Saturday, September 21, 2019
Renee Sang 9/18 (film night) Post Class
This week we were able to attend the Global Peace Film festival's opening film, The ReMix: Hip Hop X Fashion directed by Lisa Cortés and Farah Z. Khalid. As a regular participant of the film festival and a planner of it the previous year, I can say that this film was unique and special from all others that I have seen. It not only introduced viewers to the Hip Hop industry and its strong ties to the fashion industry, but revealed the hidden individuals behind the movement and behind a culture that had also largely been appropriated. I learned a lot from the documentary on a topic that I had relatively only a surface-level understanding of. As someone who is very interested in fashion, but not necessarily Hip Hop music, I was still able to feel highly connected to the film and engaged in the new insights that it was presenting.
The film also heavily reminded me of a PBS Indie Lens film we had seen as part of my CMC Media, Peace, and Justice course titled Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World. Similar to Cortés and Khalid's film, the film served to re-present an appropriated history, in this case, of populated music movements (Rock and Roll, Blues, pop, etc.) and show their connections and ties to Native American culture. Both films used effective storytelling techniques by pulling in major names in music and fashion and tying them back to smaller cultural traditions and movements that they originated from. It is films like these that illuminate and give credit to those behind-the-scenes that I have always found powerful and gives me hope for the future of the media industry. In a society where much of the media projected to us is meant to advertise a product or earn a capital, I find it refreshing when filmmakers instead use the medium to give a voice to hidden individuals and shift our perspectives completely on a subject. Part of the reason why I have enjoyed my CMC courses so much in my time at Rollins is due to their constant ability to inspire me with media and show me the ways in which it can be utilized to promote positive messages. I am thankful to this documentary and many others for forever shaping my view on not only the subject, but on the rest of the world as well!
On my honor I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this work. -Renee Sang
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Renee,
ReplyDeleteHaving also been in attendance at the Global Peace Film Festivals screening of Hip Hop X Fashion, I can largely relate to much of your experience with and impact from the film. I liked your correlation to the previous media text you saw with your Media, Peace, and Justice course as they seem to have very similar topics.
Specifically, I really appreciated your use of the word “re-present” in your response. To re-present a culture or art that has been appropriated. This is profound. I was shocked as I watched this film at the amount of, in my opinion, injustice that happened to these revolutionary artists and their designs. I kept asking myself “what would I have known or thought of hip hop fashion if I had not seen this film?” and frankly, that was a sad reality to process. To think of how misrepresented people groups and artists are by the media depictions denying them their liberty to share their own personal narrative is frightening. What stood loud and clear from this film was the power of telling your own story.
I too would consider this movie giving the spotlight to the ones who truly deserve it as a hopeful depiction of where the media industry could be heading. That might be a highly optimistic claim, but nonetheless, I deeply appreciated this film and the hope that it carries. I also appreciated this film for the message of strength it conveyed, changing our ideas and bringing light to painful realities can be a very uncomfortable process but this film did it tastefully and left the audience with a sense of empowerment.
I really appreciate and relate to your response to the film.