Tag: documentary

watched: black barbie (2023)

🎬 Black Barbie: A Documentary: Directed by Lagueria Davis. With Lagueria Davis, Beulah Mae Mitchell, Maxine Waters, Shonda Rhimes. Tracing the origin of the first Black Barbie doll to the filmmaker’s aunt, who asked why Barbie couldn’t look like her, this documentary explores her quest for representation and diversity. 🔗

I really enjoyed this! It’s a combo of Barbie history and social history, with a focus on Black American history and culture (obviously).

Has interesting interviews with people directly involved in the creation of the original “Black Barbie,” people working on the then-current Barbie line, and kids who do or do not play with Barbies. I also liked that they talked about other Black dolls available before/after Barbie came out.

It’s a very personal documentary, too, as the director’s aunt was one of the creators. And there’s personal thoughts/statements about Barbie from the director threaded throughout the doc, which I also liked.

Recommended!

💗 Film’s website / All Watched posts

📺 watched: mary heilmann: waves, roads and hallucinations (2023)

🎬 Mary Heilmann: Waves, Roads and Hallucinations: Directed by Matt Creed. A look at the life and influential work of pioneering abstract painter Mary Heilmann, who emerged from the minimalist and Beat Generation scenes in California. 🔗

I’d never heard of Heilmann before and her work doesn’t look familiar to me, but I still enjoyed this documentary because she’s such an interesting person.

It’s mostly direct interviews with her, with some tours of her studio and an exhibit she was doing at the time. They did a good job of going over her work from the 1960s onward, and sprinkling in bits about her life. She’s not afraid to say personal/emotional stuff and it doesn’t feel trite.

Early on she talked about how, when you think about being an artist, you never think of the business side of it. And she said nowadays art is so commodified, if you do it professionally you basically HAVE to sell out to actually make any money. People talk more about what a piece is worth than anything else, and art collectors are thinking of investments rather than pure artistic merit.

I also liked how she said that she did art to have an identity– refreshing!

A final good thing she says is: you have to find the good things about the new art world to be satisfied with your place in it. Smart!

💟 Her website / Public collections list (Wikipedia)