At the Sundance Film Festival, which ended yesterday, Chris Rock had a documentary film in competition. It’s called “Good Hair,” and it’s about the culture and economics of black hair. It won a Special Jury Prize.
Rock also did a lot of interviews. Here are three of them:
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I soooo want to see this! It should be required viewing in Cleveland, "Home of the Yaki."
You just reminded me that I still have to owe the documentary a blog post.
Chris Rock does Michael Moore, but "blacker" and likely funnier.
I've seen a rough cut of the movie - brilliant.
This is going to be on HBO, right?
I'm pretty excited about this too. Hopefully, it'll hit the theaters when I'm back in the States sometimes
"It's probably the best movie I've done.." Chris has made some pretty bad movies so this could only be good.
One of the British channels did an interesting show on where weave hair comes from, hosted by black singer whose name I can't remember. Expensive weave hair comes from Russia and the cheapest stuff is picked off the garbage piles of India. That sort of grossed me out.
I've seen a rough cut of the movie - brilliant.
Glad to hear you say that, dude. I was hoping for the best... but this is a tricky concept to execute as a feature-length film.
A conversation I've had many times but don't really understand. Could it be that the root of so many female self esteem issues - the fairy tale - is at fault?
The only kind of hair I've ever seen on any of these princesses is long, thick, flowing "tresses". Hell the freaking prince climbs up Rapunzel's.
Will definitely be looking for this.
I watched the second clip because of Sarah Jones. Her impressions are AWESOME! Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this.
Hell the freaking prince climbs up Rapunzel's.
I did a diorama about Rapunzel when I was in elementary school. I remember using long yellow and orange yarn for her locks. Wonder if I had hair issues? :-?
I cut my (dread)locks nearly five years go. I haven't permed my hair in nearly 20 years. And I've never worn a weave.
I have seen a multi part doc of this subject on youtube before,but with Chris Rock's name attached,am sure this will get wider play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msY2S3wdFVY
As Dollar Bill rightly stated, having a "name" attached to the project is significant. I am constantly amazed that people are surprised by the conversation/feedback that comes with this topic. This is a historic phenomena, passed on from generation to generation, talked about ad nauseum.
Let me ask the ladies, who of you'all is "tender headed"?
EVERYONE is tender-headed if his/her hair is pulled with a comb, but owning up to the fact places you in the "bad hair" column, so we quietly sit still. Or, in the case of black men, shave their heads.
I saw it at Sundance and it was pretty good. HBO is attached, so it's defnitely going to be aired, not sure if HBO only or in theaters. I saw it on the last day of the festival, so there was no Q&A session.
Besides being very funny, it showed the Bronner Brothers International Hair Show and the economics behind the hair industry, from India to the US.
Nia Long, Ice T, Al Sharpton, Melyssa Ford, Tracie Thoms, were probably the funniest in the interviews.
Other films of interest at Sundance were: Why We Laugh, Black Comedians on Comedy (based on the book), Thriller in Manilla (Ali spoke at a KKK rally!), and Tyson.
^ Thanks, X!
Let me ask the ladies, who of you'all is "tender headed"?
I was never called "tender headed" as a child. As an adult, the thought of getting my hair professionally braided makes me cringe. My scalp would never recover.
@Geneva Girl
UK singer Jamelia served as narrator for the BBC documentary, Who's Hair Is It Anyway?
Many years ago my girlfriend was going to compete in the Miss California pageant. Her handler told her that her hair was too nappy and her butt was too big. She lost what amounted to her pony tail when the chemicals she hot combed with dissolved it. She starved herself and exercised trying to reduce the size of her ass so much that her boobs shrunk. She ended wearing falsies and and a clip on pony tail. Her butt was still big. My white ass tried to talk her into playing the role of a proud black woman and fly her Afro and butt proudly. I lost to her handler and mother. She placed third. She still competes in beauty pageants. Mrs. Black America and others like it.
Thanks Anonymous. I couldn't remember Jamelia's name.
I was called "tender headed" all my life. Heck, I call myself that and my daughter too and we have long hair. I never knew that there were any connotations attached to it.
Anonymous re: pageants.
I too was placed in pageants in my youth. My mother would wear a long, straight wig in the audience, and burn out my wavy hair prior to the event. She actually offered plastic surgery to me as a gift for my 14 birthday. Don't ask.
Just as Chris Rock's name has helped (hopefully) bring the topic of black hair into the open, I praise JLo and others for making "junk in the trunk" sexy again. Marilyn too had curves. I blame designers wanting clothes to "hang right." Ms. Monroe comments on this fact in "Some Like It Hot."
Of course, pageants still appreciate the "no jiggle/giggle" aesthetic. Oh well, the booty is going to do what it wants to do...
It's interesting the issue gets the full treatment from a brother. Not to diss Chris Rock's talent and access, I've always heard the custom is that men don't ask women about their hair. The costs of hair -- literal and figurative -- are considerable; I would love to see a discussion about the explosion in hair weave use in the last few years. The comfortability to look fake in an obvious manner.
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