Media/arts column
By Ron Wynn
Though he’s only 29, cartoonist Aaron McGruder enjoys a prominentplace
in American arts and letters. That’s because his daily strip The Boondocks
offers
pointed barbs, acerbic political commentary and biting satire on
such subjects as the Bush administration’s foreign and domestic
policies,
Black Entertainment Television’s lack of thematic
diversityin its programming, and the fashion mistakes of celebrities and hip-hop stars.
Now
McGruder’s expanding his franchise. He’s collaborating with filmmaker
Reginald Hudlin on several projects. One is a movie version of The
Broke
Diaries for Fox, based on a 2001 urban comic saga from Angela Nissel.
Next year, the two plan to issue a graphic novel Birth of A
Nation,
which no doubt will differ considerably from D.W.Griffith’s racist
movie of
the same title.
McGruder is featured on the cover of the September/October issue of
Black Issues Book Review. Sadly, you still can’t read The
Boondocks in Nashville unless you purchase the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, or read the strip online. Hopefully, one day a
smart local publication will begin presenting what is unquestionably
the
sharpest, most controversial comic strip around.
Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has some explosive things to say about
cinema and his ongoing feud with Spike Lee in the November Vibe.
Tarantino’s first new film in six years, Kill Bill, Vol 1, opens
the
weekend of Oct. 10, stars Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, David Carradine and
Vivica
A. Fox. It’s clear from his discussion with hip-hop journalist Harry
Allen
that Tarantino’s unrepentant about the controversy that erupted in
1997,
after he supposedly told Lee in a conversation at the Angelika Film
Festival
that he (Tarantino) knew more about African-Americans than Spike. The
two
have been feuding since 1996, with Lee openly expressing his disdain
for
Tarantino¹s frequent use of the ³N² word in Jackie Brown even
before
the film opened.
Tarantino also talks about his fondness for violent scenes, his
reliance
on rap and classic soul for his soundtracks, and his preference for
shooting
on film as opposed to using digital cameras and tape. The Wu Tang
Clan's RZA
collaborates with Tarantino on the soundtrack for Kill Bill, Vol
1.
Though the cover story’s about Mary J. Blige, that feature is tame next
to
Tarantino’s rants and comments.
Black models didn’t just emerge when Beverly Johnson or Naomi
Campbell
started appearing on the covers of Vogue. Ophelia DeVore launched
a
modeling agency for African-American women back in the mid-Œ40s. She
started
modeling herself in 1938, at the age of 16. An exhaustive, well-written
story by Melissa Sones in the fall issue of American Legacy
magazine
outlines Devore’s innovations in the worlds of fashion and beauty, and
her
influence on a host of African-American females. Past Devore students
include Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson, Richard Roundtree, Gail Fisher,
Trudy
Haynes, Ellen Holly, Melba Tolliver, and Stephen Burrows.
(Ron Wynn is editor of Everything Underground)
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