Documentary Film: Bakoso(2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11C46LWoeaE
this term paper requires to submit a 6-7 page paper (double-spaced, 12 pt) based on a contemporary product of black popular culture. Examples of cultural products include but are not limited to music videos, albums, films, stand up comedy routines, television show episodes, and web series.
shed light on some of the key themes in Black popular culture that this course engages, including the global circulation of black cultures, defining the African diaspora, the multiplicity of blackness, and gendered representations of the black body. For this paper, students explore three of these themes in relation to the film, and then identify and discuss a product of Black popular culture OF THEIR OWN CHOOSING that contributes to our understanding of AT LEAST ONE of these themes. For example, one of the three themes that you might discuss in relation to the film is the representation of Black female bodies and further explore this theme in the music video “Throw It Back” by Missy Elliot. The objective here is to produce a critical analysis of Bakoso and use some other cultural material to further this analysis.
In producing a critical analysis of a film or any text, there are a few things to keep in mind, all of which come down to being conscious of the distinction between an event and the telling of that event. This film is constructing a particular narrative of the emergence of Bakoso through the use of the narrator, interview clips, performance and studio footage, a soundtrack and images. As you think about the film, ask yourself what particular story is the filmmaker trying to tell? How does the material selected to include in the documentary support this story? What are some of the strengths, shortcomings, and limitations of this particular rendering of the story? What do you take away from the film that is the result of your filtering it through your unique, personal lens that is informed by your own identities, interests, and experiences?
The following questions are designed to ASSIST you in your analysis of the documentary, particularly in making connections between the film and the key themes in the course. Responses must demonstrate familiarity with the film and be 1-3 paragraphs in length.
How is Cuba’s (and Cubans’) relationship to Africa (and Africans) depicted in the film? What is important about the historical and contemporary cultural contexts of this relationship to the film? Be sure to describe the scenes in the film in which this relationship is revealed. What details of this relationship can you identify through doing cursory online research?
What does the film reveal about the emergence of Black popular cultural forms? What scenes depict this creative process?
Is Bakoso Black music? If yes, explain why, drawing from relevant scenes in the film. If not, explain.
Keeping in mind some of the ideas about gender and black masculinity that Riggs introduces in Black Is…Black Ain’t, would you say that the Bakoso is a male art form? What are the roles of Black women/female bodies and of Black men/male bodies in the documentary? How are each represented and what are the implications of these representations?
Diaspora, hybridity and the circulation of Black popular cultures are among the central concepts that we engage in this course. What are examples of interactions between Black people from different national contexts and exchanges of cultural material in this film? What, if anything, did you find compelling about this aspect of the film?
