13th, prison industrial complex. Fantastic Fungi. Crip Camp. Disclosure, trans-folx in media. The Farewell, asian family lies to grandma about her death. Nomadland, the less glamorous side of vanlife.
13th by Ava DuVernay
This documentary is one of the best I’ve seen in a while. The re-invention of racism is the main narrative of this documentary. The pacing of documentary is fast, and is intellectually arousing the entire time. The documentary begins after the abolition of slavery in America. The state arrest recently freed slaves on the grounds of homelessness. Slavery evolves into Jim Crow where racial segregation is lawful. Black people’s freedoms are taken away, this time on account of breaking these new laws. In the meantime, The Birth of a Nation and plethora of media portrays black people as people to be feared. Black male comedians crossdress to appear less threatening. Law and order becomes a euphemism for hurting black communities. As the decades march on, we see the rise of the prison industrial complex. Bill Clinton and Newt Gringrich both express remorse for the laws they backed. These laws disproportionately harmed black communities. Sobering reminder that it is not only intent, but also impact.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist. - The 13th Amendment
Fantastic Fungi
This film is centered around Paul Stamets, a mycologist, and his work with mushrooms. In the forest, fungi play a vital role in breaking down dead foliage and converting them back into healthy, fertile soil. Lesser known is fungi’s ability to clean up oil spills, fight cancer, and as a natural pesticides. If you don’t have 80 minutes to watch the film, this 20 minute TED talk is more than enough.
Crip Camp by James Lebrecht, Nicole Newnham
Crip Camp follow the lives of a core group of teenagers that meet at Camp Jened. Many of these teenagers lived their lives as outsiders due to their disabilities. As adults, they find themselves fighting for equality. From protesting on the streets to staging a sit-in, they pushed laws forward that prevented segregation and increased accessibility for those with physical disabilities.
Disclosure by Sam Feder
Disclosure examines the narratives found in film and television under a contemporary lens. It features a large cast of trans-folx. Each share share their experiences and the impact the media has had on their identities.
Trans-folx are often portrayed as perverse and sociopathic. Men dressed as women should be laughed at. One should vomit upon discovering the shameful secret of a transperson’s past. They are inevitably the murder victims.
This quote from Jen Richards stuck with me.
I had to be okay with my mom saying, “I will never call you Jen because Jen murdered my son.” I had to- I had to be okay with that in order to survive myself, you know? In order to deal with not being able to see my grandma before she died because I could only come home if I dressed as a boy. You know. I had to deal with the fact that one of my best friends, who, like, I stood up at his wedding, won’t let me meet his children. I have to deal with those things. Like, I have to live with those things. And I have to make that okay. I have to understand their position and be okay with it.
[After witnessing a young person be accepted for their gender identity]
And when I saw that father go so much further than I thought was even possible, it hurt, I couldn’t bear it, because then, all of a sudden, all those people who couldn’t accept me… When I knew it was possible to go beyond acceptance… Why couldn’t my mom have been like him? That’s the question I never asked until that moment. Why couldn’t my mom have been like him? Why couldn’t my friends have been like him and seen the value in my experience? But the person who’s most responsible for failing to have that kind of vision is me. I have never seen myself the way that father saw his own child. I’d never seen myself that way, I’d never looked at myself with the kind of love and respect and awe that that father had for his own child. No one’s looked at me that way, how could I look at me that way? I had to see it. And now that I have, I want that.
The Farewell by Lulu Wang
An Asian-American film that explores the cultural differences around terminal illness. The protagonist, Billi’s family keeps her grandmother, Nai Nai’s prognosis a secret from her grandmother. As an Asian-American, she does not understand why. Billi’s extended family stages a fake wedding as an excuse to re-unite. Her mother tries to explain that, “When people get cancer, they die. It’s not the cancer that kills them; it’s the fear.” I adored the soundtrack for this film. While the characters keep up appearances around Nai Nai, the soundtrack ominously expresses the emotional burden that torment the family members. Despite the sadness, there are light comedic moments that provide the audience moments of relief. One of my favourite scenes involves Billi hammering away on the piano.
Nomadland by Chloé Zha
After the gypsum plant closes down, Empire NV turns into a ghost town. Fern stashes away her belongings, and uses the last of her savings to buy a campervan. She’s unable to find another job after her seasonal job at an Amazon warehouse ends. Fern learns about a community of van-dwellers and heads South for the winter. The film features real people in this community. Some involuntarily adopt this lifestyle, while others prefer van-dwelling over the conventional lifestyle. One woman shares the moment she felt entirely fulfilled after years of freedom on the road and connecting with nature. Another woman gives away her Earthly posessions when she finds out she has only months to live. Fern meets a man who eventually gives up van-dwelling to spend more time with his son and grandchildren. Throughout the movie, we watch Fern struggle financially. We eventually meet Fern’s sister, who invites her to live with her, yet Fern values her independence more than comforts and declines.
In February 2020, in the month before the world shutdown to combat the global pandemic; I spent two weeks living in a van. This was never part of my life’s plan. I just pedalled my way around the island of Taiwan, and my partner called me during my transit in Singapore. She was in the Brazilian rainforest and had met some travellers who were looking for people to deliver their campervan from Lisbon to Malaga. We obliged, and 48 hours later we woke up along the Algarve coast. We were not on any tight deadlines, and when we arrived in Malaga; my partner took off again to rendezvous with her family for a cruise trip. I found myself living alone in a van for a week. The van was pretty intimidating to manage all by myself. Without a navigator, I mostly used it as a home base; albeit I had at least one adventure that triggered a large quantity of cortisol in my veins. I felt very self-conscious, yet liberated at the same time. It’s interesting to see what stigma there is around certain lifestyles. The voices in my head judged myself as a homeless, useless, unemployed, dirty bum and loser.