Those superhero characters are institutionalized. They have a global hold on the imagination of young people around the world. Those heroes play well anywhere in the world. And the narratives that they are operating within have an infinite number of permutations. I mean, they can go on in perpetuity. You know, the original creators of Batman and Superman don't do Superman and Batman anymore.
Anybody else can plug into it and use those characters to further the mythic status of those superheroes. To date, there are no black characters that do that thing. And there are certainly no black characters that were developed by black comic book artists that do that thing. Now, it matters to me that you can do that, because this, again, says something about the capacity of one community or another or one group of people or another to create characters that can operate with that kind of global scope. And so the "Rhythm Master" narrative is an attempt on my part to create a narrative structure and a series of characters that can achieve that same sort of mythic status, the same levels of complexity, the same levels of sophistication, the same level of fantastic sort of achievement. All of those things have to be met. And so I'm thinking of the "Rhythm Master" narrative-- I mean it has to be like a Star Wars kind of epic. I mean, you have to be able to serialize it over generation after generation after generation and have a buy-in by every generation of kids who will help perpetuate. And the thing for me, it's not enough-- and so this is always the things. So I did do a review of Ta-Nehisi Coates's Black Panther run for Marvel. But this is not the answer to me. I don't care if Ta-Nehisi Coates does Black Planter. I don't care if anybody does Black Panther. I care whether you can invent a character that has the same power as the Black Panther, that has the same power Spiderman. You need to be able to not just sign on to do what somebody else has already invented. That's not the answer. And so to the degree that you are able-- because it says something about your capacity to invent. And the only way you can demonstrate that is to enact the process of inventing a thing and then to see how much power you can invest it with and whether it can take hold. So what I mean to do-- so I started the "Rhythm Master" project, it's first iteration came at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, where Madeleine Grynsztejn, who is now the director at the Museum of Contemporary Art, was a curator of the Carnegie International. And I did that project at her invitation at the Carnegie. But it wasn't really about the comic per se, it was about some other things. But from it, it's evolved to a place where it needs to now become a graphic novel, which I'm working on now. And then from there it could be either an animated feature film and then from there a live action feature film. All those things have to happen in order for it to achieve the status that I think it really needs. And it was based on-- I mean, it started with the plan for transformation for CHA housing. So the whole narrative is set against the demolition of Robert Taylor Homes and Stateway Garden. That's where it starts. And everything that happens in the narrative is within four blocks of where my studio and my house is. And there's a building down the street from my studio, which is the place where the Rhythm Master resides. It was on the block, it's called the Ancient Egyptian Museum, right next to the Chicago Rib House. All those things are important. But that's the thing. So the scope of the project, I mean, it fails if it doesn't become as mythic in status as all those other entities that I mentioned. And if it fails, then that's a weakness on my part, an inability of me to construct a framework in which my imagination can have that kind of free reign. So that's the thing. I mean, so anyway, that's in depth enough. [APPLAUSE] JACQUELINE STEWART: So I want to invite everyone to join us for a reception that's taking place out in the lobby and the courtyard, where we can continue this conversation. Please, just me to thank Kerry James Marshall. [APPLAUSE] KERRY JAMES MARSHALL: Thank you, all. Thanks. Thanks.
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AuthorLaura Branham is an author of this blog. She is a writer, contributor at Edusson, novelist, passionate reader, latin dancer. Laura is from Houston, Texas, US. ArchivesCategories |