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wen-kexing-apologist · 2 months

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Bengiyo's Queer Cinema Syllabus

Had a busy couple weeks, but here I am, returning to @bengiyo’s queer cinema syllabus. I am currently working my way through Unit 4: Heartbreak Alley, the totally light-hearted, definitely not agonizing section of the syllabus where I get to watch countless acts of violence be committed against queer people. Thank fuck I have Lesbians waiting for me at the end of this unit. The films in Unit 4 are: Bent (1997), Strange Fruit (2004), Boys Don’t Cry (1999), Brokeback Mountain (2005), Parting Glances (1986), Philadelphia (1993), The Living End (1992), Holding the Man (2015), Jeffery (1995), and Boys on the Side (1995).

Today I will be writing about

Strange Fruit (2004) dir. Kyle Schickner

[Run Time: 88 min, Available: had to purchase a DVD, Language: English]

Content Warning: lynching, racism, homophobia, rape, violence/gore

Summary: A New York attorney must return home to Louisiana to investigate the death of a childhood friend who, like Boyals himself, was both black and gay.

Cast:

Kyle Faulcon as William Boyals

Berlinda Tolbert as Emma Ayers

Well.

First of all, I guess, a thank you to @bengiyo is in order for discovering that Strange Fruit was available on DVD so that I was actually able to watch it. This has joined the likes of Mysterious Skin on my ‘definitely something I needed to watch, but can probably never watch again” list.

I want to warn anyone that is considering finding this film and watching it that it starts with a lynching. I…. I’m not sure I have the words. Not to get too real on main, but I have some pretty major trauma related to hangings, and I am just desperately glad that I did not watch this last week, as that was the anniversary and I am not confident I would have been able to finish this film. As it is I have been sitting in complete and utter silence since finishing the movie because a) holy shit b) the rope burns on his neck c) holy shit.

How do you watch a film like this knowing that lynchings still happen all the time? How do you watch a film where a gay Black man in a small, rural country town is brutally beaten, raped with a branch, and hung from a tree on screen while knowing that just last week a Black man was found hanging from a tree in a small, rural country town? For a movie that was filmed on a budget of only $250,000 (according to Wikipedia, the director was offered 6 million if he didn’t make the lead character both Black and gay and he turned it down) it is absolutely packed with very important, nuanced social commentary around queerness, around race, around homophobia in general and homophobia within the Black community specifically, around how the police uphold power, around the relationship between intellectualism and the South, and around how the queer community survives.

(sorry for the abysmal photo quality, there are no photos of this film and I watched it on my TV so I was not able to take screen shots)

For as cheaply as it was made it packs a motherfucking punch let me tell you, watching Kelvin scream for help, call for his mother, was just gut wrenching. Watching William desperately plead with the Black men who were lynching him not to do so because they were perpetuating the cycle of violence done by white men to black men not that long ago. How some Black men were fine with that because Kelvin, because William were faggots. How others killed themselves when the dust settled, understanding the realities of what they had done. The speech at the grocery story between Mrs. Ayers and Mrs. Boyals about how desperately Mrs. Ayers had wanted to disown Kelvin for being gay and how grateful she was that she hadn’t because she lost Kelvin too young.

The way small town loyalties and small town fears intersect, Matthew being so grateful that William protected him all the way back in fifth grade that he went against the orders of the other cops to tell William everything he knew, and how he was so afraid to be considered a homosexual if he stood up for a queer man. The way Sheriff Jensey was a racist, homophobic piece of flaming dog shit who still was doing everything he could to prevent people from knowing his nephew was gay. How he was reduced to ground meat for it. (Though, he can die, I have no remorse for him whatsoever). The way Mrs. Ayers calls out the fact that William can pass as straight but Kelvin couldn’t. The way that the queer community was silent in the wake of Kelvin’s death because that was the only way to guarantee the survival of community pillars. The fact that there was no new coverage of Kelvin’s death that we could see, but when the white man was lynched, there were news trucks all over the place because someone in power was affected.

And perhaps my favorite example, Duane, who refuses to step foot in a gay bar for fear of looking gay when he first starts investigating his brother’s murder with William who is ready to throw hands at Sheriff Jensey’s nephew when he makes a homophobic comment, putting his parole at risk, who ends the film driving around in William’s rental car which has the word Faggot spray painted on the back. The way he was angry at William for the stupid, elitist shit he was saying, about how everyone in Louisiana had an IQ below 80, how he refused to call this place his home anymore. Duance handled those moments so beautifully. There are so many important scenes in this film, I don’t think I can count this one as my favorite, but I do need to acknowledge how happy I was that Strange Fruit let a Black man cry on screen. Like, so much of Kelvin’s murder, and William’s attempted murder was incredibly upsetting, but I felt very deep in my soul the pain, the grief, the nausea that Duane must have been feeling looking at the memorial to his brother at his murder site.

I know because (again to get too real) for every day for months after my hanging related trauma I had to walk past a memorial for the person who passed, and let me tell you that shit was fucking brutal.��

There is so much more that could be said about this movie, but genuinely, I cannot find the words. The production team knew what they were doing when they didn’t put a backing track on the end credits, opting for a silence that was interrupted by only the chirping of crickets. Because that is what this movie is, that is what this movie does. I am not exaggerating when I say that the only thing I could do for thirty minutes after the screen went to black, was just sit on my couch, frozen, and feel the weight of the silence around me.

Favorite Moment

I talked about this a bit above but my favorite moment in Strange Fruit is when Mrs. Ayers and Mrs. Boyals run in to each other in the supermarket and Mrs. Ayers gives a very passive aggressively polite talking to to Mrs. Boyals about her homophobia, trying to get her to go back on her decision to disown William after finding out he was gay. I do think it is vitally important that we get a scene where a mother of a queer son, who just lost her child because of it, is able to admit that she struggled with his sexuality, that she desperately wanted to be rid of Kelvin, that she desperately wanted to forget he even existed. The way she was spared from having a major regret in her life because she ultimately did not do that. She lost Kelvin when he was too young, she understands at a cellular level the precious nature of time, and how easily it can be squandered and she is trying to spare Mrs. Boyals from that pain. I appreciate it strikes enough of a chord with Mrs. Boyals that she attempts to visit William at the hospital, even if ultimately she is not able to make it through the doorway to his room.

Favorite Quote

“See that’s the thing about the bayou, no matter how much you try to push it back ‘ventually it’s gonna claim what belong to it. This is where you from man. This is where home is. Don’t matter how many degrees you got, you country.”

As a Southerner who did flee North, Duane’s words are still ring true. Even when my home state wants to dispose of people like me, even when states I have called home express their hatred of people like me, there is still a part of me that feels the emptiness of being away from home. I miss the mangroves, I miss the mountains, I miss the food, I miss the people I love who love me. It feels impossible to have the type of community I had back home up where I am now, and I am trying as hard as I can to cultivate it. I just love this line so much because I think it is important to remember where you came from, especially because William just before this was insulting the intelligence of people in the South, his people, from his home. I’m really glad he apologized for that.

Score

8.5/10

If this was a grade based on just emotional manipulation, the film would get a 10 cause...fuck. But structurally I think it's probably like a 7 or an 8 so I am gonna give it an 8.5.

#bengiyo queer cinema syllabus #bengiyo queer media syllabus #queer cinema syllabus #strange fruit #strange fruit (2004)#strange fruit the movie #unit 4: heartbreak alley

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lboogie1906 · 1 year

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Berlinda Tolbert (born November 4, 1949) is a film and television actress. He is known for her role as Jenny Willis Jefferson, the daughter of Tom and Helen Willis on The Jeffersons, which originally aired from 1975 until 1985. She majored in theater at the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. She studied drama in London. She got her first film part from Martin Scorsese in Mean Streets in 1973, when she was in acting school. In 1981, she competed in the Battle of the Network Stars. In 1983, she starred in the Maya Angelou play On A Southern Journey. Following the cancellation of The Jeffersons, she appeared in films including Harlem Nights, Goodfellas, and Patriot Games, and television shows including ER, Six Feet Under, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She appeared in the 2011 indie film Last Ride on the Midwest Pacific. She married journalist Bob Reid in 1979. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence https://www.instagram.com/p/CkibWwQLmKR/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

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madamlaydebug · 6 months

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Happy 74th Birthday to Berlinda Tolbert.

Born November 4th 1949, Sheis an film and television actress. Tolbert is best known for her role as Jenny Willis Jefferson, the daughter of Tom and Helen Willis on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons, which originally aired from 1975 until 1985.

Some of her most remembered movie appearances include 1989 Harlem Nights,

1990 Goodfellas and 1992 Patriot Games.

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deadthehype · 3 years

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#harlem nights #richard pryor #berlinda tolbert

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eggman404 · 3 years

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THE JEFFERSONS (1975 - 1985) CBS

#the jeffersons #isabel sanford #sherman hemsley #berlinda tolbert #paul benedict #marla gibbs #ned wertimer #jay hammer #andrew rubin #danny wells #ebonie smith

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pasttenselibrarian · 5 years

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Mike Evans (top photo, left) originated the role of Lionel Jefferson, the only son of George (Sherman Hemsley) and Louise (Isabel Sanford), on All in the Family in 1971 before spinning off with his TV parents to The Jeffersons four years later. Evans cocreated, with Eric Monte, Good Times (CBS, 1974-’79), which, like All in the Family and The Jeffersons, was “developed” by Norman Lear, and after appearing in The Jeffersons’s first season, he departed the series.

Damon Evans (third photo from top; no relation to Mike) took over the part of Lionel for seasons two, three, and most of four. Then Lionel disappeared altogether until the fall of ’79, when Mike Evans resumed the role for season six. Berlinda Tolbert (top photo, right, and second photo from top) played Jenny Willis, Lionel’s fiancée and, later, wife (not to mention the mother of their daughter, Jessica, born during season six), throughout the show’s first seven seasons, after which Evans and she made occasional appearances.

Jenny had a brother, Allan, played by Andrew Rubin in the final episode of The Jeffersons’s inaugural season, but for season five the role was recast with Jay Hammer (bottom photo). Jenny and Allan’s parents, Tom and Helen, were the first interracial married couple featured as regular characters on a network series. Franklin Cover and Roxie Roker played Tom and Helen, respectively, for The Jeffersons’s entire 11-season run, although the characters were originated by Charles Aidman (as Louis Willis) and Kim Hamilton in a 1974 episode of All in the Family, with Lynne Moody as Jenny.

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blackinperiodfilms · 5 years

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Sugar Ray (Richard Pryor) and Annie (Berlinda Tolbert) in Harlem Nights (1989).

#Sugar Ray #Richard Pryor #Berlinda Tolbert #Harlem Nights

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mademoiselleclipon · 6 years

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Berlinda Tolbert

#berlinda tolbert

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badgaymovies · 2 years

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Harlem Nights (1989)

Harlem Nights by #EddieMurphy starring #RichardPryor, "Much as the plot is brilliantly executed, Murphy's comedic tone is all over the map", Now reviewed on MyOldAddiction.com

EDDIE MURPHY Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBB USA, 1989. Eddie Murphy Productions, Paramount Pictures. Screenplay by Eddie Murphy. Cinematography by Woody Omens. Produced by Mark Lipsky, Robert D. Wachs. Music by Herbie Hancock. Production Design by Lawrence G. Paull. Costume Design by Joe I. Tompkins. Film Editing by Alan Balsam, George Bowers. Eddie Murphy makes his directorial debut (at the time…

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retropunch · 6 years

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youtube

The Jeffersons (1975) - Season 4 intro

A nouveau riche, African-American family who move into a luxury apartment building develop close, if occasionally fractious, relationships with other tenants.

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takeeachdayonebookatatime · 2 years

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Some of The best TV themes. Part 2

They make you want to listen to them again. More TV theme songs that are amazing.

Facts of Life

A spin-off of Diff'rent Strokes that ran from 1979 to 1988 it starred Charlotte Rae, Lisa Whelchel, Kim Fields, Mindy Cohn, Nancy McKeon, Cloris Leachman, Sherrie Krenn, Julie Piekarski, Julie Anne Haddock, John Lawlor, Jenny O'Hara, Felice Schachter, Molly Ringwald, Pamela Segall, Mackenzie Astin, George Clooney. The pilot for the show was first aired as the last episode of season one of Diff'rent Strokes and was called "The Girls' School (a.k.a. Garrett's Girls).

Opening theme: The Facts of Life Theme.

The Greatest American Hero

Ran from 1981 to 1983 it starred William Katt, Robert Culp, Connie Sellecca, Michael Paré and Faye Grant. The series follows Ralph's adventures after a group of aliens give him a red and black suit that grants him superhuman abilities.

Opening theme: Theme from The Greatest American Hero (Believe It or Not).

Wings

Ran from 1990 to 19970 it starred Tim Daly, Steven Weber, Crystal Bernard, Thomas Haden Church, David Schramm, Rebecca Schull, Tony Shalhoub, Farrah Forke, Amy Yasbeck and Brian Haley. The show is set in fictional "Tom Nevers Field" airport, a small two-airline airport in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Opening theme: Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major, D. 959, Rondo: Allegretto.

Laverne & Shirley

Ran from 1976 to 1983 it starred Cindy Williams, Michael McKean, David Lander, Eddie Mekka, Phil Foster and Betty Garrett. Best friends, roommates and polar opposites Laverne and Shirley work together at the Shotz Brewery in Milwaukee.

Making Our Dreams Come True Making Our Dreams Come True.

The Jeffersons

Ran from 1975 to 1985 it starred Isabel Sanford, Sherman Hemsley, Marla Gibbs, Roxie Roker, Franklin Cover, Paul Benedict, Mike Evans, Berlinda Tolbert, Zara Cully, Damon Evans and Jay Hammer. "We're moving on up, to the East Side, to a deee-luxe apartment in the sky ... ." The Jeffersons are a Spinoff from "All in the Family" ; they were the neighbors to the Bunkers.

Opening theme: "Movin' On Up" performed by Ja'net DuBois.

The King of Queens

Ran from 1998 to 2007 is an American television sitcom with a total of nine seasons and 207 episodes. Doug and Carrie Heffernan are a working-class couple living at "3121 Aberdeen Street" in Rego Park, Queens, New York with Carrie's Father, Arthur Spooner.

Opening theme: "Baby All My Life I Will Be Driving Home to You" (instrumental) (season 2)

Welcome Back, Kotter

Ran from 1975 to 1979 it starred

Gabe Kaplan, Marcia Strassman, John Sylvester White, Robert Hegyes, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Ron Palillo and John Travolta. Welcome Back, Kotter is about Gabe Kotter who returns to his old high school -- this time as a teacher.

Opening theme: Welcome Back.

#factsoflife #thekingofqueens #thejeffersons #welcomebackkotter #LaverneandShirley #greatestamericanhero #wings #tvshow #TVthemes #themesongs

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