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Ava and Oprah: Anticipation / Behind the Scenes

Meredith Quill

By Meredith Quill
in Queen Sugar

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ribboninthesky1

ribboninthesky1

(edited)

I haven't read the book, either, and decided to hold off to avoid comparisons.  Books and TV are very different storytelling mediums, with the former providing nuance and details that doesn't always translate to the latter.  

ETA: Just watched the extended trailer.  Even more interested!

Edited by ribboninthesky1
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ribboninthesky1

ribboninthesky1

(edited)

Interesting article - I'd totally forgotten that Ava was on the shortlist to direct a Marvel film (probably Black Panther).  Some resonant quotes: 

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Even though I have more folks, more money and more infrastructure around me now, I made a decision [long ago] to work from a place of protecting my own voice by collaborating with people who nurture and value that — and not trying to spend my time knocking on doors that were closed to me, begging people for things that put me at a disadvantage because they had it and I didn't.

This may be controversial, but I agree with her on "begging people."  I don't believe Hollywood will ever make a concerted effort to tell more stories centered on non-whites.  As Ava mentions in the interview, it's very segmented, and I don't see that changing.  So if you're in the industry, it's better for your sanity to do what you want with the resources you have.  Particularly as a black woman.     

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Can black stories accurately be told by people who aren't black?

DUVERNAY Artists should be free to create what we want. I believe there's a special value in work that is a reflection of oneself as opposed to interpretation. When I see a film or a TV show about black people not written by someone who's black, it's an interpretation of that life.

WINFREY I think it depends upon your level of experience.

I tend to agree with Ava on that, but not surprised by Oprah's response. I do think there's a difference between when a writer or director isn't black telling a story centered on blacks, and when the writers/director are black.  I wrote several months ago, in the race/ethnicity thread, that who was behind the camera was more important than who is in front of it.  

Edited by ribboninthesky1
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topanga

topanga

On 8/21/2016 at 0:40 PM, ribboninthesky1 said:
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Can black stories accurately be told by people who aren't black?

DUVERNAY Artists should be free to create what we want. I believe there's a special value in work that is a reflection of oneself as opposed to interpretation. When I see a film or a TV show about black people not written by someone who's black, it's an interpretation of that life.

WINFREY I think it depends upon your level of experience.

I tend to agree with Ava on that, but not surprised by Oprah's response. I do think there's a difference between when a writer or director isn't black telling a story centered on blacks, and when the writers/director are black.  I wrote several months ago, in the race/ethnicity thread, that who was behind the camera was more important than who is in front of it.  

 

I see both sides of the issue. Yes, a person of a particular race or culture has the best perspective on the black (or otherwise) experience. But one argument we constantly hear from Hollywood is that white directors and producers don't make movies about people of color because America won't watch movies that aren't about white people. That's bullshit, but it's an excuse that's constantly spouted when we see movie after movie about the hi-jinks of white people or dramas about the obstacles that white people overcome. But don't people of color also overcome things or have hi-jinks that everyone can relate to? I know this sounds corny, but aren't stories about people of color ultimately for everyone? Aren't our stories ultimately just human stories? 

For example, Steven Spielberg brought Alice Walker's The Color Purple to the big screen. Was it a perfect movie? No. But it was still remarkable in that it told the story about a black woman that no one except someone like Spielberg had the clout to make with a large budget and wide distribution.  A movie without a white savior, I might add. So who am I--who is anyone--to say that Spielberg, White Jewish man, shouldn't have told a story about black a woman who overcomes great obstacles and learns to love herself?  Isn't the country better off seeing this movie on the big screen and introducing us to the acting talents of Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey? 

And I do admire Ava, and I enjoy her work, but surely she can't be suggesting that black people are a monolithic group whose experiences are all the same? I have no idea what it's like to attend a historically black college, for example. So my older sister--who went to Grambling University--could personally relate to Spike Lee's movie School Daze in ways that I couldn't, since I didn't attend an HBCU. So if I were to write a movie about attending a black college, for me it would be interpretation, not reflection of my own life. 

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ribboninthesky1

ribboninthesky1

People writing thinkpieces or leveraging social media to voice their opinions isn't analogous to boycotting or blocking productions of films about blacks produced by whites.  After all, whites have dominated mainstream films about blacks since the beginning.  Hidden Figures was written and produced by white people - I'm still looking forward to it.  Ultimately, I believe people have a right to spend their time and money however they want to, and I think black creatives have a right to their perspective.   

I don't think Ava suggests that blacks are a monolith. All she is saying that when she's seen work about blacks not written by them, it feels like an intepretation.  Your mileage may vary, and that's fair.  

16 minutes ago, topanga said:

I know this sounds corny, but aren't stories about people of color ultimately for everyone? Aren't our stories ultimately just human stories? 

Absolutely.  But we don't experience humanity the same way.  

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Dee

Dee

(edited)

Queen Sugar’s Dawn-Lyen Gardner on the Pilot’s ‘Maury Povich Moment,’ Black-Brown Tension, and Tonight’s Pivotal Episode

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Queen Sugar fans know Dawn-Lyen Gardner as Charley Bordelon West, the no-nonsense businesswoman whose father dies and marriage falls apart at the same time. But what fans of OWN’s hit fall drama don’t know is that Gardner, who’s been acting for two decades, also auditioned for the role of Darla (Bianca Dawson), a recovering drug addict and Blue's mother. In an interview with Vulture, Gardner said she would have played either role: “Just meeting [Ava DuVernay] was a check off my bucket list.” DuVernay, director of the Oscar-nominated Selma, created the series, based on Natalie Baszile’s novel, upon Oprah Winfrey’s nudging.

“Ava’s been a hero of mine for a long time,” Gardner continued. “Being a black woman, being a director, being even a distributor of her own work, she's just been a hero. To get the call from her that I got a job as a series regular on her show was to literally feel, Oh, my life has changed. It was incredible. It was something beyond the project. It was something about her, about working with her: This is a right turn in my life and I can feel it.”

Gardner, who also appears in four episodes of Netflix’s Luke Cage, graduated from the Juilliard School in 2003, where she studied and became friends with Rutina Wesley, who plays her sister on Queen Sugar. Gardner spoke with Vulture about Charley’s pivotal sixth episode, what it was like working with only female directors on the series, and how the show mirrors her own life.

Edited by Dee
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DearEvette

DearEvette

This was a nice conversation with the cast -- Not just the main three, but also the actors who play Remy, Aunt Vi, Calvin, Davis and Micah and some of the directors -- Salli and Dondre have a cute moment.  Everybody gets a chance to talk about their characters but I thought there was a little too much focus on Oprah for my taste but it was nice to hear about how she and Ava came up with the idea.

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Emily Thrace

Emily Thrace

On 2016-12-12 at 0:06 PM, Dee said:

No Golden Globe love for critical darling Queen Sugar.

Oprah and Ava must be fuming.

It's not shocking though, the Hollywood Foreign Press is less white than the Oscars but not by much. Plus OWN doesn't have the pull or pedigree that some of the other networks do. If the actors were bigger names it might help (Like it does for Idris Elba or the Empire cast). Maybe next year. 

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Dee

Dee

(edited)

Given Oprah & Ava are the current go-to symbols for industry 'diversity,' and with QS (undeservedly) receiving almost as much fawning media coverage as equally acclaimed high profile 'diverse' shows like Atlanta, Insecure and black-ish, it was expected QS would do similarly well come awards season.

So, it being shutout of most 'mainstream' awards contention was indeed fairly surprising.

However, it (like Empire & Idris) predictably had a much warmer reception from more inclusive award shows, ie, the Image Awards.

Edited by Dee
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A.Ham

A.Ham

So bummed I can no longer watch this show because freaking Verizon now wants me to pay them even more than what I feel is too high a price for cable and internet. Something about subscribing to extreme HD channels I order to see this. No, thank you.

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