If you haven’t read, Vincent Bevins’ book from I believe last year, ‘If We Burn,’ is a sort of catalog of the Obama era / post-Occupy protest movements across the world and one of the undercurrent issues he talks about is the role of social media and optics in the magnification and, in my reading, dissolution of potency of those movements and ultimately the failure of any of the movements to transcend to actual policy. Well worth a read
Good read. I was also amused by the music the vampires play – music of half my lineage, from the British Isles. There is even a banjo, though in the Irish banjo style. Their playing and singing is catchy — Stack likes it — but they know it won’t really work until they add the blues.
This is a good take, and the Black Panther comparison has me questioning my own.
I originally saw the vampires as representative of all the temptations that come along with a creative/rockstar life, everything Preacher Boy's father warns him about. It would pretty lame to say "the vampires are drug addicts, and the sunlight is the hangover", but the film repeatedly talks about both the healing and destructive power of music. Preacher Boy in particular finds a way to walk this line without surrendering to pure hedonism, but the urge is always there.
The obvious interpretation is that Sinners is about cultural assimilation (to me at least, and to most people I've talked to about it), and I think that's right, but I appreciate the depth added by your analysis. The tension of a "struggle between a tantalizing radical vision of a new universal settlement and a safer conservative dream of limited national liberation" cuts to the heart of why assimilation of this type is a tricky thing. The vampires are not assimilating to the dominant culture; that world is unyielding and white supremacist. These are people who embrace the possibilities of a world connected, while being disoriented by the imperial/colonial drives that built those connections. They have a real communion with each other, but they are a people born yesterday. They have and share the personal gifts of music and creativity, but have severed the connection to the cultural inheritance that provided those gifts. The film seems to be saying that the only way this sort of multicultural universalism can be enriched is by taking in more and more people to it who can each share their individual talent, but it seems unable to produce the soulful passion of someone with deeper roots. Stack and Mary are undeniably cool at the end of the film, but they still yearn for Sammie's music. Sammie, for his part, is powerfully tied to his ancestors and creates something beautiful from that, but his fate for clinging to this heritage is to eventually die off (or there's the option of Smoke's pyrrhic vengeance). The film shows that the vampire's way is how one survives the violence of colonialism, and it does not judge this way of living as wholly bad or wrong, even showing the promise of true community on the other side. Also, it seems to say that this is the only ethical choice available to someone of the dominant culture (at least that's how I read the white couple's "conversion"). But from the film's perspective, this does violence to your soul, and it deeply mourns that loss. Although I, and I assume most of Max's readers, are on the other side of vampirism and I wouldn't want to go back, the film did give me pause. There is something to at least modern liberal multiculturalism (even in its most radical form) that feels shallow, constantly on the move and forgetful of the past. I'd like to think that's not a necessary feature and I'm not as pessimistic about producing meaningful culture under these conditions, but I understand the yearning for deeper roots.
Enjoyed the read. In the second to last paragraph of the piece on Sinners you mention establishment Black institutions. Capitalize the B in Black when talking about the people. Thanks.
If you haven’t read, Vincent Bevins’ book from I believe last year, ‘If We Burn,’ is a sort of catalog of the Obama era / post-Occupy protest movements across the world and one of the undercurrent issues he talks about is the role of social media and optics in the magnification and, in my reading, dissolution of potency of those movements and ultimately the failure of any of the movements to transcend to actual policy. Well worth a read
Good read. I was also amused by the music the vampires play – music of half my lineage, from the British Isles. There is even a banjo, though in the Irish banjo style. Their playing and singing is catchy — Stack likes it — but they know it won’t really work until they add the blues.
Sorry. Don’t do telegram. But you can email me. Cort@wessven.con.
This is a good take, and the Black Panther comparison has me questioning my own.
I originally saw the vampires as representative of all the temptations that come along with a creative/rockstar life, everything Preacher Boy's father warns him about. It would pretty lame to say "the vampires are drug addicts, and the sunlight is the hangover", but the film repeatedly talks about both the healing and destructive power of music. Preacher Boy in particular finds a way to walk this line without surrendering to pure hedonism, but the urge is always there.
The obvious interpretation is that Sinners is about cultural assimilation (to me at least, and to most people I've talked to about it), and I think that's right, but I appreciate the depth added by your analysis. The tension of a "struggle between a tantalizing radical vision of a new universal settlement and a safer conservative dream of limited national liberation" cuts to the heart of why assimilation of this type is a tricky thing. The vampires are not assimilating to the dominant culture; that world is unyielding and white supremacist. These are people who embrace the possibilities of a world connected, while being disoriented by the imperial/colonial drives that built those connections. They have a real communion with each other, but they are a people born yesterday. They have and share the personal gifts of music and creativity, but have severed the connection to the cultural inheritance that provided those gifts. The film seems to be saying that the only way this sort of multicultural universalism can be enriched is by taking in more and more people to it who can each share their individual talent, but it seems unable to produce the soulful passion of someone with deeper roots. Stack and Mary are undeniably cool at the end of the film, but they still yearn for Sammie's music. Sammie, for his part, is powerfully tied to his ancestors and creates something beautiful from that, but his fate for clinging to this heritage is to eventually die off (or there's the option of Smoke's pyrrhic vengeance). The film shows that the vampire's way is how one survives the violence of colonialism, and it does not judge this way of living as wholly bad or wrong, even showing the promise of true community on the other side. Also, it seems to say that this is the only ethical choice available to someone of the dominant culture (at least that's how I read the white couple's "conversion"). But from the film's perspective, this does violence to your soul, and it deeply mourns that loss. Although I, and I assume most of Max's readers, are on the other side of vampirism and I wouldn't want to go back, the film did give me pause. There is something to at least modern liberal multiculturalism (even in its most radical form) that feels shallow, constantly on the move and forgetful of the past. I'd like to think that's not a necessary feature and I'm not as pessimistic about producing meaningful culture under these conditions, but I understand the yearning for deeper roots.
Enjoyed the read. In the second to last paragraph of the piece on Sinners you mention establishment Black institutions. Capitalize the B in Black when talking about the people. Thanks.
they’re clearly multiculturalism/assimilation