 1. It was filmed before the wave of sexual assault allegations came to light, but Dylan Farrows allegations against Allen have been known for years, just as the allegations against Bill Cosby were. Similarly, after Hugh Hefners death in September, the announced a biopic to be directed by Brett Ratner. A month later, six women came forward in the , accusing Ratner of sexual assault. The biopic is now on hold.

Obviously, this is not enough. A few well-meaning mens magazine articles and thoughtful soap commercials cant change that Cosbys first trial ended with a hung jury or that criminal charges have yet to be brought against Weinstein, whos largely denied the allegations against him. The kind of legal and political overhaul necessary to prevent industry gatekeepers from abusing their power is so monumentalno more arbitration clauses, no undisclosed settlementsthat it seems almost naive to believe its possible. Weve known for years that the foundations on which we ran our businesses, elected our politicians, and made our movies werent as egalitarian as we claimed.

That collective cultural tendency to dismiss women as less than men has been around for most of modern history. But its finally rubbing up against the unbending belief, one held by an increasing number of Americans, that men and women are equal and deserving of respect. What we are seeing now is a byproduct of living in an age where these things are simultaneously true: There are more women in the workforce, more women in managerial and executive positions, more women in Congress and running companies than ever before, but they live and work in a culture that still regards their opinions and experience as secondary. These forces have been at odds for a while. Its just that until now, the conflicts theyve produced have been smaller, harder to see.

Most earthquakes go unnoticed. Two sides of the Earth push against each other, and yet their subtle shifts are recorded only by seismologists and maybe a few particularly attuned house pets. Minor tremors can be difficult to feel. But this time its different. The ground is finally shaking. It feels at times as if our entire world has started to crumble. Many of us never saw it coming. But, you know, we should have realized that one day it would.