Welcome back lovelies! To another No Whining Wednesday, the only day of the week where you do not get to whine, criticize, or complain for a 24hour period. If you are new to this blog or new to this segment, please visit the first post HEREto understand what this is all about.
The No Whining Wednesday Badge
Today’s inspiration is Will Smith’s Instagram video. It has been making its way around social media and for good reason. We live in a world dominated by social media and for this, it’s important to remember that everybody who LIKES you don’t “Like” you. In fact, I am willing to bet that many of us have people on our Facebook “friends” list who are not our friends and people who like our every post but will not reach out in real life. People who say they support you but have never bought a book or left a review or just helped you to promote your work. This goes far beyond writing, this is about life. Who we surround ourselves with has a lot to do with the person we eventually become. This is how important associations are. If the people around you are not encouraging you, lifting you up, inspiring you, correcting you, helping you, etc, why are they around you? Why are we allowing people who do nothing for us to have so much access to us?
Welcome back to Movie Night Friday. Doggie, say hi.
The Dog EC Hired to Help Host Movie Night Friday.
I know what you’re thinking “That movie was whack”. Which is exactly why we are reviewing it today! This movie has so many messages it’s not even funny. And as a box office disappointment worldwide, I am sure that many of us missed them.
About.
From Wikipedia:
In the 21st century, an environmental cataclysm forces the human race to abandon Earth and to settle on a new world, Nova Prime. One thousand years later, the Ranger Corps, a peacekeeping organization commanded by General Cypher Raige (Will Smith), comes into conflict with the S’krell, alien creatures who intend to conquer Nova Prime. Their secret weapons are the Ursas, large predatory creatures that hunt by “sensing” fear. The Rangers struggle against the Ursas until Cypher learns how to completely suppress his fear, a technique called “ghosting”. After teaching this technique to the other Rangers, he leads the Ranger Corps to victory. Meanwhile, Cypher’s son Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) blames himself for the death of his sister Senshi (Zoë Kravitz) at the hands of an Ursa. Kitai trains to become a Ranger like Cypher, but his application is rejected due to his recklessness. Kitai’s mother Faia (Sophie Okonedo) convinces Cypher to take Kitai on his last voyage before retirement.
The movie gets going after their spaceship crashes due to an asteroid shower. The crash kills everyone on board except for Cypher and Kitai but Cypher’s leg is broken. It is then up to Kitai to move across the dangerous planet to where the other part of the ship landed to retrieve the instrument that will allow them to access the help they need. The planet is dangerous and filled with animals and aliens that kill humans. Welcome to earth.
As stated, there’s a lot in this movie but I am drafting this late and so I’m kinda tired. Buuutt, I like you. (Kinda …lol) So I still managed to choose five of the key lessons that stuck out to me:
#1. You’re Not Ready
In the beginning of the movie, Kitai is rejected from being a ranger which makes him upset. However, sometimes we think we’re ready for something that we have no idea we’re not ready for. We can feel ready but without the experience of enduring the necessary hardships it takes to get to that level, we will not actually be ready. Without falling and getting back up babies do not learn to walk. Kitai is a baby and still has a lot of fear in his heart.
#2. Fear is not real
This leads me to the next, most prominent message. The most popular quote from the movie:
“You have to remember, fear is not real. The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not at present and may not ever exist. That is near insanity. Do not misunderstand me. Danger is very real, but fear is a choice.”
Cypher explains this to Kitai after explaining how he Ghost for the first time and even though it’s a movie, I do believe it is true. We choose to be afraid and we choose what fear makes us do. Danger is real and it is only foolish not to prepare for danger but the act of being afraid is something we choose to do. Why? Because we limit ourselves to physical limitations but faith? Faith is limitless and where there is faith, there is no fear. Where there is fear, there is no faith. The two cannot coexist.
#3. Ghosting
Speaking of fear, one of the dominant messages in the movie, the thing that Kitai set out to perfect is Ghosting. It is when the soldiers can rid themselves of fear. When this happens, the aliens cannot see them, thus they Ghost. This gives them an upper hand and they can now defeat the enemy. Throughout the movie Kitai’s goal is to be like his dad and Cypher is known for Ghosting. It is what makes him strong. (There’s another part to this. Masking his emotions makes Cypher stronger but it also makes him weak in a way because by coming across emotionless and cold he is unable to connect emotionally with his son).
To fight your demons, you must rid yourself of the fear of them because fear is the power they have over you. I remember watching Nightmare on Elmstreet. At the end, Nancy turned her back on Freddy and he disappeared. Once she let go of her fear of him, he could not exist. Maya Angelou said the greatest of all virtues is courage because you can’t practice anything consistently without courage. Fear will always hold you back.
#4. Your Father Knows Your Heart / Leads, Guides You
One powerful scene is when Kitai lied about his number of breathing elements. Since humans are no longer in tuned with the earth, the air has changed and can kill them so they have to take breathing fluids. Long story short, while Cypher can’t accompany Kiati on his mission because of his leg, he can see him, monitor him and guide him along the way. Kitai can’t see his father physically but he’s there watching over him. Anywho, Cypher asks Kitai how many breathing fluids he has left and he lies about it. When he lies the heart monitor goes off. Cypher asks him to repeat his answer. His father knows he’s lying. The message is that a father (Like YAH our father, the creator) knows our hearts. He also watches over us and guides us. Even though we cannot physically see him, he’s there.
#5. Endure Trial
Once Kitai spent time in an environment that tested his faith and forced him to move passed the fear, by the end of the movie he was actually ready to be a ranger. Not that he wanted to after what he and his father had been through but in essence he was ready. When you ask for strength be ready to receive it. It is not something that will fall into your lap “Wilily Nilly”. It is something that comes only as a result of overcoming. Truth is, Kitai couldn’t be made Ranger at the beginning because he had never been through anything. (By the end Cypher also learns to be vulnerable with his son).
You see, the reason many people disliked this movie is because the movie itself is spiritual and packed with symbolism when most people just want to be entertained. Not only did Will and Jaden carry the entire movie but they did so well.
Movie Trailer
Next week, I will speak about the TV show Underground and why I love it. Stay tuned!
OK, so what’s my thoughts on this? Well, there’s the good, the bad, the ugly and everything in-between. There’s the surface and then there’s what is beneath the surface but I’m not going to get into all of that. There’s some dark clouds in Hollywood but there’s some sunshine too. As far as the Oscar Boycott is concerned, I don’t have much to comment. On this cool, yet beautiful Saturday, my day of rest, my Sabbath, and my calm. On this day, where I usually do not post, I needed to write this and I choose to keep it beautiful.
From the positive end of the spectrum, there’s a glint of light attempting to bud and to shine and to erupt into something beautiful. Something is trying to break through the hard shell, pierce the darkness, and replenish the damaged soil in Hollywood. Who knows what will come of it. Will blacks gather as a cohesive unit to achieve something of their own? It is not really just about the Oscars. It’s about a jolt of consciousness that is needed, and perhaps now being conceived, to move this powerful people. Come forward Gideon. Come forward David. Come forward Samson. Come forward and tell your story the way that it needs to be told.
Welcome back to another segment of Movie Night Friday, where I present some of my favorite movies and why I love them, now coming to you every other week.
Today, I would like to discuss the movie Hancock. There are actually a number of Will Smith movies that have profound symbolism but I will start with this one.
Hancock is a movie about a Superhero named Hancock (Will Smith) who everyone hates because of his lack of self-control. Though he is helping the city of Los Angeles, he is also destroying it, leaving damage everywhere that he goes. Hancock’s problem is not how people feel about him, Hancock’s problem is that he doesn’t care, or at least he acts like it. After saving the life of a PR executive (Jason Bateman) and meeting the man’s beautiful wife (Charlize Theron), he realizes that he may have a sensitive side after all. It is then up to the executive to train him to embrace his sensibilities and use his Super Hero status in a way that is helpful, and not harmful, to mankind.
Now that we got that out the way, let’s look at some key points here because the movie is funny but it reveals so much more. I try not to get so caught up in watching movies and TV shows exclusively for its entertainment factor because there is so many lies told through television (tell a lie through a vision) but there is also a lot of truth in these movies as well, especially by way of comedy. You see we must stop letting people define the way that we think. Stop calling everything a conspiracy just because your pastor or your society says its not truth.
One of the obvious things is that Hancock is a Super Hero. In today’s society, we have come to accept them as normal human beings with supernatural abilities. In one scene, Charlize’s character states something interesting:
“Superheroes, Gods, Angels.. different cultures call us by different names.”
There’s some truth to this. The Superhero movies have a duality to them.
#1: Fallen Angels
The first side to them is that they are the story of The Gods or Fallen Angels.
When movies have plots where the Superhero’s intermingle with humans and have children, known as Demi-Gods, it is a movie / TV show telling you the story of the Nephillim or Giants. Nephillim means from heaven to earth they came, to signify the Giants origins as they are the children of the Gods. While many deem the Nephillim to be Fallen Angels, this is not so. The Nephillim are not the Fallen Angels. The Nephillim are the offspring of the Fallen Angels by way of angelic and human relations. You saw this in Hancock being that Hancock is a God (or Fallen Angel).
One of the first scenes in the movie shows a young lady and her friends checking out Hancock as he is getting drunk at a bar. The woman follows him home and joins him in his trailer. The young lady is excited to lay with him because she knows that he is a Super Hero. This is not far-fetched. Women have been known to flock to the bed of the Gods. The bible tells us:
Gen 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, Gen 6:2 That the sons of Yah saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. Gen 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of Yah came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
The Sons of the Most High are the angels
The Daughters of Men are the human women
They Took Them Wives -The Gods or Fallen Angels married the Human women (Wedding ceremonies today are mimicked from the ceremonies of the Gods marriage to human women)
Went in Unto Them – Had Sex with Them
And Produced Children – Gave birth to Giants
Hancock takes place in the city of Los Angeles. (The Angels)
The Giants were a combination of flesh and spirit: Spirit from their fathers the Gods and flesh from the human women they took as Gods. There is evidence of Giants in the history of man.
“There were Giants in the earth in those days…”
“There were Giants in the earth in those days…”
“There were Giants in the earth in those days…”
“There were Giants in the earth in those days..and also after that.”
“There were Giants in the earth in those days..and also after that.”
Let’s move on.
This is only one aspect of the Superhero movies. The next side may be considered controversial but it is what it is.
#2: His-Story
Another aspect is that of the African American. A lot of these Super Hero movies are incorporating pieces of his story. They are embedding messages that indicate that we are a people of power. If you think this is a stretch, let’s just let the movies speak for themselves. Let us take a look at some things in Heroes Reborn that are worth noting. Heroes Reborn is an excellent TV show picking up from its 2006 original Heroes.
The show is about humans with powers and there are quite a few African American themes. The Evo’s as they are called (Evolved Humans) are being persecuted and have to flee for safety. They are hunted down by dogs and other forms of torture. The most striking resemblance to our history however is the Underground Railroad. Not only is this system being used as a place of escape and safety for the Evo’s, but they are fleeing North to Canada. And the woman who is shown being led to the Underground Railroad in the Season Premier just happens to be a black woman and her black son. If you are not familiar with how The Underground Railroad was used or that blacks fled slavery north to Canada, I highly recommend you Google it and catch up to 2015. Or is this just a coincidence?
In the first X-Man, the woman who turns blue is ashamed of her color and the way that she looks. The saying she adopts is “Mutant and Proud”. But I suppose I’m stretching again huh? And that just happens to be strikingly familiar to “I’m Black and I’m Proud”.
There aren’t many black faces, but many of these shows are the stories of black people. That’s just the truth.
Anywho, that’s it for this weeks segment of Movie Night Friday.
Hancock is a funny movie, an educational one too. Check it out.
The PBS Blog 