Blackness, Performance, Freedom
After brainstorming for each of the prompt questions, I felt the most interested and engaged in prompt number 2. I was absolutely blown away by Guava Island—the message, the music, the performances, the magic—and feel compelled to write about it, to think about it, and to encourage discussion of it in class. I think before…
Rose Villela I would like our class to answer the second Guava Island discussion question because although I have seen the film a few times, I have not critically analyzed it. Guava Island is bookended by bold, colorful animations giving the viewer that story tale excitement and wonder. I believe this is put here because…
For my post, I have decided to tackle prompt 3: does the difference in setting affect how we understand the dancing and lyrical performances in the music video “This is America” versus Guava Island? I want to think through this question because I find it intriguing that the exact same song and dancing can be…
The mediums and genres of both the “This Is America” music video and the performance of it in Guava Island present contexts which allow us as viewers to understand them differently. The format of the music video is a 4 minute standalone YouTube video, while the performance of the song in Guava Island lies in the middle of a…
The question I would like to explore is ” What kind of work does child-like wonder, imagination, and magic do in/for the film Guava Island? And specifically what kind of work does it do around the way the text imagine race, blackness, and freedom?”. I really enjoyed the film in itself, and its use of cinematic elements to…
I picked this prompt for us to think through because the use of imagination and magic in Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo are some of the most fascinating aspects of the text. Throughout the novel, the recurring motifs of magic and child-like discovery of the world serve as points of access into the minds and lived…
Childish Gambino’s “This is America” has been seen in two major iterations: in the song’s music video, released in May 2018, and in the film Guava Island, released in April 2019. Both are performed by Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover); in Guava Island it is performed by Glover’s character, Deni. The two performances resemble each…
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…
Here’s a Mini-Zoom Lesson on how to post to the class WordPress site: “How to Post to the Class Blog!”
This is the title but it is also the substance. Typing about colors is about colors and demos. hello second draft. kd