well... click the link first
You're right. It doesn't talk about the controversy of the chorus, but it does talk about the significance of the song. The author is absolutely right to be angry over the biopic being concerned with singing and dancing, and NOT with his Civil Rights and self-pride significance.
As for the rest of the article, everything about the entire production of the James Brown story being white and British, with only the actors being black (speaking of, that reminds me of the video for 'I'm the Man'. It had a nice 70s vibe to it. Then I made the mistake of looking at the video. I can't stomach the song anymore....) yeah, that's a problem.
Then again, James Browns' last widow was a white gold digger, so maybe it's a bit of karma that his legacy will be destroyed and diluted.
When the late David Wolper was producing "Roots" thirty-something years ago, he hired no black writers. When asked why, he was quoted as saying: "They're too close to the material." I guess we're still too close.
I did not know that.
How do these insiders, pals of the executives, become experts on black culture overnight? Wikipedia. In case you didn't know, the entire black experience is on Wikipedia. Here is a typical day in Hollywood. Agent calls a writer, tells him he got him an interview for "this black guy who was really important." The writer says cool, goes to the wiki pages, memorizes them, takes the meeting and wings his "knowledge" of the black icon. That's it. He gets the job.
I need receipts for this.
The HuffPo piece sounds outraged, but doesn't present a solution beyond 'hire more black people when relaying the black experience'. It would have more meat if it named names of blacks who tried to get in on the project, but were rebuffed. The author is right in the thrust of his argument, but won't reach the people who actually need to hear it, because it's not written to them in a way they will respect.
That second link is already popping. Wait until white people (and white people pretending to be black) discover it.
