I might have to pay for this! Shit I ain’t got nowhere to go to spend money anyways 🤷🏾♀️ Tiger king was too batshit crazy for me not to hear your commentary 😩😩
I don’t consider the movie a biopic. The movie is dramatization and I don’t get history. I studied history in college and know that need more than one resource. Prior to the movie, Walker’s narrative is part true and part myth. The reality we still don’t have a complete history of Walker. Walker did have a skin brightening product, so some in the Black contemporaries of the time felt that she may be contributing to telling Black women that they are inferior to white women’s beauty. The fact of the matter is people need to read. I think the four books are a good start with disclaimer of the great great daughter has a bias therefore you do need other resources.
AMAPOUNDCAKE But at what cost?? Melodramatic struggle love? Forced to be the matriarch?? Yes he has given a lot but in hindsight, he was taken so much more
@@Taayooo It's important for us to start discussing "fat black women" issues as separate issues. Struggle love is a common reality for fat black women. I'm a body image coach and a body positivity advocate and I work with lots of fat black women who have not been on a date with a black man.
@@Taayooo Also, I think we can be critical of Tyler Perry's film but one of my issues with the critique is that we don't ask other black writers to write fat black women better. Kelly in insecure is just a fat best friend. I'm not saying that Tyler is perfect but its clear that he sees value in fat black people in film and has a track record of putting fat black people of all ages in leading roles. Most fat black people do not make the cover of a movie advertisement.
I try to live all my art through this after seeing waaaayyyy too many consequences be passed over as drama when no, it’s actually serious and important to have these discussions around media that’s trying to tell a story about the thing
Right? As soon as I see "inspired by" I'm like "Oh, so this was all made up!" Because they're not going to come out and tell you what was or wasn't the truth.
@@Jan-bl2ho when it's based on someone's life, it's a biopic. Especially if the events IN said movie are REALLY close to how the ACTUAL story went!! And unless the movie blatantly goes off the rails to some mess that no one would believe actually happened, then they will view it as a biopic. "The Queen" is just another Queen Elizabeth movie, but it is seen as a biopic along with all of the others. "Lincoln" is another biopic, but no one gets confused between it and "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter!" Why? Because they can tell the latter was made up. And there will be many more Abraham Lincoln biopics made in the future with varying degrees of accuracy. But this, right here, was Hollywood's one shot to tell it true. Because people aren't clamoring to do a Madame CJ Walker movie, or an Alice Paul, or a Lewis Latimer, or an Ida B. Wells or André DuMàs, so on and so forth. Yes, it has to entertain, but the true stories are often more interesting than the fake ones they inject.
Movies that need an epic redo: Madam CJ Walker, Harriet Tubman, Nina Simone, Aaliyah, Nate Turner.... Whoever made What's Love needs to come back and do a tutorial.
TheAICarter Nina Simone should be way more well known, like she should be everywhere this month for women’s history month, and then mental heath month too, i was just thinking this last night in the shower, she learned classical freaking music and played it so well, but I get why she’s not popular among the youth, but why not in classical music and as a feminist/civil rights leader
I didn’t like that they reduced her entrepreneurial journey to her competing with another black woman. Furthermore, they tried to make this a battle against a light skinned woman. Even though colorism needs to be discussed, I am not downplaying that by any means....why reduce it to this? I wasn’t feeling it at all. I liked the movie but that really messed it up for me. No need to do this with her rich history. Both women were legendary!
I didn't even know that much about Anna Malone and even I was turned off by this light skin/dark skin rivalry. It just felt forced and mean girls esque
Aliyah J. It really did! It made it seem like her main goal was to prove light skinned women wrong. I hate that! She was so much more than what light skinned women thought of her. And what makes matters worse is that the real character wasn’t even a light skinned woman nor was she a villain. We need another movie.
The line that "Liberties were taken in order to create drama and conflict", is something I find very insulting. The few Black Historical figures that make it to the mainstream are compelling and interesting on their own that adding your own flavor to spice things up is unnecessary. Right now I'm listening to Wayward Lives, Beautiful Histories by Saidiya Hartman and it shows that black lives especially those of black women do not need any extra help, they are more intriguing than things our imagination could come up with.
We're in the post-reality-TV era, where every TV exec seems to have assimilated the idea that conflict = drama but are all too simple-minded about it and think conflict = fighting, failing to realize that people can have conflict within themselves, between who they are and who they used to be, between themselves and the world they live in. Just watching 2 people fighting is boring.
Christie Brooks that line should be used in order to try and get into the characters’ heads and creating what they might have said and also maybe aspects to the style such as in the show when Madam Walker is visualizing the Walker Girl riding a bike, not because we wanted to make a good antagonist or we wanted to make drama/conflict, or come up with scene ideas we had, pretty sure you can find conflict if you dig far enough or talk to the family, there’s no way there could be a book that someone thought was interesting enough to be adapted into a movie/tv show
I really enjoyed this. Black History is already undertaught to the point where we have to actively re-educate ourselves outside of most school systems to learn. Madame C.J. Walker is an icon and if you can't do justice to her in a mini-series, then why even put her name on this project. We don't deserve scraps.
What they did to Annie Malone's is absolutely disgusting! I had never heard of her until this movie, and I'm glad that our black RUclipsrs shed light on the lies that were told about her. I wish her estate could sue the movie for defamation of character, but it would be hard since they changed her name in that trash ass movie!
Unfortunately Annie Malone doesn't have an estate left. She had no kids & the money she had prior to death was given to nieces & nephews....I am assuming all these folks are deceased now.
@@Jan-bl2ho No one is saying colorism didn't exist. What *we* are saying is that this wasn't the issue between Annie Malone and Madame Walker. Stop gas lighting and making arguments that no one made.
@@JeannesMovieChats He was in the bathtub on a phone with a coiled cord that was from the 30/40s at best. Literally no one could be in a bathtub on a phone in the 1900s. This irked me so much. 😆
What about DuBois and Colorism?? Didn't he call Marcus Garvey a - insert colorist degradation here - in writing? Why is he elevated in this film and Washington is again, painted as the elitist compromiser? Also, this film plays into the practice of making Colorism a black women's issue instead of a problem of anti-blackness internalized and perpetuated intra-racially regardless of gender or class.
Marcus Garvey accused DuBois of fucking white women. They both hated each other and went back and worth with the colorist attacks against each other. It doesn't excuse his comments because they were pretty effed up but Garvey was not innocent in that fight at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure he started the fight because DuBois originally respectively criticized him and Garvey flew off the handle.
I just learned about these two guys in school (a while ago;I remember thier names honestly) but reading this comment now makes me interested in learning more about them. (The way they were handled at school wasn't nearly as engaging or interesting. We basically needed to know that one of them wanted to plant roots and have black ppl Branch out like white ppl did and the other wanted us to get an education and do stuff with taxes??? and I don't remember anything about Garvey but that could be me not remembering or paying attention) What would you recommend me read for more information?
I was excited about this as a white Latinx with little knowledge of Black American history. I went into it thinking it would be more biopic though, but quickly realized it was an overly dramatized historical fiction plot. I continued watching it and gave it a "thumbs up" because I still wanted to support the general idea of the content with hopes to get better things. However, once I realized it was historical fiction it was very difficult for me to enjoy because you could clearly see the forcing of very specific interactions and narratives. It just wasn't well done, In the end, it felt like a Lifetime movie with inaccuracies and a forced narrative style.
@@myselfmyself5194 She asked for opinions in the video. I'm giving mine and being upfront about my background so people know where I might be coming from. Do you not want people of varying backgrounds to be involved? There are specific things I can't/won't experience as a white presenting latino, while I have friends and family that obviously present as black Latinx. That's what it means to be part of the latinidad. Acknowledging we won't have the same experience within a shared culture. Or do you just wanna be mad and not see people try to grow?
@@escortmissions I agree, I am black and I want *people* to sit back relax and enjoy movies that have black actors and actresses in it just like asian movies and Bollywood and Latin movies. I also wish more people are like you. Thank you for give your opinion and to be honest, you being a white Latina is not an issue. It is just who you are.
I haven't seen the series. Thank you for sharing this excellent review. My grandmother (b. 1894). told me of her memories of Madame Walker. She was a child when either Walker or her saleswomen were hawking her products. She had a particular memory of a saleswoman calling on her mother as she hung laundry on the lines outside their home. This is my memory of a story told to me back in the early 1960s when I was a small child. So much of our history is lost or skewed because oral history grows dim as the generations pass. I don't have children and am trying to pass this information on to Millenial family members.
creolejoy. agreed. however, if it were true I would be okay with the portrayals bc colorism is real. but to make a villain out of another Black woman when it’s not warranted is trash.
Tori Uptown agreed. It felt like they were trying to capitalize on the mean colorist light skinned women that thinks she’s better than the dark skinned woman 🙄 But it was so made up it just seemed like pandering. And then they completely discredited her entire story 😡
They always tryna make it seem like we don't have love for our brothers and sisters with dark skin! Not true, not fair! We DO NOT think we're better than others. We want friends, damnnit! Damn you, Tyler Perry!! *shakes fist in lightskinned rage*
You’ve started a new convo regarding black audiences: Those of us who want to see black people in phenomenal films vs black folks who wanna see black people in a movie.
Lmao as a white English person, I would kill for an accurate depiction of the royal family that showed what nasty imperialists they are. Great video, would love to see you make a film based on the real history
I'm pansexual, and the part where they made Annie a lesbian irritates me. 'Inspired' or not, this is a story about a real person that existed. If there is no proof that she actually was gay, I don't understand why that was added. Representation is important, of course, and if this had been fiction, I would have been all for it. But that is not the main reason this irritated me. Making her a lesbian adds to the stereotype that all lgbt allies are just closeted members of the lgbt community. She was an lgbt ally in the early 1900s. That is a hugeee deal. Instead of making her a lesbian, they could have done research to find out and show the homophobia she witnessed her friends face. They could have started a conversation on homophobia in the black community with that. There is definitely a story there, and it's much better and tactful than 'yeah she had gay friends so she was definitely a lesbian'.
I felt the same way about the Annie Malone character. I thought if Madame C.J. Walker did what she did then, look at the predecessor!! She deserves her own story!!! And, I want to see it!!!
Let us know once you finish your research, so you can get to filming and producing. Why wait for someone else, aka the white man, to tell you their ideals of Annie Malone. You see what they did to her successor Madame? But any story is better than no story right?
There were so many myths around the life of Madame CJ Walker. I first thought she invented the hot comb and then I thought it was the actual perm and to my amazement she wasn't even the first black millionaire....
"Creative liberties" in black biopics are a sad reality because black history is severely neglected even today. I saw the series and was annoyed because I'm familiar with both Annie and Sarah.
I think we need stories of how Black people navigate and participate in classism. A lot of Media boils it down to high yellow people = rich and dark skin persons= poor. Especially during a time were social climbing was so important. This is the same era as the great Gatsby. I do agree they missed a great opportunity. It's not about just being rich but the performance of it and the rules and decorum. All of it through a black lense in 20th century America. What could be better?
devilangel777 yes a lot of light skin black people especially mixed used their appearance that was seen closer to whiteness achieve more economic success and upper class status that something that needs to be discovered and presented more accurately and deeper as suppose to bearing the topic on the head
Kevin 5012 false. Not only do mixed race people face the racism that black people face from whites, they also get hatred and less support from the black community. I’m only interested in mixed race people telling their story through their lenses, not through black peoples
Katie Stops you live in lala world. WORLDWIDE mixed people discriminated black people now and esp then: blue vein society, creoles classism, paper-bag test etc
Mimi Locke there is no etc. you’re talking about a few groups that existed back then. Lighter skinned people were made to feel unwelcome amongst darker black people. Why wouldn’t they make their own groups?
When do we start to hold the actors accountable. I would think that they do some research before taking on these roles and I would want to properly represent someone as truthfully as I possibly could.
I want to hold them to a standard but at the same with the work they our constantly given, they do not get much range in their work so they take what they can.
i understand but sometimes the directors and others behind the scenes people responsible for the production be informing the actors what not to do and what to do with research that's why zendaya dropped out the aaliyah film bc the filmmakers were not making do research and espacially contact aaliyah's family for information
Black actors would not work at all if all they did were the most impeccable black narrative or black centered movies since...black writers dont get that much work, black producers dont get that much work, black films dont get that much opportunity. There is a lot of shit in HW and cream gets to rise because of the opportunity but in truth black folks dont get that luxury to be picky otherwise you’d starve or defer dreams. Which truly that case across all industries but its plain as hell in entertainment. But I do wish that they would decline jobs that are plainly scraps but I also know the reality is if you are not working then you dont get to work. And as much as BP say they will support independent black films and projects in practice BP dont. So alot has to change and its not fair to put the burden on black actors solve all of it.
SpacecowboiKilu I get what you’re saying, but an actor who begins questioning the directors or writers, will get an actor fired for “creative differences.”
To be honest, I learned way more from this video/reading self-made than I did from the short series. Please, please, please follow your gut and make a Walker film! or something of the such. Let us know & I know your audience will support!
I went into watching the film assuming it was going to be historically accurate, and it was throwing me off because I knew some basic facts about Annie Malone. I was thinking the whole time; “Do I have her name wrong??? I didn’t know she was a colorist, wow; I don’t remember reading that” The inaccuracies threw me off. Had I known things were changed for entertainment purposes, I would have received it as such going into initially watching it. (They may have advertised the film as not being historically accurate, if so, I missed that lol)
I find it insulting the way these films continue the dark skin-light skin battles in our community. Yes, there was 'colorism' but that represented a small portion of Black history. Even on the plantation, lighter skin enslaved people worked to use their color to benefit their families and people. We have people like Dubois who saw themselves as Black and committed their lives to fight for their people. On top of it all, many suffered being caught between white supremacy and incorrect Black perceptions of their identity.
i did too. it took so many liberties that i couldn't enjoy it. and i DON'T know anything about annie malone. this made me look her up, and as soon as i realized who she was i was uninterested
Nina Milner thank you. This is exactly why I don’t even like being involved with Madame CJ. She made no effort to give Annie the room she stole from her.
Yeah, I agree. In a history film class I had we discussed how historical filmic depictions is always problematic in that it uses the lens of the present when dealing with historical issues and that was truer than ever in this film. I thought the matter of Sarah's daughter being homosexual was sus because I kept wondering how that would've been historically proven and it was dealt with in a much too liberal fashion in the film, it was hard to believe. And also the issue of Sarah not wanting to promote styling hair to acclimate to white beauty ideals was definitely viewed through a contemporary lens. Mobility being associated with whiteness was a much harsher reality for black ppl living through those times so the attitudes Madame had towards promoting 'natural' black hair in the film was also sus to me
We were saying it when we complained about the Tubman movie featuring a fictional Black slavecatcher hellbent on keeping her enslaved, but folks tell us we are doing too much and to be happy we get something at all. Its tiring, cuz we see it coming from a MILE AWAY but get gaslit right until the end!
Please make the movie, I agree 100% with you. The story Netflix did was sloppy and dramatic for no reason. Please make the movie the right way with more FACTS please!
I am always combating students when it comes to misinformation and it’s so frustrating. As you said they will see this movie and see it as fact and won’t do their own research to correct all the misinformation they receive. And quite frankly it’s harder to correct misinformation than it is to just give people the correct information in the first place. I also think it’s dangerous to keep inserting unnecessary colorism tropes when we know they exist maybe just not in this instance. I didn’t like the mini series and at times felt it was making a mockery of her life
I found the film quite disappointing. MS Haddish's acting was not good. The use of hip hop music detracted, boxing scenes silly, etc.... A missed opportunity.
Girl I CANNOT WAIT until you get a syndicated show! You are always so spot on & your voice is necessary...so real...so well informed! I can’t get enough. You’ve said everything me & my artist friends have been discussing. Keep telling the TRUTH!!!
My biggest problem with the "Addie Monroe" plot line is that they never get to a place of unity. I mean even taking it for the fiction it is and the made up character "Addie Monroe", we never see these characters rise up above the whole colorisim issue. Like colorism is real, but even in it's FICTION it couldn't find unity in two black women fighting to be business owners in a time when it was very very difficult to do so. Instead, we had to set one woman against the other for the entirety of the film/miniseries. Even the woman who had an affair with CJ looked like Addie's little sister. Re-enforcing all the negative stereotypes of "evil light skin women". Why, even in it's fiction, couldn't we get back to black women being bonded by a shared struggle to establish their own place in the business world?
@@hayleymadisonllc2180 you and me both! I refuse because they totally disrespected that queen. She loved her blackness and they did that mess, uh no!!!
LA TESHIA HENDERSON they did completely like she didn’t exist in her own beauty!!! I love Nina Simone I lived in the south and I was very young i always remember strange fruit I went predominantly white schools so I felt that song on so many levels
This is the same problems I had towards the Harriet film. Like minimizing the real life events that are actually more entertaining the same old Hollywood tropes and the thing is with white biopics they do creative liberties with equal truth to the stories and with excellent executions to it where as with black biopics they use just tired tropes that we seen in Hollywood movies for black topics aka the type of tropes that minimize the racialize issues to make mainstream white audiences feel comfortable. That’s the problem to me I was excited bc I loved madame CJ Walker and I loved reading self made as a kid but watching this miniseries outside of Octavia Spencer performance it was disappointed. I also want to point out Tiffany haddish she’s naturally a talented comedic actress who can pull in drama elements but her performance in this miniseries was weird bc she felt too modern and more like 2010s Instagram comedic less like 1920s black comedy.
That's one thing I loved about I, Tonya. The movie had to go independent because it wasn't going to be a traditional by the numbers biopic. It broke the fourth wall, they addressed the audience and made it clear that what the audience sees may not be true because everyone in that movie had a different side of the story. So I don't know if this is specific to black biopics. Bohemian Rhapsody was almost entirely fabricated and the people involved were the queen members themselves. Movies that aren't super conventional and Hollywood, rarely ever get the recognition and praise they deserve. Hollywood just needs a whole makeover
Aliyah J. Yes I love I, Tonya I still stay strong that Margot Robbie should’ve won the Oscar for best actress. I understand your point on BR bc there are Hollywood biopics from white people that tarnish the real life people like I really hate bohemian rhapsody as a huge Queen fan but I still stand on the point of black biopics bc Hollywood done this more often for a full century they always whitewash real life black stories for decades more than often white and non black biopics
Coming from an African ( 🇿🇼) who knows very little about Madame CJ Walker (and AA history in general tbf) thank you for saving me from watching the series. I'd literally just put it on my "to watch" list and then I saw this video and randomly clicked to find out what AAs think about it. You just saved me a couple of hours.
I haven't even seen this "docuseries " but I've heard enough reviews to know I probably don't wanna see it. My mom saw it and she was not at all pleased. Not sure why they wouldn't just tell her true story🤔? I'm interested!
I wish there was a love button! Thank you for perfectly articulating the POINTLESS inaccuracies of this "inspired" docuseries. The legacies of both Annie Malone and Madame Walker deserved better. Make that film girl! I trust you'd do it right.
I feel like a lot of times, directors and writers have their own projects that they've been trying to get made for years and years, so when they get assigned to do a project, a LOT of their pet project and its perspective and issues get wholly grafted onto the project they got hired to do. No idea if that's what happened here... but that happens A LOT. And it explains an awful lot of creative decisions that are otherwise baffling. A verrrrry stupid example is the Jem & the Holograms Movie -- the director was trying to get his bad script made for a while, no one was biting (because it was bad), then he just did a search & replace in his script changing the name of his character for the characters from Jem and TA-DAA!, he used that to get his bad script made, just renamed as Jem & the Holograms. And the result was a hot pile of garbage that was not only a bad movie but also pissed off all the old skool Jem fans. (I warned you this was stupid example)
I'm glad I happened to watch this video, because as someone who isn't from the US I didn't know anything about Madame Walker's story and after seeing the show I probably wouldn't have looked too much into it and I wouldn't have found out about the true story, which is far more interesting. Thank you : )
I didn’t like their obvert depiction of Annie’s inspired character as so conniving. It wouldn’t be too shocking to me if I found out that she was colorist: 1. Because it wasn’t abnormal for the time 2. Because in most (if not all) of her product ads, she used white and “mulatto” women as her beauty reference to draw ppl in. However, I wish they did keep the story closer to the biography written and published about the life of both women. Especially considering Aleilia Bundles’ book offering in depth information.
Great review! Thank you for breaking this series down AND being respectful enough to do your own research to give Madame Walker her due. Also, I would DEFINITELY support you doing a film on her! I know that you would do her legacy, and those around her, justice. Peace.
YES the Crown is great! I like how it weaves the political and historical happenings with the personal relations of the Royals. Although, I do wonder sometimes how true it is
Kim you ain’t never lied lol I did enjoy the pseudo inspirational moments of Madame Walker overcoming strides and the contrast between the music and the period style but as for the rest...it all honestly just felt like fanfiction. The sound that made when Leila Walker kissed that girl in public-even if she were gay, that’s just not happening in the early 1900s. So many things just felt so outta place-even down to the language being used by some of the characters... Those thoughts aside, I’m all for the For Harriet production of “Madame Walker: The story that actually was”. I volunteer to draw the poster!
I've been listening/watching to your comments for a while now. Some I've enjoyed and some not so much. I keep coming back because they're interesting and informative. This is one that I really enjoyed and found most enlightening. Along with others of course. At the end, you didn't think we would love. I can't speak for anyone else, that just wouldn't be right. I totally loved it, and I really hope you keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, thoughts, and opinions. I'll always be a fan
I thoroughly enjoy your videos and completely agree with every single point here. Becoming a Patreon - STAT! Many thanks to you and your brain, Kimberly. 😉
Your hair is beautiful! RUclips is how we all have learned to do our hair lol. As far as "Self Made" goes, I thought the project itself was entertaining. Idk why it wasnt just it's own thing versus being based on Madam CJ Walker given all they had to change in it. Sarah could have just been a housekeeper starting a business in the 1900s. Lord knows we could use some period pieces NOT based in slavery or civil rights. You should definitely make this movie, Kim. I think you'd do it justice.
I agree with everything you said, I watched one episode and barely got through it! The most sad part about it was that I waited until the hype went down. Only to eye roll the whole first episode. I didn’t feel like wasting my time anymore so thank you for doing this video
I’m aware enough to know these are “inspired” films. However! If you’re gonna lie to me, it better be positive. It better have a purpose and bring the story together. These goddamn tired stereotypes?! I couldn’t do it!
When I was watching it I felt like it was really lackluster. You put into words a lot of the things that I was feeling. I think you should make another film. So what if someone else gets to it 1st. Either they will get it right which will be good for us all or... they won't get it right, but you will and for better or worse there wont be as much of a limited representation of this story
Thank you for your research and giving us the facts on these important women. You are right, for most of us this is the first introduction to the life of these women.
Booker T Washington had an issue with promoting hair straightening because he felt it propped up Eurocentric beauty standards and so did other people. Sarah had to defend herself from this criticism. But they made his problem with having her speak at the events entirely because she was a woman. Actually she made a few comments about straight hair allowing women to be “respectful” during the film. It stood out to me because I stopped watching at that point and had to talk myself into finishing it.
!!!! He went HARD against the promotion of Eurocentric beauty and how damaging it would be to the Black woman. Now look where we are smh, that is why they wanted to demonize him like that. Better he be misogynistic than right.
I don’t like the fact that they made addy look like she moved every where Madame CJ did. But the only thing I can say it made me do research on Annie Malone story who I’ve never heard of before this movie series.
I was reading about how the way women's stories are told reflects the time they were made in more than the actual story. Sounds like they made this for the algorithm and the white audience.
Can we talk about that scene with Rockefeller, the same man who killed/extremely exploited his workers, wtf is Madame Walker getting advice from him for lol smh ALSO Great points, especially regarding the lack of emphasis on class. I think they may have shyed away from that because it would take away from her "im tryna get that bag" narrative.
kaydenpat my point is the conversation should have not been had to begin with. I’m sure at the time people were well aware of how he carried out business. But as mentioned, a lot of this was for the theatrics. They’d rather include that scene than display her political activity in other ways more accurate to her story
I didn’t hate this miniseries, but I didn’t love it either. Just like Harriet, I was glad it got made, but I hope someone can come along and do it better in the future. And if you start a kickstarter to do your own version I would definitely contribute lol 👍🏽
We're talking Black hair and Tiger King this week on Patreon! Patreon.com/ForHarriet
For Harriet I hope you do make a film. I’ll contribute to the film!!
Have you ever thought about makinh a video/podcast centered on your favorite books about black historical figures and/or race theory?
The first thing i noticed was your hair, and I love it! I disagree with you on a lot of topics, but I agree with you on your hair. Looks great!
I might have to pay for this! Shit I ain’t got nowhere to go to spend money anyways 🤷🏾♀️ Tiger king was too batshit crazy for me not to hear your commentary 😩😩
I don’t consider the movie a biopic. The movie is dramatization and I don’t get history. I studied history in college and know that need more than one resource. Prior to the movie, Walker’s narrative is part true and part myth. The reality we still don’t have a complete history of Walker. Walker did have a skin brightening product, so some in the Black contemporaries of the time felt that she may be contributing to telling Black women that they are inferior to white women’s beauty. The fact of the matter is people need to read. I think the four books are a good start with disclaimer of the great great daughter has a bias therefore you do need other resources.
I never realized before but I agree black creatives don't trust black people with complex stories. I'm tired of Tyler Perry-esque storylines.
Ashley D as a fat black woman, outside of madea, Tyler Perry has given fat black people lots of roles and many of them have been leading roles
AMAPOUNDCAKE But at what cost?? Melodramatic struggle love? Forced to be the matriarch?? Yes he has given a lot but in hindsight, he was taken so much more
Taylor Haynes i agree 1000%
@@Taayooo It's important for us to start discussing "fat black women" issues as separate issues. Struggle love is a common reality for fat black women. I'm a body image coach and a body positivity advocate and I work with lots of fat black women who have not been on a date with a black man.
@@Taayooo Also, I think we can be critical of Tyler Perry's film but one of my issues with the critique is that we don't ask other black writers to write fat black women better. Kelly in insecure is just a fat best friend. I'm not saying that Tyler is perfect but its clear that he sees value in fat black people in film and has a track record of putting fat black people of all ages in leading roles. Most fat black people do not make the cover of a movie advertisement.
"why tear down one black woman's legacy to lift up another black woman's legacy?"
lexiebowe this 👏🏾
You’re right, the stakes are higher for black biopics
It’s not a biopic
@KaMau Mau see? Entitled and self important. You ain't special. You're just people. Grow up.
“Black filmmakers do not trust Black audiences” say that again for people in the back
Preach 🙏🏿
She said that didn't she!!!
Apparently
Josie Jordan peele did and look what happened 🙌🏾
🙌🏾🙌🏾
"I'm done congratulating people for just making something. What are you making? What are the consequences of that?"
Felt that in my spirit, Kim.
Felt it strong!
I try to live all my art through this after seeing waaaayyyy too many consequences be passed over as drama when no, it’s actually serious and important to have these discussions around media that’s trying to tell a story about the thing
Anytime you see “Inspired by” in the title, you have to be wary.
Right? As soon as I see "inspired by" I'm like "Oh, so this was all made up!" Because they're not going to come out and tell you what was or wasn't the truth.
Just consider it fiction.
If you see inspired by be prepared to suspend disbelief. You gotta treat that shit like youre about to watch a pro wrestling match
unigenius it’s a movie for entertainment not a biopic🙄 it’s Hollywood
@@Jan-bl2ho when it's based on someone's life, it's a biopic. Especially if the events IN said movie are REALLY close to how the ACTUAL story went!! And unless the movie blatantly goes off the rails to some mess that no one would believe actually happened, then they will view it as a biopic. "The Queen" is just another Queen Elizabeth movie, but it is seen as a biopic along with all of the others. "Lincoln" is another biopic, but no one gets confused between it and "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter!" Why? Because they can tell the latter was made up. And there will be many more Abraham Lincoln biopics made in the future with varying degrees of accuracy. But this, right here, was Hollywood's one shot to tell it true. Because people aren't clamoring to do a Madame CJ Walker movie, or an Alice Paul, or a Lewis Latimer, or an Ida B. Wells or André DuMàs, so on and so forth. Yes, it has to entertain, but the true stories are often more interesting than the fake ones they inject.
Movies that need an epic redo:
Madam CJ Walker, Harriet Tubman, Nina Simone, Aaliyah, Nate Turner.... Whoever made What's Love needs to come back and do a tutorial.
🗣PREACH
ooh, What’s Love is the hallmark of biopics
TheAICarter LMAO
TheAICarter Nina Simone should be way more well known, like she should be everywhere this month for women’s history month, and then mental heath month too, i was just thinking this last night in the shower, she learned classical freaking music and played it so well, but I get why she’s not popular among the youth, but why not in classical music and as a feminist/civil rights leader
Say that. Though I did like the Nat Turner film, it just didn’t do well because of the scandal.
I didn’t like that they reduced her entrepreneurial journey to her competing with another black woman. Furthermore, they tried to make this a battle against a light skinned woman. Even though colorism needs to be discussed, I am not downplaying that by any means....why reduce it to this? I wasn’t feeling it at all. I liked the movie but that really messed it up for me. No need to do this with her rich history. Both women were legendary!
This!
I didn't even know that much about Anna Malone and even I was turned off by this light skin/dark skin rivalry. It just felt forced and mean girls esque
Aliyah J. It really did! It made it seem like her main goal was to prove light skinned women wrong. I hate that! She was so much more than what light skinned women thought of her. And what makes matters worse is that the real character wasn’t even a light skinned woman nor was she a villain. We need another movie.
It was abysmal! Madame C.J Walker and Annie Malone deserved better than that.
They really made her look obsessed with beating a light skinned woman.
The line that "Liberties were taken in order to create drama and conflict", is something I find very insulting. The few Black Historical figures that make it to the mainstream are compelling and interesting on their own that adding your own flavor to spice things up is unnecessary. Right now I'm listening to Wayward Lives, Beautiful Histories by Saidiya Hartman and it shows that black lives especially those of black women do not need any extra help, they are more intriguing than things our imagination could come up with.
We're in the post-reality-TV era, where every TV exec seems to have assimilated the idea that conflict = drama but are all too simple-minded about it and think conflict = fighting, failing to realize that people can have conflict within themselves, between who they are and who they used to be, between themselves and the world they live in. Just watching 2 people fighting is boring.
Christie Brooks like Harriet Tubman?
Christie Brooks that line should be used in order to try and get into the characters’ heads and creating what they might have said and also maybe aspects to the style such as in the show when Madam Walker is visualizing the Walker Girl riding a bike, not because we wanted to make a good antagonist or we wanted to make drama/conflict, or come up with scene ideas we had, pretty sure you can find conflict if you dig far enough or talk to the family, there’s no way there could be a book that someone thought was interesting enough to be adapted into a movie/tv show
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
And the story was ALREADY dramatic on its own.
I really enjoyed this. Black History is already undertaught to the point where we have to actively re-educate ourselves outside of most school systems to learn. Madame C.J. Walker is an icon and if you can't do justice to her in a mini-series, then why even put her name on this project. We don't deserve scraps.
MelinaPendulum I love your videos, too, lady!
I 100% agree.
What they did to Annie Malone's is absolutely disgusting! I had never heard of her until this movie, and I'm glad that our black RUclipsrs shed light on the lies that were told about her. I wish her estate could sue the movie for defamation of character, but it would be hard since they changed her name in that trash ass movie!
Unfortunately Annie Malone doesn't have an estate left. She had no kids & the money she had prior to death was given to nieces & nephews....I am assuming all these folks are deceased now.
@@pumpkin03 that's a shame.. it makes me think that the production team's decision to depict her in this way was even more strategic and intentional 😔
@@pumpkin03 Wow, really? That's really sad
It’s weird that y’all think colorism wasn’t a thing back then
@@Jan-bl2ho No one is saying colorism didn't exist. What *we* are saying is that this wasn't the issue between Annie Malone and Madame Walker. Stop gas lighting and making arguments that no one made.
“But frankly, I’m done congratulating people for just making ‘something’.... what are you making? What are the consequences of that?” ✊🏿🙌🏾💪🏾
I hated the boxing match thing. I would've preferred to see them playing chess. Also the modern music was throwing me off.
I didn't the boxing sequence either
The music really threw me off.
Thank you! Especially about the music it was weird and took away from the time period and style. Like they could have done some fun piano music.
Same, I could only watch 20 min.
That irritated me as well
CJ was on a modern phone talking to his mistress and I lost it. So lazy.
DAMN! I didn't even spot that, what a mess smh
Shontel Horne THISSSSS
@@JeannesMovieChats He was in the bathtub on a phone with a coiled cord that was from the 30/40s at best. Literally no one could be in a bathtub on a phone in the 1900s. This irked me so much. 😆
Didn't catch that...🧐. 🤣
Hahahaha
What about DuBois and Colorism?? Didn't he call Marcus Garvey a - insert colorist degradation here - in writing? Why is he elevated in this film and Washington is again, painted as the elitist compromiser? Also, this film plays into the practice of making Colorism a black women's issue instead of a problem of anti-blackness internalized and perpetuated intra-racially regardless of gender or class.
Africameleon KMc that’s true I would love to see a miniseries on the rivalry to W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington and done accurately
Marcus Garvey accused DuBois of fucking white women. They both hated each other and went back and worth with the colorist attacks against each other. It doesn't excuse his comments because they were pretty effed up but Garvey was not innocent in that fight at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure he started the fight because DuBois originally respectively criticized him and Garvey flew off the handle.
Yessss good point.
Do you have any suggested readings for this? I’m intrigued.
I just learned about these two guys in school (a while ago;I remember thier names honestly) but reading this comment now makes me interested in learning more about them. (The way they were handled at school wasn't nearly as engaging or interesting. We basically needed to know that one of them wanted to plant roots and have black ppl Branch out like white ppl did and the other wanted us to get an education and do stuff with taxes??? and I don't remember anything about Garvey but that could be me not remembering or paying attention)
What would you recommend me read for more information?
I was excited about this as a white Latinx with little knowledge of Black American history. I went into it thinking it would be more biopic though, but quickly realized it was an overly dramatized historical fiction plot. I continued watching it and gave it a "thumbs up" because I still wanted to support the general idea of the content with hopes to get better things. However, once I realized it was historical fiction it was very difficult for me to enjoy because you could clearly see the forcing of very specific interactions and narratives. It just wasn't well done, In the end, it felt like a Lifetime movie with inaccuracies and a forced narrative style.
Escort Missions “As a white latinx..” you should’ve just stopped there.
@@myselfmyself5194 Hey, they're being honest about their own background and where they're coming from... please chill.
@@myselfmyself5194 She asked for opinions in the video. I'm giving mine and being upfront about my background so people know where I might be coming from. Do you not want people of varying backgrounds to be involved? There are specific things I can't/won't experience as a white presenting latino, while I have friends and family that obviously present as black Latinx. That's what it means to be part of the latinidad. Acknowledging we won't have the same experience within a shared culture. Or do you just wanna be mad and not see people try to grow?
@@escortmissions I agree, I am black and I want *people* to sit back relax and enjoy movies that have black actors and actresses in it just like asian movies and Bollywood and Latin movies. I also wish more people are like you. Thank you for give your opinion and to be honest, you being a white Latina is not an issue. It is just who you are.
Myself Myself stop clowning 😒🙄
I haven't seen the series. Thank you for sharing this excellent review. My grandmother (b. 1894). told me of her memories of Madame Walker. She was a child when either Walker or her saleswomen were hawking her products. She had a particular memory of a saleswoman calling on her mother as she hung laundry on the lines outside their home. This is my memory of a story told to me back in the early 1960s when I was a small child. So much of our history is lost or skewed because oral history grows dim as the generations pass. I don't have children and am trying to pass this information on to Millenial family members.
I'd love to see your version of a movie about Walker's life.
I hope this wasn't sarcasm.
I knew from the stunt casting of Tiffany Haddish to side eye this project
ASMR CITY that’s why I didn’t watch it lol
She was sufferable.
Ummm Hello! I was like “tell me this is a joke” and it really was
ASMR CITY hate to say it but yep...and she was cringy as hell
SHE WAS IN THERE?! Oh my God 😂
Find it offensive that the only way they feel we will watch is if there's some grade school drama and scandal being portrayed.
as a Lightskin woman, I wasn’t bothered by the movie (colorism aspect) UNTIL i found out how inaccurate the portrayals in the film were. a mess
I'd appreciate they'd not use black ppl as villains to others and Shy away from the blatant racism that was going on
creolejoy. agreed. however, if it were true I would be okay with the portrayals bc colorism is real. but to make a villain out of another Black woman when it’s not warranted is trash.
Tori Uptown agreed. It felt like they were trying to capitalize on the mean colorist light skinned women that thinks she’s better than the dark skinned woman 🙄
But it was so made up it just seemed like pandering. And then they completely discredited her entire story 😡
They always tryna make it seem like we don't have love for our brothers and sisters with dark skin! Not true, not fair! We DO NOT think we're better than others. We want friends, damnnit! Damn you, Tyler Perry!! *shakes fist in lightskinned rage*
You’ve started a new convo regarding black audiences: Those of us who want to see black people in phenomenal films vs black folks who wanna see black people in a movie.
Lol the older blacks are the second.............they enjoy crap
Yikes. ageist af.
Lmao as a white English person, I would kill for an accurate depiction of the royal family that showed what nasty imperialists they are. Great video, would love to see you make a film based on the real history
“Tyler Perry-furcation”
I'm pansexual, and the part where they made Annie a lesbian irritates me.
'Inspired' or not, this is a story about a real person that existed. If there is no proof that she actually was gay, I don't understand why that was added. Representation is important, of course, and if this had been fiction, I would have been all for it.
But that is not the main reason this irritated me. Making her a lesbian adds to the stereotype that all lgbt allies are just closeted members of the lgbt community. She was an lgbt ally in the early 1900s. That is a hugeee deal. Instead of making her a lesbian, they could have done research to find out and show the homophobia she witnessed her friends face. They could have started a conversation on homophobia in the black community with that. There is definitely a story there, and it's much better and tactful than 'yeah she had gay friends so she was definitely a lesbian'.
Alright I'm going to head out.
I'm on the weird side of RUclips again.
I felt the same way about the Annie Malone character. I thought if Madame C.J. Walker did what she did then, look at the predecessor!! She deserves her own story!!! And, I want to see it!!!
Let us know once you finish your research, so you can get to filming and producing. Why wait for someone else, aka the white man, to tell you their ideals of Annie Malone. You see what they did to her successor Madame? But any story is better than no story right?
They don’t want us having healthy dialogues about anything but complexions...🤦🏾♀️ I screamed half the time watching this show.
The pacing of this series was ridiculously fast...and the boxing scenes... 🤨
I'm upset that they made such a mess of Walker's story but I'm also grateful that we get a For Harriet during lockdown ❤
Glad you're taking this on. I couldn't watch because I was so troubled by their approach.
goldburnm I was waiting for them to do that musical mess and they kind of did and I said do the people see that?it wasn't necessary at all
goldburnm I was sooo hyped when I saw it and I turned it off in 10 seconds. The beginning already told me it was about to be corny asf!😩
There were so many myths around the life of Madame CJ Walker. I first thought she invented the hot comb and then I thought it was the actual perm and to my amazement she wasn't even the first black millionaire....
SAY WHAT! Well was she the 1st black woman or woman millionaire?
shamika slater Annie Malone was.
She stole her whole legacy from that woman and nobody thinks that’s worthy of its own biopic to this day. Just goes to show how much BW are silenced.
Hair: ✅
Face: ✅
Skin: ✅
Brains: ✅
Voice: ✅
I Have To STAN!
Congratulations on doing your own hair. I do my own roller sets. The struggle is REAL.❤️❤️❤️
I live in Ghana and I watched the show. I really thought everything was true. Thanks for the revelation
"Creative liberties" in black biopics are a sad reality because black history is severely neglected even today. I saw the series and was annoyed because I'm familiar with both Annie and Sarah.
I always felt like Queen Latifah would have been incredible in this performance
SketchbookHR I agree! Didn’t like the movies casting with Octavia
But she did that other biopic I would have been thinking of that while watching it
@@sewgeekdesigns9113 which other biopic?
@@sewgeekdesigns9113 Bessie smith. I don't think she took a lot of liberties but I liked it.
Not every lead has to be pretty
I think we need stories of how Black people navigate and participate in classism. A lot of Media boils it down to high yellow people = rich and dark skin persons= poor.
Especially during a time were social climbing was so important. This is the same era as the great Gatsby.
I do agree they missed a great opportunity. It's not about just being rich but the performance of it and the rules and decorum. All of it through a black lense in 20th century America. What could be better?
devilangel777 yes a lot of light skin black people especially mixed used their appearance that was seen closer to whiteness achieve more economic success and upper class status that something that needs to be discovered and presented more accurately and deeper as suppose to bearing the topic on the head
Kevin 5012 false. Not only do mixed race people face the racism that black people face from whites, they also get hatred and less support from the black community. I’m only interested in mixed race people telling their story through their lenses, not through black peoples
devilangel777 THISS!! All of this!
Katie Stops you live in lala world. WORLDWIDE mixed people discriminated black people now and esp then: blue vein society, creoles classism, paper-bag test etc
Mimi Locke there is no etc. you’re talking about a few groups that existed back then. Lighter skinned people were made to feel unwelcome amongst darker black people. Why wouldn’t they make their own groups?
Being from STL, they didn’t do Annie Malone justice at all. They reduced who she was so much it was like they portrayed her as a parody character.
When do we start to hold the actors accountable. I would think that they do some research before taking on these roles and I would want to properly represent someone as truthfully as I possibly could.
I want to hold them to a standard but at the same with the work they our constantly given, they do not get much range in their work so they take what they can.
The OuttaPocket Queen good point
i understand but sometimes the directors and others behind the scenes people responsible for the production be informing the actors what not to do and what to do with research that's why zendaya dropped out the aaliyah film bc the filmmakers were not making do research and espacially contact aaliyah's family for information
Black actors would not work at all if all they did were the most impeccable black narrative or black centered movies since...black writers dont get that much work, black producers dont get that much work, black films dont get that much opportunity. There is a lot of shit in HW and cream gets to rise because of the opportunity but in truth black folks dont get that luxury to be picky otherwise you’d starve or defer dreams. Which truly that case across all industries but its plain as hell in entertainment. But I do wish that they would decline jobs that are plainly scraps but I also know the reality is if you are not working then you dont get to work. And as much as BP say they will support independent black films and projects in practice BP dont. So alot has to change and its not fair to put the burden on black actors solve all of it.
SpacecowboiKilu I get what you’re saying, but an actor who begins questioning the directors or writers, will get an actor fired for “creative differences.”
To be honest, I learned way more from this video/reading self-made than I did from the short series. Please, please, please follow your gut and make a Walker film! or something of the such. Let us know & I know your audience will support!
The irony of you struggling with your own hair during a critique of Madame C.J. Walkers biopic. Lol
Hehe 🖤
Lmaooooooo
Yes IRONICALLY🙃
My Hair's NATURAL. IT'S MY LOVE Now, BUT I HAD to get to KNOW HER.
It was not a biopic my goodness
I went into watching the film assuming it was going to be historically accurate, and it was throwing me off because I knew some basic facts about Annie Malone. I was thinking the whole time; “Do I have her name wrong??? I didn’t know she was a colorist, wow; I don’t remember reading that”
The inaccuracies threw me off. Had I known things were changed for entertainment purposes, I would have received it as such going into initially watching it. (They may have advertised the film as not being historically accurate, if so, I missed that lol)
I find it insulting the way these films continue the dark skin-light skin battles in our community. Yes, there was 'colorism' but that represented a small portion of Black history. Even on the plantation, lighter skin enslaved people worked to use their color to benefit their families and people. We have people like Dubois who saw themselves as Black and committed their lives to fight for their people. On top of it all, many suffered being caught between white supremacy and incorrect Black perceptions of their identity.
i did too. it took so many liberties that i couldn't enjoy it. and i DON'T know anything about annie malone. this made me look her up, and as soon as i realized who she was i was uninterested
Veronica Spruill that’s kind of almost all biopics which has never made any sense...
Nina Milner thank you. This is exactly why I don’t even like being involved with Madame CJ. She made no effort to give Annie the room she stole from her.
Yeah, I agree. In a history film class I had we discussed how historical filmic depictions is always problematic in that it uses the lens of the present when dealing with historical issues and that was truer than ever in this film. I thought the matter of Sarah's daughter being homosexual was sus because I kept wondering how that would've been historically proven and it was dealt with in a much too liberal fashion in the film, it was hard to believe. And also the issue of Sarah not wanting to promote styling hair to acclimate to white beauty ideals was definitely viewed through a contemporary lens. Mobility being associated with whiteness was a much harsher reality for black ppl living through those times so the attitudes Madame had towards promoting 'natural' black hair in the film was also sus to me
We were saying it when we complained about the Tubman movie featuring a fictional Black slavecatcher hellbent on keeping her enslaved, but folks tell us we are doing too much and to be happy we get something at all. Its tiring, cuz we see it coming from a MILE AWAY but get gaslit right until the end!
Please make the movie, I agree 100% with you. The story Netflix did was sloppy and dramatic for no reason. Please make the movie the right way with more FACTS please!
OMG shes interviewing ALILEA BUNDLES😫😱
I am always combating students when it comes to misinformation and it’s so frustrating. As you said they will see this movie and see it as fact and won’t do their own research to correct all the misinformation they receive. And quite frankly it’s harder to correct misinformation than it is to just give people the correct information in the first place. I also think it’s dangerous to keep inserting unnecessary colorism tropes when we know they exist maybe just not in this instance. I didn’t like the mini series and at times felt it was making a mockery of her life
They need to book you sis to do some research for some of these films!!!I'm glad you made this video,because you really broke it down so well.
The authenticity of a story is part of what makes it heartfelt and legendary in the first place! Why would anybody butcher that?
I found the film quite disappointing. MS Haddish's acting was not good. The use of hip hop music detracted, boxing scenes silly, etc....
A missed opportunity.
Yes all of those things.
Girl I CANNOT WAIT until you get a syndicated show! You are always so spot on & your voice is necessary...so real...so well informed! I can’t get enough. You’ve said everything me & my artist friends have been discussing. Keep telling the TRUTH!!!
Im just shocked that nobody talked about how AWFUL the music choices were in this series.😖
My biggest problem with the "Addie Monroe" plot line is that they never get to a place of unity. I mean even taking it for the fiction it is and the made up character "Addie Monroe", we never see these characters rise up above the whole colorisim issue. Like colorism is real, but even in it's FICTION it couldn't find unity in two black women fighting to be business owners in a time when it was very very difficult to do so. Instead, we had to set one woman against the other for the entirety of the film/miniseries. Even the woman who had an affair with CJ looked like Addie's little sister. Re-enforcing all the negative stereotypes of "evil light skin women". Why, even in it's fiction, couldn't we get back to black women being bonded by a shared struggle to establish their own place in the business world?
I was so impressed by your take on Self Made. I hadn’t thought about the mini series that way. Well done. New subscriber
Girl, your hair looks bomb
When Kim said "Fake News", i died.
Kim is going in.
Like Nina Simone, major fail. Using a light melaninated only to darken the actress, done !!!!
I can’t even watch it I like the actress Zoe Saldana i just couldnt support when there are black women actresses who should have been chosen
And they added prosthetics to her face to further create the illusion!
@@hayleymadisonllc2180 you and me both! I refuse because they totally disrespected that queen. She loved her blackness and they did that mess, uh no!!!
@@moniqueloomis9772 trifling Michaela that beautiful British actress is a dead ringer to play her role!!!
LA TESHIA HENDERSON they did completely like she didn’t exist in her own beauty!!! I love Nina Simone I lived in the south and I was very young i always remember strange fruit I went predominantly white schools so I felt that song on so many levels
Haven’t seen the film or series, but I value your opinion on content and I think you should definitely work towards creating your own Walker “biopic”
I was blocked on Facebook twice for how historically inaaccurate it was.
This is the same problems I had towards the Harriet film. Like minimizing the real life events that are actually more entertaining the same old Hollywood tropes and the thing is with white biopics they do creative liberties with equal truth to the stories and with excellent executions to it where as with black biopics they use just tired tropes that we seen in Hollywood movies for black topics aka the type of tropes that minimize the racialize issues to make mainstream white audiences feel comfortable. That’s the problem to me I was excited bc I loved madame CJ Walker and I loved reading self made as a kid but watching this miniseries outside of Octavia Spencer performance it was disappointed. I also want to point out Tiffany haddish she’s naturally a talented comedic actress who can pull in drama elements but her performance in this miniseries was weird bc she felt too modern and more like 2010s Instagram comedic less like 1920s black comedy.
That's one thing I loved about I, Tonya. The movie had to go independent because it wasn't going to be a traditional by the numbers biopic. It broke the fourth wall, they addressed the audience and made it clear that what the audience sees may not be true because everyone in that movie had a different side of the story.
So I don't know if this is specific to black biopics. Bohemian Rhapsody was almost entirely fabricated and the people involved were the queen members themselves.
Movies that aren't super conventional and Hollywood, rarely ever get the recognition and praise they deserve. Hollywood just needs a whole makeover
I did not enjoy Harriet. The singing was just.... unnecessary
Aliyah J. Yes I love I, Tonya I still stay strong that Margot Robbie should’ve won the Oscar for best actress. I understand your point on BR bc there are Hollywood biopics from white people that tarnish the real life people like I really hate bohemian rhapsody as a huge Queen fan but I still stand on the point of black biopics bc Hollywood done this more often for a full century they always whitewash real life black stories for decades more than often white and non black biopics
Mighty-Royal Mystic well in real life Harriet Tubman when rescuing slave she sung negro spirituals as codes to them
THANK YOU. A sensible & honest assessment.
Coming from an African ( 🇿🇼) who knows very little about Madame CJ Walker (and AA history in general tbf) thank you for saving me from watching the series. I'd literally just put it on my "to watch" list and then I saw this video and randomly clicked to find out what AAs think about it. You just saved me a couple of hours.
I haven't even seen this "docuseries " but I've heard enough reviews to know I probably don't wanna see it. My mom saw it and she was not at all pleased. Not sure why they wouldn't just tell her true story🤔? I'm interested!
Yes. Black creatives, Can we just leave the "inspired by" alone?! Stop being reckless with our ancestors.
your hairstyle really reminds me of my grandmother when she was young (in the best of ways). it looks quite lovely on you!
I wish there was a love button! Thank you for perfectly articulating the POINTLESS inaccuracies of this "inspired" docuseries. The legacies of both Annie Malone and Madame Walker deserved better. Make that film girl! I trust you'd do it right.
I feel like a lot of times, directors and writers have their own projects that they've been trying to get made for years and years, so when they get assigned to do a project, a LOT of their pet project and its perspective and issues get wholly grafted onto the project they got hired to do.
No idea if that's what happened here... but that happens A LOT. And it explains an awful lot of creative decisions that are otherwise baffling.
A verrrrry stupid example is the Jem & the Holograms Movie -- the director was trying to get his bad script made for a while, no one was biting (because it was bad), then he just did a search & replace in his script changing the name of his character for the characters from Jem and TA-DAA!, he used that to get his bad script made, just renamed as Jem & the Holograms. And the result was a hot pile of garbage that was not only a bad movie but also pissed off all the old skool Jem fans.
(I warned you this was stupid example)
Well said
I swear. I love the og Jem and the Holograms and the movie didn't do it justice at all.
That's a very good point.
Are you serious????? I remember seeing a behind the scenes bit with the director and he didn’t seem too enthused about Jen & the holograms
I'm glad I happened to watch this video, because as someone who isn't from the US I didn't know anything about Madame Walker's story and after seeing the show I probably wouldn't have looked too much into it and I wouldn't have found out about the true story, which is far more interesting. Thank you : )
I didn’t like their obvert depiction of Annie’s inspired character as so conniving. It wouldn’t be too shocking to me if I found out that she was colorist: 1. Because it wasn’t abnormal for the time 2. Because in most (if not all) of her product ads, she used white and “mulatto” women as her beauty reference to draw ppl in. However, I wish they did keep the story closer to the biography written and published about the life of both women. Especially considering Aleilia Bundles’ book offering in depth information.
Bravo. This is one of your finest commentaries yet.
so many “creative liberties” taken they almost made Madam CJ Walker a part time vampire slayer
You summed up my feelings perfectly. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 Just perfect 👌🏾
Great review! Thank you for breaking this series down AND being respectful enough to do your own research to give Madame Walker her due. Also, I would DEFINITELY support you doing a film on her! I know that you would do her legacy, and those around her, justice. Peace.
YES the Crown is great! I like how it weaves the political and historical happenings with the personal relations of the Royals. Although, I do wonder sometimes how true it is
Kim you ain’t never lied lol I did enjoy the pseudo inspirational moments of Madame Walker overcoming strides and the contrast between the music and the period style but as for the rest...it all honestly just felt like fanfiction. The sound that made when Leila Walker kissed that girl in public-even if she were gay, that’s just not happening in the early 1900s. So many things just felt so outta place-even down to the language being used by some of the characters...
Those thoughts aside, I’m all for the For Harriet production of “Madame Walker: The story that actually was”. I volunteer to draw the poster!
I've been listening/watching to your comments for a while now. Some I've enjoyed and some not so much. I keep coming back because they're interesting and informative. This is one that I really enjoyed and found most enlightening. Along with others of course. At the end, you didn't think we would love. I can't speak for anyone else, that just wouldn't be right. I totally loved it, and I really hope you keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, thoughts, and opinions. I'll always be a fan
Yessssssssss.....was waiting for you to review this ❤
Thanks for the history lesson and for your understanding of Madam C.J. Walker. You are awesome.
I thoroughly enjoy your videos and completely agree with every single point here. Becoming a Patreon - STAT!
Many thanks to you and your brain, Kimberly. 😉
DO IT KIM!!!! HOLLYWOOD hates to do the work
“You know what Black people like? Jump cuts!” I laughed out loud 😂😂😂
Your hair is beautiful! RUclips is how we all have learned to do our hair lol. As far as "Self Made" goes, I thought the project itself was entertaining. Idk why it wasnt just it's own thing versus being based on Madam CJ Walker given all they had to change in it. Sarah could have just been a housekeeper starting a business in the 1900s. Lord knows we could use some period pieces NOT based in slavery or civil rights. You should definitely make this movie, Kim. I think you'd do it justice.
I agree with everything you said, I watched one episode and barely got through it! The most sad part about it was that I waited until the hype went down. Only to eye roll the whole first episode. I didn’t feel like wasting my time anymore so thank you for doing this video
You look so pretty sis
I love the way you put things 🙌🏽❤️ I haven’t watched it yet because I already knew they wasn’t gone to be accurate about her and others
I’m aware enough to know these are “inspired” films. However! If you’re gonna lie to me, it better be positive. It better have a purpose and bring the story together. These goddamn tired stereotypes?! I couldn’t do it!
mara charese yes
My parents were watching this, I sat down, saw the boxing scene, got up and left.
When I was watching it I felt like it was really lackluster. You put into words a lot of the things that I was feeling. I think you should make another film. So what if someone else gets to it 1st. Either they will get it right which will be good for us all or... they won't get it right, but you will and for better or worse there wont be as much of a limited representation of this story
Thank you for your research and giving us the facts on these important women. You are right, for most of us this is the first introduction to the life of these women.
Booker T Washington had an issue with promoting hair straightening because he felt it propped up Eurocentric beauty standards and so did other people. Sarah had to defend herself from this criticism. But they made his problem with having her speak at the events entirely because she was a woman. Actually she made a few comments about straight hair allowing women to be “respectful” during the film. It stood out to me because I stopped watching at that point and had to talk myself into finishing it.
!!!! He went HARD against the promotion of Eurocentric beauty and how damaging it would be to the Black woman. Now look where we are smh, that is why they wanted to demonize him like that. Better he be misogynistic than right.
Love your channel so much! It motivates me to be unapologetically me on my own channel! Thank you, Kim 💕
I don’t like the fact that they made addy look like she moved every where Madame CJ did. But the only thing I can say it made me do research on Annie Malone story who I’ve never heard of before this movie series.
I don’t know who you are but the way you explained everything with such passion and education , I am so proud of you.
I was reading about how the way women's stories are told reflects the time they were made in more than the actual story. Sounds like they made this for the algorithm and the white audience.
Claire very true. Id love to read what you did!
I’m so glad I tuned into this! Thank you 😊
Can we talk about that scene with Rockefeller, the same man who killed/extremely exploited his workers, wtf is Madame Walker getting advice from him for lol smh ALSO Great points, especially regarding the lack of emphasis on class. I think they may have shyed away from that because it would take away from her "im tryna get that bag" narrative.
She didn’t take his advice though. She did the exact opposite of what he recommended to her.
kaydenpat my point is the conversation should have not been had to begin with. I’m sure at the time people were well aware of how he carried out business. But as mentioned, a lot of this was for the theatrics. They’d rather include that scene than display her political activity in other ways more accurate to her story
A Cat they didn’t lol
Thank You for sharing. I pray you find a way to share true history with us.
I didn’t hate this miniseries, but I didn’t love it either. Just like Harriet, I was glad it got made, but I hope someone can come along and do it better in the future. And if you start a kickstarter to do your own version I would definitely contribute lol 👍🏽
When you're black you only get one shot! probably won't be another film about Harriet or Walker for another 100 years.
Very well said and well done. Thank you for this. I a seeker and I’m looking forward to reading the literature you mentioned.