Why there are no great Kwanzaa movies
Instead of one Kwanzaa movie, choose seven!
In a recent episode of “Totally Biased,” W. Kamau Bell laid into white folks who make misguided attempts to be inclusive by celebrating (or inventing) Kwanzaa traditions:
Even Barney attempts to get in on the Kwanzaa action.
While it might be equally ill-considered to propose that someone make a proper Kwanzaa film - The Black Candle hasn’t quite crossed into A Christmas Story or It’s a Wonderful Life territory - I nominate starting a new Kwanzaa tradition: selecting seven films, each honoring one of Kwanzaa’s tenets.
Day 1, Umoja (Unity): Do the Right Thing
An urban parable about the importance of unity, and the perils of division, Do the Right Thing is a complex, and oft misunderstood work. Take this sequence where racial division and the threat of violence looms, and where verbal sparring is encouraged in ever more absurd ways. It is tragic, comic, and prescient in its gentrification message:
Day 2, Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): Daughters of the Dust