Still Such A Thing Merry Go Round: American Requiem, Scoop, Augusta Savage
LAST FRIDAY, I listened to COWBOY CARTER during a gallery stroll. Developed a hardcore crush on ‘II Most Wanted’. ‘Ya Ya’ made me dance and think of Tina Turner. Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton made me laugh. I listened to ‘American Requiem’ but I didn’t hear it. I wasn’t emotionally ready for it. Until this morning:
(Oh, no) Goodbye to what has been A pretty house that we never settled in A funeral for fair-weather friends I am the one to cleanse me of my Father's sins American Requiem Them big ideas (Yeah) are buried here (Yeah) Amen
The entire song is a gut punch of knowing how much the past impacts the future. America’s grandeur and fuckery captured in 5:26 minutes. Amen.
Much of the discussion around COWBOY CARTER is centered around people questioning if Beyoncé has permission to do a country music. Or how she doesn’t have the voice for country (?!). My heartfelt perspective is let Beyoncé explore and play with music and culture. Let her find joyous collaborations. Let her be an artist. Because ‘American Requiem’ is worth her expanding the boundaries of what many gatekeepers say she must be.
SPEAKING of gatekeepers, the British monarchy and British Broadcasting Corporation are at the top of that list. Two institutions that demand people accept hierarchy and inequity as a norm and not cancerous rot. This was the mindset that I brought to the film Scoop on Netflix. The source material for the film is Sam McAlister, now former BBC booker who detailed her work life in Scoops. Scoop details the backstory of how BBC, Prince Andrew and their various staffers prepped and approached that fateful interview.
Two thoughts swirled in my head at this paean to serious journalism:
1. How telling is it that a disruptive streamer is platforming a tribute to BBC journalism and culture.
2. British monarchy and the BBC are still trying to catch up to a world where Netflix dominates.
Watching Scoop’s depiction of Andrew’s private secretary Amanda Thirsk push for the interview to reclaim his good name from his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is a reminder of how insularity fails people. The only voice of reason who can see that Andrew talking to anyone outside of his rarefied bubble would be an unmitigated disaster is an outside PR consultant. And the consultant quit when he couldn’t break through the insularity.
Anyone who has watched The Crown knows that this is nothing new. Anyone who has witnessed the ongoing tantrums, delusions, denials around Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex step away from cloistered repression of royal life knows this as well. British monarchy is convinced that survival is based on denial.
Recently, I finished the Spare audiobook and was struck by Charles failing his first meaningful test as King of the United Kingdom. Harry recounts the negotiations around him changing his role within the royal institution and his father (along with palace staff) were adamant that the options were leave or maintain the status quo. A status quo that meant accepting media racism and harassment and his family’s complicit denial of racism and harassment.
That first test for Charles’ kingship and his response was to force Harry to sacrifice himself for media predators. Where I see predators, Charles and all the palace staff see collaborators and friends. It makes sense that Amanda Thirsk would believe same. Is it possible that Thirsk was convinced that BBC journalists would prioritise class solidarity over exposing Andrew’s insensitivity and obliviousness? Did working in an environment ruled by repressive hierarchy stop Thirsk from considering the emotional fallout experienced by anyone surviving dysfunctional people and/or systems? Mmmmmmm.
FINALLY, there are too many women whose stories are overlooked and forgotten. Their contributions, their lives, their humanity overlooked because we live in a warped world. Sculptor Augusta Savage is in that category. From ArtNet:
The sculptor created the most buzzed-about work at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Then it was destroyed.
Why isn’t Augusta Savage known to the world for her work and activism of promoting Black artists? Watching Searching For Augusta Savage to know more.
Until the next merry go round.
