Month: June 2020

Enlarge / These 25 films, spanning the last 100 years, showcase just how far black representation in film has come—and how far we still need to go. (credit: Aurich Lawson)

Today we are celebrating Juneteenth—the day in 1865 when Union Army General Gordon Granger read federal orders in Galveston, Texas, declaring that all slaves in the United States were now free. And what better way for the Ars Technica culture desk to mark the occasion than by offering a sampling of 25 films from the last 100 years, produced by, directed by, written, and/or starring leading black professionals in the entertainment industry?

This is by no means intended to be an exhaustive overview or a definitive list. I've just picked a few films to highlight from different time periods, spanning several different genres: everything from early "race films," jazz musicals, and blaxploitation, to buddy-cop action, ensemble comedies, superhero films, historical dramas, quirky indie films, gritty urban dramas, and so forth.

There are far more titles from 2000 on. That's partly because so much of film history has been effectively "whitewashed;" partly because the studio system that dominated the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood put a chokehold on diversity for decades; and partly because there are now so many more such films to choose from. More than ever, black producers, directors, writers, and actors are finding the means to tell their own stories—and finding a receptive, enthusiastic audience for those stories.

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  The Steve Jobs auditorium on Apple's campus.

By all accounts, tech enthusiasts are in for a red letter day this Monday. Apple will kick off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference with a keynote at 10am PT/1pm ET. Apple execs will take the stage to announce major new updates to the company's various software platforms, and maybe more.

It's going to be an unusual event this year. For the first time in WWDC's history, it will be held entirely online, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Apple will stream sessions by video, and will give registered developers Zoom-call-like training and help sessions to replace the sessions that are normally offered on-site.

In a way, it could be a welcome democratization of WWDC, a conference that most Apple platform developers from around the world can't afford to attend in person. Apple has long offered videos of its sessions on-demand through its developer portal, but there will nonetheless be some firsts for the virtual attendees this year.

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  Willy T. Ribbs in victory lane at Daytona International Speedway after winning the Paul Revere 250 SCCA Trans-Am race, July 3, 1984. [credit: ISC Images Archives via Getty Images ]

Even in 2020, motor racing is a sport with all-too little diversity. Six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is the only black F1 driver I've seen compete in the 25+ years I've been watching the sport. NASCAR's Bubba Wallace similarly stands out in a field of more than 40 full-time Cup series racers. But before either of them turned a wheel in anger, Willy T. Ribbs was blazing a trail in the sport. His is a story that deserves to be more widely known, and if you have a couple of hours free you can do just that by watching Uppity: The Willy T. Ribbs Story, an engaging documentary that's streaming on Netflix.

The product of a successful Californian plumbing family, Ribbs eschewed college after graduating high school in 1975, instead taking his tuition money to Europe to compete in the highly competitive Formula Ford series. His talent was obvious, and in 1977 he won the Dunlop/Autosport Star of Tomorrow award (along with six out of 11 races that year), but like so many other young racers lacked the funds to continue up the ladder.

Returning to the US the following year, he set his sights on IndyCar, but quickly found a much-less welcoming racing community than the one he left in Europe. Ribbs and even promotor Humpy Wheeler got death threats after trying to run him in NASCAR that year, and it took another three years before he was able to secure the backing to return to racing, competing in Formula Atlantic (the feeder series for IndyCar). 

This review contains some spoilers.

In Dave Chappelle’s latest impromptu performance, distributed by Netflix via YouTube, Chappelle responds to those calling for his voice during America’s current racial reckoning. In particular, he addresses a call-out by CNN anchor Don Lemon who demanded during a broadcast that Chappelle and other African-American celebrities speak out on the killings and protests taking place in the country and around the world.

This call comes in an era where celebrities and companies can immediately and directly reach millions of people—and some have done so more effectively than others, with each degree of response receiving its own backlash. In Chappelle's case, his material has always met the issue of race in America head-on with equal parts analysis and hilarity—typically with blue jokes sprinkled throughout. It’s what made his Comedy Central show a paradigm-shifting success and why, after decades in the business, his commentary is still highly sought after, as rare as it has been in recent years.

Enlarge / Da 5 Bloods, now playing on Netflix. (credit: Netflix)

31 years ago, Spike Lee's breakout film Do The Right Thing forced audiences around the world to confront the realities of police injustice perpetrated upon African Americans. The fictional film chronicled a full day in New York City's Bed-Stuy neighborhood and ended with a police officer choking a black man to death in front of the entire neighborhood.

It was a statement Spike Lee film for many reasons, and one was its ability to weave real-life trauma into the story, whether by flashing back to stock footage of atrocities or by having characters call out African-American leaders' quotes and philosophies. Lee's work takes particular care to make sure truth and fiction never stray far from each other—and if that 1989 film seems painfully relevant now, remember that it was firm in calling out decades of all-too-familiar headlines back then, too.

While Lee's latest film, the Netflix exclusive Da 5 Bloods, takes its story half a world away from America, its shadow of oppression remains as pronounced, affecting, and complicated as in any of Lee's most acclaimed works—and takes advantage of Netflix's platform to do so in particularly uncompromising fashion.