2016: The Recap (part 1)

It’s been a while since I’ve written an article for F7 Lifestyle, yet so much has happened in 2016 so I thought I’d do a month-by-month recap of my version of events. Many have labelled this year with the term ‘post-truth’ which is interesting to say the least. From Brexit to Leo’s Oscar to Trump to Pokemon Go, these 12 months have felt like a rollercoaster. So let’s take a look at the after-shots:

JUNE

My brother and a friend/ brilliant filmmaker spent a week in Paris to celebrate the fourth annual Nollywood film festival. We stayed in an Air BnB get up that was incredible value. We had two rooms, a shower and toilet, a well-kept kitchen, and a living room that had tall Venetian windows looking out onto the bustling streets. Our host was the friendliest lady well deserving of my five star rating but her services came after a host who rejected my application to use her facility without any proper explanation why.

Maybe she was intimidated by the thought of hosting three black men in her home; maybe she was not convinced about the purpose of our visit. Who knows and who cares. We had the time of our lives: we met and talked with the rising stars of Nollywood at the premiere of director Kunle Afolayan’s The CEO; we engaged in discussions about the growing film industry and participated in an exercise where we each pitched our stories to a panel of producers; we also spent days walking through the cobbled city streets lined with pretty Georgian dined houses on every corner.

Some of the low points included running out of travel money, having no mobile signal, and eating kebab for three consecutive nights. But it wasn’t all bad. We got to walk the streets at night with a film festival attendee who became our personal crazy city tour guide. We visited the iconic Republique and walked through the notorious slums of Chateau Rouge. We also dined at this chic Italian restaurant lodged up in the hilly and trendy district on Monmartre; there we met and conversed with three young and intelligent waitresses about British culture; apparently the E4 hit series Skins is a major phenomenon amongst the French youth.

One of the personal highlights for me was visiting Notre Dame. I had always seen it from the outside but never from within. We were among the hordes of tourists who swarmed around the procession of an afternoon mass. In such large and sanctimonious surroundings, the grand religious paintings that hung on either side felt like they came to life with the singing choir and the chanting prayers of the priest and congregation. Never in my life have I felt such wonder and awe at the creative power placed within the common man to build the kind of legacies that outlive generations. It made me reflect on my own impact as an aspiring artist.

JULY

This was the month that will go down as a major turning point in modern political history. Many - including myself - woke up one morning in late June to discover that the United Kingdom decided to leave the European Union. It was like the nation was suffering a terrible hangover from binge drinking the night before. What were we drunk on? Propaganda that spoke to an implausible fear about our immigration policies.

Following the Syrian Refugee Crisis, many Europeans feared what opening our borders to the immigrants will do to our quality of life. I’ve noticed more beggars on the train using make shift musical bands or packets of tissue to get commuters to give them money. But is it fair or even true to assume that the crisis in the east is directly linked with this? No it isn’t.

In a two day event entitled Artistic Directors of the Future (ADF) Talks Brexit, I was asked to come up with one word to describe how you felt when you heard about the results from the EU Referendum. My one word was ‘awakened’: for a long time we had been so focused on representing the black voices within our community that we collectively failed – as artists – to represent the disenfranchised voices of the greater country – particularly the white working class. Instead of the government taking full responsibility for their actions, the tory party capitalised on the turn of events in Syria and saw it as an opportunity to shift the blame on immigrants. The result was catastrophic but not entirely irreparable.

I submitted a short play for ADF’s showcase. It was entitled Detox and dramatized a discussion between three office workers about the result. In the play, one of the characters asks the question: ‘Is the thought of going back to Africa such a bad thing?’ The way I see it, Brexit gave us four outcomes: 1) It exposed the problem with democracy ie a sectarian Parliament 2) It uncovered the underlying prejudices of the racist and the disenfranchised 3) It burst London’s bubble of elitism and false progressive politics 4) It invited and encouraged us – particularly the diaspora - to look beyond the western hemisphere for hope and inspiration. The majority of these outcomes may be bad but identifying a problem is the first step in finding a solution.

AUGUST

After the mixed success that was Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (who can forget Clark Kent gasping: ‘Martha, Martha!’) many were hoping that the DC Cinematic Universe will bounce back with their rendition of Suicide Squad: earth’s worst heroes banded together to do some good. Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc and other despicable inmates unite to battle a mysterious and powerful entity.

A group of heroes who so happen to be supervillains sounds interesting enough on paper but the execution of it was abysmal. So much so that my friend and I left the cinema halfway into the film; we were emotionally and spiritually grieved. What was meant to be the DCCU’s answer to Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy turned out to be a weird and very disconcerting plot driven by the character of Enchantress; a member of the squad and famously known as an antihero. With Marvel also releasing Doctor Strange, I question where the super hero cinematic universe is heading. We seem to be delving deeper into the realms of magic and mysticism which is personally very uncomfortable. I grew up on the Harry Potter books but was unaware that people actually practice witchcraft until later on in my life. What is stopping producers from using real life hexes in their films?

Suicide Squad has been described as what happens when ‘bad meets evil’ which makes me wonder just how aware are we about what influences our creativity. The other question is where do we draw the line about what is and isn’t acceptable to view on the silver screen (violence, death, oppression)? The answer ultimately lies with the individual and what they decide to go and see at the cinema. However, in an industry where a 15 feels and looks more like a 18 age rating, you have to think twice before taking you 15 year old to see a movie like Sausage Party. Either way the franchise continues to gross hundreds of millions of US dollars; Suicide Squad’s box office garnered a staggering $745.6 million.

Money can have a major influence of what we create. Artists are usually constricted by the limited expectations of the fans that support, buy and follow their work. But not everybody. August also saw the return of singer/ song-writer Frank Ocean after four years of musical hibernation. His debut album Channel Orange won numerous awards for its lyrical depth and alternative approach to hip-hop and RnB. Yet many fans who love his previous work may be put off by his most recent project. Blond (with a silent ‘e’) is his third studio album that is more stripped back, abstract, and introspective.

The record is a very intimate look into the life of an artist that remains a question mark in many social circles. Although he features some of the most famous of his musical contemporaries, none of the collaborations get in the way of the voice, mood and feel he crafts in his songs. For example, on the track Pink + White, Beyonce contributes by simply peppering the end-tail of the song with some vocal adlibs. Other stand out tracks include Solo, White Ferrari, and Godspeed.

But what is more interesting than the music content is how Frank Ocean went about releasing it. Immediately before he unveiled Blond(e) Frank Ocean released Endless, a visual album that effectively ended his two album contract with Def Jam Records. In doing so, Frank released Blond(e) under his independent label Boys Don’t Cry. Frank now has greater control over where his songs are aired or performed. He also has a bigger cut of the royalties.

Frank proves that your artistry does not have to be limited to the human conditions of habit and familiarity. It takes entrepreneurial flair and a lot of self-confidence to create a brand where the individual has a greater investment in you as a person than they do in you work.

2016: The Recap (part 1) by Kelechi Iwumene

Reference

Wikipedia.

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