Monthly Archives: August 2021

The Resistance and Ingenuity of the Cooks Who Lived in Slavery – SAPIENS

Posted: August 28, 2021 at 12:02 pm

Garlic sizzles in a big Dutch oven. As Peggy Brunache stirs, the aromatic softens and starts to take on a sweetness in the hot oil.

Soon, meat thats been marinated in sour Seville orange juice and episa medley of onions, bell peppers, herbs, salt, and yet more garlicwill hit the pan. These ingredients stew in a mix containing Scotch bonnet peppers and pumpkin and butternut squash that stand in for a winter squash grown in Haiti.

This dish, called soup joumou, dates back at least to the early 1800s, a time that coincided with the Black Haitian struggle for independence from the French empire. It has become a beloved symbol for Haitian freedom from slavery, savored every January 1, Haitis Independence Day.

Soup joumou is a beloved dish in Haiti, associated with the nations independence from France. Peggy Brunache

Its our resistance and celebratory soup, says Brunache, who is Haitian American. The dish is also her favorite of the stewed mealsincluding callaloo, pepperpot, and gumbothat appear across the African diaspora.

A historical archaeologist at the University of Glasgow, Brunache has investigated the meals that enslaved African people created in the French Caribbean, food that she calls slave cuisine. Through excavations on the islands of Guadeloupe, she and her colleagues have catalogued bones and shells, and analyzed remains of pottery to clue into the ingredients and types of food enslaved people cooked for themselves.

Those studies, along with the work of many other scholars, provide a window into the day-to-day experiences of people who lived in slavery. In discussing such meals, Brunache pairs the words slave and cuisine because these ideas may strike some listeners as a jarring juxtaposition. Her use of cuisine is an intentional homage to the skill and creativity of enslaved cooks, typically Black women, who made these foods that are still celebrated today.

In Brunaches kitchen, the aroma of soup joumou entices her family long before its ready to eat. But Brunache also cooks for audiences of dozens or hundreds, using food to broach the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade.

From the 16th to the 19th centuries, White European enslavers forcibly transported more than 10 million people out of Africa and into the Caribbean and the Americas. Though their stories varied widely, many of these people endured slavery in colonized lands on plantations that grew crops such as coffee, sugar, cotton, rice, and indigo. In addition to tending plants and livestock, enslaved people labored in enslavers homes, for instance as maids, butlers, and cooks.

The toll of this tradein death and sufferingacross hundreds of years cannot be calculated. Its vast scale often overshadows the experiences of individuals, including their contributions to culture.

Brunache is one of many scholars who have embarked on a reclamation project, seeking to unveil the humanity of people who lived under slavery. Through research projects across the Americas and the Caribbean, anthropologists and archaeologists are piecing together a more complete picture of the lives led by individuals forced into slave labor.

Often when we talk about slavery, it puts the enslaved person in the place of victimhood, Brunache says. But there were also other aspects of slave culture we can talk about.

In particular, foodwaysthat is, the cultural, social, and economic practices linked to foodcan illuminate the agency of people who lived under slavery and provide connections to the aspects of their history and culture that have lived on. Food is a perfect way to talk about these hard histories: that we found something positive, that we did something activesomething that we can still be proud of, that we still have a link to, Brunache says.

The scholars who study the meals that enslaved people created and consumed contend with gaps in the historical record. European and American enslavers wrote most of the documentation that survives today, leaving silences and inconsistencies regarding the lives and foodways of enslaved people, says Diane Wallman, a historical archaeologist at the University of South Florida.

For example, the Code NoirFrench for Black Codea set of regulations for slavery in the French Caribbean used from 1685 to 1789, described rations that were supposed to be provided to those who were enslaved. But in practice, White enslavers failed to give enough sustenance. Brunache observes that there was a conscious choice made by planters to not really provide enough food for the enslaved community, even though they were working them to death.

Archaeological discoveriesincluding culinary tools and the remnants of meal prep from long agohelp fill in this picture. Researchers have found evidence of not only a varied diet but also diverse, skillful methods of obtaining food, including fishing, hunting, cultivation, and foraging. What happens, explains Wallman, is you have enslaved peoples primarily raising, growing, procuring their own foodstuffs, both plant and animal, throughout this period.

For example, in her excavations of trash heaps near the dwellings occupied by enslaved people on Martinique and other islands, Wallman has turned up a trove of local fish and shellfish remainsevidence against some scholars long-held assumption that only an elite group of enslaved people fished. Lead weights, used to hold nets down and recovered from areas where enslaved people lived, hint at how they fished. We can use what we find to actually counter a lot of these ideas that have been presented in the historical record, Wallman says.

In the excavations, archaeologist Diane Wallman unearthed bones and shells in Martinique, evidence of past meals. Kenneth Kelly

Across both the Caribbean and parts of the United States, enslaved workers grew fruit and vegetable gardens, often called provision grounds. In some cases, people living in slavery had time away from other tasks to tend these gardens, as this produce made up for food enslavers failed to provide. But another way to think about it is that enslaved Africans really pressed for the ability to sustain themselves, notes Maria Franklin, an archaeologist at the University of Texas, Austin.

Franklin has excavated the grounds surrounding the quarters of enslaved people at Rich Neck, a plantation in Virginias Williamsburg area, occupied between 1636 and the 1800s. From subfloor root cellars, hearth areas, and trenches, she and her colleagues have uncovered hundreds of plant specimens. Among the varieties unearthed are corn, cultivated at the plantation and probably rationed to enslaved people, and cowpeas and melons that enslaved people likely grew in their own gardens. Her team also found evidence for foraged fruit, such as cherries and blackberries.

Seed pods from the honey locust tree were the most abundant botanical. In Peter Randolphs autobiography, the formerly enslaved man who lived in a county near Rich Neck recounts brewing the seeds in a coffee-like beverage and using the pods as a sweetener.

Franklin adds: Those trees were growing right around that area, and still are, actually.

Franklins work also suggests that, during the 1700s, people living in Rich Necks slave quarters were raising livestock and had access to many cuts of meat. They also hunted and trapped animals. Evidence of diverse game meatincluding possum and raccoonsuggests a varied diet and that at least some hunting occurred at night, given the nocturnal animals captured.

In this way, the archaeological evidence for these varied meals hints at the experiences of enslaved African people who lived on plantations. Another example comes from evidence of fish dishes at Rich Neck, which suggests that enslaved people had mobility beyond the plantation. The closest river was at least a mile from the slave quarters, so theyre traveling at great lengths, Franklin notes.

Food is a perfect way to talk about these hard histories, says archaeologist Peggy Brunache.

While its not clear if that travel was permitted, she says, the presence of firearms suggests that overseers and enslavers knew that enslaved people were hunting. In addition, Franklin observes, its notable that enslaved people were the ones who are dictating, to a large extent, what they are going to eat.

Several archaeologists are trying to better understand the power dynamics that existed on individual plantations, using foodways as a clue. Barnet Pavo-Zuckerman at the University of Maryland has explored differences between what enslaved domestic workers and field workers atethe latter typically having less time to gather their own food.

On some plantations in Virginia, Pavo-Zuckerman and other archaeologists have found flints, lead shot, and parts of guns. Some of the people who had access to firearms accompanied enslavers on hunting trips. And they may have served as enforcers of the enslavers rules, she explains. That was also a part of social controlto give privileges to some folks and not others.

Her work and others underscores the unique position of the Black enslaved cooks who prepared food for their White enslavers. Often, their recipes blended disparate traditions and ingredients in ways that would come to define regional cuisines. It was a combination of African techniques, American ingredients, Native American influences, and European preferences, Pavo-Zuckerman says, that came in together in the kitchens of these enslaved communities.

In some locales, enslaved people raised and gathered such a bounty of food that the excess could go to market. In the Caribbean, these open-air gathering places likely resembled markets that some of these islands host today, Wallman, the University of South Florida archaeologist, observes.

Written eyewitness accounts from the 1600s to the 1800s suggest enslaved merchants bartered foods and handicrafts, sometimes on behalf of the plantation and sometimes for their own benefit. On Martinique, despite the French government trying to suppress the growing of food in provision grounds through the Code Noir, the practice continued. By 1700, and through emancipation in 1848, through these markets, Wallman says, the enslaved end up almost feeding the entire island with surpluses from the provision grounds and gardens.

Similar markets all over the Caribbean and in parts of the United States also provided a social venue for enslaved people, helping to build a community. So, too, did the various steps of procuring and preparing meals. Hunting, fishing, and cooking were sometimes done in groupsand skills were shared and passed on over generations. For instance, a late 1930s account by Jim Martin, a formerly enslaved man who lived in Mississippi, includes a song that calls the men to go hunting. They would have taken young boys along with them, Franklin remarks, teaching them animals habitats and behavior, and how to use a firearm.

Some of the meals and food-gathering strategies of the past persist in the Caribbeanas these fishers in Martinique demonstrate. Diane Wallman

Sharing food was an important way to pass down traditions. Franklin explains how mothers socialized their children through meals: Its their early indoctrination into seeing the world in a certain way, and to understanding their roots, their identity, their heritage through what they were consuming on a daily basis.

And foodways helped maintain traditions from Africa over generations. Archaeologists have found fragments of ceramic vessels called colonowares at plantation sites in Virginia and South Carolina. Enslaved people made these unglazed ceramic vessels for preparing, serving, and consuming food, adapting earthenware bowl production practices from West Africa.

These vessels stewed many of the same ingredients Brunache uses in preparing the spicy, long-simmering stews and soups that were themselves based on West African cuisine. Recipes often contained a carbohydrate, such as corn or rice; some vegetables, such as leafy greens and peppers; and spices. And Brunaches excavations in Guadeloupe revealed the shells of marine snails, clams, and conches that offered a meaty addition.

Some ingredients came from Africa, brought during the transatlantic slave trade, including yams and okra. Meanwhile, chili peppers from the Americas commonly featured in West African and diasporic cuisines, and still do. Usually, its quite pepperytheres fire on the tongue, Brunache says. That is something you see in every part of the Caribbean.

Slavery endeavored to stamp out the culture and identities of enslaved people. English planters, for instance, gave enslaved people English names and imposed restrictions on African people meeting and practicing their traditional religions.

Yet African people held onto their foodways. Though forcibly uprooted and displaced across great distances, they carried their traditions, skills, and ideas about food with them. Their descendants continued to do so, over generations, including after the abolition of slavery and as families moved across the United States, bringing their cuisines to places like Chicago, Illinois, and Oakland, California.

In many regions of the Americas and Caribbean, the foods innovated and perfected by enslaved African women and men remain iconic staples. Black historians and archaeologists have highlighted how the foods of the African diasporaincluding foods created by enslaved peoplehave become American foods. Enslaved African women brought meals from their quarters into the mansions kitchens, says Franklin, and thats how White children received enslaved foodways as well, which became co-opted as Southern cuisine.

Archaeologist Peggy Brunache appears on a televised cooking festival. Courtesy of Peggy Brunache

Continuity can also be found in the Caribbean. When Wallman gives public talks, many attendees who live on the islands are eager to share their own stories of using similar foods and recipes today. During a presentation, Wallman and her colleagues gave on Dominica, they showed pictures from excavations, including fish bones that offer clues to past meals. In reaction, Wallmans audience chimed in with the local Creole name, sharing whether they still consumed that fish or where they catch that particular species. Were doing this for the greater good of history, Wallman notes, but also for local communities.

These foods can connect people to their history in complex ways. Salted codfish, for example, was slave food. It was specifically imported for enslaved people, Brunache says. But we [Haitians and Haitian Americans] still love the hell out of our codfish today it was something we found positive and still choose to continue in our current identity.

In Scotland, Brunache often prepares peppery gumbo, taro fritters, and sugarcane as part of lectures for primarily White European audiences who sometimes have little knowledge of the transatlantic slave trade or how Europeansincluding Scottish merchantsprofited from it. Consuming historical dishes somehow allows people to embody the past more readily, Brunache says. Its not abstract anymore. Theyve tasted it.

Across history, foodways speak to identity. The meals Brunache and other scholars have unearthed reflect the lives of the enslaved people who once cooked them. As such, they can reflect the context of brutal oppressionand they also illuminate the ingenuity, skill, community, and subtle acts of resistance of the people who prepared them.

The fact that the system was set up to kill you, and you survive, is resistance, Brunache says. Enslaved people did more than survive, she adds. They created phenomenal food.

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The Imperfect Legacy of Romeo Must Die – Vulture

Posted: at 12:02 pm

Jet Li and Aaliyah, 2000s Romeo and Juliet. Photo: Warner Bros.

On a March night 21 years ago, Hollywoods latest riff on the Hong Kong action movie Romeo Must Die was having its red carpet premiere at Westwoods Mann Village Theater. Shannon Lee, the daughter and only surviving descendant of kung fu legend Bruce Lee, was there, along with Magic Johnson in a pigeon-blue pin-striped suit, and Michael Clarke Duncan, glowing and grinning because in a few days he would attend the Oscars as a first-time nominee for his performance in The Green Mile. Babyface, Warren G, and Timbaland were in attendance too, as was Keanu Reeves, a year removed from The Matrix debut and Neos instantly iconic epiphany, I know kung fu. But center stage were two Hollywood newcomers: Chinese-born Singaporean martial-artist extraordinaire Jet Li and pop sensation Aaliyah, the nights Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo Must Die contains the blueprint of a Shakespearean text chopped and screwed into a nearly unrecognizable object. The classic tale of star-crossed lovers becomes a mobster movie spiked with racial politics and inventive ass-kicking. Its not much of a romance, to be perfectly honest, but as Han Sing and Trish ODay, Li and Aaliyah are coy and cool. Sparks seem to fly anyway. When I rewatched it two decades after its premiere, courtesy of the Netflix algorithms decision to resurface the film for me during quarantine, I traveled back in time to an era when silly, action-packed martial-arts movies rode the American mainstream.

Im a member of Romeo Must Dies target audience of the age group for whom summer vacation meant watching MTV past midnight, who had Aaliyahs sophomore album One in a Million in permanent rotation on our Walkmans. But more than that, my parents an interracial couple were martial artists, and so kung fu movies feel like home. Personally, Im surprised at the ease with which collective memory has failed Romeo Must Die, a film that captured a Zeitgeist, however imperfectly. MTV host Ananda Lewis once described it, gleefully, as a perfect marriage of East and West flying kicks, furious fights, vicious wars, and a bangin hip-hop soundtrack. It was a summary that reflected certain reductive cultural shorthands fueling Hollywood: martial arts for Asians and hip-hop for Black Americans. Nevertheless, the idea was hot: Romeo Must Die linked Oakland to Hong Kong, staging impressively choreographed fight scenes set to original early-2000s bops. But the union was hardly the result of a shotgun wedding.

Jet Li and Aaliyah at the premiere of the 2000 movie Romeo Must Die. Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage

The history of hip-hop, borne out of the civil-rights movement, can be traced on a line parallel to the history of martial arts popularity in the West, which reached a peak when multiple Hong Kong imports debuted at No. 1 in the U.S. box office in the 1970s. Bruce Lees posthumous opus Enter the Dragon cemented the martial artists legendary status in 73; here was the rare nonwhite leading man who exuded anti-Establishment energy. While mainstream (white) audiences grew tired of the genre by mid-decade, young people of color didnt move on so easily. Soon, Blaxploitation movies like Black Belt Jones (1974) and Black Dragons Revenge (1975) presented Black martial artists like Jim Kelly fighting with incomparable swagger. In the 80s, Times Square theater owners turned to cheap packages of kung fu movies (and pornos), while Drive-In Movie, an 80s cable program, aired kung fu movies every Saturday. That program was, according to Joseph Schloss, at least partially responsible for a generations interest in martial arts: Pretty much every single hip-hop artist that Ive met from that era used to watch that show religiously. The influence of kung fu movies on hip-hop isnt exclusive to artists like Wu-Tang Clan, either: Consider how martial arts moves inform the art of breakdancing; the TV series Kung Faux, which recuts and redubs old kung fu movies; even Kendrick Lamar utilizes a moniker, Kung Fu Kenny, that throws back to hip-hops roots in shaolin.

By the 90s, following in the footsteps of Wild Style (1982), movies like Above the Rim (1994), New Jack City (1991), Boyz n the Hood (1991), Juice (1992), and Menace II Society (1993) were regularly reflecting hip-hop itself on the big screen. At the same time, Hollywood was courting talent from a thriving Hong Kong film industry. John Woo made his American debut in 1993, directing Jean-Claude Van Damme in Hard Target, and in 1995 Rumble in the Bronx became the first Jackie Chan movie to receive wide theatrical release in North America. By 1997, Michelle Yeoh was making her American debut as the first Asian Bond girl in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and Chow Yun-fat had nabbed the lead role as a contract killer with a conscience in Antoine Fuquas first feature, The Replacement Killers (1998). That year, Li made his American debut as the bad guy in the Joel Silverproduced Lethal Weapon 4 (1998). Then there was The Matrix, also produced by Silver, which revolutionized the Western fight scene with the help of Hong Kong choreographer and wire-stunt specialist Yuen Woo-ping.

Part of what made Hong Kong action cinema so appealing to producers like Silver was its fascination with criminal worlds and the authorities tasked with infiltrating them. Brett Ratners Rush Hour (1998) had already positioned Hong Kongstyle action alongside Black comedy, pairing Jackie Chan with beloved Friday comedian Chris Tucker. Romeo Must Die was Silvers attempt to capitalize on what had recently proved to be a bankable idea. We loved Jet, and we were trying to figure out what to do with him, explains Romeo Must Die director Andrzej Bartkowiak, who worked as the cinematographer on Lethal Weapon 4. [Joel] wanted to make a movie with mixed race [protagonists] and in the process of casting and writing the script we created a new genre the hip-hop kung fu movie.

At this point Lis English skills were nonexistent, Bartkowiak notes. We needed to pull off a story that didnt depend on language, but on the circumstances of characters whose situations were parallel, explains Eric Bernt, one of two Romeo Must Die screenwriters. A Shakespearean adaptation made sense a story like Romeo and Juliet would be well-known and could easily be updated to appeal to modern audiences. (Baz Luhrmann took a similar approach four years earlier with Romeo + Juliet, while Tim Blake Nelson would go on to make 2001s O.) The casting team turned to both Black Hollywood and Hong Kong cinema for its Capulet and Montague family stand-ins. Spike Lee regulars Delroy Lindo and Isaiah Washington were tapped as ODay patriarch Isaak and his scheming No. 2 Mac, respectively; a fresh-faced Anthony Anderson came on as comic-relief punching bag Maurice; with Russell Wong as a strapping Sing henchman and final boss named Kai, and rapper DMX, who would go on to make two more kung fu hip-hop movies with Bartkowiak and Silver, as nightclub owner, Silk. Romeo Must Die was electric in its casting of Black and Asian actors in all major roles.

The plot ran like this: Our Juliet, now Trish, and our Romeo, now Han, find common ground in a shared skepticism of their respective criminal families, both involved in a scheme to buy up properties on the Oakland waterfront. The owner of a record store in the city, Trish keeps her distance from the family business. Meanwhile Han, a former Hong Kong cop whos taken the fall for his fathers misdeeds and gone to prison, breaks out and travels to California to throw himself in the middle of it all again. When his brother, Po, is found dead, Han learns that the last person he attempted to contact was Trishs brother, Colin, which leads our protagonists to unite in search for the truth.

The first act of Romeo Must Die plays out mostly as a showcase for Li and his footwork. After a brawl in a nightclub kicks off the movie in the same way that Romeo & Juliet begins with a fight on the streets of Verona, we first meet Han in a jail cell, where he knocks out multiple guards while hanging upside down in a straitjacket, his accuracy godlike as he bounces a set of keys to his restraints directly into his hand. Li is neither ridiculously muscular nor particularly intimidating his movements have a sleek, vulpine quality that give him a solemn, devil-may-care presence, so the thugs and henchmen in Romeo Must Die underestimate him. Later, when Anthony Andersons Maurice prepares to lay out Han in an altercation taunting him as Dim Sum the antagonist is shocked when hes forced to crawl away in his boxers. In one deliciously absurd scene, Han joins a football game against a hefty group of ODay minions, who vengefully pile on their rival. But when Han gets the hang of it, he artfully brings down his opponents with a few twisting somersaults and leaping scissor-kicks.

Corey Yeun, the renowned Hong Kong director and choreographer, signed on to direct Romeos fight scenes. From the perspective of todays CGI-saturated filmmaking, Romeos special effects and stunt work seem kitschy, but its the films flagrant dismissal of realism that I find so delightful. According to Bartkowiak, it was Lis idea to incorporate X-ray vision into the fight scenes. In fact, he says Silver invested some of his producing fee into making it happen. (Consider the cost of such novel technology on the films slim $25 million budget.) When Han lands a decisive blow on Kais head in the flame-drenched finale, the camera rushes forward, exalting his shattered spine with clinical precision.

The fights are glorious. But today, I cant think of Romeo Must Die without thinking of Aaliyah and her catchy Grammy-nominated single Try Again, the lead single on the movies soundtrack, her whispered, sultry vocals overlaying its propulsive synth. The sleek futurism of the music video how it flaunts Jet Lis moves, reflected in a hall of mirrors, and lingers on Aaliyah as she struts around in leather low-riders. Bartkowiak recalls Warner Brothers eyeing Janet Jackson for the role of Trish ODay, but when Aaliyah emerged as a possibility, she was the only actress invited to do a screen test. There was an innocence to her and a street to her she was a badass but also capable of being vulnerable, describes Bernt. Few Black female artists at the time had so successfully broached the mainstream; shades of Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard seemed to color Aaliyahs Hollywood breakthrough, and with it the promise of comparable superstardom. Casting director Lora Kennedy remembers how naturally Aaliyah slipped into character: She just blew us away. We were overwhelmingly devastated when she passed away. Wed all been there at the start and had such big plans for her.

Movies featuring interracial couples obviously existed before Romeo Must Die, but those that paired Black and Asian characters were few and often independently financed; consider Mira Nairs Mississippi Masala, Timothy Cheys Fakin Da Funk, or Chi Muoi Los Catfish in Black Bean Sauce. Han and Trishs most intimate moments are mostly wordless episodes, the most effective being a fight scene against a mysterious biker woman with kung fu skills of her own. Because Han cant hit a girl, he uses Trishs body to fend off his opponent, gripping her arms and legs in a more provocative manner than any intentionally romantic scene between them. Otherwise, their romance is blinkered, with Hans masculinity getting the short end of the stick. In one scene Trish takes Han to the club on a fact-finding mission and leads him to the dance floor in a bold display of affection. Aaliyahs Are You Feelin Me? (Boy are you feelin me?/ Cause Im feelin you) bumps in the background, but the songs lyrics are more suggestive than the couples PG-rated dance moves Trish running circles around Han swaying like an awkward teenager. Its clear that Romeo Must Die isnt actually a romance, so much as its a showcase for Aaliyah and Li, symbols of subcultures Hollywood felt it could mine.

In the films closing scene, our Romeo and Juliet dont die, but they dont kiss either. According to The Slanted Screen, a 2006 documentary about representations of Asian masculinity in Hollywood, both possibilities an embrace with a kiss and without one were shot, but the kiss tested poorly with audiences. Perhaps this was inevitable for a movie about Black and Asian gangsters that had no voices of color in writing and producing roles, a movie that sees Black and Asian people through the shallow focus of their respective subcultures. Indeed, many scenes in Romeo left me flummoxed:A flashback shows Han and Po as children, escaping from mainland China to Hong Kong using a basketball as a flotation device. Pos body is later found hanging from a telephone pole as if he were lynched. Together, these scenes read an awful lot like half-baked efforts to gesture at symbols and traumas of the Black experience, a meeting of distinct identities as hack and disjointed as the ambient score of bamboo flute instrumentals atop funky hip-hop beats.

Yet traces of what made the kung fu movies of yore such treasured objects of empowerment are also present here in the ingenuity and grace with which Han evades his opponents, the fierce independence and unpretentious wisdom of Trish. Bernt sees the moral dilemma tearing apart each family as fundamental to the films politics: Do you seek to join or partner with white people or do you rule the streets from your own fiefdom? Patriarch ODay yearns to go legit in the form of an ownership stake in an NFL team his white business partner intends to buy. I really think its time the NFL had a Black owner, he says, when he opts instead to hand the payout back. Mac, Isaaks second in command, turns out to be the bad guy, yet his fundamental distrust of the sniveling business partner, who rolls his eyes when Isaak proposes a partnership, feels justified. Going legit may very well take a toll on a mans dignity.

Romeo Must Die ultimately grossed $91 million, debuting at No. 2 at the U.S. box office, behind Erin Brockovich. Aaliyah and Li both received praise for their performances, as did the soundtrack, but the film as a whole fared worse with critics; the New York Times referred to the union between hip-hop and kung fu as a relatively chaste marriage. Like many films of its time, it plumbed Asian and Black subcultures without any outright goal of increasing representation onscreen. Frankly, I dont think I ever approached my work with an agenda, Kennedy explains. [At Warner Brothers] we wanted to make movies that showed different cultures because we had to mix things up. We couldnt just have all these white men. We had to make it more interesting, but there was never a political mandate. Maybe thats why the hip-hop kung fu movie is best remembered as a short-lived fancy rather than the palpable cultural phenomenon it felt like to an adolescent me.

From 2000 onward, moviegoers were freshly enamored with the martial-arts offerings of Li and Jackie Chan, with exotic historical epics (The Last Samurai, Memoirs of a Geisha), and with the magic of wuxia films (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon), yet in many ways, those investments have faded out of the mainstream. Perhaps for good reason. So many of the films of this era are riddled with cultural inaccuracies, racial biases, and the overrepresentation of white creatives above and below the line. Yet in a contemporary landscape that repeatedly approaches cultural diversity in cinematic storytelling by exploiting the traumas of people of color, or by meeting superficial markers of representation, theres something about the intrepid and unhinged silliness of a movie like Romeo Must Die a movie that didnt care to impart a profound, industry-approved sociopolitical message that feels lacking today. When asked if this sort of martial-arts movie will ever make a comeback in Hollywood, Bartkowiak hesitates: I dont know. Everything goes through cycles and phases. I want to believe it will come back.

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Lorde and Nicole Kidman Take on the Cult-ish Wellness Industry – The Daily Beast

Posted: at 12:02 pm

On Wednesday, Hulu dropped the first three episodes of its most star-studded scripted series to date, David E. Kelleys adaptation of Liane Moriartys bestselling novel Nine Perfect Strangers. Directed by Jonathan Levine and co-produced by Nicole Kidman, the limited series takes place in an exclusive wellness retreat where the titular guests attempt to undergo some spiritual and physical transformation, guided by a sketchy Russian guru named Masha, played by Kidman in yet another distracting wig.

As Kevin Fallon opined in his review, the series is a tonal mishmash. Despite some performances that would otherwise attract immediate awards buzz if placed in a better show, notably from Melissa McCarthy and Michael Shannon, none of them really coalesce to create a dynamic ensemble. Nor do any of these broadly written characters or the evidently fraudulent institution warrant that much intrigue. On a marketing level, the series also faces the burden of competing with the hype of HBOs just-concluded smash hit The White Lotus, which also portrays rich people swapping their privileged at-home lives for another privileged experience in an exotic location, and Kelleys previous Moriarty adaptation Big Little Lies, where his pen is far more robust.

Whether or not Nine Perfect Strangers attracts the fanfare its clamoring for with its cast of A-listers, its presence in the zeitgeist, and wonky, cult-ish portrayal of the wellness industry, along with other new media, feels indicative of a growing exhaustion and cynicism surrounding the state of self-care and wellness, particularly the ways its manifested in American life just over the past few years, from social media to QAnon conspiracies to corporate advertising and, of course, the current pandemic.

Wellnessencompassing holistic practices and dubious remediesis hardly a new phenomenon in the United States, although it feels like its become ubiquitous over the past decade. Since colonialism, the Western world has been importing and appropriating Eastern methods of medicine and spiritual practices that are now associated with catchall terms like New Age, alternative medicine, and even Goop. Self-care as a rationalization for incorporating wellness and self-improvement into our lives also has a deeper history than the average Instagram user inundated with #selfcare sponcon would be led to believe, promoted by ancient philosophers and repopularized in political environments like the womens liberation movement of the 70s and, specifically, queer Black feminist spaces. (This is why writer and activist Audre Lordes definition of the term is often referenced on the feminist sections of the internet.)

Now more than ever, these practices and their philosophies have been detached from their histories, stripped of their nuances and monetized by corporations and upper-class white peoplebut most visibly in pop culture, upper-class white women. In a piece for The New Yorker, Jordan Kisner writes about the #selfcare-as-politics movement of 2016 that was ironically powered by straight, affluent white women in response to Donald Trumps presidential campaign and subsequent election, a moment that awakened much of that demographic politically. Likewise, the rich white woman who collects crystals, receives sound baths and is obsessed with tarot cards and, most significantly, considers herself an expert in these customs has captured our collective attention and skepticism, from Gwyneth Paltrow and her Goop empire, Kourtney Kardashians try at her own Goop, shows like the aforementioned Nine Perfect Strangers and Foxs Fantasy Island (although the rich woman is Latina).

Now more than ever, these practices and their philosophies have been detached from their histories, stripped of their nuances and monetized by corporations and upper-class white peoplebut most visibly in pop culture, upper-class white women.

Lorde has taken on this archetype in her new music, particularly the music video to her latest single Mood Ring, which dropped on Wednesday ahead of the release of new album Solar Power. It captures Lorde, ironicallybut maybe not so ironicallydonning a blonde wig like Kidmans Masha, and a group of women in jade green performing sun salutations, turning through old, spiritual texts, and playing with crystals while the 24-year-old croons about tryna to get well on the inside. This lifestyle has been so readily adopted by her ilk, particularly people in the entertainment industry, that one might miss the satirical tone in these lyrics. In her newsletter, the musician explained that the song is satire and that the narrator is fictional, although she admits that she occasionally succumbs to magical thinking when she need[s] to believe in something to feel good and clear.

While Lorde lacks a strong rebuttal to the Gwyneth Paltrow figuremaybe because its too close to home the singers analysis of wellness culture and its misappropriations feels sharper when aimed toward men. On the Solar Power song Dominoes, she lambasts the specific type of man who takes on gardening, weed, and yoga to rebrand from his toxicity and misogyny. It must feel good to be Mr. Start Again, she sings caustically. The song cleverly illustrates how goodness is often ascribed to men who associate themselves with activities that are deemed feminine within our culture. But it also gets at the way self-improvement can easily be utilized as a Band-Aid or a facade in place of doing the actual work.

As culture becomes more and more desperate for healing, whether from political divisions, as our president constantly suggests, or literal life-threatening diseases like COVID-19, the space between community and cult, non-traditional medicine and pseudoscience, self-care and individualism seems to be capturing our artistic imaginations at an extremely vital time. How can the roots of wellness be reclaimed and reasserted when its become a $4.4 trillion money grab and employed for the most dangerous political agendas? Lordes Solar Power and Nine Perfect Strangers may not be perfect articulations of these quandaries, but they show how much there is to mine in that danger zone.

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Lorde and Nicole Kidman Take on the Cult-ish Wellness Industry - The Daily Beast

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Voices of the future: Focalistic to Polo G – GQ South Africa

Posted: at 12:02 pm

In search of musics next megastars, each of GQs 21 global editions nominated a local artist across a world of genres from J-pop to flamenco, rap to reggaeton to show us whos shaping the zeitgeist and defining the sounds of tomorrow.

The Pied Piper of Pretorias Amapiano movement

Age 25

Hometown Ga-Rankuwa

Key track Ke Star (Remix)

In 2016, before my career took off, I wrote on Twitter that I would have a No1 hit in 2020, says Lethabo Sebetso, AKA Pitori Maradona, AKA Focalistic. That happened. Post-manifesting, Focalistic broke out on the South African Amapiano scene with a string of tracks that blend deep house, rap and jazz. But he struck a nerve on the continent by holding up a mirror to the youth. My music is about whats happening in South Africa and Africa right now, he says. It showcases the growth in our culture and how dope African music continues to be. Thats why the people who listen to my music and love it can relate to it it represents them.

Right now, Focalistic has hit a stride thats quickly becoming a victory lap. In February, he linked up with Nigerian-American Afrobeat overlord Davido to drop a remix of Ke Star, which clocked millions of streams and got co-signs from Diddy and Alicia Keys. Amid all this, hes doubling down on manifesting his future: I am definitely on my way to being one of the greatest African artists in the world. GQ South Africa

Photographed by Obakeng Molepe in Ga-Rankuwa, Pretoria. Styled by Mira Leibowitz. Grooming by Baby Choma

The fearless reboot of bedroom pop

Age 20

Hometown Kings Langley

Key track Black Hole

When GQ meets Griff, whos clad in a pearly Richard Quinn dress worthy of a Tudor queen, shes overjoyed: its the drizzly June morning her debut mixtape, One Foot In Front Of The Other, drops and Taylor Swift, no less, has just recommended the project to her 166 million Instagram followers.

Its really, really surreal, admits Griff, born Sarah Griffiths in Hertfordshire, just north of London, and of Chinese-Jamaican heritage. Yet its easy to see why Swift would be impressed. Totally authentic on social media and fearless when layering vocals to produce her unique, confessional synth pop, Griff is the consummate modern bedroom pop star gone boom.

Growing up, she felt that pop was always associated with a lot of fake, music-industry, churned-out stuff. Griff, on the other hand, taught herself to use Apples Logic Pro software on her brothers laptop via YouTube tutorials.

That DIY ethic even extended to the dress she wore to perform at the Brit Awards in May: she stayed up the night before to hand-stitch the fabric into an asymmetric gown. Theres a lot of kids now taking things into their own hands, she explains. Theres a credibility attached to pop again. Thomas Barrie

Photographed by Nick Thompson in Shoreditch, London. Styled by Luke Day. Hair by Tomi Roppongi. Make-up by Michelle Dacillo

The man sparking flamencos new energy

Age 29

Hometown Toledo

Key track La Inocencia

You notice that Israel Fernndez is pure flamenco from the moment he walks through the door. He embodies the art, twisting the rich lyrics in his throat and unleashing them as a wholly fresh sound. Its a gift God gave me, he says, and it also comes from my family. I have Roma origins. We grew up singing and dancing from a very young age. This is my way of life.

Fernndezs talent has already caught the attention of the new wave of Spanish artists, like Rosala, C Tangana and El Guincho, who produced Fernndezs recent single La Inocencia.

For this song I didnt want percussion, clapping or an acoustic finish, he says. I was looking for something more electronic and he was the one to do it.

Thanks to his authentic approach to traditional flamenco and his ability to link up with collaborators Fernndez is already considered the most important cantaor of his era. And hes regularly likened to the master, Camarn de la Isla.

Im not going to say that I dont like that comparison, but Camarn is unrepeatable, he says. My only goal in life is to bring flamenco to the younger generations without the need to deceive them with something else. F Javier Girela

Photographed by Jor Martnez on Gran Va, Madrid. Styled by Juan Luis Ascanio. Grooming by Sandra Garcia Heras for The Artist Management. Produced by Natalia Torres.

The melodic prince of American hip-hop

Age 22

Hometown Chicago

Key track Rapstar

This summer, as heavyweight rappers like J Cole and Migos returned from hiatus, they found a new face dominating the charts. A shy 22-year-old named Taurus Tremani Bartlett, he calls himself Polo G, after his favourite fashion label and a friend named Gucci, who died at 16. Ive had a passion for rapping since I was 19, he says, but I only recently found a deeper passion for it. Hes reflecting on his new project, Hall Of Fame, which topped the Billboard 200 and feels like one of those pivotal third albums that announce a generational talent (think Kanyes Graduation or J Coles 2014 Forest Hills Drive). On Fame, Polo has transformed from melodic street rapper to megastar, proving he can hang with his idols (Lil Wayne), make big pop songs (For The Love Of New York) and notch a chart-topping hit while retaining his core sound (Rapstar). The title, he says, is a road map. Its about knowing the legacy I want to leave, he explains. But first, hes taking a rest at least for a minute. Im treating it as an off-season, just trying to get better. Championships await. Frazier Tharpe

Photographed by Aaron Sinclair in Granada Hills, Los Angeles. Styled by Jake Sammis. Tailoring by Yelena Travkina. Grooming by Hee Soo Kwon using Dior Beauty. Produced by Danielle Gruberger

A genre-melding force in J-pop

Age 24

Hometown Okayama

Key track Nan-Nan

The music comes first, says Fujii Kaze, one of Japans new breed of YouTube-native pop stars. Let me share my favourite Michelangelo quote: I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. This is the way I like to follow. In the noisy J-pop space, Kaze has distinguished himself by his ability to find marble worth carving. Early on, he won fans and subscribers through a smorgasbord of uploaded covers everything from The Carpenters to Ariana Grande to, yes, the 19th-century romanticist Frdric Chopin.

That borderless curiosity paid dividends on Kazes 2020 debut, Help Ever Hurt Never, a kind of stylised disarray of genres that felt thrilling and fresh. The album changes seasons from verse to chorus and track to track, whirring from jazz to classical to R&B in a way thats neither jarring nor forced. Reflecting on his brand of chaotic harmony, Kaze is serene. I dont want to lie to myself or others, he says. I just want to be myself but a better version, always. GQ Japan

Photographed by Takay in Tokyo Bay. Styled by Shohei Kashima for W. Hair by Asashi for Ota Office

The islands heir to the reggaeton throne

Age 29

Hometown San Juan, Puerto Rico

Key track No Se Da Cuenta

What place will Puerto Rico occupy in music history 20 years from now? Reggaeton singer Juan Carlos Ozuna Rosado, winner of two Latin Grammys, listens to the question and smiles, Boricua pride between his teeth. This is an island that sets the pace for many feet in the world, he says, but I think several years from now we will see the legacy more clearly.

Its a legacy Ozuna wants to be a part of. Last year, he released his fourth album, ENOC, which saw him return to the roots of old-school reggaeton. It also continued the Ozuna tradition of high-wattage collabs, with Sia and Doja Cat dropping in for features.

Ive had the opportunity to collaborate with many talents from the island and abroad, he says, and the truth is there is an artist that I have pending who would love to do something new: Rihanna.

If hes setting a high bar, its only because he wants the island to have its chapter in music history. Decades ago, a seed was sown with [reggaeton pioneers] Daddy Yankee and Wisin & Yandel, from which many of us are reaping the fruits, he says. And many of us want to sow other seeds. GQ Latin America

Photographed by Manuel Velez in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Styled by Omar Rivera. Grooming by Omar Rivera. Produced by Brandon Vega. Special thanks to Edgar Andino

R&Bs link from East to West

Age 24

Hometown Antalya

Key track Kendine Gel

One of the best nights Emir Taha had during the turbulent past year was spent cooped up in an Airbnb, putting the finishing touches on a track hed titled Kendine Gel. The song an R&B number layered with synths and Eastern melismas reckoned with a universal challenge: getting ahold of yourself in difficult times. It dropped last year as one of the standouts of Tahas EP Hoppa Pt1. Just like everyone else, he says, Ive accumulated a lot in my head, which shows through the way I think, live and create music.

Tahas Hoppa project continued this year with a second instalment, this one an even moodier take on R&B. The pair of EPs epitomise the borderless nature of Tahas sound: you can hear shades of Kid Cudi, Noah 40 Shebibs collaborations with Drake and Majid Jordan, and Turkish pop crooners from decades past. Born in Antalya, on Turkeys Mediterranean coast, and now based in London, Taha has spent his career accumulating disparate influences that he stitches together in the studio. The productions dont show any seams, just a deft combination of tradition and modernity that brings to mind the work of an artist like Rosala. From Ahmet Kaya to Kid Cudi, Duman to Slowthai, everything I listen to is a collection, says Taha. You never know where inspiration will come from. Alara Kap

Photographed by Burin Ergnt in Shoreditch, London. Styled by Lewis Munro

An urgent voice for indigenous Australia

Age 26

Hometown Sydney

Key track Black Thoughts

My dad talks about the feather and the sledgehammer, says Ziggy Ramo. You need to know when to hit someone over the head, but also when to be as gentle as possible. And for me, my art is my sledgehammer.

Born in Bellingen to a Wik and Solomon Islander father and a mother of Scottish descent, Ramo began making music in his teens. But when his first album, Black Thoughts, arrived last year at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, it hit the Australian music scene not just like a sledgehammer, but like a meteor. Black Lives Matter, thats the subject matter, he raps on the albums title track. Tell you to climb, then they burn down your ladder.

The album is both a passionate attack on the systemic racism faced by generations of indigenous Australians and a celebration of the oldest civilisation on earth. It won an International Indigenous Hip Hop award and found fresh acclaim when he performed it at the Sydney Opera House. But Ramo knows this is just the start. One single performance is not going to change the world, says the artist, whose next album will drop this year. But it can be a catalyst for something bigger. Jake Millar

Photographed by James J Robinson in Little Bay, Sydney. Styled by Harriet Crawford. Grooming by Gillian Campbell

Mexicos link from past to future

Age 37

Hometown Coatepec

Key track Mi Tierra Veracruzana

In addition to her career as a singer, Natalia Lafourcade also takes another job very seriously: that of recovering Mexican folks bygone traditions. The winner of two Grammys, Lafourcade has worked to revive elements of historical genres such as nueva cancin and ranchera, prying their old codes out of oblivion and then running them through her signature hazy folk soundscapes.

The path I have walked led me to get closer to the past and reinterpret it with the help of many musicians who walk the same path, she says. It has been a passionate journey to discover so many types of Mexicans that exist their different ways of loving and suffering throughout our musical history.

Though Lafourcade has orbited the Mexican pop scene for more than two decades, this phase of her career has been a pivot. Now shes a bridge between past and present for a country that seems to have left many of its roots and its songs behind. In May, she dropped the second volume of her album Un Canto Por Mxico, recorded to support the Son Jarocho Documentation Center, destroyed in the 2017 Puebla earthquake.

Im on a journey to understand where I come from, she says, and how we sing here. GQ Mexico

Photographed by Karla Lisker in Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City. Styled by Fernando Carrillo. Hair by Gerardo Maldonado. Make-up by Gustavo Bortolotti

The rapper who bridged Mumbai and Crown Heights

Age 29

Hometown Mumbai

Key track Mere Gully Mein

Just behind Mumbais glittering international terminal stretches a teeming borough called Andheri East. A patchwork of tin, tarpaulin and glass, its a blend of shantytowns and working-class neighbourhoods and home to millions who have arrived, over decades, in Indias city of dreams. Its also where a young boy named Vivian Fernandes discovered hip-hop.

He first encountered the culture on a friends T-shirt emblazoned with 50 Cents face and on a borrowed CD stuffed with dozens of songs by Tupac, Biggie and Wu-Tang Clan. In 2015, Mere Gully Mein a track he built online with Naezy, another young rapper on the rise went viral on YouTube, spawning the gully rap subgenre. Divines seminal verse, delivered in his local Bambaiya Hindi dialect, was brash and rebellious yet honest and clean.

In 2019, Nas signed him to the label he co-owns, Mass Appeal, giving Divine international distribution. In December, his face flickered on a mammoth Spotify billboard in Times Square. And earlier this year, he scored features from Pusha T and Vince Staples. When sounds merge, he says, magic is created.

But Divine remains tied to the streets, launching a venture called Gully Gang Entertainment that helps elevate talent from underrepresented groups. The people made me. I can never forget that, he says from his home studio in 59, still his postal code. Im just a guy with a mic. To stay grounded, be rooted in your culture. Thats the only way to go. Nidhi Gupta

Photograph by Mohit Mukhi/Gltch at Ballard Estate, Mumbai. Styled by Neha Bajaj

The chameleonic queen of So Paulo

Age 26

Hometown So Paulo

Key track Bonekinha

In Brazil, a new generation of pop stars is on the rise: artists like drag singer Pabllo Vittar, trans rapper Urias and Gloria Groove, a drag performer whose music blurs the lines between funk, rap and soul. We are leading a major revolution in Brazilian pop music, Groove says emphatically.

Born in So Paulo as Daniel Garcia, the 26-year-old singer undergoes a Superman-like transformation inside the glam wardrobe of Gloria Groove. As a drag queen, her choreography brash and powerful is in total opposition to Garcias shy demeanour. And really, these are more than dance steps. For Gloria Groove, theyre a call to war.

The dolly doesnt fool around, goes the refrain in Bonekinha, a thumping track from Grooves recent project Lady Leste. She plans to continue teasing songs through the year, all through a kaleidoscopic set of sounds that swerve from rap to pop to funk carioca. I am the descendant of an era in pop music where the artist is in a constant process of reinvention, she says. And no kryptonites stopping that. GQ Brazil

Photographed by Hick Duarte in Jardins, So Paulo. Styled by Bianca Jahara Hair by Perukelly. Make-up by Gloria Groove. Special thanks to Renaissance So Paulo Hotel and Teatro Unimed

Frances flyest chanteur is a weirdo for all

Age 27

Hometown Crteil

Key Track Kid

Three years ago, Eddy de Pretto became a national pop idol within a few weeks. With a sound somewhere between chanson, rap and spoken word, he grew up in a project a few miles outside Paris, listening to a steady diet of hip-hop and Jacques Brel. I was considered a weirdo at school and now I put this weirdo and his feelings at the centre of my songs, of my interviews, says de Pretto. I turned him into a sun.

Coming up, he caught eyes in industry circles with his striking stage presence and when he released his debut album, Cure, in 2018, the people concurred: a week after it dropped, Cure hit the top of the French charts.

Openly gay, de Pretto ruminates on toxic masculinity (he cites Frank Ocean as a role model) but has no desire to be a poster boy for the French LGBTQ+ movement. Instead, hes singing for every freak, every weirdo and every bastard. And thats the very title of his sophomore album, released last spring: Tous Les Btards. Its cool to be in love with ones own imperfections, with ones differences, he says. Thats the only way to find strength in them. GQ France

Photographed by Romain Laprade in Saint-Germain-des-Prs, Paris. Styled by Vanessa Pinto. Grooming by Cidji Humbert

A cyborg making pop human again

Age 33

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Voices of the future: Focalistic to Polo G - GQ South Africa

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Broadway in 2021 will ‘have so many Black voices.’ Theatergoers, pros say it’s about time – NorthJersey.com

Posted: at 12:02 pm

Celeste Bateman highlights Black theatre performances for Broadway audiences

Celeste Bateman continues the legacy of Elmart Theatre Service founded in 1969, by connecting Broadway fans with shows supporting Black theatre.

NorthJersey.com

A time-out can be good discipline.

Broadway like achild sent to its room hashad a lot of time over the past 15 months to ponder its bad behavior. Especially inthe matter ofinclusion.

Now, after a long lockdown, and a "Black Lives Matter" movement that has stirred the conscience of a nation, the New York stage is reopening in a thoughtful mood. It's not just new health protocols you'll be seeing in theaters this fall. It's new marching orders.

Trouble in Mind, Thoughts of a Colored Man, Paradise Square, Lackawanna Blues, Caroline, or Change, To Kill a Mockingbird, Pass Over, "Skeleton Crew" are just some of the shows that, in various ways, address our current moment of racial crisis and alsoattempt to adjust an imbalance that is as old as the aptly named Great White Way.

And thats not counting the purely escapist shows centered aroundAfrican-Americans: MJ, Tina, Ainttoo Proud "Freestyle Love Supreme." Ortraditional shows that have been "reimagined" with multi-racial casts, like "1776"an all-female production, to boot. Orlong runs resuming their record-breaking careers, like "The Lion King" (back Sept. 14 at the Minskoff) and "Hamilton" (back at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, also starting Sept. 14).

None of these shows, in itself, is remarkable. But the sheer number of them is something new, says Celeste Bateman, director of Newark's ElmartTheatreService.

She knows. She's been keeping tabs for 50 years.

"It seems like everyone woke up in this last year of pandemic and discovered Black people," Bateman said. "This is major. This has got to be an all-time record for Broadway shows."

The business Bateman runs and which she inherited from her mother, who co-founded it in 1969 is a "theater party" service.

These are the chartered buses that bring groups of as many as 55 pervehicle to New York, to see Broadway plays at group-discount rates. It's one of the backbones of the theater business. "We're the theater party ladies, and we come to all the matinees," sang a group of grannies in the1979 off-Broadway revue, "Scrambled Feet."

But Bateman's company is different in onerespect. It is aimed at Black theatergoers. Which are as numerous as any other kind only Broadway producersand publicists tend not torecognizethis.Or, when they do, don't know how to reach out to them.

"We've always known the audience is there, and it's only grown over the years,"said Montclair playwright Richard Wesley, who has written for Broadway ("The Mighty Gents"), movies ("Uptown Saturday Night," "Let's Do It Again") and for that uniqueinstitution, the Black regional theater, subject of his latest book, "It's Always Loud In The Balcony" (Applause Books).

Over the years, theElmarttrips became an event. Box lunches, prepared by a caterer, would be served to the ticket-holders, before they boarded the bus in Newark and headed to the city for the big show. They had no trouble finding customers."They could take as many as three busloads at a time, easily," Bateman said (she now usually just does one bus).

The belatedrecognition of this audience may be one reason Broadway has pivoted.

Another is Broadway actors and backstage folksthemselves. They've beencalling foul.

Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Anna Deavere Smith, Vanessa Williams, Billy Porter and Wendell Pierce are among the stars aligned with Black Theatre United, a coalition that has called for a "new deal" for inclusion on Broadway. Another group, We See You W.A.T. W.A.T. being "White American Theatre" has a whole list of demands. "As the global majority, we demand a bare minimum of 50% BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) representation in programming and personnel, both on and off the stage."

"These are Black theater artists who were veterans of Broadway, and theater in general," Wesley said. "They were upset that, after all these years, after all this time, and in the midst of all this tumult going on in the wake of George Floyd's death, we're still waiting for some kind of representation on Broadway beyond the occasional all-Black show, beyond the occasional role here and there."

Time, they are saying, that the people on the stage looked like the people in the audience.

"How can we have a country we perceive as multi-ethnic, and yet we still have shows and still make assumptions about an overwhelmingly white audience, that is only interested in seeing shows by white authors?" Wesley said.

'Shuffle Along' turns 100: Remembering the first Black Broadway hit

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As for thatwhite audience subject of the baleful stare of the "We See You" activists it is showing some appetite to engage with the current moment of racial reckoning. But at varied levels of comfort.

Musicals, or course, are usually safe. Especially that variety known as the "juxebox musical" familiar songs rendered newly flavorsome by energetic young performers, spectacular dancing and singing,and lots of "production value."

For instance,"Tina: The Tina Turner Musical," which reopens at the Lunt-Fontanne on Oct. 8. Or" Aint Too Proud The Life and Times ofthe Temptations," which will be back at the Imperial Theatre starting Oct. 16.

True, "MJ: The Musical," starring Myles Frost as the King of Pop the previously announcedEphraim Sykes has left the cast does skirt some potentially explosive issues. But word is that the book, by Pulitzer Prize-winnerLynn Nottage, steers clear of most of them,focusing on the backstage drama during a singletour, in 1992. ItopensFeb 1 at the Neil Simon Theatre, with previews beginning Dec. 6.

In a different category is"Freestyle Love Supreme," an improvisational rap musical playing a limited run at the Booth Theatre from Oct. 7 to Jan. 2. The big name here is not somesuperannuated pop star, but Broadway royalty.Lin-Manuel Miranda not in person, but as co-creator is the draw for this show, even as his other one, "Hamilton," prepares to resume its spectacular career at the Richard Rodgers.

As far as less escapist fare, among the lesschallenging is"To Kill a Mockingbird," the Aaron Sorkin adaptation of the beloved Harper Lee novel about a courageous white lawyer (Jeff Daniels through Jan. 2) in the1930s Alabama defending a Black man falsely accused of rape.

It recalls a day when African-Americansand progressive whites were in theory, anyway comrades-in-armsin the civil rights struggle,with pats on the backall around. It will resume performances at the Schubert Theatre(it was shuttered by COVID in March) starting Oct. 5.

Other dramas ofracial conflict feature different ethnicities mixing it up thus giving white audiences a"way in."

"Paradise Square," the musical about relations betweenAfrican-Americans and Irish at a Five Points bar in the 1860s period of the New York draft riots,will open onSunday, March 20(previews begin Feb. 22) at theEthel Barrymore Theatre. "Caroline, or Change," a revival of the musical by Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori last seen on Broadway in 2004 about the evolving relationship between a Jewish Louisiana family, their maid, and her family, set during the Kennedy years, will be at Studio 54 Oct. 27 (previews begin Oct. 8).

"Trouble in Mind," the 1955 drama by trailblazing African-American writerAlice Childress, about an actress of color (LaChanze) confronting the white creative team of her latest play about lynching, no less willopen atRoundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre on Nov. 18 (previews begin Oct. 29).

The BLM zeitgeist can also be detected,directly or indirectly, in many other shows some of them new, some of them older pieces that happened to seemon-point.

"Thoughts of a Colored Man," a "slam poetry" meditation on the inner lives of Black men by Keenan Scott II, beginsOct. 31 (previews start Oct. 1) at the John Golden Theatre."Lackawanna Blues," the Broadway debut offRuben Santiago-Hudson's one-man reminiscence (it launched at the Public Theater in 2001) about the strong woman who raised him, opensSept. 28 (previews start Sept 14) at theSamuel J. Friedman Theatre. "Skeleton Crew," starring Phylicia Rashad inDominique Morisseaus play about Detroit auto workers facing the 2008 recession, follows at theSamuel J. Friedman TheatrestartingJan.12 (previews begin Dec. 21).

One playthatmay speakmore directly to the era of George Floydis"Pass Over."The 2015 Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu drama, which riffson "Waiting for Godot" and "Exodus," isabout two Black men on astreet corner, ponderinga no-way-out world of police violence and existential dread.

The show, which had an off-Broadway run in 2018 and was filmed by Spike Lee for Amazon Prime,makes it Broadway debutat the August Wilson Theatre, Lincoln Center on Sept. 12, with previews startingAug. 4. This is Broadway's ribbon-cutting: the show that launches the season (if you don't count "Springsteen on Broadway," the solo show that began June 26).

"It's that idea of existential crisis, of not being able to go anywhere, feeling stuck," said Namir Smallwood, the Newark-born actor who will be reprising his off-Broadway role ofKitch.

"It's about where do these people find hope," hesaid. "In president Obama's first election, the tenor was hope. And then, four years later, eight years later, everybody's losing hope. More Black people are being killed by the police just because of fear. The terror on both sides, the victim and the victimizer. And you couple that with the the pandemic, which essentially is a plague. We are living in plague right now. California is burning.This could be a time where we and our society are purging."

These shows range in approach, appeal, and it's fair to say quality. Butthey have have one notable thing in common.People of color:In front of the scenes, and behind the scenes.

"It's admirable that this upcoming Broadway season is going to have so many Black voices as part of it, Black artists," said Caseen Gaines, a Hackensack cultural historian. "But I think what people are really looking for is a lasting, systematic change, that allows these artists to frequently have opportunities to perform on the greatest sages of the world."

This year marks the 100th anniversary of "Shuffle Along," the first Broadway hit written and performed by African-Americans.

Gaines has written a new book, "Footnotes," about this famous 1921 show by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle, which gave the world the classic tune "I'm Just Wild About Harry." The signals appeared toturned green, then, for African-American performers.It seems they have done so again.But will it last?

"We have seen throughout the last century these moments where the floodgates open up and there are a lot of Black productions, and increased representation on Broadway," he said. "Sometimes these moments are very fleeting."

Such moments have been very precious to Black theatergoers. During years when African-Americanswere nearly invisible inTV and movies, the occasional glimpse of a non-white face on Broadway was an Event."There was such a hunger for Black theater in those days, because it was such a rare commodity," Bateman said.

Only problem was, producershad no idea how to tap into that audience."They market through the New York Times," Wesley said."Black audiences really do a lot of their communicating through word-of-mouth."

So audiences took matters into their own hands. A 1969 New York revival of "A Raisin in the Sun" was the first field trip organized byElmart named for Elma Bateman, Celeste's mother,and Arthur Wilson, both theater buffs and parishioners ofQueen of Angels, an historically Black Catholic church in Newark.

Church, in fact, has beena key channel for audience outreach in the Black community, as producers of "The Wiz" (1975)and "Dreamgirls"(1981) discovered.

"'The Wiz' was a classic case," Wesley said."It got a great review in The New York Times, but that wasn't what got Black audiences to see it. They came out because someone was wise enough to invite church groups."

After 50 years, and mostly slim pickings, Bateman has plenty to choose from in the coming year. "MJ" is first show, post-pandemic, in Elmart's books: Jan. 5.

Hopefully there will be more, in the years to come.

"What we ideally would be looking for is that the next Broadway season would also have a lot of spaces for creators of color," Gaines said.

Jim Beckerman is an entertainment and culture reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access tohis insightfulreports about how you spend your leisure time,please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email:beckerman@northjersey.com

Twitter:@jimbeckerman1

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Broadway in 2021 will 'have so many Black voices.' Theatergoers, pros say it's about time - NorthJersey.com

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The Card Counter: Paul Schrader on the Ways Scorsese and Taxi Driver Informed New Gambling Drama – IndieWire

Posted: at 12:02 pm

Some filmmakers write a hit movie and spend the ensuing years trying to escape its shadow. Paul Schrader never flinched. Forty-five years after his Taxi Driver script put him on the map, the writer-director has developed a body of work loaded with alienated anti-heroes compelled to violent and reckless extremes for the sake of a higher calling.

That includes The Card Counter, in which Oscar Isaac plays guilt-stricken Abu Ghraib vet William Tell, a man with a gambling addiction compelled to help the revenge-seeking son (Tye Sheridan) of a former colleague. Taking justice into his own hands, Isaacs William Tell slithers through the Vegas strip in search of questionable salvation, not unlike a certain Vietnam vet named Travis Bickle did from the drivers seat. As if to cement the comparisons, The Card Counter features Martin Scorsese as an executive producer, marking the first time the two men share a credit since 1999s Bringing Out the Dead.

For Schrader, Taxi Driver comparisons are inevitable in all his work. My tendency is to look for interesting occupational metaphors, Schrader said in a recent interview. Taxi Driver hit the bulls eye of the zeitgeist and it doesnt die. Theres no way I couldve planned for that, but it does inform the stories I tell.

At 75, Schrader continues to churn out movies much like his compatriot Scorsese, albeit on a much smaller scale. The Card Counter is the latest illustration of the secularized Christian dogma percolating through his work. Our society doesnt like to take responsibility for anything, he said. But I come from a culture where youre responsible for everything. You come into the world soaked with guilt and you just get guiltier. In his own prickly fashion, Schrader makes movies steeped in empathy for lost souls in search of redemption despite the daunting odds. Were all certainly capable of forgiveness, he said, and chuckled. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.

The Taxi Driver dilemma looms large in nearly all of Schraders work, from the dazzling high-stakes activism of Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters all the way through Ethan Hawkes eco-conscious priest in First Reformed. While the latter, Oscar-nominated effort brought Schrader new fans, The Card Counter is an even more precise distillation of his aesthetic a moody, philosophical drama about the vanity of the personal crusade.

AGF s.r.l./REX/Shutterstock

Schrader, who has labeled his homegrown character studies as man in the room dramas, embraces the parallels as usual. There is this kind of myth that the taxi driver was this friendly, joking kind of guy who was a character actor in movies, he said. But the reality is that its a very lonely job, and youre trapped in a box for 60 hours a week. He saw the same logic with gambling, a wayward profession generally depicted in the movies in the context of escapist romps, rather than the somber rituals that afflict most players. I thought about the essence of playing cards every day, or sitting in front of a slot machine. Its kind of zombie-like, Schrader said. You see commercials of people in casinos laughing. But its a pretty glum place. Today with slots you dont even have to pull the lever. You just sit there and let the numbers roll.

The gambling figure led Schrader to the bigger picture of his characters conundrum. I was wondering why someone would choose to live in that sort of purgatory, he said. He doesnt want to be alive, but he cant really be dead, either. What could cause that? It cant be a simple crime, murder, or a family dispute. It has to be something unforgivable. And that was Abu Ghraib.

After the fallout of that debacle, William did time in a military prison, and reenters society before the movie begins. That was a world the filmmaker wanted to understand in clearer terms. Though Schrader has received blowback for his controversial Facebook posts in the past, in this case, the platform was an asset: He used it to track down soldiers who had done time in the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, the only military prison in the U.S., to better understand the initial claustrophobic world that Tell endures, as well as the conflict between the justice hes received and what he deserves. This man has been punished by his government, set free, and paid his due, but he doesnt feel that, Schrader said. What does he do then? How does he fill his time? Thats how it all began.

Schrader himself toyed with gambling when he lived in Los Angeles early in his career, but soon gave it up. I very quickly realized I was only interested in gambling if it was really dangerous and I didnt want to expose myself to that kind of danger, he said. Years later, though, the experience helped inform his story. There is this whole fantasy of gambling movies from The Cincinnati Kid to California Split, Schrader said. But poker is all about waiting. People will play 10 to 12 hours a day and two to three times a day, a hand will happen where two players both have chips. Now youve got a face-off. But that doesnt happen very often. Most guys who are there are running the numbers, the probability.

He envisioned The Card Counter as a repudiation of the traditional poker movie, which builds to the giddy release of a final tournament. When that moment arrives in the movie, Schrader takes the movie in a bleak, shocking new direction. Its not really a poker movie thats a red herring, he said.

William is immersed in his casino journey when he encounters Cirk (Sheridan), the crazy-eyed son of another Abu Ghraib soldier who committed suicide. Cirk blames the soldiers former commander (Willem Dafoe), and hopes to loop William into the plan. Instead, the older man decides to take Cirk under his wing to talk him out of the act, which doesnt prove so easy. In the process, the gambler forms a curious bond with La Linda (Tiffany Haddish), a gambling agent and pimp whose icy, relentless drive to make the most out of the poker circuit brings William some measure of companionship on his wayward journey.

It should come as no surprise that the Girls Trip breakout is nearly unrecognizable in the role of the calculated La Linda, which is also a distinctly Schraderish touch: From his work with Richard Pryor in 1978s Blue Collar all the way through Cedric the Entertainers supporting turn in First Reformed, Schrader has made a habit of seeking out comedic actors willing to play against type. Thats partly opportunistic on his part. Theyre eager to do it because they want to expand their palette, so you can get them for a price, Schrader said, chuckling again. Thats necessary, given the kind of films I make. But thats not all: They will always find a way to be interesting, even when theyre not getting a laugh.

Which is not to say that the process comes easily to them. Haddish recently told the New York Times that Schrader had to coach her out of speaking in a comedic sing-song. The filmmaker put it in blunter terms. On the first reading of the script we had, frankly, she wasnt very good, he said. I told her to go back and read every single line without emotion. Then I said, Youre not going to do that in front of the camera, but you cant hit every line either. So lets pick five or six lines you can hit where you get a smile or reaction. Quickly she got that it was a different rhythm.

As for Isaac, whose disquieting turn suggests a maniac lingering just beneath the surface, Schrader once again turned to metaphor. I told him to imagine himself on a rocky coast in the ocean, Schrader said. Waves are going to come up and get you all day every day. Theyre going to try to batter you. Let them. The waves will go away. Youll still be there. Dont compete. In the end, the rocks will win. You have to learn to trust that the way these things are put together has more power than the individual movement.

Williams routine includes an odd ritual in which he covers all the furniture in his various Vegas hotel rooms with white paper. While the motivation is never explained, Schrader said it stemmed from an experience with production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti on the set of 1982s Cat People, when Schrader realized the man was doing the same thing. He said, quite simply, I have to live here surrounded by these ugly hotel furnishings, Schrader recalled. The concept inspired the new movies most compelling visual motif. Casinos are very ugly places. There are no exceptions, Schrader said. Often you aspire to finding pockets of beauty and there werent really any here except the only place he could control, which was his hotel rooms, where he could privatize his visions. I came up with this ritual for him to control those visuals.

At a certain point, Schrader himself couldnt control the visuals of The Card Counter for more prosaic reasons: After an extra tested positive for COVID-19, the production shut down last March, with five days of shooting left, and couldnt resume until July. Though Schrader initially took to Facebook to fume at his producers, the pause eventually opened up an opportunity to tweak his vision. I edited the film and put in placeholders for the five or six scenes of consequence that I hadnt shot, he said. I didnt have a fully finished film but I could screen it for people. Normally you only get that privilege if you have a big-budget film and youre allowed reshoots. The early audience included Scorsese, who provided a crucial note. I asked Marty, What am I missing? He said to me that the relationship with Tiffany and Oscar was too thin. So I rewrote those scenes.

Schrader asked Scorsese to take on the executive producer credit as a favor. I said, Marty, wouldnt it be nice to share a card again? I thought it would help sell the film but it would also be a cool thing to do after all these years, Schrader said. Then a couple of weeks later his agent called wanting to work out a deal. What deal? I asked Marty and he said yes. Thats the deal! Now, the pair are trying to collaborate on a new long-form TV series based on the Bible, though the timing has been delayed by production on Scorseses upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon.

In the meantime, Schrader has been mulling over the way Taxi Driver not only continues to inform his storytelling but the world at large. Hardly a week goes by that I dont notice or hear some reference to it, he said. But I dont know how youd tell such a story today. A number of writers have tried and I dont think theyve succeeded because it has to come out of a certain place and time. We have plenty of these incels around, but theyre not as original or revealing as they were 45 years ago when that character came on the scene. I wouldnt know how to write about it.

Instead, his next project is a love triangle called Master Gardener, which he hopes to shoot in Louisiana before the end of the year. He has several other potential scripts ready to go after that. And while he has expressed trepidation about the future of cinema in the past, hes not convinced that audiences have given up on it yet. He recalled a conversation he had with Cedric the Entertainer when First Reformed made the rounds. He said off-handedly to me, You know, I didnt realize there were so many people who liked serious movies, Schrader said, and chuckled once more. Well, yeah, there are.

The Card Counter premieres next week at the Venice Film Festival. Focus Features releases on September 10, 2021.

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Kalyan Singh was a product of, and contributed to, change in the BJPs politics, with all its tumult and contradictions – The Indian Express

Posted: at 12:02 pm

The political career of Kalyan Singh, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, who died on Saturday aged 89, reflects the ebb and flow of the BJPs electoral fortunes since its formation in 1980. His spectacular rise in the 1990s and marginalisation in the 2000s coincided with the BJPs own transformation from a cadre-based party that talked of Gandhian socialism to a mass outfit that championed Hindu nationalism during a period of political upheaval in northern India.

Singh was well poised to ride the crest of the two ideas that had captured the zeitgeist of the decade Mandal and Mandir and occupy office in Lucknow as the BJPs first CM of UP. Along with Uma Bharti, he was the prominent face of the BJPs own Mandalisation process, through which the party had tried to shed its image of being a caste Hindu outfit and embrace a pan-Hindu identity with a support base that included large numbers of backward castes. Born in a Lodh-Rajput family, Singhs rise to office was viewed as representative of the empowerment of OBCs within the rubric of Hindutva politics, which also neutralised the political edge that Lohiaite groups had gained on the ground, post Mandal. As CM, he presided over the demolition of the Babri Masjid, a moment that shamed constitutional democracy, but also irreversibly changed the contours of the countrys politics. It also cost Singh his office. When the tide that rose with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement fell and equations within the BJP changed, Singh found himself dispensable to the party though he had become CM a second time in 1997. Singh quit the BJP in 1999 (and in 2004) to float his own outfit only to realise that he could at best be a caste leader and dent the BJPs electoral fortunes, but would need the support of his chief political adversary in the 90s, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, to win even his own Lok Sabha seat.

Singh returned to the BJP after more than a decade at the political fringes, but like Bharti, was a much diminished leader with little or no influence within the party on his return. It only seemed to confirm that leaders like Singh and Bharti commanded influence as products of a moment and movement, which overtook them, left them behind. Their relegation also suggested that OBC empowerment in the BJP could only exist as a current within the main course of Hindutva politics. However, the churn that Singh was a part of, and contributed to, has not ceased. It continues to shape the electoral and ideological contours of Indias politics.

This editorial first appeared in the print edition on August 24, 2021 under the title Mandal in Kamandal.

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10 years later, Deus Ex Human Revolution is still the cyberpunk game to play – Tom’s Guide

Posted: at 12:01 pm

Its been a decade since Deus Ex: Human Revolution was released and brought with it a much-anticipated return and reboot of the series that arguably defined what immersive sims could be. And while its sequel Deus Ex: Mankind Divided built upon the rebooted formula, Human Revolution remains one of the best cyberpunk games to play today, especially after the disappointment of Cyberpunk 2077.

Sadly, the Deus Ex series now seems to be on hiatus. Publisher Square Enix had planned for there to be a whole Deus Ex universe of games and supporting media, but after Mankind Divided that never really happened.

I am hoping that Deus Ex will return, as Ive enjoyed all four main games in the series, even the less-than-impressive Invisible War. The blend of conspiracy-heavy stories, human augmentation, interesting settings, and an open-ended approach to missions and problems is an utter joy.

And while it may not have the deep systems of games like Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain or the sheer flexibility of the Dishonored games, Human Revolution is still wonderful for a decade-old immersive sim.

While player character Adam Jensen may not have asked for augmented limbs after he was critically injured in an attack on his employer Sarif Industries, a game that effectively reboots the magnificent original Deus Ex was something I very much asked for.

It was a risky move by developer Eidos Montreal, given it was looking to develop a game that was very much trying to be a modernized version of arguably one of the best games of all time. Deus Ex offered a huge amount of systems and flexibility to approaching missions in levels that felt huge for a game from 2000.

With modern graphics, I was worried that Human Revolution would fail to deliver the scale of the original game. And it didnt; there was no skills system and missions took place in smaller spaces. But that actually worked in Human Revolutions favor, offering smartly designed environments with all manner of things to look at, uncover, hack and blow up.

And like the original game, you could approach objectives in a variety of ways, including not killing any enemies in the entire game. You could sneak, snipe, tranquilize, hack or simply circumnavigate a lot of threats in the game; I took great joy in knocking out guards as part of a non-lethal run, and stuffing them into vents or secluded corners, chuckling away to myself as I imagine them groggily waking up and wondering how they ended up in compromising positions with their comrades.

The only fly in the ointment was that the boss battles in the game were subcontracted to another developer, who made the decision to force combat upon the players. This rubbed against the whole Deus Ex DNA of being able to choose how you take on such problems. But the Directors Cut of Human Revolution retcons that by allowing you to deal with these battles in a more creative way; its the version of the game to play today.

Speaking of today, while Human Revolutions graphics engine is dated, it still looks very nice. The art direction is simply exceptional, with the developers coining the term Cyber Renaissance to create modernized versions of the clothing and architecture of the 15th and 16th centuries; Id found myself wandering the small Detroit hub area simply admiring the coats and jackets of random characters.

Human Revolution also plays very well. On the hardest Deus Ex difficulty, Human Revolution forces you to think tactically about engaging in combat, meaning youll need to employ all manner of equipment and augmentations, such as cloaking or the being able to move at superhuman speeds.

And the actual gunplay itself is pretty neat, too. Its no Doom Eternal, but being able to dodge between cover and blind-fire in third-person what was a controversial move give the last two games only first-person let you survive fights in which Jensen was completely outgunned.

But the real joy came from manipulating the games flexibility. I loved to sneak and hack (the tense hacking mini game is rather smart) my way around various locations, turning automated turrets against their operators or finding a code to a security door by digging through the emails of a security guard.

Equally, when I was lacking the tools or correct hacking level to do this, a strength aug allowed me to stack various crates and office equipment to create a makeshift ladder to hop over security fences and laser grids, or get into out-of-reach vents. Outside of Mankind Divided, I cant think of another game that lets you do that; Cyberpunk 2077 certainly doesnt.

Another smart mechanic is that some encounters with other characters put you in a form of conversational battle where you have to use your wits and feedback from a social augmentation to convince or compel the person to your line of thinking or give you access to an area youre not supposed to be in.

While the actual boss battles werent good, these conversions felt like the true boss fights, as you try and gauge a persons reaction and personality to win them over. Im rather surprised more games havent ripped off this mechanic.

Deus Ex: Human Revolutions story also stands up well to such conversational battles and the test of time. While it taps into what could have been a rote tale of conspiracies, the actual story is very good. There's multiple conflicting parties, a good few twists and turns, and one of the best approaches to the topic of human augmentation and transhumanism without descending into overly sci-fi tropes.

The ending could be better, which I wont spoil, but otherwise the plot and the stories within it are excellent.

As are the characters. Voiced by Elias Toufexis, in the games initial trailers Adam Jensen first struck me as an overly-gruff ex-SWAT member who desperately thinks being aloof is the height of coolness. But in the actual game, Jensen is surprisingly nuanced, treading the line between being a man who wants to get a job done, to someone who shows genuine warmth to his friends and colleagues.

One of the stand out characters is David Sarif, the founder and CEO of augmentations firm Sarif Industries. Again, the games trailers portrayed him as a power-hungry boss whos almost certainly manipulating Jensen. But in reality, he more of a near-future Steve Jobs, with the enthusiasm and ambitions to drive a company that may not be the first on the market but produced the best products; only just works in this case, means the ability to turn a person into a walking claymore mine.

Human Revolution is full of such characters that are far more than they first seem; I can think of two particularly smart encounters that had me thinking well that was unexpected.

In short, if you were left disappointed by Cyberpunk 2077 and dont feel the pull of more straightforward upcoming shooters like Battlefield 2042 or Call of Duty Vanguard, then I very much encourage you to look to the past and give Deus Ex Human Revolution a go. And then the original game.

Furthermore, to any developers reading: please draw inspiration for Human Revolution, as Im more than ready for more cyberpunk immersive sims. Heck, if Square Enix is listening, please dont abandon the Deus Ex series, it deserves more, including a PS5 or Xbox Series X remaster.

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First Free DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 is Small and Purely Cosmetic Whats Next? – TheDealExperts

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The first batch of free DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 has been recently unveiled, but unfortunately, its not quite as impressive as many players were hoping for. It was during a live Twitch Stream that employees from the developer gave everyone a breakdown of the new content the DLC brought to the table, as well as the contents of Patch 1.3.

This first batch of free DLC is purely cosmetic, which isnt really a problem in and of itself, but even for (or perhaps especially for) a cosmetic DLC, its very small. There are only four items included, that being an alternate outfit for Johnny Silverhand, two jackets, and one car. If you wish to access this DLC, you can do so in-game via the Additional Content tab in the main menu.

The jackets are both rare/iconic quality and can be accessed in Vs apartment once you have completed The Ride mission. The car, dubbed the Archer Quartz Bandit, can be bought after the player has completed Ghost Town. All well and good, but still kind of a letdown as far as player expectations were concerned.

Senior Level Designer Miles Toast assures players that this first DLC is small for a reason. Its because Patch 1.3 is the biggest update for Cyberpunk 2077 since its release, and the team had to devote most of their focus to that. As such, this small DLC is really just icing on the cake that is Patch 1.3 itself. With future updates probably being smaller than Patch 1.3, future DLC should also be larger, since the team will be able to focus more time and resources on it. Toast said as much during the Twitch live stream.

This patch is our biggest one to date. Weve put a lot of effort into this one, so consider the DLCs that we have now as sort of goodies, sort of cherries on top. The reality of course, and weve talked about this in the past, is that we differentiate a bit between different kinds of extra content, between DLCs, additional items of which we will have plenty coming down the road, and of course the giant expansion passes which we will have something to say about later.

This plan is very similar to the way that CDPR handled The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It got 16 batches of free DLC before actually getting its huge 2015 and 2016 expansions. President Adam Kiciski even said in 2020 that this was the plan of action for Cyberpunk 2077, or at least that it would be very similar.

Senior quest designer Patrick Mills said that, while all DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 will be free, there will be no consistent size between them. Moreover, none of the DLC will even come close to the scope of the larger add-ons that CDPR is planning for the game somewhere down the road. Theres been no word of what those expansions will be, but Mills did confirm that it would cost money to get.

As of right now, there is not an exact date as to when Patch 1.3 or the first batch of DLC will be available. CDPR simply said that fans can expect it sometime in the near future.

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Shadow Of Conspiracy: Section 2 Already Looks Like The Cyberpunk Themed Game For A New Generation – PlayStation Universe

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Gamescom 2021 is still roaring on, and while todays presentations were mainly filled with indie game announcements, one of those indie games just so happens to be something that looks very AAA, as a small indie team called Elysium Game Studio revealed their project Shadow Of Conspiracy: Section 2.

The footage is listed as early on in the project, but what is interesting to note is that it is running on Unreal Engine 5. The footage is six and a half minutes long, ending with the reveal that yes, you will be able to drive a flying car in a cyberpunk themed world.

It should also be noted that Shadow Of Conspiracy: Section 2 is just a working title, and not what well see on the final box when it releases.

While many will be quick to draw comparisons to Cyberpunk 2077, it seems like where CD Projekt Red developed a story based around player choice, it sounds more like this game will have a more linear narrative with RPG like mechanics for upgrading your character, weapons, etc.

This is just speculation but given the developers website listing Blade Runner as one of their main inspirations and the way the studio describes the game on their website, A deep, cinematic detective thriller that takes place in a dark future vision of Berlin.

Linear narrative or not, this already looks visually like a cyberpunk game that will truly take advantage of next-gen hardware, backed up by the fact that this will only be releasing on PS5 and other next-gen platforms, and not releasing on PS4.

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