Blackness, Performance, Freedom
While watching Beyonce’s music video for “Diva,” I noticed Beyonce performs the same punch dance move that was featured in the choreography that Toni and the Lionesses perform in The Fits. The motion of punching is an offensive attack. It is an action where one strikes their opponent. However, in both choreographed performances in The…
How would you describe your experience in recognizing your gender? Does it feel as though the societal culture you live in recognized your gender for you? Then, try to represent this experience in a medium of your choice. In addition, reflect on the creative choices you made and explain why you made them. Additionally, please…
Consider the two scenes in The Fits that take place in the empty swimming pool when Toni and Maia speak to each other (52:11) and the parade dancing (1:07:11). What is the significance of the empty swimming pool? How might this connect to Beyonce’s performance in the empty swimming pool in her “Formation” music video?
As we were examining the line “I knew what I did, and I did it with the deliberate calculation,” (47) from chapter ten in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, I thought about Solange’s music video for “Almeda.” I was hooked onto the line “Nothing without intention. Do nothing without intention,” said by…
The love song “All the King’s Horses” by Aretha Franklin that is referenced in Jason King’s “Which way is down?” encompasses the metaphor of falling as well as acts as an example of the black female singer’s desire to be heard. King’s article uses the metaphor of the act of falling and climbing a ladder…
Does the difference in genre and:or medium affect how we understand the dancing and lyrical performances of the music video “This is America” versus how we understand it in the film Guava Island? How? Or Why not? I wish to think through how the genre affects our understanding of the performances of “This is America” because…