Blessed heart of love RasTa family!
Good morning (well, in GMT time) in this beginning strong! Hail I-Majesty to the East in all comings and goings. Holy Emmanuel I Selassie I. Jah. Ras TafarI!
Hope the Sabbath was a blessed one, a chance to clear the ivels and regain the productive equilibrium. All praises to I Zion Throne! Selah.
Yeah. I've watched Shottas. I wouldn't put it anywhere near the Rockers or Countryman levels. I don't think it is in that league. And I guess, neither was it meant it to be. The Rockers and Harder They Come movies are amazing film spectacles, a RasTa-centric cultural analysis of the socio-political environment of the post-"independent" Jamaican state within which RasTafari was taking hold among young black African youth in Jamaica. These films managed to be dialogues from one RasTa heart to another, not seeking to communicate with, nor please or appeal to a "wider market". I think this is what preserved their success, and they've made it into the retro hall of fame, internationally.
Shotters is also a cool movie, which also sets out to explore the life of the young Jamaican "immigrant" in Miami, but it could be anywhere; New York, London... wherever. Along the lines of the retro tradition, it is more of a conversation between the people to whom the closer details of the movie relates to. And similar to the Jimmy Cliff character in "Harder They..." the film explores how good guys can turn "bad" (in a way). So, I think it is cool that the Idren felt compelled to explore the topic of the Yardie "shotta" abroad. Because for a majority of young Jamaican men living internationally, this is a stereotype that follows them whether they fit it or not. So, I think it is good that the film explores it, and that is the obligation of film & theatre, and actors, to stage and explore social ideals and stereotypes for a better overstanding. But like someone said, this might not be what is achieved, the youths just see some nice locs, and pimp style and find this something to aspire to.
I do love movies too. I really see them like books too. And in that sense, all movies are good movies to me... cos I always see something to learn in them. Stage portrayals of anything, are always telling us something about the machinations of situation.
Have the I them watched Sankofa, with Mutabaruka? Yo!! That is my MOVIE! I love it.
Re: the Rasta beauty queen. Bwoy... I gotta say... mi fiyah bun dat STRAIGHT throughout. I don't business. I'm sure she is a lovely person, and she is beautiful, her locs are beautiful. Wonderful. Er... BUT! First, if she is a RasTa Empress, there has to be the real question of why her locs was flowing, with her parading up and down a stage in swim wear, dinner wear, all these different sections of the competition. The dress she was wearing to receive her crown, was split from the bust to her belly button!!! Now, can somebody pinch me... or did I wake up in a parallel universe.
Did she wear any gorgeous couture dress creations in Aso Oke or Kente material? With a magnificent head tie to match? Er. No she didn't. I agree firmly with all the peeps on this board that say, InI represent Haile I Selassie I first, at the least he was best dressed straight through. So, InI must be well groomed. There is a difference between vanity and grooming. And there is a difference between being decked out as an African Queen, and wearing a glittery canary yellow belly button dress and prancing up and down on a stage (see auction block) flashing locs in a bikini. Woi!
They say she did it to win a scholarship to further her studies. Alrighty, cool. No one can judge the individual. But InI should turn a blind eye. All these sistrin saying, "yes! Now natural RasTa woman beauty is now acceptable in the mainstream, this is better for our societal acceptance, and youths will not feel a way to be RasTa and still be beautiful" blah blah. One bag of folly that! Straight. It's pure confusion.
Who said InI RasTa daughters need "acceptance" or sanction from Babylon on our natural beauty? We are assured that there is no improvement on nature. So all of InI look the best that we can ever look. And we thank King Ras Tafari for that, and it's only HIM acceptance I need.
And I think any notions of the "positive" effects modelling is having for the handful of African women it is plucking out of obscurity is quite naive and is basically wishful thinking. Giving a few Africans big dollar contracts in exchange for selling out their own people (whether it is physically, in land resource, or in ideals) ain't nothing new under the sun. It's a tried and tested method. Models are human shelves displaying products. And that's about it. In this age of consumerism... you work it out!! What good are these African models to anybody who needs them? Exactly what good opportunities are we really talking about?
If they wanna do it, let them do it. Of course. But that is not something for RasTa to endorse.
I think some of I-womban need to read up on some bell Hooks if anyone is unclear about the structuralisation of the objectification and exoticisation of black femininity that has been perpetuated since even before the Venus Hottentot (c. 1810), and the damaging effects it has had on InI Mothers of this Earth. This is not something to be underestimated, and I won't shrug my shoulders about it.
In this thorough historical context, it is very troubling to InI to see Jamaica crown a RasTa princess winner of a beauty pangeant. It is a very troubling sign of times to come for InI.
And worse, to see nuff RasTa Empress breathe a sigh of relief and start endorsing that... nuff ones and ones shall turn to salt. InI are not to turn back and seek to be one leg in and one leg out. That's dead livity.
Oh... and I don't agree with tatoos either! Teehee. Not after we make our covenant.
And regarding the variety of African tribal markings, many of these practices were brought about in response to the mass rape of the continent through slavery. Many West African tribes designated markings for their kindred groups, so that if they were ever taken away into slavery, there was a better possibility of their identification and retrieval.
InI must READ! There are structuralised, purposeful, and strategic reasons for everything. It is the job of bright Ingels in this Iwah to inform Iselves thoroughly of the details and the history of everything we are dealing with. Again, this is a revolutionary trod. We must gain the most full overstanding of the mechanics of the system we are dealing with, and overcoming.
Ok! *BREATHE! LOL.
Hope all are well, and the I them families.
Blessed Love.
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