Blackness, Performance, Freedom
The individual choreography of the various characters’ “fits” suggest that—like puberty—this experience is unique for each female. If you were to portray your own coming-of-age in a short segment (like Toni’s “fits” dance sequence), how would you do it? Which element(s) of your development would you focus on? After reflecting and deciding what to emphasize,…
Recall a time/event in your life in which you went through a transition. This transition can be physical or mental/emotional. Then, try to represent this experience through a creative medium of your choice. You might want to give a brief summary of your transition prior to your artistic take to give the viewer context. After…
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…
Drawing inspiration from all of the visual media we’ve been viewing over the past two weeks of classes, this prompt asks you to write a 1-2 minute dramatic monologue (about 1-2 pages of double spaced lines) where you detail a moment in your life where you felt successful. It could be like when Toni finally…
Beyonce’s “Diva” music video opens with a black screen and simple typewriter-style text providing the viewer with a definition of the word diva: “A successful and glamorous female personality; especially: a female singer who has achieved popularity”. This definition immediately brought me back to the opening scene of Atlanta’s sixth episode, “Value”, which presents with…
Dear Ms. Jacobs, Over this past weekend, I attempted to replicate a space similar to your garret escape to try to begin to comprehend what you lived through. Although I will never be able to truly understand what you experienced, I hope to gain some insight on what your reality was like during your time in the garret. The…
The Fits (2015) shows an 11-year-old girl, Toni, as she joins a dance team, the Lionesses. Before she joins and during her early days of being on the team, she spends time with her older brother at the school’s boxing gym. She trains along side him in addition to helping out at the gym by…
The Fits centers around Toni, a child on the verge of becoming a teenage girl. Throughout the film, it is clear that Toni is different; stoic and awkward, she does not fit in with the dance crew. This is only exaggerated by the arrival of a mysterious ailments that is causing the girls to have…
To begin approaching an analysis of the chapter title “The Loophole of Retreat,” I asked a couple friends what their associations with the word “loophole” are. Words like “legal,” “white collar,” “politicians,” “corporations,” and “universities” were prevalent responses, confirming my original perspective of the word having a legal or professional connotation—implying someone in a position…
Consider the portion of Scene 2 in the “Harriet Jacobs” play by Lydia Diamond—from the top of page 12 through Harriet’s paragraph on page 14 ending with “…I live under the feet of the Whites who wish us to believe that we are animals”—in which Harriet’s picturesque portrayal of the cotton field is interspersed and…