Camera Obscuras: Black Stories on Film Wednesdays, June 2, June 23, July 14, August 18 Zoom, 6:30pm-8:30pm
Description: In this virtual course, we will discuss four recent films that vibrantly illustrate the rich humanity of Black people in the United States across several decades of struggle for freedom. If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) is based on James Baldwin’s 1974 novel and follows a family’s struggle to free a wrongly accused man in New York City. Native Son (2019) is based on Richard Wright’s novel about a young man from Chicago’s South Side who commits an act that upends his life. Also set in Chicago, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) is based on a 1982 play by August Wilson and captures the blues singer’s mission to record an album of her songs in the twenties. Passing (2021) is based on Nella Larsen’s Harlem Renaissance era novel about two friends, one who pretends to be white. The films can be rented or purchased via various online platforms. You don’t have to read or have read the books connected to these films in order to take this class. Participants will watch the films outside of class and respond creatively to scenes and stills through an individual film journal (see guidelines below). We will provide excerpts from each book that will focus our discussions on specific scenes in the accompanying film as well as its making, background, plot, character development, and themes. We’ll also use still shots and scenes from the movie as prompts for in-class writing and our own creative storytelling. Watching film as a way of reading, we will explore the generative connections between filmmaking and creative writing.
Course Schedule:
Wednesday, June 2 Film Due: If Beale Street Could Talk. Available on Hulu, Vudu, Amazon Prime, Youtube, Google Play, Apple TV. Writing Due: Film Journal #1
Wednesday, June 23 Film Due: Native Son. Available on Hulu, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Youtube, Google Play, Apple TV. Writing Due: Film Journal #2
Wednesday, July 14 Film Due: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Available on Netflix. Writing Due: Film Journal #3
Wednesday, August 18 Film Due: Passing. Available on Netflix TBD. Writing Due: Film Journal #4
Film Journal Guidelines: 1. After watching the film, write a 1-2 sentence synopsis or summary of the plot that covers the who, what, when, where, and why. 2. Write a few sentences about the character you most identified with and why. 3. Write about a scene in the film (besides the beginning or the ending) that you thought embodied the main idea/message. 4. Transcribe a spoken line from the film into writing and reflect on it/respond to it in a few sentences.
About the Instructors:
Trapeta B. Mayson is the 2020-2021 Philadelphia Poet Laureate. She is a recipient of a Pew Fellowship in Literature, Leeway Transformation Award, Leeway Art and Change Grant and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Grants. Her work was also nominated for a 2016 Pushcart Prize. Mayson is a Cave Canem and Callaloo Fellow and a 2019 Aspen Words Emerging Writers Fellow with the Aspen Institute. She is the author of She Was Once Herself and Mocha Melodies. Mayson also released two music and poetry projects, SCAT and This Is How We Get Through, in collaboration with internationally acclaimed jazz guitarist, Monnette Sudler. Her other publications include submissions in The American Poetry Review, Epiphany Literary Journal, Aesthetica Magazine, Margie: The American Journal of Poetry among others. Mayson is a native of Liberia. She is a graduate of Temple University, Bryn Mawr Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research and Villanova University School of Business. Currently working in the social services field, Mayson is a member of several local organizations where she uses the arts to mobilize, build community and create change. trapetamayson.com
Yolanda Wisher is the author of Monk Eats an Afro (Hanging Loose Press, 2014) and the co- editor of Peace is a Haiku Song (Philadelphia Mural Arts, 2013). Wisher was named the inaugural Poet Laureate of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in 1999 and the third Poet Laureate of Philadelphia for 2016-2017. A Pew and Cave Canem Fellow, Wisher was awarded the Leeway Foundation's Transformation Award in 2019 for her commitment to art for social change. Wisher taught high school English for a decade, served as Director of Art Education for Philadelphia Mural Arts, and founded and directed the Germantown Poetry and Outbound Poetry Festivals. She performs a unique blend of poetry and song with her band The Afroeaters and has led workshops and curated events in partnership with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the U.S. Department of Arts & Culture. Wisher was part of the first cohort of artists with studios at the Cherry Street Pier on the Delaware River Waterfront. She is currently the Curator of Spoken Word and producer of the podcast Love Jawns: A Mixtape at Philadelphia Contemporary, a freestanding space for contemporary and performance art. yolandawisher.com