Carmen Russell
A CULTURE OF SILENCE
Women of color have long been negatively stereotyped in American society. In ‘cinematic’ time, that model of stereotype has changed from what Tiffany S. Francois calls the “submissive and passive” woman, to the “disobedient and pushy” woman, and to add a more relevant perspective, the hypersexualized ‘jezebel’ woman. “During the Blaxploitation era of the 70’s, the ‘strong Black woman’ was prominent, featuring heroines who took control over their lives, and the people that mattered to them.” (Tiffany S. Francois, www.highpoint.edu) In the midst of cinematic progression, the Woman of color’s character arc has undergone minimal change when it comes to sexuality and the culture of rape. There have been plenty of films dating back to highly racial and toxic portrayals of African American women beginning with Birth of a Nation, to modern day, mainstream films which continue to demoralize the truth about rape and its detrimental effects on women.
The thesis script, Muda Wa Wakati (Time’s Up) “Muda” for short, is a drama about a twelve-year-old African American girl, Muhoozi. She seeks to avenge her cousin, Oneka’s, suicide by exposing the pastor that raped her. She challenges the unspoken rules in African American culture that normalize abuse. Muda Wa Wakati explores the relationship between African American culture, sexual abuse, and this ancient foundational pillar, called the church, which holds them all together. It provides character roles that neither victimize the African American woman or hypersexualize her. It is a story relevant to this time, utilizing the #Me Too Movement to shed light and give voice to what many want to believe is a ‘marginalized’ issue which affect only a small percentage of a ‘marginalized’ people. “This country has a virulent history of racist violence perpetuated against Black Women…like Black men, Black women have been horribly impacted by white supremacy. Yet, there is often not the same outcry in our communities when a Black woman is raped…” (Brooke Axtell, www.forbes.com)
“An ongoing study of more than 300 Black women nationwide, conducted by Black Women’s Blueprint, discovered sixty percent of Black girls have experienced sexual abuse before the age of 18. A similar study conducted by The Black Women’s Health Imperative seven years ago found the rate of sexual assault was approximately forty percent. “The Department of Justice estimates that for every white woman that reports her rape, at least 5 white women do not report theirs; and yet, for every African-American woman that reports her rape, at least 15 African-American women do not report theirs.” (Brooke Axtell, www.forbes.com)
This paper explores articles which address the culture of rape and the church in African American communities like the one depicted in Muda Wa Wakati. They convey the urgency of this issue and tackles the thematic ideas in the film. This paper will also examine five notable films similar in their cinematic elements to Muda Wa Wakati. They help prove there is a marketable audience for these types of stories. More importantly, these five films show the delicate balance that must be in place to approach and harness this sensitive subject. The supporting films are: 1. The Color Purple, 2. Eve’s Bayou, 3. For Colored Girls (Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf), 4. No! The Rape Documentary, and 5. Moonlight.
Color Purple:
The film The Color Purple is an n adaptation from Alice Walker’s book The Color Purple.
“All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my uncles. I had to fight my brothers. A girl child ain't safe in a family of men, but I ain't never thought I'd have to fight in my own house!”- Sophie (www.imbd.com).
Storyline: A black Southern woman struggles to find her identity after suffering decades of abuse from her father and husband.
In December of 1985, one movie swept the nation and garnered ample attention and box office domination. Along with this attention came controversy, but from a creative and business perspective, the controversy surrounding this attention was irrelevant. as The Color Purple generated even more conversation outside movie houses. Because of the public outcries from the African American community, the film was anything but a success. For them, the issues being protested mattered very much. The Color Purple brazenly exposed painful truths which African Americans hadn’t yet figured out how to address within their own households. And now, a Jewish American Director, and Dutch screenwriter was accredited with the rights to tell their story.
Many would rightfully say, we weren’t born this way. Generations of physical and mental enslavement, abuse, poverty, political and social obstruction, and innumerous counts of societal injustice can all contributes to the African American culture. The Color Purple throws us into the period of 1910-1940. It highlights their struggles, not the roots of colonization that drug them there.
“There were black men who saw the film as only a story about a poor black woman in Georgia who was molested and impregnated as a child by the man she believed to be her father and later beaten and tormented by her much older husband Mister. They claimed that The Color Purple was an assault on the black male image. “It is degrading to black men…makes us all look like wife beaters and rapists.” (Ronda Racha-Penrice, www.thegrio.com)
“Others [in the African American community] argue that the movie distorts black history and appears to blame the victims of racism for a host of social problems, including a preponderance of broken families and a high incidence of teen-age pregnancy.” While many black women defend the film, saying that it accurately reflects their own experience or the experience of women they know. Some black women, however, agreed with the many black men, that this film “gives a misleading picture of blacks in America and distorts their history.” (E.R. Shipp, www.nytimes.com)
“Oprah Winfrey, host of a television talk show in Chicago who played Sophia, Celie's stepdaughter-in-law, in the movie, said: ''This movie is not trying to represent the history of black people in this country any more than The Godfather was trying to represent the history of Italian-Americans. In this case, it's one woman's story.'' (E.R. Shipp, www.nytimes.com)
“Jill Nelson emphasized that those who did not like what the messenger (the film) said about Black men should look at the facts of the message. She cited the facts: Nearly 50% of all Black children are born to single mothers; 80% of Black mothers are single parents; nine- and- a half out of ten Black women that she knew received no support from their children's father; and most had been physically and mentally abused.” (E.R. Shipp, www.nytimes.com)
“One Black woman who had seen the film was quoted in the New York Times as saying that she knew many Celies when she was growing up in Sunflower County, Mississippi. She said that she, her mother and her aunts had all been beaten and brutalized by their husbands and that for her, the movie "just lifted a burden." She added: "Black women should not be sacrificed for Black men's pride. Let the film roll.” (Jacqueline Bobo, www.ejumpcut.org)
In the protagonist’s (Celie’s) natural world, rape and other forms of physical and emotional abuse are normalized. Mister (Celie’s husband) is portrayed as the ‘slave master’, and Celie, his property. “Unfortunately, due to a long history of systemic racism and classism in the United States, the violation of Black women’s bodies is often rendered invisible. - Simmons” (Brooke Axtell, www.forbes.com). The cheating and abusive husband is not the disruption in Celie’s world. The disruption is her separation from her sister and children. Without this, Celie would have no reason, according to time period in this narrative, to stand up to Mister.
Muda depicts a middle class African American family that is integrated into a multicultural society. They are established in their community, and hardworking. The underbelly within this world is the roots of colonialized thinking and assimilation, still attached to many African American families with regard to rape. Rape is the disruption within Muda’s natural world. The protagonist (Muhoozi), must learn how to confront the deep-seated generational beliefs of her people, stemming from 1910-2018. The fight is very much ‘African American youth of 2018 versus African American mentality of 1900s’. While Celie tolerates abuse to get by, Muhoozi recognizes there is no tolerance for abuse. Celie fights for herself, and Muhoozi fights for generations to break the deafening silence of sexual oppression in her world.
While the depiction of abuse during the time period of The Color Purple, was an accurate portrayal of its time, Muda depicts the millennial time period of its characters. Sophie and Shug were the only vocal women to acknowledge that abuse was not okay. Muda goes beyond an acknowledgement, and unmasks sexual oppression depicted in its world. Its characters are restless as they search for an outlet to address it. This narrative more appropriately reflects the political and social movements which impact women of all ethnicities in present day. Derrik (the antagonist) has to be more calculated in his effort to commit rape, whereas Mister, and other males in The Color Purple could exercise this abuse at any time without fear of consequences because it was socially, culturally acceptable.
Similar to The Color Purple, the church serves as a strong pillar within Muda’s community. “Spirituality has long been used as a tool by the black community to cope and make sense of the oppression we have endured.” (Luna Malbroux, splinternews.com). Muda’s characters rely heavily on their spirituality and hope for better days to come with regard to traumatic experiences. This is similar to Celie (after instructing Sophie’s husband to beat Sophie) telling Sophie, “This life be over soon, Heaven lasts always.” (rottentomatoes.com).
While the characters of Muda live in a more progressive world than the one Celie lives in, they still battle the same effects of mental conditioning that turns a blind eye to abuse. Some of the characters in Muda would rather hide behind religion and say one day it will all be over instead of being the instruments to end abuse. “These [church] politics are also heavily laid on the bodies of Black girls and women, often blaming them for the abuses that they experience living in the Black patriarchy system that the church so passionately upholds.” (Ronnie-Dean Burren, www.blackyouthproject.com).
Churches that are often rooted in generational thought -conditioning, mirror these same actions. They protect the church and its affluent male leaders at all cost.
Children are also largely represented in The Color Purple. At times it is unclear who these children belong to. They’re just there and the ‘village’ raises them. In Muda’s world, there are many youths in the church and school. Although these youths have homes, it is still the institution of church and even school, that helps to raise them. The representation of children in both these worlds serve to expose a common thread in African American culture. That “Children should be seen and not heard” is a prevalent sentiment in Black churches. They are not seen as free agents who have their own thoughts and desires.
This is best exemplified in how we expect children to sit quietly during boring church services and never question any aspect of what they are being taught. This notion is the epitome of oppression.” (Ronni-Dean Burren, www.blackyouthproject.com). Shug is excommunicated by her pastoring father and his church. The women are treated like children in that they have a seat in the church, but not a voice. Muhoozi is also silenced by her pastor, and emotionally excommunicated from her church. Unlike the women in The Color Purple, the women in Muda have a limited range of position and representation in the church, but they still do not have protection.
Apart from the African American community, The Color Purple received a majority of strong reviews from its critics, with a few poor ones. Roger Ebert commented “The Color Purple is not the story of her suffering but of her victory, and by the end of her story this film had moved me and lifted me up as few films have. It is a great, warm, hard, unforgiving, triumphant movie, and there is not a scene that does not shine with the love of the people who made it.” (Roger Ebert, Dec. 1985). Mike D’ Angelo from Lettrboxd, however, disagreed. “His reluctance to dwell on horrific details keeps the film from sliding headlong into miserablism, and he continually finds arresting, purely visual alternatives.” (criticsroundup.com).
Muda makes a conscious decision not to fixate on the atrocious details of the rape and suicide that occur. This is because people are very much aware of what it looks like, they are however, unfamiliar with what the tools of changing sexual assault looks like. The writer did not want to beautify these acts with a grandeur solo that drives people into “miserablism.” Muda exercises balance to shift the focus on the most important matter: how does a community break their silence to finally acknowledge its sins and right their wrongs?
In spite of The Color Purple depicting an imperfect world of African American culture, the heart of its story is what continues to sustain it, allowing for time to persuade the hearts of previously outraged African Americans, and generate a different kind of conversation. “The greatness of some films depends not on their perfection or logic, but on their heart.” (Roger Eber, March 2004).
Like The Color Purple, Muda generates a continued debate on the longstanding complexities of a culture that is rooted in abuse. Muda has arrived at a time when education about sexual abuse is a sweeping topic across every ethnicity, and women of all ethnicities are uniting to confront it. Women are asking how do we fix this as opposed to the dilemma of how do we continue to hide this. Muda captures the challenges between those two paradigms.
Many critics described The Color Purple as pretty either as compliment or criticism. Muda is not a pretty film. Muhoozi is not running through fields of purple flowers behind an orange setting sun. This middle class American Family is living in rural Georgia where the land, much like its characters, are being torn down and transformed into something else.
Similar to The Color Purple’s depiction of a world in which parents love their sons and raise their daughters, Muda embodies that same concept. Muda, like The Color Purple will serve as a catalyst for those ready for change, and those who still fear it.
To date, The Color Purple has garnered more acceptance from the African American community, a greater level of respect and admiration, and created a space for richer African American stories to be told in newer ways. Prior to The Color Purple, many could only refer to Roots as the African American’s story, but Spielberg and Meyjes proved there is another way; in all its controversy and glory, African American narratives can be told from a post-slavery perspective.
The Color Purple earned eleven Academy Award nominations, was winner of the Black Movie Awards for Classic Cinema Hall of Fame, Heartland Film’s Truly Moving Picture Award, the Image Award’s Outstanding Motion Picture, the National Board of Review’s Best Film and Top Ten Films, and winner of the Online Film and Television Association’s Motion Picture Award (imbd.com). With an estimated budget of $15,000,000 it made $1,710,333 on its opening week (December 22, 1085) and a worldwide gross of $146,292,009 (imbd.com). In November of 2001, Open Road Integrated Media reached an agreement with author Alice Walker, to release an electronic version of The Color Purple (www.cbsnews.com). The film is also a longstanding Broadway musical featuring many successful African American celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Fantasia, and Jennifer Hudson.
Eve’s Bayou:
"To a certain type of woman, I am a hero... I need to be a hero." -Louis (rottentomatoes.com).
Storyline: Over the course of a long, hot Louisiana summer, a 10-year-old black girl, Eve, discovers that her family's affluent existence is merely a facade. The philandering of her suave father, Doctor Louis, creates a rift that throws their family into emotional turmoil. (www. imbd.com).
The stakes in Eve’s Bayou are fairly similar to the stakes in Muda Wa Wakati. “The fight for young Eve is against a patriarchal system that has embittered her mother and driven her older sister nearly mad…Afro-religiosity is explored as a healing force and means of remedying issues of injustice.” (Montré Aza Missouri, Black Magic Woman and Narrative Film: Race, Sex and Afro-Religiosity). Like Cisely, Muhoozi is fighting the patriarchal system within her church and community. It drove her cousin, Oneka, to kill herself, and the church members into chaos. Afro-religiosity through voodoo serves as a double edge sword for Eve. It brings both healing and death to her family while Muhoozi’s religious institution practices oppression under the guise of healing.
“There are demure women in Eve’s Bayou, waiting for the actions of men to unfold. The lone exception is Eve, who is more capable than any of the other females in her family of taking action… Eve is the only female willing to do something to break the abuse of dominant male authority.” (Montré Aza Missouri, Black Magic Woman and Narrative Film: Race, Sex and Afro-Religiosity). The same can be said for the women in Muda. It is Muhoozi and Imani who tackle this issue head on and challenge the rest of the community to make a decision.
The stakes in Eve’s Bayou include Louis’ affair, the curse over Eve’s family that perpetuates sexual infidelity and rifts between African American marriages. When Eve discloses her father’s infidelity to her family, the stakes rise as Eve and Cisely are forced to grow up fast. It’s a man’s world full of adult problems for the African American child to solve. Eve’s use of Voodoo to fix her parent’s marriage is the ultimate stake. Finally, fear of separation is the most profound stake that threatens the family. Muhoozi shares this same fear about her own family. It is what drives her to continue living in silence and victim- blame her cousin to preserve her family. Muhoozi is also forced to grow up fast in order to fix these adult problems and broken system. They are grownups trapped in teenager’s bodies.
“Historically, law enforcement has been used to control African-American communities through brutality and racial profiling. It may be difficult for a Black woman to seek help if she feels it could be at the expense of African-American men or her community. The history of racial injustice (particularly the stereotype of the Black male as a sexual predator) and the need to protect her community from further attack might persuade a survivor to remain silent.” (Brooke Axtell, www.forbes.com). This is a common problem that Eve, Cisely, Muhoozi, and Oneka share. These young protagonists endure unimaginable mental, emotional, and physical measures in order to confront the sins within their family. If there is any hint of exposure beyond whom they’ve entrusted, they will not speak. Their safety, families, social status, relationships, and community acceptance is all they have. It must be protected.
Eve’s Bayou demonstrates a shifting of perspective on abuse. Abuse is acceptable in the home, but not in public as it was for The Color Purple. Louis, like Derrik in Muda, has to be careful in seeking out his own pleasure so that it does not become a public scandal. For Louis, what happens in the family stays in the family serves as a protective covering for Louis. For Derrik, the patriarchal roots of his church and his image will protect him until his wife refuses to provide that protective covering.
The extent to which Cisely is willing to go, stepping into the role of wife and initiating a sexual relationship with her father, in order to preserve her parent’s marriage and family paints a vivid picture of how sexual abuse has been normalized in this community. “[Black women] are valuable when we’re concerned about protecting our men and our children and our communities, but when it comes to talking about the violence that we’ve experienced at the hands of the men in our communities, then we’re traitors.” (Jazelle Hunt, www.districtchronicles.com). In Eve’s Bayou, it is not the men who outright call the women traitors, but the women, who have already assumed this role. They blame themselves for the sins of the men they protect. When the aftermath of Louis’ infidelity destroys the family, Eve blames herself, believing she killed her father with voodoo. In Muda, Muhoozi blames herself for her cousin’s suicide. Both protagonist attempted to fix their problems secretly, like their ancestors have taught them to, but when that backfires they have to decide whether to slay the giant publicly.
“There's an old saying in the African American community: Black women raise their daughters and love their sons. A legacy of the atrocities of slavery, it signifies a communal protectiveness of black men, from the coddling of toddling boys to a reluctance to report rape and incest.” (Gayle-Pollard Terry, www.times.com). While incest does not take place in Muda, it’s characters represent the grooming of women and men in the church to protect Derrik even when they learn he’s raped a young girl. The women are faulted for not using the skills they were raised with to prevent what’s occurred. The women in her family are cursed because of their ancestor Eve who had a spiritual and sexual relationship with her White slave master. In Muda, the African American women are carrying that curse as they subconsciously blame themselves or their daughters for not preventing their rapes. There’s this instinctive blame placed on the women that says, you should have known better.
The set of rules that push these two narratives toward their climax is “blackisms.” “The black culture is a storytelling culture, rooted in the South before the decline of American apartheid. It comes with its own set of rules. "Blackisms," Norwood calls them … she cites a few, as many black workshop participants chant along with her, such as: "What goes on in this house, stays in this house, protect, don’t expose." (Gayle-Pollard Terry, www.times.com).
Although Eve’s Bayou was not a box office success, its estimated budget was $6,000,000 and opening week it only made $3,287,846 with a total gross of $14,821,531 (www.imbd.com). Critics’ reviews, however, established it as a strong success.
“Eve's Bayou, one of the very best films of the year… Eve's Bayou studies the way that dangerous emotions can build up… it resonates in the memory. It called me back for a second and third viewing. If it is not nominated for Academy Awards, then the academy is not paying attention. For the viewer, it is a reminder that sometimes films can venture into the realms of poetry and dreams.” (Roger Ebert, www.rogerbert.com).
Cynthia Joyce from Salon stated, “Eve's Bayou treads across a fragile and complex emotional landscape, and Lemmons is exceptionally adept at creating characters who are simultaneously despicable and lovable” (Cynthia Joyce). Muda examines the dangers of silence and continual perpetuation of “blackisms” in African American families. While one is not venturing into the realms of a poetic dream, the viewer is forced to venture into the mental recesses of a cultures past. A past which compels us to examine its effects on the present and future of African American family’s upbringing. While Derrik is a despicable character, the writer created a sense of likability in him to secure his humanity so that one can relate to him and reject the atrocities within him. Derrik represents society and its own ignorant responses toward women and sexual assault. Peoples within these societies should reject their atrocious silence and passive tolerance so rape can no longer be ignored.
Eve’s Bayou won Best Film in the Acapulco Black Film Festival, and Best Feature for the Independent Spirit Award.
For Colored Girls:
An adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s play: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf
“It’s hard to press charges against a friend. Maybe it was a misunderstanding, or the woman caused it. Were you drinking? Most of society only considers rape to be legitimate if the rapist is a perverted stranger with all kinds of problems. A man who you have danced with in public and softly kissed goodbye, does not fit into society’s standard image of rapist. The intellectual men suffer from latent rapist bravado while leaving the women with the scars.” -Lady in Red and Lady in Blue. (www.gradesaver.com).
Storyline: A group of African American women, most of whom live in the same Harlem apartment building, face personal crises, heartbreak, and other challenges which bind them together. (www.imbd.com).
For Colored Girls was released in November of 2010 with an estimated budged of $21,000,000 and a box office opening of $19,497,324. Its total gross was $37,721,949. (www.imbd.com). Critics unanimously agreed that the play far exceeded success of the film.
“For Colored Girls is so relentlessly focused on the cruel and evil things men do to women that the movie never feels anchored to any sort of reality: It’s a work of relentless, suffocating melodrama.” (Miami Staff, www.miami.com).
“In Perry's peculiar view, though, the women often collaborate in their victimhood. They invite the stranger into the home or let men stay when they clearly should go. They all fall from grace. Perry situates his nine female protagonists in Harlem, supposedly in modern day, but then how does a backroom abortion figure into this contemporary scene? All Perry does is force conventional plots and characters -- utter clichés without lives or souls -- into the fabric of Shange's literary work. The hackneyed melodramas get him from one poem to the next but run roughshod over the collective sense of who these women are. Then, when Perry arrives at the next poetic passage, the switch in writing between him and Shange is jarringly pronounced. The words belong to different worlds.” (Kirk Honeycutt, www.hollywoodreporter.com).
“The dialogue consists mainly of normal spoken conversation, but then in moments of acute emotion, the dialogue shifts into Shange's poetry, and the women open up their souls with brutal eloquence. The effect is like watching an opera without music. Or a musical drama in which no one sings. These departures from a realistic convention never feel like static set pieces - that's the great success of the film and of the poems themselves, which are too strong and too inherently dramatic to slow things down. They have their own energy, building and arriving and deepening as they go on.” It's as if they're all under some extra measure of pressure. This pressure can manifest in all kinds of ways, including religious fanaticism - Whoopi Goldberg is excellent (and entirely not funny) as a white-robed member of a bizarre cult religion. The beauty of "For Colored Girls" is that characters who fear never being understood get to speak and express themselves with crystalline grace. And so, somehow, what might have been a sad story feels exalted.” (Mick LaSalle, www.sfgate.com).
“Seeing these actresses together is a poignant reminder of their gifts, and of the absence of interesting roles for actresses in general and African-American ones in particular. A generation has been often shut out of fruitful roles.” (Roger Ebert, www.rogerebert.com).
Similar to For Colored Girls, Muda provides strong African American characters. Yasmine (Yellow), portrays the strongest relationship because her story confronts the issue of rape and the demoralizing complexities that surround it. Like Yasmine who shares an acquaintance relationship with a rapist and agrees to a first date, Oneka has an acquaintance relationship with Derrik. Derrik, however, has had more time to prey on Oneka and use his position within the church to create a façade of safety.
Yasmine’s free spirited, calm, and naïve personality is similar to Muhoozi and Oneka’s. Oneka is also free spirited, dances, and doesn’t live in fear. She isn’t naïve, but she sees something in Derrik, and Derrik uses that to take advantage of her trust. Though Muhoozi is sheltered, she has an awareness of danger, but refuses to live in fear.
Yasmine’s character was beyond powerful in conveying what date rape looks like and feels like. When Yasmine stares at a clock, there is a heart wrenching connection with what she is enduring. Those few minutes were so impactful, it felt like eternity. This narrative encompassed with the equally traumatic hardships of several other characters proved to be a difficult piece of material to sit through. The strongest contrast with Yasmine’s experience versus Oneka’s, is that Muhoozi does not allow the audience to remain stuck in the rape scene. Muhoozi and Imani force the viewer to find a solution.
Muda’s central focus immediately shifts back to the responsibility the church and community have to end sexual assault. Muhoozi and several other characters take action to bring correction and justice, where Yasmine’s character leaves us only with the aftertaste of the rape. Yasmine remains victimized and silenced, but Muhoozi refuses to let that be the final story for another woman. Muda’s characters are metaphoric voices of change and exposure of past errors. The message in Muda is a call for action whereas the message in For Colored Girls is a call for attention. However, if it were not for the characters in For Colored Girls, then Muda’s characters would not yet have a platform to move into action.
The resolution in For Colored Girls arrives when the characters congregate on a rooftop under the moonlit sky and join in a group hug. In Muda, Muhoozi and her team unleash righteous havoc propelling the community to make a decision. No one retreats back into silence. While one can dissect For Colored Girls’ resolution in many ways, the question must be raised as to whether it was sufficive, unrealistic, passive, or just re-applying a Band-Aid. Muda’s resolution provides the audience with one resounding solution: Do something.
As a play, For Colored Girls character’s pieces are extremely powerful contributions to women as they are poetic voices of truth. “Shange eliminates characters and plot, presenting the women individually and collectively in one unified voice of pain and redemption within a mixture of genres—poems, narratives, dialogues, and dance.” (Aubrey Thornton, www.dcmetrotheaterarts.com)
As a screenplay, For Colored Girls demonstrates there is a strong platform for African American stories and equally strong characters that need to be told with balance. Although there is a greater demand for these stories, it is important to deliver them in ways that are true to their roots and able to connect beyond the African American audience. The decision to create characters in Muda who are actively involved in the Me Too movement and who actively seek solutions for change is what drives a stronger narrative.
For Colored Girls, won Top 10 Films at the African American Film Critics Association, winner of best movie for BET Awards, winner of outstanding motion picture Image Awards, and winner of the Josephine Baker Award at the Women Film Critics Circle Awards.
No! The Rape Documentary:
“Because of the history of racism and sexism in America, in many instances, you are already presumed guilty. It is assumed that we are always wanting, willing, and able. – Simmons” (Brooke Axtell, www.forbes.com).
Storyline: An international award-winning documentary film that unveils the reality of rape, sexual violence, and healing in African American communities. Through the first-person testimonies, scholarship, spirituality, activism, and cultural work of Black people in the United States. (www.notherapedocumentary.org).
NO! The Rape Documentary is a monumental film. Its success is driven by its viewers, and not by the box office. This film does not have any box office ratings yet, but it has won numerous awards and has garnered notable respect. This is due to its powerful story and the education it is bringing to people. The film premiered at the Pan African Film Festival in 2006 and had staggering global releases beginning in 2004. It has been seen at the Cineffable Film Festival in Paris and the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.
Writer and Director Aishah Simmons’ film successfully proves that there is not only a medium outside feature storytelling in high demand for this content, but that these stories can be successful without box office numbers and movie houses.
“Simmons' documentary, NO! is premised on African American women breaking silences. In the film, many women — including her mother — reveal how they were discouraged from reporting a rape or an attempted sexual assault because the attacker was the highest-ranking black faculty member at the university, or a hero in the civil rights movement, or a black student on a campus where police officers were harassing black men. Using the film to educate, Simmons wants black women who have the courage to tell to be trusted, not labeled as traitors.” (Gayle-Pollard Terry, www.times.com).
Since 2006, NO! has been screened and distributed to racially and ethnically diverse audiences at film festivals, colleges, universities, high schools, correctional facilities, rape crisis centers, battered women’s shelters, conferences throughout the United States and Canada, across Italy, in South Africa, Spain, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Czech Republic, Moldova, Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria, Albania, Nepal, Bulgaria, Rwanda, Kenya, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Jordan, Burkina Faso, Peru, Colombia, Guadeloupe, Venezuela, Brazil, India, France, England, Haiti, Guam, Tahiti, St. Thomas U.S.V.I, St. Croix U.S.V.I, Puerto Rico, Turkey, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Jamaica, Bahamas, Mexico, Cuba, and Germany. (www.notherapedocumentary.org)
It has won awards for:
Revolutionary Women Speaking the Unspeakable Award (2013)
NO! The Rape Documentary included in Ford Foundation’s JustFilms online archive (2011)
Attendee, the first "United State of Women" White House Summit (2016)
Just Beginning Collaborative Fellow (2016-2018)
Co-Recipient, with Dr. Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, Scarritt-Bennett Center’s Ann L. Reskovac Courage Award (2010)
Eighth Annual Philadelphia Black Gay Pride’s “Legend Award” (2008)
India International Women’s Film Festival “Best Documentary Award” (2008)
Institute on Domestic Violence in the African-American Community’s “Media Award” (2007)
International Federation of Black Prides Award (2007)
Designated as the Featured Event during the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s (2007)
2007 National Sexual Assault Awareness Month Campaign
San Diego Women’s Film Festival “Audience Choice Award” and “Juried Award” (2006)
National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s 2006 National Award for Outstanding Response to End Prevention of Sexual Violence (2006) (https://notherapedocumentary.org).
“Dr. Charlotte Pierce-Baker, a featured interviewee in NO! and the author of Surviving the Silence: Black Women’s Stories of Rape, says in both her book and in the film that “We are taught that we are first Black, then women. Our families have taught us this, and society in its harsh racial lessons reinforces it. Black women have survived by keeping quiet not solely out of shame, but out of a need to preserve the race and its image. In our attempts to preserve racial pride, we Black women have sacrificed our own souls.” (Dr. Baker, NO! The Rape Documentary).
A common thread that NO! and Muda share is its subject of rape, fight to end rape, and the women within this culture. NO! explores the experiences of real life, self-empowered women that have had enough silence. “From a middle-aged woman, repeatedly raped by a classmate’s father at age 6: “When it first happened, we told our teacher and the [school] nurse. We were told that we were making it up. He told me that if I told anyone, he’d kill my whole family. I was scared for weeks after telling my family.” “From a young woman, raped by her then-boyfriend’s older brother at age 15: “I never told anyone, not even my boyfriend, until I started talking to a therapist on campus during my sophomore year of college … to this day he doesn’t know.” “From a mature woman, raped at ages 12 and 13 and fondled by a pastor at age 15: “I never said a word. Because in the end, I blamed myself. How do you know to blame yourself at 12 years old?”
“For Tiffany Perry, it was more personal than a philosophical distrust of the criminal justice system. At 21 years old, she was the victim of an attempted rape by a police officer. The married policeman was also her co-worker, and her usual ride home after work. I’m saying, ‘Stop! Stop, get off of me what are you doing? I’m going to scream!’ And he says, ‘Go ahead, who’s going to save you, you’re in a police station.’ When he said that to me I just froze. I was like, ‘Wow, I am. Nobody’s going to do anything. The thing is – when we left there, I got in the car with him. And I tried to explain this … I was so afraid of him that I got in the car with him… I convinced myself that he was right. I felt like I should’ve known better.” “She never reported the incident. Two years later, she was able to tell her mother, who had been raped and had become pregnant with her at age 15.” (Jazelle Hunt, www.districtchronicles.com).
This is a similar story in Muhoozi’s world that targets a generation of pre-teens and teenagers who have long been ignored. Telling their story from the perspective of characters their age, creates a unique space for conversation, and forces them to be heard. It also provides an opportunity for youth to know that if this person doesn’t believe me, I can find someone else who will. Muda, like NO! isn’t a story one can enjoy and forget about. It challenges adults to do something and empowers youth to do something even if their parents don’t. Muda’s characters are a call back to Simmons’ documentary reminding this generation, that No, the conversation isn’t over, and neither is the fight to end rape.
Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Color Purple says, “If the Black community in the Americas and in the world would save itself it must complete the work this film [NO!] begins.” (www.notherapedocumentary.org). Muda comes at a time where there is social, professional, and political unrest with sexual assault. Social movements and powerful films such as NO! have overpowered the silence perpetrators had levied over their victims.
Although many women in NO! experienced rapes at the same age as Muhoozi and Oneka, they are telling their stories at the ages of fifty and older. Muda moves into the now generation and speaks the language of the eleven, twelve, thirteen, etc. year olds who are using social media platforms, and finding other ways to speak up sooner. Sadly, too many young people follow that brave decision with another tragic one: suicide. Oneka’s suicide depicts how this unfathomable act has become an answer for millennial youth who are unable to cope with sexual assault or receive appropriate help because society as a whole has not given them those tools. Grown folks have hidden behind fear, passing a burden of death onto their youth. Muda allows for adults to see this issue from their child, or a child’s perspective and break barriers that stifle these children into silence.
“Black children have another burden. Culturally, there's this fear of betraying the family by turning someone in to the system…Families try to cope, and meanwhile the offender is left to continue to offend. They really do operate in silence. It's the silence and secrecy that enables them to thrive. Robin Stone, Author, No Secret, No Lies” (Gayle-Pollard Terry, www.times.com).
In comparison to NO! one of Muda’s thematic quests re-asserts the question Dr. Johnetta B. Cole, President of Bennet College for Women asks “Why are we so silent about one of the most barbaric, intensely painful, ultimately destructive acts that any community can endure. (www.youtube.com/No!TheRapeDocumentary)
Moonlight:
Is a film based on Tarell Alvin McCraney's play: In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue
“At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you're going to be. Can't let nobody make that decision for you.” – Juan (www.imbd.com).
Synopsis: A look at three defining chapters in the life of Chiron, a young black man growing up in Miami, whose journey to manhood is guided by the kindness, support, and love of the community that helps raise him. (www.imbd.com).
Moonlight epitomizes how African American stories can successfully break cultural barriers and become a force that moves all humans. It’s estimated budged was $1, 500,000, it made $402,075,23 opening week, and grosses $27,850,912,28 in the U.S. with a cumulative worldwide gross of $55,562,20. (www.imbd.com). It won an Oscar for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Drama, AFI Award for Movie of the Year, African-American Film Critics Association Award for Best Picture, Best Independent Film, Top 10 Films, Alliance of Women Film Journalist Award for Best Film, Best Screenplay adapted, Best Cinematography and Editing, an Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Bali International Film Festival Award for Best Feature Film, Black Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Black Reel Award for Outstanding Motion Picture, Outstanding Screenplay, and a Writer’s Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Unlike Color Purple, Moonlight was unanimously well received by critics and the African American community. There were no protests or talk shows angrily admonishing people not to see it. It was the movie everyone loved in spite of its representation of stereotypical and common hardships represented in African American communities i.e. drugs, single mother, absent father, gangs, poverty, violence, etc. Moonlight works because its central theme and focus is about finding love. Jenkins does a masterful job with depicting the sensitive yet raw truths of an African American community without judging it.
Similar to how Chiron’s quest for love universally connects people regardless of their ethnicity, Muda’s quest to assert that there is no place for rape in one’s society is what should universally connect audiences. Muda disintegrates the perverted system of belief rapists and their protectors use to victimize women and children under the guise of love. Blogger, Son of Baldwin recognizes this destructive pattern within communities. He shares, “We love ovum and sperm. We love zygotes and embryos. We even love fetuses. But we do not — no, we absolutely do not — love children.” (Ahmad Greene-Hayes, www.newsone.com). Love is a heavy undercurrent in Muda’s narrative, but it is one that isn’t clearly recognized until the characters see the destructive ramifications rape. More importantly, how it’s consumed their children.
In comparison to Moonlight, Muda’s dialogue and characters are real people fighting real issues. They are rich, complex characters, who have a conversation with the world. “I think it's important people see themselves in film, but it’s even more important they see people they maybe don’t know as well.” (Barry Jenkins, www.moonlight.movie.com).
Moonlight is also about family and community. These are two major themes at the heart of Muda’s narrative; learning how family can love their children, and a community must stop protecting rapist. While the character’s in Muda forge this resolution, the movie does not end with Muhoozi’s world being perfectly eradicated of rape.
Moonlight’s success relies heavily on Mr. Jenkins portrayal of the African American male as a human, and not the racist, repetitive “…myth that Black men are super viral, super sexual, or that Black women are Jezebels and overly sexual.” (Monica Coleman, Associate Professor at Claremont School of Theology). “We know, thanks to popular media, that black men can be sexual. Can they be intimate? Can they care for each other? Can they be vulnerable? That is a story less told.” (Tarell Alvin McCraney, Playwright, www.moonlight.movie.com).
In Moonlight, Juan deals drugs as a profession, but Mr. Jenkins empathizes our view of Juan’s character to show that there is more to him as a human being than the stigma of what he does. Similarly, in Muda, although Derrik has a legal and successful profession, he commits a horrible act. Derrik is still human, and one can hate the sin he committed while still having empathy for him as a human. Like Moonlight’s characters, the characters of Muda aim to “dwell on the dignity, beauty and vulnerability of black bodies, on the existential and physical matter of black lives.” (A.O. Scott, www.nytimes.com).
Critics, audiences, and even Mr. Jenkins’ own peers gave nothing but strong reviews about the film. “Its story may be sprinkled with drug dealers and addicts. But its message is clear: The world is richer and deeper and more complex than we ever imagined, and even its most troubled characters — just like us — are looking for love.” (Stephen Galloway, www.hollywoodreporter.com). “Moonlight is not a film. it is a heaven. go. be altered.” (Nayyirah Waheed, Poet, www.molightthemovie.com). “Moonlight shows us that masculinity needn't be white or predatory or dependent upon dominating women. Indeed, Black masculinity can be as gentle as a man holding a boy in his arms in the sea—and the world would be better for it.” (Steven Thrasher, www.moonlight.movie.com).
“Moonlight is a film that is both lyrical and deeply grounded in its character work, a balancing act that’s breathtaking to behold. It is one of those rare pieces of filmmaking that stays completely focused on its characters while also feeling like it’s dealing with universal themes about identity, sexuality, family, and, most of all, masculinity. And yet it's never preachy or moralizing. It is a movie in which deep, complex themes are reflected through character first and foremost.” (Roger Ebert, www.rogerebert.com).
Muda delicately lays out the issues of protectionism within the church and family before the audience and empowers them to make a choice without preaching. In as much as Moonlight stands to advocate truth about the African American male and expose his nature, so Muda represents the essence of the African American female, dispelling all sexist, racist, and colonial brainwashing that made humanity believe rape is tolerable.
The creative process in writing Muda Wa Wakati came about through a personal experience the screenwriter encountered at church when a leader inappropriately touched her. This experience was the initial catalyst which launched the writer into questions about her own past. It also led to questions surrounding the numerous stories she was hearing about teenage rapes and suicides -specifically, the recent suicide of a 13-year-old girl residing in the same community as the writer.
Tarana Burke, creator of the Me Too Movement, had a similar experience which launched the Me Too Movement. “[Tarana had] a conversation with a 13-year-old girl who opened up to her about the sexual abuse she was experiencing at the hands of her mother’s boyfriend…A decade later, in 2006, Burke founded the non-profit Just Be, Inc., an organization that supports victims of sexual misconduct, with a focus on young girls of color.” (Alix Langone, www.time.com).
As the story of Muda developed, the writer was also very aware of recent controversy when sexual assault scandals swept every media outlet. After doing some research on this movement and its correlation to the Times Up movement, the writer decided to create characters representing this entity. She thought it was important to show solidarity and inform youth that help is more available now than it was a year ago. Conversation is happening. Change is happening. Muhoozi tells young women, if help is not in their home, or the school, it is one tweet, insta-post, text, phone call, or google search, and person away.
The writer chose to focus on characters within the African American community due to the high rate of African American girls and teenagers being raped. Most are between the ages of eight to eighteen. Although this is not uncommon with other ethnicities, it is normalized in the African American community. The writer chose to establish the story on a culture and community she was familiar with, but the heart of the story speaks to women of all ethnicities and ages.
Muda establishes its story in the church in order to address the psychological and physical roots of oppression still relevant in churches today. Churches do not “[Take] a hard-enough stance against physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. The scripture that says, “All things work together for the good of them who love the Lord” is often used to help victims understand their abuse. The underbelly of that concept tells victims to see their molestation/rape/trauma as a blessing. Furthermore, we shun counseling and therapy as something for the faithless or weak-minded. Here again, we are pushing people away because they refuse believe that their trauma is somehow a blessing on their lives.” (Ronni Burren, www.blackyouthproject.com). “The objectification of women within the church, combined with shaming purity culture and a lack of sex and consent education, influences a broader culture that makes things like the #MeToo movement necessary. It’s a dynamic acknowledged by the recent #ChurchToo response.” (Luna Malbroux, www.splinternews.com).
Muhoozi’s encounter with her own Pastor and church members illustrates how “Pastors and church folk are often the worst folk in the world to go to for confession and absolution. The average pastor does not have a clue about counseling. And what pastors need to do when they find somebody in a situation like ours is to refer them to a counselor, refer them to a spiritual director, refer them to a chaplain, refer them to somebody who knows what they're doing with somebody's emotions.” (Gayle-Pollard Terry, www.times.com).
Like Oneka’s family and community, “Many people feel like being raped means they’ve committed some sort of sin. And sometimes we teach ideas about sin that support that…probably most obvious is the issue of forgiveness. That really is a religious issue that, so few churches are equipped to deal with, but that a social service institution wouldn’t wrestle with, because [in churches] we have this Christian edict to forgive.” (Lori Robinson, www.ebony.com) Muda exposes this painful and destructive lie.
Muda Wa Wakati carries the message of empowerment, hope, and fortitude to the people most overlooked and neglected in our society; young girls. It’s a call for them not to wait on the adults to save them, or wait until their 50s, 60s, and 70s to do or say something.
Muda encourages young girls to be the pioneers for change now. America Ferrera said, "Speaking of this moment, as a culture we've gone from not listening, hearing or believing women, and how were we going to skip over the whole part where women get to be heard, and go straight to the redemption of the perpetrators? Can't we live in that space where it's okay for perpetrators to be a little bit uncomfortable with what the consequences will be?" (www.cbsnews.com). Through this film, the writer wants women to feel comfortable with speaking up because they are not the villain. This film generates continued conversation and educational attention to what is relevant now. It is an icebreaker for youth and their parents, or youth and another trusted source.
“It’s really important to remind people that [rape is] a community issue, that it affects everyone. There are violators in your church as well, most likely. You’ve got the whole spectrum in the church that’s in front of you. For church leaders, that means being bold and speaking out about sexual violence when it’s not a special occasion. There are a number of scriptures in the Bible where sexual violence occurs, and we act like they’re not there as clergy. Including those in Bible study, including those in things we preach about, it’s an important way to say, “Hey, I’m aware about this. I care about this.” (Loris S. Robinson, ebony.com).
Elie Wiesel said that “Silence helps the tormentors, it doesn't help the tormented. And neutrality helps the oppressors, not the oppressed.” This quote sums up the heart of Muda Wa Wakati’s message. “There's moments that you have to evaluate whether silence is going to be your only option. And certain times that was our only option. But now is not that time.” (Reese Witherspoon, www.cbsnews.com).
Translated in Swahili, Muda Wa Wakati means: Time’s Up.
