{"id":6437,"date":"2022-08-30T00:15:59","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T00:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=6437"},"modified":"2024-02-08T10:01:30","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T10:01:30","slug":"media-respect-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=6437","title":{"rendered":"MEDiA: Respect, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Teresa and I watched this very slick biopic tonight (or, more strictly speaking, yesterday evening. We really enjoyed it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems popular with Amazon Prime viewers as well, rated at 4&1\/2 stars. That\u2019s the platform we watched it on. I note that numerous film critics are quite critical, calling it a \u2018cookie cutter\u2019 type affair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I k in box of get where such critiques are coming from. And yes, the balancing act of retelling a real life story with the affiliated danger dangers of sugar-coated hagiography are a very real problem in this f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, without going into any great depth. Here are a few thoughts. Yea, we see the usual beautification of characters. Aretha and ex-pimp hubby #1, Ted White, are particularly glammed up. The role of religion in the story is fascinating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jennifer Hudson is great as Aretha, albeit admittedly too conventionally pretty. It\u2019s interesting to note that this was Franklin clan sanctioned movie, and Aretha herself effectively cast Hudson in the role! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hudson with Aretha.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Forrest Whitaker is great as her Pops, the Rev C L Franklin. And the whole cast Aquitaine themselves admirably. The evocation of Jerry Wexler and his Muscle Shoals crew is very well done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movie fares admirably in the \u2018Hollywood vs History\u2019 stakes, ticking a lot of the factual boxes. But ultimately it is<\/em> a kind of love-letter, and not a scholarly fact finding mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To me Aretha is pop. And I\u2019ve never been massively into pop. This film, as reverent and cornball as at times it might be, helps me appreciate Aretha as both a person and an artist, so for this alone I think it\u2019s hit to be considered – for me at any rate – a success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, with typical irony, her 1972 gospel album, itself the subject of a film, which the record moguls feared would be too niche, confounded the experts gloomy forecasts, and wound up being her biggest seller!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ok, this isn\u2019t a five star \u2018classic\u2019, perhaps. But it is a solid well made telling of a popular story. And a suitable celebration of a great talent, that\u2019ll almost certainly encourage a whole new generation to check out this diva\u2019s fabulous musical legacy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teresa and I watched this very slick biopic tonight (or, more strictly speaking, yesterday evening. We really enjoyed it. It seems popular with Amazon Prime viewers as well, rated at 4&1\/2 stars. That\u2019s the platform we watched it on. I note that numerous film critics are quite critical, calling it a \u2018cookie cutter\u2019 type affair. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “MEDiA: Respect, 2021”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-1FP","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6437"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6437"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11584,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6437\/revisions\/11584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}