An ongoing list of all the things I read and watch while writing essays and musings.
Essay No. 1
Dress Codes A deep dive into the dress codes and laws throughout history that have sought to regulate who could wear what, along with the stories of the people who dared to defy them.
Fashioning Identity: An exploration of the roles of subversion and ambivalence in shaping identity through the lens of fashion.
Ghetto Fabulous: Danyel Smith talks to the late record executive Andre Harrell who breaks down the essence of “ghetto fabulous”.
Theory of the Leisure Class: A critical analysis of the conspicuous consumption (origin of the term) and greed prevalent among the affluent, examining their role in shaping status dynamics.
Characteristics of Negro Expression: Zora Neale Hurston's iconic essay delves into the specificity and originality of Black expression, examining their unique contributions to culture.
Our Kind of People: An intensive look inside of the Black upper class in America from their private clubs to HBCUs.
Black Cool: A book of essays that explores and defines the aesthetics of Black cool.
Class Suicide: The Black Radical Tradition, Radical Scholarship and the Neoliberal Turn: An exploration of Amilcar Cabral’s concept of class suicide and the ways in which members of the “petty bourgeoisie” should be using their positions in the fight for liberations by firstly rejecting their class privileges and aspirations for more wealth and status.
Status and Culture: A deep-dive into taste, culture and why human beings desire status which determines how we live and shapes who we are.
Custom of the Country: Edith Wharton’s satire on materialism, marriage and greed through the iconic, and ultimately dissatisfied, heroine of Undine Spragg.
All The Best Possible Taste: A three-part docuseries on the tastes of the upper class, middle class, and working class within Britain.
Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space: A documentary on Zora Neale Hurston’s life and her contributions to anthropology that forever changed the field.
Essay No. 2
In The Mood for Love: A romance about yearning and missed opportunities.
Love Jones: A romance about instant connection and second chances.
Notting Hill: A romance about the importance of friends telling you when you’ve made a dumb decision, and the beauty of professing your love.
Mississippi Masala: A romance about chance meetings, cultural differences, and choosing love over everything else.
I Am Love: A romance that is basically the Italian How Stella Got Her Groove Back.
The Age of Innocence: A romance that is the best Martin Scorsese movie.
The Passionate Friends: A romance about the choice between stability and freedom, and true meaning of intimacy.
Metropolitan: A romance about class, youth, and contradictions.