Ridicule and race in social media

Post Civil Rights Movement, race was a term used to incite competition amongst Americans. Socially things got a little (or a lot) confusing and weird depending on which team one stood for. In the 21st Century, race is asinine and always will forever be.

In the 1980 film Stir Crazy, the story of two inter-racial friends, are set up to define racism as it pertains to humanity. What better actors to delineate the vile base of the racial divide than Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor? The beauty in their performance is how upon eternally entering the jail system Wilder’s character, sensitive and humane, translates how most ordinary white people would if they were innocent. On the contrary, Pryor’s character, wide-eyed and street smart, is prepared not to react how most ordinary civilized people would knowing full well that his chances for compassion are slim. Hence, blacks weren’t accustomed to being treated with civility.

Director Sydney Poitier brilliantly paints the polarized race identities of the 1980’s. Trading Places carries a similar theme of race and power. When actor Eddie Murphy’s character, a black homeless man, is transported into the elite rich culture he slowly begins to acclimate to his new and comfortable environment. The point is disarray. Race divide and power divide serves no one and hurts all.

If comedy is pain then there is no wonder why Dave Chappelle is so funny. His sensitivity as a comedian is his strength. He could feel how his audiences were not taking his material to heart but instead exploiting him. Chappelles’ deep appreciation of the tragic loss of young people to the crack epidemic is profound.

Forgiving Rachael in Rachael Getting Married

In the film Rachael Getting Married poses an original American drama. This story gets it right. A modern couple of the 21st Century which happens to be inter-racial, exchange their wedding vows over a weekend celebration at the bride’s father’s estate in Connecticut. It just happens to be the place where tragedy occured. Naturally, this sets the audience up for a dark journey into the light.

What’s so wonderful about this experience is how exacting the characters are, good or bad and how this elevates the audience into predisposition of thought. In other words, the story is told like a narrative which invites the audience to enjoy in the festivities while simultaneously appreciating the unspoken problem. And talking about the problem doesn’t necessarily solve anything. It is the protagonist’s choice to deal with all the family’s guilt in her own way. So the mood is moot.

Like any holiday where family members gather and their pasts are represented, spotlighted with nuances and innuendos, it does behoove them all to face their challenges together like a knot in a tree that refuses to untwist. It does not inhibit the plant to grow but rather take form in a new shape despite the surface debauchery of it. It’s easy to deplore beauty as something deep and unfounded but in nature, thus technology, life is way too complicated to construct like a clean sheet of paper. Sometimes the only wisdom is in the reluctant belief in allowing art to compose life from within.

Anna Deavere Smith, graduate of Master of Fine Arts at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco stars in this praised creative document of film art. Go see it.

Clay Theater beaming character of perfection

Gutsy little movie houses like The Clay Theater at 2261 Fillmore Street need more than a standing ovation. They need masses of fans adoring their every nuance, gesture, sigh. They deserve it because they’ve been around for so long. No one argues with Great Grandma Matilda when she’s had too many glasses of eggnog at Christmas. So why resist the wisdom of The Clay Theater.

She’s probably seen many many stories, too many to share now. But there is no doubt that she is grateful and honored to have housed so many moments close to the human heart. Why, she’s been a home to many teenagers searching for a dark corner to cuddle without shame. She’s certainly heard many a roaring laughter and equally puddles of tears. She’s definitely endured earthquakes and aftershocks with a palpable fear that this may be the very last time standing but then miraculously she’s still here.

To what do we owe in lieu of the American myth that bigger is better? Everything. Go see a film at The Clay Theater where life will feel different like an old-fashioned telephone booth. Take your kids and let them bask in the refinement of the way things used to be although sensibly that way is still very much loved and needed today.

Magritte’s dreams lives on in Gondry’s reality

At an early age, infamous painter Rene Magritte lost his mother to suicide. His work suggests a conversation between very real objects and unreal situations or environments. Perhaps, more is being said here. He spoke often about surrealism which merely means dreams. When someone describes a moment as being surreal they usually mean that though they know they’re alive they cannot believe their dream is coming true, hence the shared cry, ‘Pinch me!’

Similarly, in the French 2006 film Science of Sleep (or La Science des reves) a young artist played authentically by Gael Garcia Bernal consumes bereavement through his childhood bedroom and dreams. As if his unconscious and conscious were blurred his dreams seem so real that he forgets he’s sleeping but not exactly sleepwalking. One of the most important film contributions of the 21st Century, Michel Gondry directs this story realistically and emphatically. Even the tale revolves around speaking in different languages naturally so as if reality we’re indeed a dream.

The beauty in all of this surrounds the fact that humans have the ability to create and so they may. It becomes crucial that they do every day in some little way. It’s only natural. At the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Rene Magritte is featured online in Making Sense of Modern Art and Language and Perception. The point in dreams could be just as simple as taking an active part in envisioning one’s life. If not, there will be dreams banging down the door in your sleep, haunting the daylight hours or worse nightmares not understood. Choose to dream, especially awake.

Wedded and winging it

The fear about getting wed is simple: being stuck with someone who’s no good. It’s like standing on stage performing a play when one of the co-actors drops the ball. They forget their line. And they’re frozen rock solid.

The audience begins to stir. The director is pulling out her hair. The other actors all know the line but it would be out of turn for anyone but said actor to deliver it. The play would not make sense. In a moment of panic, the play is saved because someone improvises the scene.

The audience buys it. The backstage resumes their positions. The scene is saved for the time being. And for the sake of the play, the actors put the mistakes behind them to carry on. It’s the only professional thing to do.

But after the performance is complete is another story. Depending on the dynamics of the players is crucial. If they are close and trusting and more importantly if they like each other then perhaps it’s water under the bridge. If they learned and adopted fair tactics while growing up in all situations then perhaps, the offended may forgive the offender. On the other hand, if there are underlying problems then the play may suffer.

On stage everything has to be rehearsed but the true magic is in the moment. If a married couple can reach the other in the moment then life will be good. It’s when they can intuitively know when to act and deliver their thoughts (or lines) then a marriage works. Some marriages should last a very long time if there are no wasted words.

A woman’s quick guide to being sultry for her man

In the 21st Century men need not go out looking for a good time when they have a wonderful woman keeping the fires burning at home. With the right combination of love, friendship and hot romance the recipe for sex is complete. Women not need to be afraid anymore about expressing their sexual desires. Not only is sex natural, it can be safe, fun and an opportunity to deepen the intimate bond between partners.

Whether you’re married, married with children, cohabitating in sin or single and dating this is for everyone. No need to waste good hard earned money on strippers and booze. No need to get wasted either. No need to encourage the misguided dreams of little girls who one day wants to dance around showing off their God-given (or made) goodies. Nope, none of that is required.

Ladies join the progressive unraveling of base undignified post-feminist garbage. Pole dancing is in! Yes, even Oprah thinks it’s cool. And who doesn’t love Oprah? If she told Americans to jump off the bridge no one would do it but pole dancing was featured on her show, so there. And this is what men really want at home. They want their wives, girlfriends and lovers to strip like a professional whore (ahem, exotic dancer) and titillate their sexual appetite right after work, or before the game, or maybe even throughout it. Well, it’s a thought.

Internet conflicts and emotional intelligence

In response to a few comments made about recent articles, the point of contention is not with beliefs but rather with ethics or lack thereof. On the internet as with any other social forum it is imperative to be civil at all times. Discussions need not get heated with homophobic slurs and erroneous remarks. Respect for interpersonal-communication is paramount and anything else is intolerable.

In regards to women taking their husbands surname is certainly a personal choice. The article, The name game is lame and tame provides new information based on the documentary film Journey of Man. Specifically, it points out how men have a significant biological role in the survival of humanity. The fact that they carry the Y-chromosome indicates, in the era of socialized modern feminism, that their contribution is misunderstood. In the event of a marital union it would be socially cognitive to represent said qualities in the family by adopting his surname.

In contemporary society many women are educated and have successful careers before settling down in matrimony. Therefore, it is practical for women to adopt her husband’s surname as well as maintain her maiden name. Having nothing to do with politics, this would enable continuity if her work is closely related to her name but include her husbands, thus reflecting their union when in social situations.

Open anger in society has unethical implications unless it is reared toward protecting those who cannot speak for themselves like children. In internet forums, the written word fueled by anger is unleashed by anonymity. These concerns won’t be taken seriously unless self-control is practiced. It is a joy to bestow the natural anthropological observations and the hope is to encourage fruitful exchange of ideas.

Funny parodies and really good education

Before there were Saturday Night Live parodies there was Sesame Street. Created in 1969 Sesame Street’s mission has always been to educate urban children who may not have the same resources as more affluent communities. Transmitted on Public Broadcast Station across the country Sesame Street has broadened its influence globally including South Africa, Kosovo and Bangladesh. Over the 40 plus years Sesame Street has kept its proverbial foot in the door by keeping an ear to the floor and its finger on the collective popular pulse.

Where Pixar inserts adult parodies inappropriately such as The Shining in Finding Nemo , Sesame Street has maintained their course respectively. They’ve mastered a way to teach and entertain both children and adults alike. Their contributions from the beginning such as Jazzy Spies all the way to Feist 1234 delight the intellect and relax the conscious as pure fun.

The film documentary The World According to Sesame Street dives into the challenge of re-creating Sesame Street specifically for each international community including completely new characters that US kids would never be privy to. Similarly, many US kids who spend a significant portion plopped in front of the boob tube may slip into other cable networks and even adult targeted time zones such as AMC’s Mad Men or Law & Order.

Engage your kiddies or inner kid to at the Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose 180 Woz Way, San Jose, call 408.298.5437 for more information.

John Barry killer instinct composer of cinema master in music

John Barry is best known for his musical contributions in film such as View to a Kill, the collaborative effort with British pop band, Duran Duran. No doubt, his role in the James Bond theme lends to his earlier days of the John Barry Seven and sounds of 50’s surf and turf. Certainly, he’ll always be remembered for the brilliantly chilling and melancholy theme of Midnight Cowboy, the beautiful story about friendship despite grim truths. Barry’s work has compiled of seemingly endless scores each worthy of their own descriptive appreciation. The truth is simply he is a legend and his greatness had small beginnings.

Influenced by his mother’s concentration in composing music and his father’s vocation in owning theaters lends the compassion that he married his parent’s interests into his own. It happens. Personally, Dad (the one with the cigar) Santiago Gonzalez was a musician/writer turned television actor before he passed in the 70’s and Mom could do anything which was required of her. Retired, she still works a 9 to 5 to date. Pursuing screenwriting, most recently preparing for the 2010 Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship, in addition to writing daily for the SF Examiner is the appropriate combination at present.

The one true commonality that can be seen in John Barry’s style which has not been expressed or articulated in research is his ability to evoke a very masculine persona. In all the films, especially the ones which garnished accolades are experiences that are deeply rooted in the male psyche. For better or worse, the male voice in cinema certainly at some points gets lost in the technology and craft. Ironic and perhaps silly as it seems, the human experience really has to struggle to be heard through all the muck and excitement of shiny new film toys.

Sweet mercy on a roll

In the film, Tootsie the protagonist is faced with the challenge of building a relationship with his true love through befriending her as her ‘girlfriend’. It works. Initially, he is an unemployed actor of 20 years when he lands the job of his dreams which inevitably changes his life for the better. Luckily, he meets the girl of his dreams as well. Nevertheless, he is committed to his role and does whatever is necessary to appease it. What he ends up doing, unintentionally, is thrust the confidence of countless women through honesty and integrity. In other words, he doesn’t mince words.

As the SF Media Literacy Examiner it’s fair to write the incredible joyous feeling bestowed when contributing articles about film. Whether the subject is motivated by enthusiasm or a passion to right a wrong, there is an emotional commitment to deliver a compelling story. Individually, there is a voice that not only wants to reach people but also to inspire them to get up and out in the world and be a contributor in their own right. That’s why film is the medium and life experience is the way.

Mercedez means mercy in Spanish and it is a name to which it is aspired to. Born and raised in Walnut Creek, studying film and anthropology in Washington, D.C., writing for San Francisco Examiner while living in one of the more unique college towns in the US is preparation enough for Hollywood. The hope is that this career journey breeds strength, courage, compassion, and wisdom. For the love of the American English language has brought a portal symbiotic with artistic expression such as film. The truth in the goal for screenwriting is twofold. One is the simple need to be in the film community but not thrust into the public eye and the other is about wanting creative control.

When Dustin Hoffman played Michael Dorothy in Tootsie he played a man acting as a woman better than most women. Without a doubt, the back story for writing screenplays is the actor writing better scripts than most writers. Figure it out.

The reason for love

In the 1987 film Moonstruck is a story about a woman who succumbs to her desire for true love. This means the kind of love which combines friendship, passion and sacrifice. The friendship is there when she approaches her to be love interest. Her search for the truth and willingness to listen impacts him deeply. Her motivation is only to make things right.

His struggle to move on from a painful life-changing experience is met with her dignity and self-respect. With all her logic and no-nonsense attitude to life she is the perfect antidote for his self-pity. She allows him to take his aggression out on her through love making. This is passion. Although women today often can find themselves in positions of power in this film the female protagonist is ultra-feminine. She understands this about herself and finds power in being receptive.

With no intention to pursue love for romance and passion she is swept off her feet when he pursues her relentlessly. A gentleman, he takes her to the opera where she reasons a make-over befitting and therefore finds herself falling in love naturally. Here we find a reason for love. When two people help each other find the beauty in life all the pain and suffering before then seems to make sense.

Olympia Dukasis stars in this sweet love tale including Francis Ford Coppola’s nephew Nicholas Cage and the wonderful Cher. Incidentally, Dukasis is performing another comedy Vigil at the insatiable American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Enjoy her brilliancy and buy tickets now.