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[cocoklan]

Zola review

      I love the movie Zola because of the story plot, the portrayal of the main character, and the dark humor; You also notice elements of racism and prejudice as well. Not only that but the film kind of gives you an inside look into stripper culture, and all of its positive and negative aspects. 

    Zola is definitely my favorite as she is the protagonist of the film. I feel like she exudes powerful femanine energy in spite of the fact that she is doing something that society classifies as taboo being that she’s an exotic dancer. When she met Stephanie, this young white dancer, I feel like she noticed some slight red flags about her but ignored them because she was both curious about her but also bored with her own life.

      When you get a look at what Zola’s life looked like in the beginning, you can see that she was on social media a lot, on her phone a lot, and she ignored what was going on around her. She had a boyfriend that seemed to genuinely care about her and she didn’t really appreciate him. At the time she got invited to go on a trip, she was quick to accept as she was offered a chance to make some extra money. Although making money was her goal when accepting this offer from a girl she just met, it felt like she just was looking for something to get into; something that was different from her everyday routine. 

     As we go further into the film, you start to notice more red flags about the overall situation Zola has gotten herself into. For one, you begin to notice that Stephanie is underhandedly racist. She would make comments about some of the other dancers she had worked with who were black, she called them nappy headed, and claimed they were dirty. You could also tell that she was jealous of Zola, and I would assume it’s because she looked up to her and felt that she had more respect for herself even as a dancer, than she did. There were other racial aspects represented within the film. For example, when a man came up to Zola and Stephanie’s hotel room, he was met by Zola and stated “I paid for a white chick”. The second example would be a brief scene of police brutality taking place as the characters were driving past in the car.

   

   Another red flag in the situation would be Stephanie’s pimp/ “roommate” who forced Zola to remain with them on the trip even after she had realized she was being set up for sex trafficking along with Stephanie who knew about it all along. At that point it had just gone downhill from there. Although she fortunately managed to make it out in the end.

    Personally I felt the story was somewhat relatable in the sense of longing for adventure so greatly to the point where you end up putting yourself in danger. The movie had a lot of hidden messages about paying close attention to detail. For one, the time that Stephanie took a bunch of pictures of them after they finished at the strip club and sent them to her “roommate”; Zola had her suspicions about it but brushed it off. Even Stephanie’s boyfriend wasn’t paying attention when he blindly trusted a stranger who later returned and caused trouble for them all. Overall the film was entertaining to watch and I wonder what parts actually took place in real life.

[cocoklan]

Malcolm X review

Malcolm X review

 Growing up I’ve always heard of the name Malcolm X but I never really knew what he did or how he stood out from all the other civil rights leaders. Throughout this film, I learned more about his journey as a person, and how he grew to become the one that we remember today. 

  Like many of our young black men in the world, Malcolm was very misguided in  the beginning, and didn’t really know who he was. To me it seemed like he knew he was black, but felt like he could “play white” whenever he saw fit. As a young adult he got into a lot of trouble, and he struggled with his self image. He permed his hair all the time to be straight like a white man’s, he favored white women, and he joined a life of crime. With the way that this film is structured it's like you’ll see who his character was, but you’ll only get a glimpse of the events that shaped said character a little at a time through flashbacks. Everything slowly but surely began to make sense. His father definitely was a strong proud black man who protected his family; but unfortunately that led to him being murdered. It was then that he and his siblings were later taken from his mother, and he ended up spending the rest of his childhood with a white family. He was taught that he had limits in life being “colored” and that overall affected the way he saw himself going forward.

  The breaking point in Malcolm’s life would be after he got arrested, and put in jail for robbery. When he met brother Baines; a fellow inmate who exposed him to the nation of islam and it’s practices he started to shift his perspective on life. He became a muslim, and he studied more about religion itself and the flaws of christianity.

Although the Nation of Islam helped some what saved him from his previous dark path, Malcolm soon realized that there were even flaws within the Nation of Islam that he no longer resonated with. The leader that he looked up to and respected, who they called “The honorable Elijah Mohammed”, turned out to be someone he couldn’t trust. 

In Spite of this, Malcolm began to lead on his own. He became independent in the way that he relayed his message of fighting for the rights of black people, as well as protecting themselves. Unfortunately this led to a lot of unwanted and negative attention with both the FBI and his ex colleagues. Both he and his family suffered harassment, and  spied on. Malcolm was later killed by a member of the Nation Of Islam, while he was giving a speach at an event. 

The film overall gave me many insights on Malcolm X as a person; all the shifts, challenges and changes he went through within his life. Many of his earlier struggles of going down the wrong path are very relatable today, but the way that he transformed shows us that we are all capable of unlocking our greater potential. 

[cocoklan]

Chameleon Street review

For me, the overall  film Chameleon Street touched base on a variety of topics such as money, racism, love, lust, and more. 

  One thing I admired about the protagonist Doug Street’s character was his intellect. He was always reading or studying during his spare time and was able to retain so much information to the point where he could use what he’s learned to manipulate his circumstances. Although it was wrong, his ability to impersonate others even down to performing physical surgery on many different people was very impressive.

  Another thing that stood out to me in the beginning was when Street’s friend started talking about his interest for only light skinned women. He stated that he was a victim of conditioning and that even his “conditioning was conditioned”. The fact that he was able to acknowledge this ideology not only shows that he is subconsciously aware of his self hatred, it also shows how he’s grown comfortable enough to accept it. This is definitely still a prominent societal issue within the black community. Many of us have grown comfortable with colorism; the idea that lighter skin is more attractive than dark. I also noticed Street himself had gone from a more dark toned wife to a lighter toned one. 

   On another note, I noticed how highlighted the concept of money was. It was important for Street to make money, and to provide for his wife. The pressure society puts on men, specifically black men, to be the main if not only provider for their family was heavily represented. Not only a provider but a protector. Although he seemed to have a decent relationship with his wife at first, he made it known that everyday she would say to him “make some money”. She also had a somewhat high demand for materialistic items, and would depend on him to buy them for her. When it came down to it, he defended her against a racist creep not with violence, but with his intelligence. He used his words as a defense mechanism to make a fool out of that individual. 

  Throughout the remainder of the film we go deeper into Street’s continuous scams as well as the many consequences for his actions. From arrests, to cheating, to pretending to be from another country and so forth. He stated that he was successful at what he did because he was able to figure out what people wanted from him, and simply become that person. He was very good at telling people exactly what they wanted to hear, and of course, had the knowledge to back it up. With that being said I wasn’t sure on why he did this, and neither was anyone else. At first it seemed he did it as a way to maintain a steady income as mentioned before; however now looking back I feel like it became much more than that for him the further he got into it. Street enjoyed playing different characters, and entertaining something new. Another part of me feels like he was running away from his own life even though it always found a way to catch up to him. 

  Overall, Chameleon Street was very enjoyable to watch and it really gives a lot of insight on what it means to be caught up in the moment.