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is it late enough for me to say that i think lovers rock could be a really good film to use to explore who should and shouldn’t be reviewing certain films? a lot of responses from white people to this film have really grated on me........ (1 / god knows how many tweets lol)
firstly i’ve seen a lot of white ppl say they love this film. good, cool. it’s a great film! but a lot of these responses have been to say “it makes me remember how much i miss going to parties” which is such an unbelievable simplification of what the film is about. this is why
i often say that black critics need to be reviewing black films. there is so much more nuance to blues parties - black people created these parties because they weren’t welcome in white spaces. as with all we do, they were a space of resistance as much as joy that we instantly
can understand and feel kinship to. it’s about more than “missing parties”. even if we don’t know the history, black can recognise instantly why lovers rock is so electrifying in showing these black-only spaces.
also as @ifursure has pointed out a lot better than me, it’s sooo jarring how people are saying it’s a “better” film than mangrove just cos it openly depicts black joy. both films are joyous in their own ways and white viewers shouldn’t be able to placate themselves with nice
dancing scenes. black life isn’t just suffering, as we tried to tell y’all this summer. but isn’t just joy either, and viewers should be able to
shy away from that. does any of what i’m saying make sense? probs not. but here i am anyway :)
shy away from that. does any of what i’m saying make sense? probs not. but here i am anyway :)
also related to this, i just remembered the time i said only black people should review black panther cos it’s for/by/about us and marvel fans were PRESSED in my mentions lmaoOooo. let us have our shit! respect that sometimes directors actually make stuff with black ppl in mind!
please ignore any typos in this thread i am very sleepy!! but i needed to write this cos it was on my mind and i couldn’t sleep. probs signs i need to get a diary or starting pitching writing again instead of tweeting :)
