Wednesday, August 26, 2015

"Straight Outta The Compton-Carson-Watts-East Side-South Central L.A.-Inglewood-West Side Village

"Straight Outta The Compton-Carson-Watts-East Side-South Central L.A.-Inglewood-West Side Village"

The phenomenal success of "S.O.C."  is a tribute to the dynamic culture of the African Americans  who live in a veritable village that although separated by different names, is, in fact, contiguous: Compton is separated from Watts and South (Central) L.A. only by El Segundo Blvd.; Watts is separated  from The East Side only by Central Ave.; The East Side is separated from South (Central) L.A.only by Main Street (or the 110 Fwy, if you prefer); South LA is separated from Inglewood by Van Ness Ave.;  Inglewood is separated from the nebulous West Side by Crenshaw and/or Western Ave.; and.  oh, yeah,  the same applies to Long Beach and Carson, although I am not sure what the border streets are.


My point is that the designation of City names occludes the fact that this huge group of African Americans frequents the same festivals, can be found in the same schools, likes the same foods, speaks the same dialect, attends the same churches and mosques, are buried in the same cemeteries, riot at the same time (and for common reasons); and, have the same  aesthetics in music and film because they are the same people living in what amounts to the same huge village.
There is little benefit in our artificial divisions; our unity would negate most of the fruitless rivalries that keep us divided and easily conquered and controlled politically and financially.


The world respects our treasure trove of athletes and musical artists.  But, our village has contributed significantly to the art and culture of filmmaking, also.  "Straight Outta Compton", "Boyz 'N Tha Hood", "SOUTH CENTRAL", "Menace to Society", the "Friday" movies, and many more have all come from our village.  And, the rest of the country (and, soon, the world) expect us to continue to contribute  fascinating  stories to   our unique genre of films.


I believe it would be beneficial if we had an appropriate name  for our mega village, i.e., "Black South Hollywood", "Sollywood", "Black Wood" etc., ... You get the idea. Send me some of your possible names for our village. 
I might be able to use one for my new feature film, a PG-13 comedy set in South Central L.A. and Inglewood with a leading lady who is much like Lucille Ball in "Lucy", righteous but not always right. It obviously defies many of the stereotypes about us.


I believe we are in the midst of a Zeitgeist that will exceed the artistic explosion in "Motown". Our Village simply has so much talent that we will be flooding the domestic and international markets with high quality  films.  And, "Straight Outta Compton" represents,    mightily, for "Tha Village".