HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL JACKSON! Now Let’s Talk “The Wiz”..
I hadn’t seen “The Wiz,” in years yet I could probably recount I’d say most of the dialogue. My mother was a huge Michael Jackson fan, she still is. I grew up listening to his music, watching his videos and of course watching “The Wiz.” I really had no choice in the matter – not that most kids do anyway – but whatever she was into, I was.
One of my favorite films of all time is “The Wizard of Oz,” and this was before I knew what a big deal the film meant to cinema. My mother would literally watch this film every other day. It wasn’t even her fault, but she’d leave TMC on day and night and for whatever reason they’d show “The Wizard of Oz,” almost as much as BET shows, “Baby Boy.” She’d never turn the damn channel so I knew the entire movie from back to front. Of course when I got older I had to take a break from watching it for awhile, but even now I’m sure I could rewrite the entire script from memory.
One day TMC had switched it up and showed a brown-skinned version of the same movie I’d been watching for years now. I had to be around 8 or 9 when I first saw it. The film was a ham-fest, but it had a familiarity that warmed me. Around that age race was still this distant entity that only resided in after school specials on television, therefore, I didn’t understand the importance of making a film like that. To me, “The Wizard of Oz,” was perfect and didn’t need a remake. I didn’t take notice of that warm feeling. The warm feeling I can acknowledge now when I see a “Fruitvale Station” or “Big Words.”
You like to see yourself on television. You like to see people who look like you on television. “The Wiz,” is in no one’s top film list, but acknowledging what it tried to do is the important part of it. What I loved about the artists and black stars around that era is that black culture was always at the forefront of what they did. It wasn’t over the top, but having Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and Richard Pryor lead a film like this – probably a film that wouldn’t have gotten made had they not contributed their names – is important. Artists and filmmakers alike don’t do things like this anymore. They’ll star in a blockbuster that has no originality to it, collect their check and move to the next endeavor.
Do you think it’s important to have films that promote black culture as pronounced as “The Wiz” or are films like that a thing past and should stay in the past?
-melissa