African-American Film Director/Activist
On August 24, 1972, Ava DuVernay was born in Long Beach, California, where she spent most of her early childhood. DuVernay’s aunt Denise motivated her love of innovation and culture as a child. In relation to her aunt being a nurse who worked the night shift, as the purpose of this was so that she could pursue her interests in theater, poetry, and the arts in the day. Safe to say that this was one of the biggest inspirations DuVernay has.
DuVernay and her family resided in Compton however, she has spent recalled spending many summers in the southern state of Alabama, the original home of her father’s family. In the nearby town of Selma, Alabama, DuVernay’s father recalled witnessing the famous civil rights march cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge according to the stories told by him. Safe to say that Ava Duvernay has always been active in the social topic of race and how it affects our everyday life. After graduating high school and attending the University of California where she earned multiple degrees, one of which in African American studies, she even managed to land an internship in CBS. Coincidentally, this was during the mist of O.J. Simpson’s trial. Setting somewhat of the soft foundation of DuVernay’s success of directing and film directing
Heart-filled Experiences & traumatic stigmatization in her film, "When They See Us"
One of if not, the most resonating and traumatic film series I had the pleasure of watching that DuVernay has directed and helped produce is “When They See Us”, which was released in 2019. This film captures the stigmatism and life-threatening categorization that people of color, black men in particular, face in society. The series is based on a true story where five young black boys native to New York City, are profiled by police officers for apparently ‘fitting the description’ for a crime that occurred in the nearby area, Central Park to be exact. This leads to the young men being questioned and coerced into admitting to a crime they had no idea about. In a nutshell, the story continues with the young boys being wrongfully convicted of the crime that altered the rest of their young lives, and emerging adulthood.
Ava DuVernay &Jharell Jerome (Actor of Korey Wise) on set the the filming of "When They see Us"
DuVernay does a great job at addressing the issues that arise with stigmatism and racial profiling. She goes into depth about the generational trauma that black people are subject to and how it affects the way our lives are lived. One example of this in the film would be something as simple as the reaction and pure fear the mothers of the boys have when finding out they have been taken to the station. It’s almost natural defense mechanism you activate when you’re aware of how often the world can perceive you as dangerous. The Netflix series captures that along with other societal problems we often face that have nothing to do with profiling, such as the judicial and jailing system. People’s lives are altered every day due got the faulty implications put in place. Unfortunately the 5 young boys happened to fall victim to it that night. The series was based on a true story, showing the importance of documentation of events like these and the education that comes behind it. Shout out to Ava and her development for the resonance and knowledge because stories like this happen at a beyond alarming rate.
True input's important
As mentioned, the series was based on the true NYC event, and Ava made sure to capture the urban feel of the city as well, The series starts off light-hearted as often seen in cinema but takes a turn for the worst when the boys are caught in the wrong place and time. Regardless along with the empathetic and emotionally dense factors Ava Duvernay captured, she was completely considerate and aware that the true victims’ presence and situational input was needed in order to capture the authentic emotions that went on during the whole process. The pain must’ve been unimaginable for the wrongfully convicted boys and their families at the time. Here they are pictured with the wonderful cast that played their roles in the series.
Propaganda and Profiling : The Dangers of it
The “Black or Brown” concept and how it came to be runs internally deep and the media has a great deal to do with it. As a past.. and probably future victim of racial profiling, I can say that it’s discouraging to say the least. Things like imposter syndrome come about and the dangers of being seen as danger itself. It’s getting old, and hinders people of color from reaching the highest potential constantly over history.
Propaganda
Material that is used to support or popularize a particular political/social idea , especially when it is biased or false and misleading. Typically the visual, verbal, or media expression
This has been a tactic used by the media pretty much since media’s been around. Black and white movies as early as the 1930’s in black and white have characatures have been proven to promote indoctrination. Along with that came posters, newspapers, radios and the sway of group thinking. That’s probably topic for another time.
