I am all about those link posts. Denise’s review of Birth of a Nation is coming, but while we wait, here’s a list of opinions on whether or not to even go see it, given the controversy surrounding Nate Parker, the director, and the allegations that he and a friend raped a woman while still students at Penn State:
- Nate Parker gave an interview with 60 Minutes. He says he doesn’t feel guilty.
- Gabrielle Union discusses the complexities of being a survivor of sexual violence, starring in a movie involving sexual violence, directed by a man accused of rape.
- Roxane Gay won’t be seeing it. A lot of survivors of sexual violence feel the same way.
- Demetria Lucas D’Oyley at the Huffington Post “just can’t support ‘Birth of a Nation’“.
- Maiysha Kai from The Root wrote an open letter to Nate Parker, asking him to “to address the damage that lack of consent can do to young lives”.
- Britni Danielle at Ebony dissects a Q&A with Nate Parker that took place at the Merge Summit in LA earlier this year.
- The New Yorker asserts that the movie “isn’t worth defending”.
- NPR’s Code Switch did a whole show about this issue.
- Vulture had a round table debate about this as well.
- Time Magazine insists you should see it no matter how you feel about Nate Parker.
- Damon Young at Very Smart Brothas explains how Nate Parker’s rape accusations coming up now are not part of some larger conspiracy.
This is in no way a comprehensive list of discussion on the subject, but I think it’s a good start. I personally won’t be seeing it – will you?
Nutshell: A very important story, beautifully – and horrifically – told. Nate Parker may seem a bit too happy to throw on the messianic robes of Nat Turner, and his storytelling often goes overboard with heavy-handed symbolism. Yet, even with all the negative press on Parker, it’s an important story that has finally gotten its day. Grade: B
“Are you still smoking marijuana? I mean, it’s a gateway drug, okay?”
Apparently the houses were always available for overnight stays, but this is the first year they’re going to egg on the ghosts by doing a whole Halloween-themed sacrificial offering of their paying guests to whatever denizens of the underworld make Colonial Williamsburg their home. Sounds delightful! There is an intriguing-sounding tour/reenactment situation called “
“I never make a plan. Like a comet shooting across the sky, just happens. Nobody knows where I’ll land.”
“Here it is folks. It’s happened.”
Atomic Fangirl 