I finally saw “Good Hair” last weekend (I know I’m super late), and thought Chris Rock did a good job presenting an overview of Black America’s obsession with hair and attaining what has been called “good hair” meaning straight, Anglo-Saxon hair. “RealitySurfer” left a comment on my post “Chris Rock’s ‘Good Hair’ not exactly what black folks hoped for” pointing me to the Aron Ranen documentary “Black Hair.” So far I’ve only watched the the 10 minute clip below, but I’m already intrigued. This documentary is good for folks wanted the less “made for Hollywood” edition of what’s going on in the black hair industry. Chris Rock did reveal that black folks consume a lot of hair products and hair itself, but own a tiny percentage of the market share (using the visit to Dudley’s in North Carolina as an example). Rather, many of the black beauty supply stores are run by Koreans, and as we saw in “Good Hair” a lot of the human hair used in weaves is from India. This is just one of many examples where I, and many of you, are perplexed as to why we haven’t capitalized on a markets that are primarily for our community.
Take a look at the following “Black Hair” documentary, part 1 (1st 10 minutes) by Aron Ranen below…
I still haven’t seen Chris Rock’s “Good Hair,” but I’ve certainly blogged about it. Even the very words “good hair” inject divisiveness to the African-American community that dates back to slavery. To me, using those words came with high expectations. Maybe Chris Rock would finally set the records straight for black people, especially black women, as well as all of the world’s ethnicities out there that are forever curious about nappy hair. Besides, Chris Rock had his “boy” helping him out, none other than Nelson George.
While I laughed along during Chris Rock’s appearance on Oprah, I haven’t heard anyone with natural hair speak highly of the movie. I was reminded just now while reading the blog Shineharder (great tattoo blog for people of color or people who love tattoos) who posted basically the same sentiment. Check out the post “Good Hair” for more.
In the meantime, “Good Hair” will remain on my Netflix list, but I won’t be racing to bump it to the top of my list anytime soon. After all, I live my natural hair story every single day. Maybe I need to make my own “good hair” documentary from a black woman’s perspective infused with our history in the States. You never know…
I’ve been posting about the Chris Rock documentary “Good Hair” since I read about it at Sundance back in January of this year. In the past few months the film has been gaining more and more media attention as it opens in theaters. On October 9, 2009 “Good Hair” went out in theaters on a limited release (LA, NY, Chicago, Atlanta, and DC only) but today, October 23, 2009 it opens in more theaters across the country.
There’s a new Facebook application that has launched in celebration of the release of “Good Hair” that allows you to play with different hairstyles using an uploaded image of yourself. I’ve just added the application to my own Facebook page and it’s a lot of fun! To install it, go to http://apps.facebook.com/goodhair/.
Enjoy!
P.S. If you’re local to the Columbus, OH area, Columbus Black has planned an outing tonight at the Arena Grand Theater for interested people to see “Good Hair” at a discounted price. Go to their Facebook Event Page for more details.
Movie Trailer and Summary
When Chris Rocks daughter, Lola, came up to him crying and asked, Daddy, how come I dont have good hair? the bewildered comic committed himself to search the ends of the earth and the depths of black culture to find out who had put that question into his little girl’s head! Director Jeff Stilsons camera followed the funnyman, and the result is Good Hair, a wonderfully insightful and entertaining, yet remarkably serious, documentary about African American hair culture. An exposé of comic proportions that only Chris Rock could pull off, Good Hair visits hair salons and styling battles, scientific laboratories, and Indian temples to explore the way black hairstyles impact the activities, pocketbooks, sexual relationships, and self-esteem of black people. Celebrities such as Ice-T, Kerry Washington, Nia Long, Paul Mooney, Raven Symoné, Maya Angelou, and Reverend Al Sharpton all candidly offer their stories and observations to Rock while he struggles with the task of figuring out how to respond to his daughters question. What he discovers is that black hair is a big business that doesnt always benefit the black community and little Lolas question might well be bigger than his ability to convince her that the stuff on top of her head is nowhere near as important as what is inside.
I was overjoyed to run across an article on BlackNews.com about this new website SunkissedGirlz.com. Just launched on October 14, 2009 by founders Yanique Redwood, PhD, MPH; Alana Jones, and Aisha Penson who not only realized the lack of positive imagery for young African-Americans but took matters into their own hands by launching Sunkissed Girlz. African-Americans are so diverse and unfortunately sometimes divided when it comes to matters of skin tone, body shape, and hair texture.
We created Sunkissed Girlz because we realized that there were very few Websites (and magazines, books, television shows, etc.) for Black girls. We wanted to create a cool, safe place for girls to play, learn, blog, and just have fun! We also want girls to learn how to analyze the media messages that they get from commercials, music videos, and other forms of media, so at times we will use clips from popular media sources to generate discussion and critical analysis.
We designed sunkissedgirlz.com for girls ages 11-14. We hope to develop Websites for younger and older girls in the near future. (source: SunkissedGirlz.com)
I’ll be adding them to my blogroll and wanted to help spread the word.
Roadside will release the film domestically in the fall, reports Variety. Lionsgate will handle home video and other domestic ancillary rights, while HBO retains pay cable rights.
I was excited to have the opportunity to preview Nelson George‘s latest book “City Kid” a memoir. I’ve recently began following his career more closely after learning about his involvement with Chris Rock‘s documentary “Good Hair” that won an award at Sundance. In this post, I’ve written a review of “City Kid” and am also including an interview between Nelson George and I in podcast format for you. Reading about and speaking to other writers is always a unique experience. It’s almost like turning the camera on the camera man. Nelson gave me a great interview but not without a few surprises and push back to keep me on my toes. “City Kid” is worth adding to your reading list. This post along with my others regarding this book should give you a introduction to Nelson George and what to expect as you read his memoir. I would love to hear from any of you who have picked up the book as well as any of you who have read or watched any of Nelson’s other works.
City Kid- A Review
In “City Kid,” Nelson writes of his life where “family and art intersect” as he describes in the Introduction. Ever present throughout is the influence of music on his life from the early days listening to his mother’s Motorola hi-fi to his writing career. Quick to refer to his family unit through often, and perhaps over, cited statistics on Black American families and broken homes, Nelson was no exception. He grew up in the Tilden projects in Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. His mother Arizona (nicknamed “Doll”) worked hard to make ends meet and his father, Nelson Elmer George was largely absent through Nelson’s life after being lured into the counterculture looming in New York City at the time. Nelson had one sibling, his sister Andrea who was a rebellious soul which extended to their relationship as brother and sister. It took Andrea cheating death when contracting and living with HIV to ultimately lead to a reconciliation amongst the siblings. The reconciliation occurred as a moment of truth as Andrea began to talk about her life with HIV. Nelson wrote and directed a screenplay based on Andrea’s life the was released through HBO Films entitled “Life Support.”
On the surface, I’d say “City Kid” is a “man book,” but there were elements that I was fond of and could identify with as a writer and music lover. Ladies, you can skim the parts about Nelson’s love for comic books, sports, and tales of man adolescence; however, there are still threads integral to his memoir that you’ll enjoy. For example, Nelson’s affection for his mother and longing for male role models are endearing and bring you closer to the man behind the mirror.
For aspiring and established writers, you’ll enjoy and likely identify with Nelson’s lifeblood as a writer. An avid reader from the time of his youth, Nelson shares that he was particularly fond of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Actually, one of the highlights of this memoir is the fantastic library of must read books interwoven throughout. I have generated quite a list in my notebook that maybe I’ll publish at a later time.
Perhaps the most poignant part of this book is the education you get from reading about the evolution of popular black music as it parallels then intersects with Nelson’s life. Oh, to be a fly on the wall in Brooklyn during the rise of hip hop and a bit of a “Harlem Renaissance” that occurred during Nelson’s twenties as the Ft. Greene neighborhood became a mecca for artists like now famous Spike Lee and Chris Rock.
My only criticism of “City Kid” is related to the style. What makes a book a great read for me is being able to get that contact high from just holding the book in your hands, inhaling every word. I had a hard time doing that completely with “City Kid.” I attribute it to Nelson’s largely journalistic style narrative of his own life that left me perched at a safe distance from Nelson’s authentic self. Personally, it’s most exciting to finish a memoir feeling that I really got to connect to the person in a way that would not have happened otherwise. I feel like I could recite Nelson’s life, but I don’t know his life.
If you’re interested in picking up a copy of “City Kid” I would suggest you check out the links I provided for you below the interview.
Interview with Nelson George about “City Kid”
Here’s the interview I conducted with Nelson George on April 9, 2009, a week after the release of “City Kid.” This is my first whirl at editing and posting a podcast, so bear with me and certainly let me know if you have any suggestions, feedback, or are experiencing technical difficulties. For you corporate types, this is my “development opportunity.”
*NOTE* actual interview ends at 19:56 (gotta work out why the dead air on the end, sorry).
Here are a few additional resources that are either mentioned during the interview or would be useful to you.
I just finished reading City Kid by Nelson George and am so excited to bring you more posts on both with my soon to be posted review and even more exciting upcoming interview with Nelson George. So just to wet your appetite, I’m including a few more links and videos and such as well as channels to purchase City Kid online.
The below video is a must preview before reading Nelson George‘s City Kid. I’m looking at it after, but I like to read in a vacuum, unadulterated so I can look at the work with essentially a virgin’s eyes. Maybe it’s a silly practice that I’ll eventually abandon, but it’s kind of my learning/absorbing/analytical ritual.
A mini-doc of Nelson George’s upcoming book release: “City Kid: A Writer’s Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Succes” (April 2009, Viking).
One of the topics I write about regularly on this blog is black women and their hair, from the prospective of a proponent of natural hair being styled and worn in celebration of its rich range of textures.
Unfortunately, we in the US live with images that long and straight or somewhat wavy hair is status quo. For black women, the issue of hair length is something that makes the biblical tale of Samson and Delilah as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago.
Chris Rock has taken on this subject with his documentary entitled “Good Hair” that recently won a Special Jury Prize in the US Documentary Feature Films category at Sundance 2009.
Film description as written on official webpage for Sundance Film Festival…
When Chris Rock’s daughter, Lola, came up to him crying and asked, “Daddy, how come I don’t have good hair?” the bewildered comic committed himself to search the ends of the earth and the depths of black culture to find out who had put that question into his little girl’s head! Director Jeff Stilson’s camera followed the funnyman, and the result is Good Hair, a wonderfully insightful and entertaining, yet remarkably serious, documentary about African American hair culture. An exposé of comic proportions that only Chris Rock could pull off, Good Hair visits hair salons and styling battles, scientific laboratories, and Indian temples to explore the way black hairstyles impact the activities, pocketbooks, sexual relationships, and self-esteem of black people. Celebrities such as Ice-T, Kerry Washington, Nia Long, Paul Mooney, Raven Symoné, Maya Angelou, and Reverend Al Sharpton all candidly offer their stories and observations to Rock while he struggles with the task of figuring out how to respond to his daughter’s question. What he discovers is that black hair is a big business that doesn’t always benefit the black community and little Lola’s question might well be bigger than his ability to convince her that the stuff on top of her head is nowhere near as important as what is inside.
click HERE to visit Chris Rock’s documentary page on Sundance.org
Excerpt from CBS News…
While loaded with the 43-year-old actor-comedian’s wisecracking humor, “Good Hair” also raises serious questions about identity and equality among black women who feel they need long, straight, silky hair to fit into white society.
“It’s this whole thing about approval. That approval is not simply, `I want white people to love me.’ It’s like, `I need a job. I want to move forward, and if I have a hairstyle that is somewhat intimidating, that’s going to stop me from moving forward,”‘ said Nelson George, executive producer of “Good Hair.”
“A hair documentary, especially for a guy, is a hard sell — no, it’s a weird sell,” says the 43-year-old comedian, who both produced and wrote “Good Hair.” The low-budget documentary traces the growth of the $9 billion industry rooted in the maintenance of African-American hair and its place in ethnic community and culture…
…But for two years Mr. Rock pursued the project with the team behind his critically acclaimed HBO series “The Chris Rock Show.” (HBO owns “Good Hair,” but is open to selling the theatrical rights.) Inspired by what he calls his young daughter’s “hair envy,” or uneasiness with her naturally curly hair, Mr. Rock set out to investigate the nexus of power and politics related to how African-Americans style their hair.
The above Wall Street Journal article contains an excellent interview with Chris Rock on this subject, so I encourage you to read the full article entitled “A Comic’s ‘Good Hair’ Day”
Excerpt from the Black Film Academy…
“It’s really deep and funny… I did a Michael Moore expose on hair,” he tells WENN…Rock and Stilson, (a producer and writer on “The Chris Rock Show”) also traveled to Birmingham, Memphis, and Dallas, to interview and tape some hairdressers as they prepped for the annual Bonner Brothers Hair Show in Atlanta…
I’ll definitely keep my eye out for this documentary. Kudos to Chris Rock for finally deciding to put this project in motion. It’s a subject that seems to never get old, but definitely sits in different spaces depending on the era.
50% of your donation (less Pay Pal fees) will go to Emerge Global charity (http://emergeglobal.org/). The other 50% funds the sweat equity I put into my work for your enjoyment. My hope is that one day I will be able to donate 100% to charity.
I was overjoyed to run across an article on BlackNews.com about this new website SunkissedGirlz.com. Just launched on October 14, 2009 by founders Yanique Redwood, PhD, MPH; Alana Jones, and Aisha Penson who not only realized the lack of positive imagery for young African-Americans but took matters into their own hands by launching Sunkissed Girlz. African-Americans are so diverse and unfortunately sometimes divided when it comes to matters of skin tone, body shape, and hair texture.
I was excited to have the opportunity to preview Nelson George‘s latest book “City Kid” a memoir. I’ve recently began following his career more closely after learning about his involvement with Chris Rock‘s documentary “Good Hair” that won an award at Sundance. In this post, I’ve written a review of “City Kid” and am also including an interview between Nelson George and I in podcast format for you. Reading about and speaking to other writers is always a unique experience. It’s almost like turning the camera on the camera man. Nelson gave me a great interview but not without a few surprises and push back to keep me on my toes. “City Kid” is worth adding to your reading list. This post along with my others regarding this book should give you a introduction to Nelson George and what to expect as you read his memoir. I would love to hear from any of you who have picked up the book as well as any of you who have read or watched any of Nelson’s other works.
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