Griffin Matthews’ Post- Page 5

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/9/20 at 7:24pm

What one wonders, in relation to his video message, is whether the show originally was more about Uganda and the plight of the people, and the produces kept insisting it be more about his personal journey and personal needs. To make it "relatable." No way to know, but especially considering its earlier title, perhaps something like that happened. 

[A Director]

Posted: 6/10/20 at 1:06am

This could be the review Matthews is talking about.

https://www.vulture.com/2015/12/theater-review-invisible-thread.html

[Sampatches]

Posted: 6/10/20 at 1:15am

There were rewrites to the show that kept trying to shoe-horn in a white boyfriend character (was originally a female roommate in the Boston production) and there was a lot of focus put onto that relationship when it didn’t really serve the rest of the story. That was a lot of the problem with the Second Stage production as well, the marketing kept trying to make it “sexy and hip” when the show wasn’t about that at all.
 

There was also a song that was cut early in previews that was one of the main points of the show: Griffin’s experiences being a black American in Africa but not knowing where he fits into the world because of the way the Ugandans see him as an outsider 

Updated On: 6/10/20 at 01:15 AM

[latitudex1]

Posted: 6/10/20 at 1:50am

joevitus said: "What one wonders, in relation to his video message, is whether the show originally was more about Uganda and the plight of the people, and the produces kept insisting it be more about his personal journey and personal needs. To make it "relatable." No way to know, but especially considering its earlier title, perhaps something like that happened."

It's finally starting to click, huh? I'm glad, because I didn't feel like wringing another long message out of this point or perspective.

That was always the issue. The stripping of his blackness and his perspective from the work while they put in zero work to discover tools, develop understanding, or enhance their own views of Africa, Ugandan's, African American's, what it feels like to be in black skin, etc...

That is how he felt his voice was being stripped from him.

And when you're in a room full of only white people with no one on your side that feels... Oppressive! That's the center of the story. That's the point in all of this.

[theatreguy12]

Posted: 6/10/20 at 3:07am

"I hear what you are saying, but it could also be argued that a non-black person telling a black person how to tell a black story is inherently kind of racist, isn’t it?"

Just as a non-black politician telling a black person how they should vote could come off as inherently kind of racist too.  Perhaps? 

Seems like politicians, even on the left, have a long way to go when it comes to this topic too.

 Society, in general, has a lot of room for growth in this area.

But that being said, you also can't cry racism at every turn either.   Because when you do so, where it doesn't exist, it becomes like the boy who cried wolf.   And then you do nothing but hurt those who are truly victims of it.

And I just noticed in the news above that Disney just announced looking at doing a musical using Lionel Richie's music.

Where do you draw that fine line between what is truly meaningful, and a sign of listening to the message of today, and just being patronizing, or suddenly making decisions because you don't want to be that one company who doesn't speak out and is then deemed racist.    

We've seen people doing this on this very board.  

'Why hasn't such and such a musical put out a comment yet?' etc. etc.  

Everything is being scrutinized now to such a degree one has to wonder how authentic any of it is.

I guess we can hope it is.  But who really knows?

Updated On: 6/10/20 at 03:07 AM

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/10/20 at 2:27pm

latitudex1 said: "joevitus said: "What one wonders, in relation to his video message, is whether the show originally was more about Uganda and the plight of the people, and the produces kept insisting it be more about his personal journey and personal needs. To make it "relatable." No way to know, but especially considering its earlier title, perhaps something like that happened."

It's finally starting to click, huh? I'm glad, because I didn't feel like wringing another long message out of this point or perspective.

That was always the issue. The stripping of his blackness and his perspective from the work while they put in zero work to discover tools, develop understanding, or enhance their own views of Africa, Ugandan's, African American's, what it feels like to be in black skin, etc...

That is how he felt his voice was being stripped from him.

And when you're in a room full of only white people with no one on your side that feels... Oppressive! That's the center of the story. That's the point in all of this."

But we have to differentiate between "when you're in a room full of only white peoplpe with no one on your side, that feels...Oppressive!" which I agree with (though I've zero idea if he was the only person of color on the creative staff, and clearly all the actors were) and the idea that because it "feels" a certain way, it is in fact racist. Two aren't identical, and I don't distinguish in order to downplay his feelings.

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/10/20 at 2:34pm

theatreguy12 said: ""I hear what you are saying, but it could also be argued that a non-black person telling a black person how to tell a black story is inherently kind of racist, isn’t it?"

Just as a non-black politiciantelling a black person how they should vote could comeoff as inherently kind of racist too. Perhaps?

Seems like politicians, even on the left, have a long way to go when it comes to this topic too.

Society, in general, has a lot of room for growth in this area.

But that being said, you also can't cry racism at every turn either. Because when you do so, where it doesn't exist, it becomes like the boy who cried wolf. And then you do nothing but hurt those who are truly victims of it.

And I justnoticed in the news above that Disney just announced looking at doing a musical using Lionel Richie's music.

Where do you draw that fine line between what is truly meaningful, and a sign of listening to the message of today, and just being patronizing, or suddenly making decisions because you don't want to be that one company who doesn't speak out and is then deemed racist.

We've seen people doing this on this very board.

'Why hasn't such and such a musical put out a comment yet?'etc. etc.

Everything is being scrutinized now to such a degree one has to wonder how authentic any of it is.

I guess we can hope it is. But who really knows?"

I mean, I don't remember non-black people telling blacks who to vote for. Didn't the black vote essentially commandeer the nomination of Biden? It's true every candidate says "Vote for me," but I don't think that's the same thing.

I agree with you that companies are going to bend over backwards to seem "not racist" in terms of publicity campaigns and maybe a few projects. I don't think it will change much of anything, though. That's a season that will pass. I've seen it too often. (How many times have we gone through "Here is the breakout black star/director who finally represents Hollywood giving power to a black person" and then everything else you see is white for the rest of the decade?) 

The real work just has to keep happening as it's been happening: promote employment, promote awareness, patronize works made by people who aren't you and about issues which may not be yours (I'm speaking primarily to whites here). Encourage empathy. I think that's how the change will happen.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 6/12/20 at 12:38pm

I’m intrigued by the stark difference between this thread and the thread regarding the video from Montana Levi Blanco.