Fionnghuala Sweeney and Kate Marsh - Afromodernisms

Sweeney, Fionnghuala, and Kate Marsh, eds. Afromodernisms: Paris, Harlem and the Avant-garde. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2013. Print.

< Summary >

Afromodernisms (2013), edited by Sweeny and Marsh, provides systematic assessments of black diasporic modernity and black cultural developments in Paris, Caribbean islands and Harlem in the early twentieth century. By connecting those urban cities and multicultural islands in the context of African diaspora, the editors clearly illustrate the multidirectional influences of Afromodernisms and the linkages among those crucial centers of black culture. Sweeny and Marsh successfully point out that those black cultural creativities were the responses to the “modern formations of political subjectivity” (2). It is important to note that their view-points  about politics and arts adhere fundamentally to Alain Locke’s perspective. These 9 new chapters are consistent in this point that those black cultural creations cannot be examined without thinking about the social formations and political situations around that time. 

The first part of the book is dedicated to the Afromodernism in Paris. Starting with the first chapter written by Tyler Strovall, a distinguished scholar on this particular topic and the author of Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light (1996), casts a enduring question about the correlation between politics and arts in conjunction with black transnational modernism: to what extent, can it be argued that black cultural outputs are the results of “a reactionary political agenda” (19)? In response to this question, Strovall defines 1919 as the beginning of the black modern world and attributes it to the two following components: the Pan-African Congress of 1919 and the arrival of jazz in Paris.

The second chapter written by Przemystaw Strozek focuses on the “primitivism” of black culture, especially jazz, and how it was incorporated into the other form of art, Italian Futurism. The initial political influence of Italian Fascism cannot be overlooked when it comes to considering the decline of Italian Futurism. In the third chapter, James Smalls presents the less-noted figure Féral Benga, a Senegalese black male dancer, as a counterpart of Josephine Baker, who has gone on to stardom in Paris by taking advantage of her ‘exotic’ beauty. Benga’s visual body politics reveals not only racial bigotry but also homophobic bias prevailing in the white modern world.

The second part of the book directs attention to the Afromodernism in Caribbean islands. Claudine Raynaud and Samantha Pinto both look into the ethnographic researches of Zora Neale Hurston and black modernity in Haiti and Jamaica. While Raynaud delineates the developments of anthropology as a scholarship through Hurston’s works, Pinto discusses Hurston’s position as an anthropologist and as a black vernacular culture proponent. Claudia Hucke examines the artistic contribution of Karl Parboosingh, a Jamaican artist, to Jamaican cultural innovations in the post-colonial era and how he created the disruptions in the Western discourse of avant-garde.

The last part of Afromodernisms centers on the discussions on the black modernity in Harlem. Celeste-Marie Bernier looks at the destructive effects of WWI on black artists and how they were inspired by the beautiful sceneries in Europe and at the same time they were motivated to create a counter-discourse against the theme of ‘war on democracy’ of WWI because of racial discriminations directed to them in the Services of Supply Divisions. Barbara Lewis devotes her attention to the unnoticed three African American educators and play writers and how those black artists created their own works in the context of lynching. Finally, in the ninth chapter, Rachel Farebrother re-examines the role of Egypt in the artistic works of the generations from the Harlem Renaissance. 

< Review > 

Afromodernisms definitely opens up a new discussion on black diasporic modernity not only in Paris and Harlem but also in Caribbean islands, which were often disregarded and not associated with the terminology of modernity. In this brief review, I would like to bring up two novel attempts which Sweeny and Marsh made and two limitations which they confronted in this book. However, those two limitations are primarily the products of the structure of the book. Therefore, they should not necessarily be considered as fatal mistakes in their methodologies and analyses. 

As I noted in the summary, the editors direct their attentions to primary three centers of black culture, Paris, Caribbean islands, and Harlem. In the early 20th century, it is evident that  those urban cities like Paris and Harlem were on the process of modernization by going through the confrontations between white mainstream modernity and black modernity. It was novel that the editors creates a section in the book about the Afromodernism in Caribbean islands because it has been less-noted compared to those two urban modernized cities. Also, their attempts to highlight the linkage between those modernities beyond the boundaries bring about various unmarked black artistic outcomes such as Italian Futurism, Cubism, Feral Benga, Karl Parboosingh. However, because of their intention to pay multidirectional attentions to those linkages, it seems that the ties between the articles within the same category became weaker and are not strongly connected in terms of contents. In the Caribbean section, there were two articles discuss Zora Neale Hurston and her contributions to black modernity in Caribbean islands, primarily in Haiti and Jamaica. But other articles in Paris and Harlem sections, there are less close connections among those articles within the same category because of their attempts to underline the linkage among those different categories. This is the first limitation which Sweeny and Marsh confronts in the book.

The second limitation is the exclusion of Afromodernism in African continent. Although I am not familiar with black modernity within African continent in the early 20th century, it seems that the lack of African section makes their attempts incomplete. If Sweeny and Marsh tried to underscore the cultural exchanges among those four locations including Africa, their intentions would have been evaluated as a great accomplishment since Africa is the starting-point of this transnational linkages. Even though they make an attempt to connect Africa with those three sections, it seems incomplete without a separate and individual section of Afromodernism in Africa.

Despite these two limitations, Afromodernisms provides me with an effective tool to look at Afromodernism. The first accomplishment of the book would be the piece of Strovall. Locating his article at the very first chapter enables readers to capture a theme of the book, which is highlighting the relationship between politics and black arts. His comparison of a transnational political movement, the Pan-African Congress of 1919, and the flexibility and adjustability of black music, especially jazz, establishes the foundation to hold a perspective to look at black arts and aesthetics and what kind of circumstances they resulted from. As Strovall quoted Alain Locke’s philosophy about the relationship between politics and arts, black artistic products were the responses to white European or American modernity. Toni Morrison once said, “all good art has always been political” (Taylor-Guthrie 3). Black arts have always been the reflections of black political subjectivities but this tendency was more obvious at this particular moment of time.

The other accomplishment which Sweeny and Marsh make in this book is to elaborate the cultural influence of black music, especially jazz, on Afromodernism in those three sections, Harlem, Caribbean islands, and Paris. Originating from New Orleans, where there were a lot of Creole population in the early 20th century, it became the major musical form of the United States at the time without doubts. Interestingly, jazz transcended the Atlantic oceans and went to Paris, where jazz also became the most popular form of music particularly in Montmartre. Not only did Strovall talk about jazz but also other authors of the book (except Raynaud and Pinto) emphasize the significance of jazz and its influence on other artistic forms in other part of Europe (Strozek talks about how Italian Futurists got inspirations from jazz) and Caribbean islands (Hucke discuss the exoticism of jazz which can be related to jazz). It is evident that Sweeny and Marsh try to make the linkage among those three places through Black music as a cultural connection. 

In Conclusion, it is no exaggeration to say that Afromodernisms is one of the greatest books about black diasporic modernity in the early 20th century. Their selections of those new 9 essays are connected in the context of Afromodernism. I would love to see their completed works including Afromodernism in Africa someday. 

Nathan Irvin Huggins - Harlem Renaissance

Huggins, Nathan Irvin. Harlem Renaissance. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971. Print.

< Summary >

     Harlem Renaissance (1971) written by Nathan Irvin Huggins provides a comprehensive overview of the cultural upheaval and rebirth, known as the Harlem Renaissance, led by black intellectuals and artists in the 1920s in the United States. Huggins conceptualized the Harlem Renaissance from the various perspectives by looking into the different art forms such as literature, poem, music, painting, sculpture, and theater. Through each chapter, he discussed the crucial aspects of the Harlem Renaissance and examined the predicaments of those black artists entrapped between their black artistic aspirations and financial dependency on their white patrons. Black identity was formulated through these psychological and financial conflicts within those black artists at this particular moment in the United States. The "New Negro" contributed to the creation of not only African American culture but also American culture. For the review of the book, I found Chapter 2, 3, 4, and 5 particularly interesting and valuable for my future research.

  In Chapter 1, Huggins contextualized the social formations and political activisms of African American leaders in Harlem, the capital of Black world. Du Bois, Randolph, Owen, Garvey and other black intellectuals were mentioned in this section as important black leaders. By laying the historical foundations in this chapter, Huggins enabled the readers to understand how the First World War affected the activisms of those black leaders. In a larger sense, those leaders' philanthropical ideals confronted with the various restrictions and regulations inflicted upon them at this time.

In Chapter 2, Huggins brought up a heating debate about what it meant to be American culture from both black and white sides. This cultural re-defining from the black side was the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes, Alain Locke, and other black artists made attempts to regain their cultural capitals as blacks in Harlem. Jazz was the product of these series of cultural re-examinations, even though most of the Negro intellectuals barely paid attention to jazz as "high culture". Poems written by Hughes, Cullen, and McKay depicted the predicaments and inner conflicts within those black artists in different ways. Hughes urged the importance of eternity and spirituality in his poems. Cullen put forth the vulnerability of black folks. McKay revealed his militancy and self-assertion of black people. Also, as a part of rediscovery of the black heritage, folk materials were focused by Negro intellectuals such as Arthur Fauset and Zora Neale Hurston. This gave rise to the re-examinations of the spirituals and gave birth to the emergence of jazz. One of the difficulties which the “New Negro” artists had was reconnecting their roots with Africa. Alain Locke revealed his struggles to connect Africa with himself in his poems. Richmond Barthé and Aaron Douglass revived the sense of African heritage in their art works. Cullen was no exception of who got confused of claiming their roots as Africa. In short, WWI marked the crucial period for the Negro artists to race-building from various forms. Chaotic situations of the wartime and a great amount of migrants and immigrants had a huge influence on the generations from the Harlem Renaissance.

In Chapter 3, Huggins argued that the Harlem Renaissance was a creation based on the interdependency between black and white in the 1920s. During this cultural formation of American culture by white and black sides, it is impossible to discuss Harlem’s black cultural uprisings without examining the influences of the white world. Their curiosity enabled black intellectuals to publish or to express what they see and feel in Harlem. Carl Van Vechten was the white intellectual who described this interdependency since he worked as a cultural bridge between blacks and whites. Against the categorization as primitive, black artists and intellectuals tried to challenge it, but at the same time they were forced to live up to the expectations from the white world to a certain degree because white patrons held the mode of productions. Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Louise Thompson, they all had to wander between their artistic aspirations as black writers and the reality which they had to satisfy their white patrons. Harlem Renaissance was the cultural interdependency between black and white after all.

In Chapter 4, Huggins explains how to constitutes black identity was the central issue for the generations of the Harlem Renaissance. Some sought for the spirituality to hold their black identity and avoided the wartime chaos by visiting Paris. But wherever those black artists go, they ended up feeling that they were treated as strangers. So, they were forced to re-define the meaning to be an American Negro in order to make their lives livable. Overseeing the future required them to trace back their roots and to claim them as in Africa. African primitivism certainly shaped the era of the Harlem Renaissance. Not merely a primitive but did Negro try to maintain their self-esteem and self-reliance by reclaiming African tradition. Countee Cullen and Claude McKay were radical and aggressive in this point in the sense that they strongly put forth African primitivism in their works. As a painter, Aaron Douglass was the evident example that African primitivism opened up the doors of opportunities for those African artists to be recognized by both black and white worlds.

In Chapter 5, Huggins paid marked attention to the predicaments their racial and ethnic identity and those black artists’ ideals that art should be separated from these identities. Defining arts as Negro artists was the central issue for black artist not only as Negro artists but as artists. Some tried to stay as Negro artists but the other chose to make attempt to be artists. American provincialism highlighted these struggles of the Negro artists. One of the examples of American provincialism can be jazz since it was originated from New Orleans. A lot of Negro artists like McKay and Cullen considered jazz as not "high culture," while Hughes placed such an importance on jazz and the common culture and the common men. Conceptualizing of art opens the doors of discussions about what art should be like. Formalism can be detected in the works of Cullen and McKay. Poems, as a form of art, in combination of black tradition, was the remarkable aspect of the flourish of black culture in the 1920s.

In Chapter 6, Huggins explains an aspect of Harlem as the "Manhattan's 'theater'" (255) and he contextualizes how the black minstrel shows became the frontline of theatrical stages for black performers. At this time, Negro was a kind of fantasy for the white world. White performers put black masks on and acted like a fool on the stage. This was the beginning of the cultural flourish of night life in Harlem in the 1920s. Josephine Baker was the remarkable example of how black body was displayed to entertained the white audience. From the turn of century, Negro was fantasized and exaggerated and became a mystery to the white world.

< Review >

Huggins successfully unpacked several important meanings and features of the Harlem Renaissance in his book. It is no exaggeration to say that this book is one of the best introductory books to capture a big framework of cultural dynamisms of the Harlem Renaissance and their detailed attempts and predicaments of black artists and writers in the 1920s. Huggins not only focused on the cultural aspects but also connected these cultural movements with the social formations and political activisms led by the black leaders in the 1920s. This book laid a basic foundation of knowledge for me in order to look at the cultural exchanges between black French and African Americans and the formation of transnational black racial identities in the early 20th century as a topic of my master thesis.

As Huggins described in Chapter 1, it is crucial to examine the Harlem Renaissance as one aspect of huge transitions of the United States from the turn of the century to the two World Wars. Reviewing the Great Migration and the impacts of WWI opens the doors to comprehend the social and political contexts in which those black artists lived. Because of the mass migration to the northern cities, some part of the urban cities such as Harlem became a hotbed of crimes and delinquency. Blacks in Harlem placed such an importance on night life and it necessarily led to the rise of underground activities and infestation of prostitutions. In order to restore order in the urban cities, Prohibition was supposed to suppress those activities but it lacked its legal enforcement and did not produce actual outcomes in order to improve the urban situations. Night life became a lure for blacks and whites but at the same times, morality in Harlem was viewed with suspicion from the outside of Harlem.

In addition to the necessity to review historical backgrounds of the Harlem Renaissance, the remarkable analysis which Huggins carried out in his book was that the cultural movements of the Harlem Renaissance was a creation of cultural interdependency between black and white in the 1920s. After WWI, American society in general sought for the cultural foundation and tended to formulate American culture, while blacks in Harlem constituted their own unique culture. Cultural maturity was a major concern for both black and white societies. Most importantly, Huggins successfully mentioned the multi-faceted psychological conflicts within the black artists. For example, they suffered from the conflicts between their black artistic aspirations and financial dependency on their white patrons. Even though they wanted to put their art works on the market and to become successful as artists, those black artists hesitated to degrade their works as “commercialized art” (128). As another example, some black artists such as Cullen and McKay (5) exhibited a sense of cultural elitism and conservatism, whereas Langston Hughes valued optimism and commonality. Also, they had struggles about how to connect Africa with their works. Aaron Douglass implemented African primitivism in his paintings but some black artists emphasized European “rich” culture more than “primitive” African tradition. Harlem Renaissance revealed the multi-layered conflicts within the black artists.

To add on the connections of those black artists and writers with Africa, Huggins pointed out some critical significances of the Harlem Renaissance. As I mentioned previously, black artists of the Harlem Renaissance were trying to build racial consciousness through their art works and at the same time, some black artists made attempts to separate themselves from any racial stereotypes and bigotry in order to be an artist not a Negro artist. What was remarkable about Huggins analysis in terms of Africa was the fact that he pointed out the development of Pan-Africanism. Alain Locke wrote an essay called “New Negro,” which became the bible for those “New Negroes” in the 1920s and through the essay, he tried to conceptualize what Pan-Africanism is called nowadays. Also, in the political domain, Du Bois became such a huge voice who advocated Pan-Africanism and he actually organized the Pan-African Congress. McKay, as a Jamaican who migrated to Harlem, used his international background to propose the basic idea of Pan-Africanism through his novel Banjo (1929). The notion of Pan-Africanism did not appear at this moment of time but it was definitely enriched by those black intellectuals and artists.

  Huggins provides me with some analogies and connections of African American artists and writers in Harlem with Paris, which will be strongly connected with my thesis topic. The first aspect is the fact that Harlem was a symbol of black modernity. Harlem was not only a place of modernity but also a counterforce against European modernity. In this sense, Paris was considered as a site of modernity in the early 20th century because there had been successive international expositions in Paris since the turn of century. But at the same time, Paris in the 1920s and 30s offered a place for black intellectuals from Martinique and Guadeloupe, DOM, and Harlem, in the United States, to resist racial discrimination and history of oppression against racial minorities in both cities. These two urban modern cities in the 1920s were the crucial sites of cultivating their black cultures and of resisting the imposing white European modernity. Also, the other important aspect which connected both cities was Jazz. As discussed earlier in this paper, it can be said that jazz was a product of this era, even though the majority of those black artists and writers did not really appreciate it. Hughes was the only one who had such an understanding of it. In the 1920s and 30s, re-imported to Paris, jazz became a cultural bridge between black French and African Americans. So, it is essential to underline the connections between those two cities through the cultural exchanges of jazz. 

     In conclusion, Harlem Renaissance written by Huggins gives me a holistic view of the Harlem Renaissance and its historical background. It is necessary to go back to the primary sources of the “New Negro” artists and writers which Huggins referred in his book but this book becomes the knowledge basis for my master thesis to capture a big picture of the cultural dynamism of the Harlem Renaissance.

Part 2: Effective Steps Towards Resistance (In English)

The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses. - Malcolm X

On January 17, we, graduate students of the Department of African American and African Studies at the Ohio State University, hosted an event called Part 2: Effective Steps Towards Resistance.

This event was the second part of the series of our struggles to overcome police brutality directed to the racially marginalized people at both local and national levels. Columbus, OH, is known as a state which has the second highest rate of killing people from the minority groups, often African Americans, by the police in United States. In terms of police brutality, the name of Ohio is often shown in the local and national media. John Crawford III, Tamir Rice, and Tanisha Anderson were the recent victims of police brutality within the state of Ohio. In this particular circumstances, it is crucial for us to re-examine the fundamental and overlooked causes of these incidents and to put forth concrete and actual strategies to improve this situation. For this reason, we started to provide places to have conversations with people from the community and to work collectively towards resistance against police brutality.

This time, we broke the audience into various task forces and we discussed actual steps and effective strategies in each groups. Those groups are composed of: Citizen Review Board, Economic Empowerment and Resistance, Media and Publicity, Education and Training, Visible Demonstrations, Policy and Legislation, and Youth Engagement. We had several people from the various organizations focusing on each area. One of our objectives was to connect people from the community with those organizations so that people who are interested in continuing their activisms can work together with other people who has similar interests.

I was in the group of Media and Publicity and we discussed some crucial elements of media in terms of police brutality. One of them was how to create the new opportunities of media outlets for the people who do not possess any access to the media. As a solution, it would be profitable to provide some community-based workshops where people can learn how to get access to those media. We also talked about the traditional ways of distributing the information as an effective way to educate and inform people of getting access to those informations. The library located in the community can be the crucial site for distributing those informations. Although we only had about an hour for discussions, we had such truly fruitful conversations which are definitely connected to the next steps.

I really appreciate people who came to our event and we do know that our struggles will continue until we will see the actual outcomes benefitting for the people who have been suffering from police brutality. 

セルマ / SELMA (In Japanese)

さて、今回は映画『セルマ/ SELMA』の紹介です。この映画の日本での公開はまだ決まっていないみたいですね。一足先に公開されたアメリカにいるので、見てきちゃいました。おそらく、この映画が幾つかの賞を獲るのは間違いないと思うので、日本でも遅かれ早かれ公開されるでしょう。一言で感想を述べるとするならば、この映画は過去と現在、そして未来を繋ぐ映画であると言えるでしょう。

この映画の公開を楽しみに待ちわびていました。というのも、自分の専攻であると同時に、アメリカでアフリカン・アメリカンスタディーズの修士課程をするきっかけを与えてくれた50・60年代アメリカの公民権運動が舞台だからです。そして、この映画の主人公は、マーティン・ルーサー・キング・ジュニア(Martin Luther King, Jr)です。キング牧師は、“I have a dream”のスピーチでお馴染みの牧師であり、公民権運動の代表者として、多くの人が中学校の英語の教科書で、一度は学んだことのある偉人ではないかと思います。少なくとも、私の中学校はそうでしたし、私の世代の人は中学・高校で少し習っているのではないでしょうか。こんなに知名度も名声もあるキング牧師ですが、アメリカで今回のような規模での映画の主人公になるのは初めてと言っても過言ではないしょう。自分の好きなトピックなので、あまり話しすぎるとネタバレになってしまいそうなので、あらすじとキャスト、そして簡単な感想を少し綴らさせていただきます。

主人公キング牧師を演じるのは、デイビット・オイェロウ(David Oyelowo)です。先日公開された SF作品のInterstellerにも出演している黒人の俳優さんです。他にも、2013年にアカデミー賞で多くのノミネート及び受賞をした映画Lincolnや私の大好きなエマ・ストーン(Emma Stone)が主演の映画The Helpにも出演していました。オイェロウはイギリス出身なのですが、アトランタ出身のキングのアクセントやしゃべり方に随分近いしゃべり方で役を演じていて、（自分が英語のネイティヴじゃないからかもしれませんが）まったく違和感を感じさせませんでした。まあ、早くからハリウッドの舞台等で活躍していたというのもあるのでしょうか。オイェロウ演じるキング牧師が、1965年に南部の州の黒人が選挙で投票することを可能にするため、セルマからモントゴメリに行進をするというのが大まかなあらすじです。

なぜ南部の黒人たちは選挙で投票できなかったのでしょうか？少し歴史的な背景を簡単に説明するとするとしましょう。1865年に南北戦争(The Civil War)が終戦したのちに、アメリカ合衆国憲法修正第15条によって、奴隷から解放された黒人男性たちは体裁的には選挙権を得ることができました。しかし、黒人人口の多い南部において、次第に黒人の選挙を妨げるジム・クロウ法が次々にできていき、黒人たちは投票するための登録ができなかったという歴史的背景がありました。そこで、尽力したのがキング牧師やその他多くの公民権運動家たちです。映画の序盤でも、女性が投票するための登録をするシーンがありました。審査する役所の人は、その黒人女性が投票するために読み書き、そしてアメリカの憲法の基礎知識があるかどうかを尋ねるのですが、役所の白人男性は誰もわからないような質問を投げかけます。「アラバマ州の議員全員の名前を言ってみろ。」という質問を最後に、その女性の投票権は拒否されました。そういえば、以前に授業で似たような話を聞いたことがありました。それは19世紀の後半の話で、ある黒人男性が登録しに役所に行くのですが、「このボウルの中の泡の数を答えろ。」という実に馬鹿げた質問を白人の役人に出され、投票権を拒否されるというケースもありました。半世紀以上も経っても全く南部では状況は変わっていなかったことになりますね。

この映画の製作は一時打ち切られそうになることもあったそうです。なんでも、資金的な問題とかに直面していたそうですが、ブラッド・ピットの所有する映画会社の後押しや、黒人女性初のミリオネアと呼ばれているオプラ・ウィンフリーの支援もあり、今回このような映画というちゃんとした形になったようです。ちなみに、オプラ・ウィンフリーはプロデューサーとしてだけではなく、アニー・リー・クーパー(Annie Lee Cooper)の役としても出演していました。

個人的な感想ですが、この映画は映画としても、そして公民権運動を概観するのにも非常に優れた映画だと思いました。見ていて、喜怒哀楽の全てを引き出させてくれるような、感情に訴えてくる映画になっていると思います。おそらく、最初にも述べましたが、幾つかのビックタイトルを受賞するのではないかと確信しています。また、私の最近お気に入りの女優であるテッサ・トンプソン(Tessa Thompson)も出演していて、彼女の美しさをまたスクリーンで拝見できて満足でございます。笑先日、公開されたDear White Peopleというキャンパスでの黒人の大学生活を描写した映画でも出ていて、この映画も非常に面白かったです。

さらに、この映画をより身近に感じたのは、映画でも出てくるジョン・ルイス(John Lewis)に数ヶ月前に実際にお会いしたというのも、この映画をより素晴らしく感じた理由の一つでしょう。彼は当時はSNCCという公民権団体に所属していて、現在では30年近くアメリカの国会議員をしている方です。映画のセッティングが50年も前のことなのですが、実際にそういった運動に参加・率いた人に実際にお会いしたというのは、過去が現在にしっかりとつながっているんだということを実感できる瞬間であり、この映画はその繋がりをより濃く私に思い出させたんだと思います。

また、過去と現在を繋ぐといえば、映画の後半で繰り広げられる、警察による暴力であるポリス・ブルータリティが非常に明瞭かつ激しく描かれていたところです。50年も前の出来事にもかかわらず、ここ数年のポリス・ブルータリティの問題を見ていくと、実際にはあまり変わっていないということがよくわかります。先日のファーガソンでプロテストを鎮圧するために警察は、催涙ガス、馬などを使用しました。また、自分が参加したオハイオ州のコロンバスでの行進においても、警察が馬に乗って登場し、プロテストをしている人々を威嚇するという状況を目にしています。それを考えると、映画で描写されるようなポリス・ブルータリティが、現在まで脈々と受け継がれていると感じさせる映画だったと思います。ポリス・ブルータリティが渦中にあるアメリカにおいて、この映画は、その問題を歴史的な観点から再考する良い機会を我々に与えてくれている気がします。過去と現在、そして未来を繋げるような映画になっています。ぜひぜひ、みなさんに見ていただきたい作品です。

＜日本語の関係資料＞

・Beagle the Movie: http://beagle-voyage.com/movie-selma-trailer-glory-video-2014.html

・Wired jp: http://wired.jp/2014/11/20/this-week-in-trailers-28-3/

＜English References>

・Official Site: http://www.selmamovie.com

・Variety: http://variety.com/2014/film/reviews/film-review-selma-1201354433/

・Time: http://time.com/3645651/how-selma-reclaims-hollywoods-sanitized-versions-of-martin-luther-king-jr/

『アニー』 / ANNIE (In Japanese)

日本では2015年1月24日に全国公開予定の映画『アニー/ ANNIE』の紹介です。アメリカでは、クリスマスくらいから上映しているので、日本の公開に先立って友達と見てきちゃいました( ^ω^ )

簡潔に言うと、ここ最近見た映画で最も心がほっこりするような映画でした。映画館を出た瞬間も笑顔で帰れるような、2015年を笑顔で始められそうなそんな映画になってます。また、ミュージカル映画として魅力的なのはもちろん、コメディー映画としての笑いの要素が随所に散りばめられている、そんな作品です。「笑い」と一括りに言ってみても、単にジョークなどが面白くて爆笑するというような笑いから、主人公の可愛げな仕草や行動に、思わず笑みが溢れてしまうというような笑いなど、多岐に渡る「笑い」を提供してくれる映画でした。ぜひ日本で公開されたら見ていただきた一本ですね。

オーソドックスな『アニー』を映画、もしくはミュージカルで見たことある方は、あらすじを知っているので、ネタバレにはならないと思いますが、今回の映画のあらすじとキャストの紹介を少ししたいと思います。まず、主人公アニーを演じるのは、クヮヴェンジャネ・ウォレス(Quvenzhané Wallis)です。

彼女をどこかで見たことがある人は多いと思います。ベン・ザイトリン監督の『ハッシュパピー ～バスタブ島の少女～』(Beasts of the Southern Wild)という作品を主演女優としてして、2012年の第85回アカデミー賞で史上最年少のノミーネートを果たした、今もっとも注目されている女優さんですね。今回の『アニー』では、ハーレム出身の黒人の少女が主役という少し原作からは逸脱しているように感じる人も多いかもしれません。しかし、プロットは孤児のシンデレラストーリという原作を踏襲している作品です。モダナイズ(Modernized)された『アニー』として楽しんでいただける作品になっています。このウォレスちゃん演じるアニーがひょんなことから市長選に立候補している、大手携帯会社の社長であるジェイミー・フォックス(Jamie Foxx)演じるウィル・スタックスにトラックに轢かれる寸前のところで助けられます。それをSNSに投稿された影響でアニーは一躍有名になり、その名声に乗っかろうとするウィルは彼女の一時的な預け親になることに。最初は、選挙に勝つ為のマスコットとして利用していたアニーでしたが、ウィルは次第に自分の娘のように気にするようになります。それを良く思わない秘書に邪魔されながらも、深い絆を築いていくというストーリになっています。

ミュージカル映画として、多くの方の耳に残っているであろう「トゥモロー、トゥモロー」という曲も冒頭に登場し、子供たちの愛くるしい音楽で始まります。また、ジェイミー・フォックスの歌がまた上手いこと。彼の歌の上手さは前から知っていましたが、ウォレスちゃんの幼い歌声に、男のハイキーの歌声のデュエットがたまりません。また、孤児たちの預け親として、キャメロン・ディアス(Cameron Diaz)が出てくるのですが、彼女のダメ親、女、人間感が孤児たちの境遇をさらに引き立てるいい味を出しています。最近、私の知る限り、ほとんどの映画でキャメロン・ディアスは似たような役なので、いわゆるビッチな役が板についてきたような感じもしますね。(笑)

まあ、総括すると、ここ最近では最高に笑える、そして心の温まる良い映画でした。ミュージカル映画としても、コメディ映画としても、今年最初に映画館で見る映画としては申し分ないと思います。ぜひみなさん、ご覧ください( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

＜リンク＞

オフィシャルサイト: http://www.annie-movie.jp

Huffingtonpost BlackVoices: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/09/jamie-foxx-quvenzhane-wallis-annie-tomorrow-harlem-_n_4415002.html

元日 2015年(In Japanese)

あけましておめでとうございます。今年もよろしくお願いします。

2015年は私にとって華々しい年明けとなりました。というのも、自分が在籍した母校３校とも、スポーツで偉業を成し遂げたという一生でもう二度と起こらないであろうことが年明け早々に起きたのです。ある意味、私にとっての、今年一年の啓示なのではないのかと思っています。母校の偉業に肖って、私自身も今年一年を飛躍・挑戦・達成の年にするべく、全力を尽くしていく所存です。

さて、その母校というのが、日本の我が母校である青山学院大学、2011年に交換留学で一年間お世話になったオレゴン大学(University of Oregon)と現在修士課程のため在籍しているオハイオ州立大学(Ohio State University)の３校です。

まず、青学は、箱根駅伝において、創部以来の初の総合優勝を果たしました。本当におめでとうございます。コース設定が少し変わったこともあり、史上最速タイムでゴールということになったそうで、10時間50分を切ったそうです。 また、５区間で区間賞を獲るなど圧倒的な強さで勝利したとのこと。残念ながら、私自身はアメリカに居るため、ライブで見ることはかないませんでした。しかし、往路・復路ともに1位という素晴らしい結果を残した 青学が母校であることを誇りに思います。ちなみに、アメリカとの時差の関係で、私にとっての元日に青学が往路で優勝を飾ったため、自分の母校全ての偉業が元日(アメリカ時間)に起きるという形になりました。(笑)

NHK: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20150103/k10014405441000.html
Livedoor: http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/9637033/
読売：http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/ekiden/2015/news/20150103-OYT1T50060.html?from=ytop_main7
朝日：http://www.asahi.com/articles/DA3S11533855.html

２校目のオレゴン大学も、Ducksとして知られるアメフトチームが、毎年元日に、カリフォルニアのパサネダにあるローズボウル・スタジアムで行われるローズボウルで勝利を飾りました。フロリダ州立大学(Florida State University)を相手に、なんと約40点差をつけての圧勝でした。この勝利により、オレゴン大学は国内トーナメントの決勝戦であるなナショナル・チャンピオンシップ・ゲームに駒を進めました。

NYT:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/02/sports/ncaafootball/oregon-thrashes-florida-state-in-rose-bowl-and-heads-to-national-championship-game.html
Bleacher Report: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2316683-oregon-vs-fsu-score-and-twitter-reaction-for-2015-rose-bowl
ESPN: http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=400610177

３校目は、現在在籍しているオハイオ州立大学のBuckeyeで知られるアメフトチームが、毎年元日にルイジアナ州ニューオーリンズで行われる、シュガーボウルにおいて勝利を飾りました。プレーオフで一位のアラバマ大学(University of Alabama)を相手に、42-35で勝利し、ナショナル・チャンピオンシップ・ゲームに駒を進めることになりました。

NYT:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/02/sports/ncaafootball/ohio-state-cardale-jones-alabama-sugar-bowl-advances-national-title-game.html
ESPN: http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=400610178
Cleveland.com: http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2015/01/ohio_state_vs_alabama_--_sugar.html 

つまり、ナショナル・チャンピオンシップ・ゲームの決勝はオレゴン大学とオハイオ州立大学の母校対決になります。どちらを応援して良いのかわかりませんが、どちらが勝っても嬉しいですね。当たり障りのない感じで応援したいと思います。(笑)

それにしても、母校３校ともテレビを賑わすとは、素晴らしいことです。母校の勝利が、私にとっての今年一年の啓示であると感じずにはいられません。母校の活躍に恥じない努力を重ねていこうと思う、2015年の正月inアメリカでございました。