Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Movie Monday
In NJ, we had a blizzard yesterday. I figure that the deck has at least 12 inches and the news is reporting this part of the state got 17 inches. Kids are squealing with joy throughout the state looking at all this whiteness; parents, not so much.
Today may be Movie Monday but it's also newsletter prep week so I'll make this short. Well, short by my standards.
I tried to knit my Lace Advent Scarf as much as possible this weekend and I got a lot done while watching Good Hair, a documentary produced and narrated by Chris Rock. It was about a slightly foreign subject to me: black hair and black hair treatment. Now, it's only slightly foreign to me since I, as millions of women, work on tweaking hair styles almost everyday of our lives.
What set this documentary apart is that it made some excellent social and economic points but, unlike the biting Michael Moore documentaries, I didn't walk away from it thinking: I'm so drained. The world's a bitch. I need a strong drink.
Rock anchored this documentary around a yearly black hair extravaganza, the Bronner Brothers Hair Show in GA. It's a extravaganza because this black hair products convention culminates in a stylists' competition which has one stylist cut hair upside down; another, underwater; and the winner producing a Don King boxing ring event with an entourage of over 70 people though the rules stated you could only have 10 people on "stage" with you. (How did he do it and how was it allowed? By having only 10 people in the "fight ring" and the others on the floor as spectators.)
Adding interest to this Miss America-type blow-out; Rock explores: the expense of black hair styles for black women both in initial cost and regular maintenance; how hair weaving is done; the social importance of the black hair establishments; the chemical dangers in hair products; the travel route of black wig hair (Hint: watch the shaving ceremonies in India); the fact that almost all black hair products sold today are owned by "white" corporations (this wasn't always the case); and, last but not least, how do black parents prepare their children for the superficiality and commercialism they will encounter in the black beauty world (girls younger than three were shown getting hair perms.)
Good Hair is now available on Starz/Encore or at Amazon. Oh, and my husband told me to say that he even found it interesting.
Today may be Movie Monday but it's also newsletter prep week so I'll make this short. Well, short by my standards.
I tried to knit my Lace Advent Scarf as much as possible this weekend and I got a lot done while watching Good Hair, a documentary produced and narrated by Chris Rock. It was about a slightly foreign subject to me: black hair and black hair treatment. Now, it's only slightly foreign to me since I, as millions of women, work on tweaking hair styles almost everyday of our lives.
What set this documentary apart is that it made some excellent social and economic points but, unlike the biting Michael Moore documentaries, I didn't walk away from it thinking: I'm so drained. The world's a bitch. I need a strong drink.
Rock anchored this documentary around a yearly black hair extravaganza, the Bronner Brothers Hair Show in GA. It's a extravaganza because this black hair products convention culminates in a stylists' competition which has one stylist cut hair upside down; another, underwater; and the winner producing a Don King boxing ring event with an entourage of over 70 people though the rules stated you could only have 10 people on "stage" with you. (How did he do it and how was it allowed? By having only 10 people in the "fight ring" and the others on the floor as spectators.)
Adding interest to this Miss America-type blow-out; Rock explores: the expense of black hair styles for black women both in initial cost and regular maintenance; how hair weaving is done; the social importance of the black hair establishments; the chemical dangers in hair products; the travel route of black wig hair (Hint: watch the shaving ceremonies in India); the fact that almost all black hair products sold today are owned by "white" corporations (this wasn't always the case); and, last but not least, how do black parents prepare their children for the superficiality and commercialism they will encounter in the black beauty world (girls younger than three were shown getting hair perms.)
Good Hair is now available on Starz/Encore or at Amazon. Oh, and my husband told me to say that he even found it interesting.
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