nice work LeBron James yes self-made is one of the very first projects from
LeBrons new production company Spring Hill entertainment and the title very
clearly says self-made inspired by the life of madam CJ Walker so yeah it's not
a hundred percent historically accurate but guess what most movies and TV shows
about historical events and figures are not historically accurate some far more
egregiously and much more high-profile than self made but because they don't
put up the flag letting you know they don't they don't take a little bit of
the fault for it that I see some you know this does have a fresh tomato on
Rotten Tomatoes I think it should be a little bit higher quite frankly but I
think some people are taking points off for that but that's ridiculous
considering Hollywood's long long history with history but but yeah also
in addition to being historically inaccurate it's a little so cooperate
and it's this close to belonging on lifetime but it's so entertaining it's
wildly entertaining and it's so uplifting for both women of color and
all women who are interested in being entrepreneurs in fact the ending scenes
brought tears to my eyes I was really moved multiple times throughout this
show as well as get entertained and it also offers wonderful wonderful dynamic
roles for actors of color so for those multiple reasons to me self-made is a
knockout washer the boxing metaphor that they use in the first episode is kind of
cringe it's like your teacher trying ways you are to make a history lesson
interesting it just backfires I would have cut that quite frankly but I did
like using modern music and spots to make the story more accessible to
today's audience and I checked the storyline about madam CJ Walker's
daughter being a lesbian and cultural leader in Harlem that's all I'm gonna
say cuz it's gonna get some of you to watch this that's true it's just another
chapter of diverse stree that has been tragically ignored
up until now I can't believe that I've never heard of that until now does
Tiffany Haddish to a great job in the role you know Tiffany Haddish doesn't
have a lot of range but she's incredibly likable you know she really pops on
screen she's a force of nature and she throws herself into the role she takes
it very seriously so it works but everyone else in south made does a legit
excellent acting job Oscar winner Octavia Spencer finally get it finally
gets a chance to shine and a leading role so often she's stuck in supporting
that's what you won the Oscar for but here she's the lead dammit and she
carries the four episodes flawlessly what not flawlessly there was one thing
that bothered me there's a pivotal moment where she rides a bicycle you'll
see why when I understand that it's difficult to ride a bicycle in a long
Victorian skirt but it's again it's a pivotal moment for the character and she
so clearly it's not riding the bicycle in the scene they keep cutting back and
forth between a body double on the bicycle and then Octavia Spencer clearly
on some device that's pulling her with handlebars in the frame I'm like what
you knew it was in the script Octavia you're an Oscar winner take the time to
learn to ride the bike because I really undercut the power the power of the
scene anyway Carmen ejogo who rarely plays the villain while here she does a
great job chewing the scenery as Madame CJ Walker's rival but as the series
progresses the four episodes progressed her role becomes far more complex and
you see there's actually a lot more going on there I like that I love
speaking of what's going on in this show it's it covers so much in just four
episodes so again I think people are being overly harsh on it considering
what it accomplishes it tackles Beauty stereotypes and how that affects women
of color I really that was just so amazingly well done there's been a
discussion about it with hair recently you know hair love winning the Oscar for
Best Animated Short but this goes even beyond that
tackles the subject from a note from multiple angles the entire
african-american community trying to forge their own path not just
business-wise but also culturally post slavery that's on there women wanting to
work having their own businesses how their husbands other men react to that
the LGBT community within the african-american community again at this
time in all in just four episodes I think it touches on all of these points
really well and makes an impression piques your interest which is really
important I mean again it's and it's you know this is stuff that's never been
talked about in history books so to just carve out that initial space with this
show it's so crucial I think that I think self-made you get a lot of points
for that and it's not just about the ladies if you're wondering there are a
lot of great male characters and actors playing them blair Underwood is super
soap opera as madam CJ Walker's husband Garrett Morris steals every scene he's
in and he's in a number of them and Kevin Carroll by the way makes a great
case for being the new Andre Holland making a serious role that could have
just been a Wallflower extremely compelling you were like I want to get
to know that guy better and we did a little bit but I would you know he was
like he was a still still water the still waters it ran very deep it was
excellent Bill Bellamy also has a small role that takes a turn you will not see
coming I loved it well you'll say I loved it
and how powerful it was I was in I was incredibly moved by self-made again
brought to tears at the end and multiple times were watching and I was like this
is really good I don't know I would say it's 70% Wow
30% cringe but I get how God gotta cut it some psyched and the show left me
feeling very good with an end credits scene with great modern music they
really turned it up to an 11 showing real pictures of the characters depicted
here the people there are characters they're real people depicted here in
additional information about them kasi Lemmons are just coming off of directing
Harriet oscar-nominated Harriet I loved that movie
direct two of the episodes here while domain Davis who did queen sugar directs
the other two Nicolle Jefferson Astrix Crips all of
them and Alexei Madame CJ Walker is actually very similar to Harriet mind a
little light on the gravitas and like the cinematic qualities but by the end
of both of these projects you know who these women are you admire the heck out
of them and you learn more about black history than you did before and I think
again that's incredibly important you Ontario you will definitely enjoy
self-made and that's a promise I really think people should watch both of these
they're fantastic I hope people watch them and I think schools should show
both of them oh then self maids a little bit risque in parts I don't know if you
could show that in schools maybe to older kids
all right so anyway this is also a great argument the final point I want to make
is that this is a great argument for why it's important to have not only people
of different types tell their own stories it doesn't this is a case where
it's almost entirely you know black talent working on this behind in front
of him behind the camera it doesn't have to be a hundred percent but they need to
be people need to be in the mix when you're depicting certain stories you
need to have that authenticity represented in the behind the scenes end
in the front of the camera selections and I think that not only is
that important but it's important to have diverse people in the entertainment
business so that they make these projects because matter CJ Walker is the
first American woman of any ethnicity to become a self-made millionaire and her
stories only being told now again you did good LeBron he should be very proud
of this as I should everyone who's associated with it all right so that's
my review of self-made streaming now on netflix go watch it and watch Harriet
they're both available share your own thoughts down below subscribe today and
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