blackkklansman
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The African American Film Critics Association Chooses Black Panther as 2018 Film of the Year
The African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) have chosen this year’s award winners and their top 10 movie list, and the big winner is Wakanda, with Black Panther winning 2018 Best Film. Ryan Coogler was named Best Director and the Grammy-nominated “All The Stars” won Best Song. Said Shawn Edwards, co-founder of AAFCA, in a press…
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For the Culture: 2018's Pop Culture Becomes Halloween's Most Popular Costumes
Fun fact: I’ve been low-key lobbying for us, just once, to turn The Root 100 into a costume party, where all of the guests and honorees are expected to come as their favorite black historical figure or pop cultural reference. After all, our annual gala takes place close to Halloween—and it’d be an understatement to…
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Spike Lee Responds to Boots Riley's Critique of BlacKkKlansman: 'We Need Police'
More than a week after director and musician Boots Riley delivered a pointed and detailed critique of BlacKkKlansman and its portrayal of police officers, filmmaker Spike Lee has a response. Riley shared the three-page criticism on Twitter (warning: it does contain spoilers) on Aug. 17, citing Lee as a “huge influence” on his own filmmaking…
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Spike Lee Compares David Duke’s Favorite President’s Administration to the KKK
BlacKkKlansman director Spike Lee sees a lot of similarities between the Ku Klux Klan and today’s administration, specifically around fear-mongering and coded rhetoric (see: the origins of Trump’s popular slogan- “America first.”) “Historically, “America First” was used by the Klan in the 1920’s against immigrants,” said Lee. “This stuff is not new … it’s just…
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Spike Lee Unveils Previously Unreleased Prince Song, ‘Mary Don’t You Weep’ for BlacKkKlansman
It begins with piano riffs and drum. Prince’s dulcet falsetto pours out the first verse, then drops a register for verse two. It is, in a word, sublime. It is Prince at his most soulful, with the growls and runs that mark his genius. The song: “Mary Don’t You Weep,” a gospel standard, a Negro…
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She Got That Glow: Why We're Low-Key Obsessed With Laura Harrier's Ever-Changing Looks
We love a girl who keeps us guessing, and when it comes to red carpet looks, BlacKkKlansman star Laura Harrier always does. In fact, she rivals her Spider-Man: Homecoming co-star Zendaya in switching up her look regularly and sometimes, dramatically; especially as her profile (and promotional appearances) have escalated. With a sexy, heavy-lidded gaze, high…
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Time Traveling: For BlacKkKlansman, Costume Designer Marci Rodgers Took a Full Circle Journey
If you ask Marci Rodgers how she became a costume designer, her answer is simple: “God.” To the believers, it’s a perfectly credible answer, while the more spiritually skeptical might raise an eyebrow. But there is something undeniably divine in Rodger’s career trajectory, which began as a style-obsessed teenager in Evanston, Ill., just north of…
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BlacKkKlansman Allows You to Laugh at the Ridiculousness of White Supremacy, Then and Now
“With the right white man, you can do anything,”John David Washington says as Ron Stallworth—the black Colorado Springs, Colo., police officer who went “undercover” in the Ku Klux Klan—in Spike Lee’s latest joint, BlacKkKlansman. This sentiment is also an entire mood. Oh, AmeriKKKa. Stallworth’s tale of infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan might be set in…
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Spike Lee Wants Us to Respect Our White Allies: 'White People Have Died For Justice'
Spike Lee is well-respected as one of Hollywood’s biggest and blackest directors. On Friday, his latest, BlacKkKlansman arrives in theaters; the movie tells the story of Colorado Springs undercover detective Ron Stallworth, a black man who joined the Klu Klux Klan in the 1970s. Lee admits that he had never heard of Stallworth’s story, much…
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Sounds Like David Duke Is Afraid BlacKkKlansman Will Make Him Look Like a Dumb Fool Instead of Just a Racist One
The man who inspired Spike Lee’s new movie, BlacKkKlansman, says that the man he conned forty years ago—none other than the KKK’s Grandwizard David Duke—is concerned that the critically acclaimed new film might make him look stupid. The film, already considered to be one of Lee’s best in recent years, follows the journey of Ron…