This week on Black on Black Cinema the guys discuss the 2011 coming of age/coming out drama, Pariah. Directed by Dee Rees this film takes a unabashed look at homosexuality and its level of acceptance in the Black community. Alike, a 17 year old girl in New York, has to come to terms with who she is and the world in which she lives.
When I first heard of the NBC sitcom The New Normal I was skeptical as to which way a network television show would go when centering around a gay male couple. The highly successful show Modern Family has help push boundaries in the primetime slot, but could The New Normal break further ground? It turns out the folks over at NBC have an agenda of equality and they want you to hear it. My general skepticism was mostly whether the characters would be stereotypes or not.
I normally try not to bring politics to this website and our podcast, as I find it can be very divisive in a lot of circles. However, after reading an article and the comment thread about the D.C. comics reveal of Alan Scott being homosexual, I just couldn’t let it go. While I support people’s right to write whatever they want I do think articles like this are unabashedly immature and offensive. Now, I don’t believe that just because something is offense means it shouldn’t exist. I’m writing this to start a much needed conversation about LGBT treatment in the nerd community, a community I have been apart of for a very long time (pushes up glasses from edge of his nose).
Dees Rees coming of age film is not one to miss. A 17-year old’s struggle with her own sexual orientation and what the implications are for her friends, family, and her own future are handled with such style and grace.
The story of Alike (Adepero Oduye) pronounced A-LEE-KAY brings the audience in at break neck speed into a world of seeming sexual perversion as the film opens inside of a strip club with music with very descriptive lyrics blaring loudly. This scene puts the viewer in a very assumed position about what they are about to watch. However, within moments the entire film shifts, purposefully, to a narrative that is more complicated much like the life of Alike.