film

By Sherene Idriss | – There is a long history of damaging stereotypes of Arab and Muslim men on screen. Because of this, audiences from culturally diverse migrant backgrounds understandably crave more positive representations of their ethnic and cultural communities. Two new screen productions – Ramy and Slam – tell stories embracing the complexity of […]

film

How the New ‘Aladdin’ stacks up against a Century of Orientalist Hollywood Stereotyping

The Conversation

By Evelyn Alsultany |- Though critically acclaimed and widely beloved, the 1992 animated “Aladdin” feature had some serious issues with stereotyping. In the live-action ‘Aladdin,’ Mena Massoud stars Aladdin, while Will Smith plays the Genie. Daniel Smith/Walt Disney Pictures Disney wanted to avoid repeating these same problems in the live action version of “Aladdin,” which […]

Featured

Not Trump’s America: On How the Oscars looked Like the Real America this Year

Juan Cole

Cuarón: “”I want to thank the Academy for recognizing a film centered around an indigenous woman. One of the 70 million domestic workers in the world without work rights”

film

Race for Film Gold at Cannes in shadow of #MeToo & Gaza

Deborah Cole

Movies by Spike Lee, South Korea’s Lee Chang-dong, Italian Matteo Garrone and Nadine Labaki of Lebanon drew critical acclaim

Africa

Why Black Panther’s Wakanda Is the Black Utopia We’ve Been Waiting For

contributors

By Ingrid LaFleur | ( Yes! Magazine) | – – Before the film was released, the nation of Wakanda was taking shape in our minds. Ingrid LaFleur posted Feb 07, 2018 “When I wondered if imagination could be necessary for the revolution and transformation, you said yes, you said our dreams and visions matter, they […]

Africa

Black Panther: Honoring the legacy of Black style

Juan Cole

by Henry Navarro Delgado | (The Conversation) | – – One knows that something is touching a nerve in North American culture when a foreign luxury car company wants a piece of the pie. The movie Black Panther is that type of archetypical popular culture milestone. The release of Black Panther provides the opportunity to […]

film

Alt-Right Trolls Try to Tank ‘Black Panther’ Score on Rotten Tomatoes

contributors

TeleSur | – – Facebook seems to have deleted the racist, sexist group’s page while the popular movie-ranking site announced its plan as hate speech. An alt-right group is trying to tank the ratings for “Black Panther” movie on Rotten Tomatoes website as the movie continues to receive glowing reviews from critics after its premier […]

African-Americans

After Golden Globes Speech (Video), Oprah said open to Presidential Run

contributors

Golden Globes/ Oprah Winfrey | (Video Clip) | – – Amy Kaufman of the LA Times wrote that she asked Stedman if Oprah would be open to a presidential bid and he said, “absolutely she would.” I asked Stedman if @oprah would run for President. "It's up to the people. She would absolutely do it." […]

Barack Obama

Come Back, Barack – SNL/ Chance the Rapper Video

contributors

Chance the Rapper et al. | Saturday Night Live | (Video Clip) | – – De-Von-Tré (Chance the Rapper, Kenan Thompson, Chris Redd) wishes President Barack Obama would come back. Saturday Night Live: “Come Back, Barack – SNL”