Music Lists
Lift Every Voice and Sing: A Playlist for Black Lives Matter
Songs to get you hyped for the revolution.
06.11.2020
Though your social media feeds might slowly be "returning to normal," don't forget: Black Lives Matter.
Since the May 25 murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, countless protests against police brutality of Black people have taken the United States, and much of the rest of the world, by storm. U.S. police have reportedly arrested over 10,000 protestors and have resorted to dangerous tactics, like rubber bullets and tear gas, in attempts to dissipate the protests.
<p>Good things have resulted from the protests. In addition to Chauvin and the three other officers involved in Floyd's murder being charged, the mayors of both Los Angeles and New York <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/opinion/black-lives-matter-protests.html" target="_blank">promised budget cuts</a> to their police departments, while a majority of City Council members in Minneapolis pledged to dismantle the city's police department.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-632"></div>
<!-- End Ezoic - undersecond12 - under_second_paragraph --></p><p>But despite the progress, there's still more to be done. The officers who <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/breonna-taylor-police.html" target="_blank">murdered Breonna Taylor</a> in her Kentucky home on March 13 have not yet been charged as of June 11. President Trump has <a href="https://www.popdust.com/keke-palmer-protest-2646150528.html?utm_campaign=RebelMouse&socialux=facebook&share_id=5582540&utm_medium=social&utm_content=Popdust&utm_source=facebook" target="_self">threatened to use military force on protestors</a>, while Democratic candidate Joe Biden has provided insufficient plans to reduce police brutality.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-633"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent1 - mid_content --></p><p>We still need to march, donate, and fight for justice. Considering much of the music white people listen to was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/music-black-culture-appropriation.html" target="_blank">invented by Black people</a>, it feels right to use music to lift our spirits. Below, we've compiled a playlist of songs by Black artists to help get you pumped for the ongoing battle towards justice and peace. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-634"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent11 - mid_content --></p><p class="media-headline">
<strong>Black Lives Matter, Popdust Edition</strong></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-proxy-image">
<a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6rC098h0oDCgvy5DC0C1Fy?si=W5pHm_ZQTl2Hmk4bacWKEQ" target="_blank"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vbWVkaWEucmJsLm1zL2ltYWdlP3U9JTJGMzAwJTJGYWI2NzYxNmQwMDAwYjI3MzM1MDQ2NjRjMTdiN2I5OWEzY2I3ZDExNmFiNjc2MTZkMDAwMGIyNzM0ZTI2N2ZhYWZkMDYzZjI4OGI0ODkwYmNhYjY3NjE2ZDAwMDBiMjczODk5OTJmNGQ3ZDRhYjk0OTM3YmY5ZTIzYWI2NzYxNmQwMDAwYjI3M2I1OWZmNmU2Y2ZkMzhkZjczYmQxY2ExMCZobz1odHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRm1vc2FpYy5zY2RuLmNvJnM9NDUmaD04ZDMyNWM2MGYyYWU2MTJjZjI0ZTY1NDM2MTQ2OWY1YzE5ZmYwOWFhZWVlYTRhN2RlYTg3NDMzYzA1ODAxZDZjJnNpemU9OTgweCZjPTIwODQ5OTgyNjUiLCJleHBpcmVzX2F0IjoxNjA5NDk3NzA5fQ.kcwtx75IbigJ310nfw6bIa8b_c40T1phRXGFTwXbxZQ/img.jpg" id="20498" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="39e9b95497023a3364222c8ba24ee36c" alt="Black Lives Matter playlist"></a>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Black Lives Matter, Popdust Edition</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6rC098h0oDCgvy5DC0C1Fy?si=W5pHm_ZQTl2Hmk4bacWKEQ" target="_blank">open.spotify.com</a></small>
</p>
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Film Features
Stop Turning Exclusively to White Movies for Comfort
Breaking down the bias of comfort films.
07.14.2020
With the constant onslaught of complicated news that 2020 has brought, sometimes you just want to be able to shut off your brain, relax, and feel happy.
Enter comfort films. These are the feel-good movies that feel like a warm hug when you finish them, the ones that allow you to escape for a short while. We often turn to these types of films in times of trouble or extreme stress, and when we're not sure what films of this nature we should watch, we turn to the Internet for options.
<p>And the Internet delivers. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2020/05/14/comfort-movies-streaming-quarantine/" target="_blank">Numerous lists</a> of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200319-covid-19-comforting-films-to-watch-in-isolation" target="_blank">comforting films to watch</a> have been published across almost every major website since the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/mar/12/comfort-films-to-watch-while-self-isolating-coronavirus-ranked" target="_blank">start of the March</a>. These lists often include old classics like <em>Roman Holiday</em>, new classics like <em>13 Going On 30</em>, and soon-to-be classics like<em> About Time</em>. While the films featured on these types of lists vary across genres and time periods, there is one thing that all of these lists have in common: They are almost exclusively white, heteronormative films. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-632"></div>
<!-- End Ezoic - undersecond12 - under_second_paragraph --></p><p>That is not to say that there is not any diversity. Gina Prince-Bythewood's directorial debut <em>Love and Basketball</em>, Alice Wu's recent Tribeca Film Festival award-winning film <em>The Half of It</em>, and Gurinder Chadha's star-making film <em>Bend it Like Beckham</em> make appearances on several lists. But by far, the majority of the films on these lists fall into a very specific bracket. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-633"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent1 - mid_content --></p><p><br></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQ0OTQxMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTQyMDE3OX0.9MXv_NuK2Sa_6CXEdUZXXu0srpuaHgAw8wum1Z0SEfc/img.jpg?width=980" id="c7dff" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c8ac42836b2ff35650e815c1e8bd6477" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Parminder Nagra and Jonathan Rhys Meyers in Bend It Like Beckham">
</p><p>But with the <a href="https://socialsciences.ucla.edu/hollywood-diversity-report-2020/" target="_blank">landscape of Hollywood changing</a> and the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/07/01/886025141/the-academy-of-motion-picture-arts-and-sciences-invites-more-women-minorities" target="_blank">Academy becoming more diverse</a>, does it really matter if a curated list of popular movies from the past reflects a history that we're already aware has some issues?<br></p><p>The answer is: Yes, very much so. </p><p>When curators, critics, and list makers hold up a largely white, heteronormative selection of films as definitive of any aspect of pop culture, their blind spot helps to maintain the inequitable status quo that currently exists in the film industry. If when a person wants to feel comforted, the sole type of content that they're encouraged to watch is one from a specific racial background or sexual identity, they will internalize that. These lists are curated for joy, and if joy is constantly centered on whiteness, on heteronormativity, on a very limited sense of identity, we are ignoring entire swaths of human beings and their experiences. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-635"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent2 - long_content --></p><p>Changing the dynamics of our media and, by extension, our society is not simply about recognizing the trauma of oppression on-screen. It is about seeing these communities' joy expressed through the medium as well. This is why <a href="https://nerdist.com/article/black-joy-movies-tv-shows/" target="_blank">lists of films that center black joy</a> are being created as additional material to engage with when learning how to be anti-racist. It is why there is a <a href="https://www.themarysue.com/subversive-power-lgbtq-happy-ending/" target="_blank">push for more happy endings in queer media</a>. We change the status quo not simply by telling new stories or by telling stories of oppression, but also by seeking out narratives of joy from communities whose voices have rarely been centered. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-636"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent22 - long_content --></p><p>The limited scope of so many Internet lists also implies that comforting content centering these communities does not exist, and that is simply not true. When films that feature marginalized communities only end up on lists for marginalized communities, it's clear that these identities are still considered an "other". By ignoring these films—films like <em>Coming to America, The</em> <em>Birdcage, </em>and <em>Hunt for Wilderpeople, </em>films that made people feel seen, films that inspired the media and the creators we rave about—these lists are just reproducing the same problematic paradigms of the past and erasing the value of important works of art. Creating better media systems requires reckoning with how we look at past content, too.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-637"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent3 - longer_content --></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQ0OTQ0MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNzk0ODAxNX0.dUxYR5pvdzTLtbFrZF4n6QCVVB_x5yl51gSwHFoPUg4/img.jpg?width=980" id="8e330" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="727114542c442f743d81a897b4deb780" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Julian Dennison in the woods in the film Hunt for the Wilderpeople">
</p><p><br></p><p>This does not mean you need to throw away these lists or stop watching <em>You've Got Mail</em>. But it does mean that you should reflect on what type of films you watch that center marginalized communities, and whether that encompasses what you watch when you want to feel good. Are you only watching Black trauma narratives or are you also watching romantic comedies starring Black protagonists when you've had a bad day? </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-638"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent33 - longer_content --></p><h2></h2><h2></h2><h2></h2><p>It also means that curators, critics, and creators of lists should move beyond their personal comfort zones and learn to seek out films that speak to experiences other than their own. Because, as it turns out, a lot of those films spark joy, too.</p>
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Culture News
Sony's PS5 Event Delay Is the Right Move (Even If It's Just PR)
If a brand can back positive social change through financially beneficial PR, that's still a positive.
06.02.2020
Sony
Corporations have one interest and one interest only: profit.
No matter how much you love a nostalgic toy brand from your childhood or a fast food chain's Twitter account, it's worth remembering that their primary goal is always to get you to buy their product. Brands are not your friends, and it's naive to think that they ever "do the right thing" out of some higher sense of justice beyond their bottom line.
<p>That said, there's still value in brands taking stances on social and political issues. The fact that brands aren't people doesn't mean that some of the people behind brands don't sincerely care about social issues. If a brand can back positive social change through financially beneficial PR, that's still a net positive—at least within the context of a capitalist society where brands are put on pedestals and treated as if they have more rights than the average living, breathing human.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-632"></div>
<!-- End Ezoic - undersecond12 - under_second_paragraph --></p><p>On Thursday, June 4th of 2020, Sony was scheduled to host the long-awaited reveal event for the PlayStation 5 wherein launch games would be outlined and a release date would presumably be set in stone. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-633"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent1 - mid_content --></p><p>That was until George Floyd's cold-blooded, state-sanctioned murder by a group of Minneapolis police officers. Now the Black Lives Matter movement has taken on a newfound fervor in the public eye, with major protests against police brutality in every major city. Police are responding with unprecedented violence (tear gas, rubber bullets, etc.) <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/01/867532070/trumps-unannounced-church-visit-angers-church-officials" target="_blank">against peaceful protestors</a> and journalists which, in turn, is driving some protesters to violence. Riots rage across the country. Trump is threatening <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/politics/donald-trump-national-address-race/index.html" target="_blank">military violence</a> against his own citizens if the protests don't stop, which is all the more reason for the protests to continue in full force.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-634"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent11 - mid_content --></p><p>Amidst all of this Sony decided to delay their event, posting on the official PlayStation Twitter: "While we understand gamers worldwide are excited to see PS5 games, we don not feel that right now is a time celebration and for now, we want to stand back and allow more important voices to be heard."</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-635"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent2 - long_content --></p><div id="e5456" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="99a57c2d6c9c6e2b57aba317f8e45f4b"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1267525525825900549" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">https://t.co/ZAY8StN0EU</div> — PlayStation (@PlayStation)<a href="https://twitter.com/PlayStation/statuses/1267525525825900549">1591036609.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Their decision has received wide support, with their "rival," the Xbox account, standing in solidarity.</p><div id="39796" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="60835d08e03051dbb9f217eac2ddb6a6"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1267583493254475777" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We stand together 💙💚 https://t.co/HMZNHeNzLd</div> — Xbox (@Xbox)<a href="https://twitter.com/Xbox/statuses/1267583493254475777">1591050430.0</a></blockquote></div><p>But sure enough, Sony's decision to delay their PS5 event isn't popular amongst a <em>certain</em> gamer demographic. Their comment section is predictably a toxic waste pit. For context, this guy choosing to represent himself with an <em>Assassin's Creed </em>logo and saying, "Wtf? C'mon dude! Seriously?" is one of the more mature people on the thread.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-636"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent22 - long_content --></p><div id="676a4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7395151e7ff7adcf3202151a08f8e467"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1267525734014345230" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">@PlayStation Wtf? C’mon dude! Seriously? 😤🤬</div> — PhantomR (@PhantomR)<a href="https://twitter.com/Azix30/statuses/1267525734014345230">1591036659.0</a></blockquote></div><p>A good number of the more popular complaints, however, hinge on the assertion that Sony doesn't actually care. </p><div id="c011e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="37d8183ef8764fc0b86726d30f344bb0"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1267550001518874624" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">@PlayStation Last November government in Iran Slaughtered 1500 protesters, did you care? What about protesters in H… https://t.co/QUMygv2f9w</div> — Bs (@Bs)<a href="https://twitter.com/Beni12Sackboy17/statuses/1267550001518874624">1591042444.0</a></blockquote></div><p>To some extent, this is valid. When the commenter with a <em>Rick and Morty </em>avatar says that "it's all about MONEY" for Sony, he's most likely correct. But here's the deal: Who cares? Regardless of whether Sony made this decision because the people behind the company actually support the cause or because the marketing team decided that any announcements they made would be vastly overshadowed in the media (and it's honestly most likely this one), they're still doing the right thing. Now is not the time to be hosting a celebratory media event in America. Black people and allies are out in the streets fighting for their lives. PS5 announcements can wait.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-637"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent3 - longer_content --></p><p><strong>Most importantly, though, when brands speak up like Sony did, they help to normalize progressive sentiments around important issues.</strong> </p><p><span></span>Typically speaking, when a brand decides to publicly promote a social or political issue, we can usually assume that they've made a decision based on market research that supporting the cause will not lead to financial downfall. Thus, brands tend to support causes that are already popular amongst large demographics of people. Even if their support is hollow, which it almost always is, the benefits of normalization outweigh the loftier moral issues of intent. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-638"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent33 - longer_content --></p><p>To be clear, by advocating for black voices amidst the Black Lives Matter protests, Sony has essentially told its customers that it doesn't care about losing sales from whatever demographic of racist gamers might be against the cause. Quite frankly, it's not important why they decided this. Nobody is turning to Sony for community leadership, anyways. The important part is that it rightfully makes that racist demographic of gamers who hate BLM and disagree with the protests <em>understand </em>that their views and values are unwanted. This, in turn, takes power away from their ideas.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-639"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent4 - longest_content --></p><h2></h2><p>By all means, continue to be critical of corporate greed from <a href="https://www.popdust.com/gillette-ad-2626185510.html" target="_blank">obviously pandering brands</a>. Brands aren't people, and they don't have feelings to hurt. But at the same time, it's useful to recognize positivity in a situation as dire as this. A popular company normalizing support of BLM can only help spread the message.</p>
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