The Evolutionists
Some enjoy a good 'Cinderella tale'...I prefer the biographies of what I have deemed the Evolutionaries.
While watching "The Libertine" (2004) this weekend, I thought about all the 'Cinderella-stories' I have been coaxed into repeating recently. "Rocky" (1976) and "Ever After" (1998) (literally a Cinderella tale!), to name a few. I thought about the countless people who desire (read: need) a happy-ending to their films. These same types also require that their favorite entertainers have hard-knocked childhoods and 'rise above them' (how cliche!). This drivel gives them hope. That is why Rappers that grew up with middle-classed values feign 'gangsta' for their fans.
I am more complexed than that. I have never known anyone with such a flat existence; everyone around me is more complexed than that. I am admiring of entertainers that appear to 'evolve' into their higher Selves before our very eyes. Like one of my favorite 'hyphens', Oshay Jackson AKA Ice Cube or more recently 'Cube'. A former Architectual Drafting student at the Phoenix Institute of Technology, he also belonged to a rap ensemble known as C.I.A. (Cru In Action). Although one doesn't deny that Mr. Jackson may have experienced hard times in South Central L.A., I find it hard to believe he was able to claim he was 'harder' than Dr. Dre. Yes, Dr. Dre had a whole 'Commodores white jumpsuit with sparkles' thing going on before they hooked up; but the senior Mr. Jackson worked at UCLA and Cube's mother was a clerk at a hospital. They are pretty even.
Cube's time with N.W.A. (N--gaz With Attitude) is prompting but not instrumental in his appeal (to me). We all have times in our lives where we were juvenile and unworldly in our assessment of our environments. I began to pay attention when he launched his sophomore album "Death Certificate". It was nothing like what I was thinking but I found myself drawn to the anger in the lyrics. I had many friends at that time who were borderline bigots. It was a time of Afrocentricity and if you are not truly Afrocentric but treading a trend, you don't realize self-love does not mean you hate everyone else. I always tried to be the ambassador of culture and it was this album that I heard quoted the most by my borderline bigot African-American friends. "The beats are GREAT but do you realize what he's doing?" I once asked a girlfriend while we were getting ready for a party. "Yeah he's putting all honkies in they place!" she responded. Since she'd started dating guys who grew up in the inner city, her grammar had gotten more...relaxed; while her world view became more closed. "Tosha he is using every stereotype that segregates Blacks from every social and cultural group in America. NO ONE can hate EVERY person that is not like them!" I reminded her of how hate-filled Malcolm X was before his hajj. She didn't get the analogy.
But not much later, Cube would have totally felt me. He began branching into film and meeting people who were nothing like the descriptions he gave on his album. He even converted to Sunni Muslim. He admitted to his error drawing an analogy between Whites and other races that 'lump' all African-Americans together regardless of their cultural ties or value systems. He is a celebrated philanthropists, accomplished writer/director/producer, and family man...but he still hasn't shaken enough of his hate-filled past for Oprah's taste. Her audience is probably still scared of Cube therefore he hasn't been on her show. For the record, I don't believe Oprah has anything against hip-hop historically, just gangsta' rap and misogynistic tunes. Anytime you invite character actors from a film and not the principle actor, you are making a statement. Kind of like Vincent D'Onofrio not being on the Actors' Studio when they had the Law & Order episode...
Then there's Angelina Jolie! She went from scaring me ("I just think of blood-born pathogens when I see that girl! Why the vial?!"), to being on the list of my S-heroes. I cannot say enough about her taking The Method to the next level (she moved in with a woman before playing the role of "Gia" [1998]) or her passionate intensity with seemingly...EVERYONE. Motherhood was her cocoon...she has evolved so outstandingly, that if there were an award for it (like 'most beautiful family' in People magazine), she'd win it! There are many entertainers doing phenomenal things for humanity, but she has done the best and brightest 180, in my opinion.
Now you know why I won't be bound by the fairy tale. Much like the Second Earl of Rochester, I prefer a little vice before the moment of redemption. It makes for a more rounded individual.
Search out the heroes story like "Les Miserables" and see it isn't more enjoyable.
While watching "The Libertine" (2004) this weekend, I thought about all the 'Cinderella-stories' I have been coaxed into repeating recently. "Rocky" (1976) and "Ever After" (1998) (literally a Cinderella tale!), to name a few. I thought about the countless people who desire (read: need) a happy-ending to their films. These same types also require that their favorite entertainers have hard-knocked childhoods and 'rise above them' (how cliche!). This drivel gives them hope. That is why Rappers that grew up with middle-classed values feign 'gangsta' for their fans.
I am more complexed than that. I have never known anyone with such a flat existence; everyone around me is more complexed than that. I am admiring of entertainers that appear to 'evolve' into their higher Selves before our very eyes. Like one of my favorite 'hyphens', Oshay Jackson AKA Ice Cube or more recently 'Cube'. A former Architectual Drafting student at the Phoenix Institute of Technology, he also belonged to a rap ensemble known as C.I.A. (Cru In Action). Although one doesn't deny that Mr. Jackson may have experienced hard times in South Central L.A., I find it hard to believe he was able to claim he was 'harder' than Dr. Dre. Yes, Dr. Dre had a whole 'Commodores white jumpsuit with sparkles' thing going on before they hooked up; but the senior Mr. Jackson worked at UCLA and Cube's mother was a clerk at a hospital. They are pretty even.
Cube's time with N.W.A. (N--gaz With Attitude) is prompting but not instrumental in his appeal (to me). We all have times in our lives where we were juvenile and unworldly in our assessment of our environments. I began to pay attention when he launched his sophomore album "Death Certificate". It was nothing like what I was thinking but I found myself drawn to the anger in the lyrics. I had many friends at that time who were borderline bigots. It was a time of Afrocentricity and if you are not truly Afrocentric but treading a trend, you don't realize self-love does not mean you hate everyone else. I always tried to be the ambassador of culture and it was this album that I heard quoted the most by my borderline bigot African-American friends. "The beats are GREAT but do you realize what he's doing?" I once asked a girlfriend while we were getting ready for a party. "Yeah he's putting all honkies in they place!" she responded. Since she'd started dating guys who grew up in the inner city, her grammar had gotten more...relaxed; while her world view became more closed. "Tosha he is using every stereotype that segregates Blacks from every social and cultural group in America. NO ONE can hate EVERY person that is not like them!" I reminded her of how hate-filled Malcolm X was before his hajj. She didn't get the analogy.
But not much later, Cube would have totally felt me. He began branching into film and meeting people who were nothing like the descriptions he gave on his album. He even converted to Sunni Muslim. He admitted to his error drawing an analogy between Whites and other races that 'lump' all African-Americans together regardless of their cultural ties or value systems. He is a celebrated philanthropists, accomplished writer/director/producer, and family man...but he still hasn't shaken enough of his hate-filled past for Oprah's taste. Her audience is probably still scared of Cube therefore he hasn't been on her show. For the record, I don't believe Oprah has anything against hip-hop historically, just gangsta' rap and misogynistic tunes. Anytime you invite character actors from a film and not the principle actor, you are making a statement. Kind of like Vincent D'Onofrio not being on the Actors' Studio when they had the Law & Order episode...
Then there's Angelina Jolie! She went from scaring me ("I just think of blood-born pathogens when I see that girl! Why the vial?!"), to being on the list of my S-heroes. I cannot say enough about her taking The Method to the next level (she moved in with a woman before playing the role of "Gia" [1998]) or her passionate intensity with seemingly...EVERYONE. Motherhood was her cocoon...she has evolved so outstandingly, that if there were an award for it (like 'most beautiful family' in People magazine), she'd win it! There are many entertainers doing phenomenal things for humanity, but she has done the best and brightest 180, in my opinion.
Now you know why I won't be bound by the fairy tale. Much like the Second Earl of Rochester, I prefer a little vice before the moment of redemption. It makes for a more rounded individual.
Search out the heroes story like "Les Miserables" and see it isn't more enjoyable.
Labels: Angelina Jolie, Ice Cube, social conscious, Social evolution
posted by ScreenGoddessComplex at 1:07 PM
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