What was the last thing you watched? Movie & TV Edition

[msslave]

"Walk this way."   

[MissBarbara]

Thanks MissB, I shall certainly keep watching. Believe it or not I have never seen "Roots", I have seen "12 Years A Slave"

"Roots" was a straightforward narrative of a American slavery, beginning with the capture of a black man in Africa and his transportation across the Atlantic, and ending (as I recall) at end of the U.S. Civil War.

Little known scene of actor LeVar Burton who portrayed that captured black man in Roots.

Kidding aside, I saw Roots as a teenager in the 1970s.  It was quite the television event at the time.  You were convinced a reckoning with our racist past had occurred.  Yet, here we are still.

While it's been a while since I watched "Roots," I don't recall that particular scene.



Meanwhile, while it was before my time, I think it's impossible to overestimate the enormous effects of that series, both then and now.

Yet your comments are more than a bit off.

I suspect that most people in 1977 didn't believe, as you note, that a television miniseries would change the state of race relations in the U.S. forever, and create some short of post-racial utopian society.

Which makes your phrase -- "Yet, here we are still" -- very jarring. Do you honestly believe that the state of race relations -- and, more important -- the recognition of civil rights under law -- remains exactly the same today as it did in 1977 more than 40 years ago?

"Roots," to borrow the phrase, changed the narrative. It thrust the realities of our chattel slave system into the living rooms of tens of millions of white Americans. It changed the way we viewed the realities of slavery, it changed the way students were taught about slavery, and, most important of all, it limned a direct connection between slavery and the continuing rights struggles for modern-day Black Americans. In a very real way, "Roots" made BLM possible -- and necessary.

"Here we still are"? Sure, race relations are still a problem, the rights of Black Americans are still not fully recognized, and racism -- both systemic racism and good old-fashioned racism -- still exist. But the progress from 1977 to 2021 has been enormous, and denying that progress can be damaging, especially for Black Americans.

[_priapism]

Jed. Great Animal House parody.

[Jed_]

Thanks MissB, I shall certainly keep watching. Believe it or not I have never seen "Roots", I have seen "12 Years A Slave"

"Roots" was a straightforward narrative of a American slavery, beginning with the capture of a black man in Africa and his transportation across the Atlantic, and ending (as I recall) at end of the U.S. Civil War.

Little known scene of actor LeVar Burton who portrayed that captured black man in Roots.

Kidding aside, I saw Roots as a teenager in the 1970s.  It was quite the television event at the time.  You were convinced a reckoning with our racist past had occurred.  Yet, here we are still.

While it's been a while since I watched "Roots," I don't recall that particular scene.



Meanwhile, while it was before my time, I think it's impossible to overestimate the enormous effects of that series, both then and now.

Yet your comments are more than a bit off.

I suspect that most people in 1977 didn't believe, as you note, that a television miniseries would change the state of race relations in the U.S. forever, and create some short of post-racial utopian society.

Which makes your phrase -- "Yet, here we are still" -- very jarring. Do you honestly believe that the state of race relations -- and, more important -- the recognition of civil rights under law -- remains exactly the same today as it did in 1977 more than 40 years ago?

"Roots," to borrow the phrase, changed the narrative. It thrust the realities of our chattel slave system into the living rooms of tens of millions of white Americans. It changed the way we viewed the realities of slavery, it changed the way students were taught about slavery, and, most important of all, it limned a direct connection between slavery and the continuing rights struggles for modern-day Black Americans. In a very real way, "Roots" made BLM possible -- and necessary.

"Here we still are"? Sure, race relations are still a problem, the rights of Black Americans are still not fully recognized, and racism -- both systemic racism and good old-fashioned racism -- still exist. But the progress from 1977 to 2021 has been enormous, and denying that progress can be damaging, especially for Black Americans.

Call it my naivety at the time then MissB.  I honestly believed in my teen years of the late 1970s that racism was over and done with.  I had black friends in school, just didn’t see any differences in how we were treated.  Maybe if I had quizzed them at the time, they would have dispelled my illusions.  If you told me then that over 40 years later the Republican Party of which my entire family was a member back then would currently be giving white supremacy a wink and a nod, I would have found that incomprehensible.

[Jed_]

ODK can relate.

It’s been a Mel Brooks Sunday.  Blazing Saddles is on next.

[watcher1]

It's a sign of the times that many Mel Brook's movies cannot be made today.

[MintJulie]

Right now it is all Olympics all the time.  Gymnastics and swimming mainly.

I'm not going to say much more about it because I'm current with events and don't want to spoil for those watching on tonight for primetime.

[Shiela_M]

Outer Banks. Group of teenagers try to find a lost treasure worth $400 million. I'm enjoying it but it gets so frustrating at the same time.

If the movie National Treasure, and Netflix series Thirteen Reasons Why had a baby, it would be Outer Banks

[seeker83]

Deadliest Catch

[Jed_]

Outer Banks. Group of teenagers try to find a lost treasure worth $400 million. I'm enjoying it but it gets so frustrating at the same time.

If the movie National Treasure, and Netflix series Thirteen Reasons Why had a baby, it would be Outer Banks

I sort of wondered about this show.  I’ve spent a lot of time at the Outer Banks, long enough that when the surfer dudes abbreviated it OBX even before text speak was in play, I found it very annoying.  It’s the Outer Banks, the most beautiful long stretch of beach in the world, the beach by which I compare all other beaches, and find those other beaches in the Mediterranean of Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Turkey, in the numerous places in the Caribbean, in California, in South America and Central America, in Hawaii and especially in Florida, well those beaches are no where near as nice as the Outer Banks.

So you see my dilemma my dear, despite how good that show might be, it runs a high risk of pissing me off with inaccuracies about the Outer Banks.

And wanna see a weird coincidence?  While writing this post I just realized what shirt I’ve had on all day:

[watcher1]

Cocaine Cowboys on Netflix. Took the government over 20 years to prosecute the two largest drug dealers in Miami but the series did a good job of showing the obstacles the government had to overcome to finally put them away.  I could empathize with the police and federal agents as I personally knew of someone who worked for the Miami-Dade County department during the 70s. It was literally the Wild West there.

[ObiDongKenobi]

Yesterday - a film by Danny Boyle about a world where the Beatles never existed.  I thought it was lovely (and it didn't include Boyle's signature scene of someone diving into a toilet  )

[Asmodel]

Lucifer seasons 1-5, currently watching walking dead season 5, while waiting for lucifer season 6 in September.

[Shiela_M]

Ok, so it is a combination between being super bored and my growing appreciation for animation, but I'm watching a star track cartoon.  Below decks.

If I wasnt paid up, I most likely would have never watched it.  Kind of funny actually.

[watcher1]

Superstore on Peacock.  We have seen the first two seasons. Some really funny episodes.

[_priapism]

Superstore on Peacock.  We have seen the first two seasons. Some really funny episodes.

I really love that series.  Great characters and comic story lines.

[ObiDongKenobi]

Half of the first episode of Solos on Amazon Prime.

Attracted to it by the fact that some episodes have Helen Mirren (slaver,slaver) and Morgan Freeman in them. All it seemed to be was a woman I didn't recognise screaming fuck at a future version of herself. Anyone suggest I should persevere?

[seeker83]

I'm still mowing through Deadliest Catch, on season 11 now.

I also watched all of Nostalgia Critic's Jurassic Park/World reviews.  I have one VERY clear reason to recommend you all watch at least the Jurassic Park review.

It's the Mother-Fucking T-Rex Song  Check at around 14:36 (It isn't right at the song so you get context) and then later at around 24:56.  Also, yes, this song does come back in other reviews, including Jurassic World:

[MaryK]

Whistle and I'll come to you. The original with Michael horden.

[watcher1]

Turning Point - the story of 9/11.  A Netflix documentary that shows unbelievable footage of the tragedy. It also delves into the history of the Taliban and al Qaeda and the hijackers, plus the politics of the Bush Administration trying to enact policies that fly in the face of our Constitution.