3 thoughts on “The Book of Negroes (2015)

  1. The costuming and depiction of what are supposely “culturally authentic” clothing, jewelry, housing and culture in what is intended to be Mali (but is actually South Africa) made me want to cry. The whole setup = nobody could be bothered to do some research, and/or they figured Americans wouldn’t know the difference. They were probably right sbout the latter, but it’s all incredibly cringeworthy. (So are thr S. African style villages and wall paintings, the schooner that wouldn’t have been used for a South Atlantic voyage like this… and on snd on.) The fake “African” costumes and body paint and all are downright demeaning – these were sophisticated cultures and peoples, not iron age “primitives.” In doing the 1st ep. in this manner, BET was actually perpetuating demeaning stereotypes of Africans, and, frankly, of the ancestral cultures and homelands of contemporary black N. Americans. They didn’t even get the music and musical instruments right.

    I know they must’ve had a shoestring budget, but even so, the production and costume design are just a total mess. They could likely have consulted – for free! – with specialists in 17th snd 18th c. costume and fashion at the National Museum of American Art and the National Portrait Gallery, or at least checked some books out of the public library to see what they were dealing with. (FWIW, I worked at the NPG back when, and we got queries of this dort all.the.time.)

    The anachronisms and hugely misleading depiction of 18th c. West Africa are so jarring that I had to stop watching. That’s not to detract from anyone’s performance, but it would have been relatively easy and cheap for them to do so much better. I feel for the cast, and can only hope that someone, somedsy gets it right, in a film or TV series that reaches a mass audience. Here’s hoping…

    1. As some smart person once said, intelligence is also about being willing to look for accurate information. I hate it when production values get dumbed down because producers assume the intended audience don’t care.

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