Alison Bechdel. Bechdel Test, c. 1985; comic strip from Dykes to Watch Out For. Courtesy of the Artist.

Foxy Brown (1974) is widely described as a blaxploitation film—a genre that filmmaker and educator Cheryl Dunye asserts are films that profit from making a spectacle out of lead black characters, but at the same time promote the voice of the black community in pop culture. On November 8 the New Parkway Theater screened this film as part of a series hosted by Dunye. The series features films that pass the Bechdel test.[1] This seemingly easy requirement is surprisingly difficult for most films to achieve. Each of the films featured in the series are followed by an audience discussion moderated by Dunye.

The moment where Foxy Brown passes the Bechdel test is a scene that takes place in a lesbian bar. The main character, Foxy, rushes into the bar in search of her friend, Claudia, only to interrupt the advances of another woman. It is not surprising that Foxy and the woman do not talk about a man, given the venue; rather, they insult one another. The room erupts into motion as a fast-moving fight scene ensues. Bar stools fly, hair is pulled, and when one woman is tossed into the jukebox and electrocuted, the Motown music that plays in the background comes to an abrupt end.

The fact that this scene is where the film passes is telling of the questionable nature of empowerment seen in the film. Much of the post-film discussion grappled with the film’s interest in shock value versus genuine black and/or female agency seen through the perspective of the white male film director Jack Hill.[2] Audience response was overwhelming, and comments included: “Who, then, is empowered?”; “If the film passes the test, is it also seen as feminist?”; and, “Considering the amount of violence, why was it rated PG-13? Does this contribute to who this film was marketed [for]?”

These questions do not seem so far removed from the current concerns seen in the Black Lives Matter movement forty years after the release of Foxy Brown. In fact, the aims of this series at the New Parkway are advanced by such critical and respectful discussions about race and gender. There is no doubt that the film industry continues to perpetuate racial stereotypes and unbalanced gender roles, but communal conversations that concern these topics are far more prevalent than in the 1970s—and warrant praise when they take place so eloquently. Foxy Brown passed the Bechdel test satisfactorily, but what is, perhaps, more important is that it encouraged a much needed discussion in a cultural realm outside of academia. For this it truly receives the Bechdel stamp of approval.

Bechdel Test Movie Night: Foxy Brown was an event that took place on November 8, 2015, at the New Parkway Theater in Oakland.

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Tanya Gayer is a curator and writer based in Oakland, CA. She is a dual degree masters candidate in Curatorial Practice + Visual and Critical Studies at California College of the Arts. Gayer has held professional positions at various arts institutions including Richmond Art Center (Richmond, CA), Pro Arts (Oakland, CA), Arlington Public Art (Arlington, VA), Gallery Hijinks (San Francisco, CA), and Espacio Minimo (Madrid, Spain).

[1] To pass the test, a film must feature at least two women who talk to one another about something other than a man.

[2] Foxy often defeats the villains of the film only after she is raped or degraded, and the dialogue is packed with offensive, derogatory slang.

Tracey Moffatt. As I Lay Back on My Ancestral Land No. 2, 2013; digital print; 49 x 72 in.; edition of 8.

Perhaps the most striking part of Tracey Moffatt‘s Spirit Landscapes at Tyler Rollins Fine Art was meeting Moffatt in person. Forthright and guileless, she spoke of her Australian Aboriginal ties and her return to her country to document nature after being away for more than a decade. Stirring in her commitment to her heritage and nation, her photographs tackle issues of identity and belonging in a forceful yet subtle manner.

In the series titled As I Lay Back on My Ancestral Land, a slew of surreal images are presented through different colored filters that alter a viewer’s perception and reception of the work. Photographed while lying on the ground, a reclining naked female body’s contours are interwoven with shots of the trees and the sky that suggest her strong association with the land. Yet the spectrum of bright tinted filters create an affective distance from a more heavy-handed treatment of traumatic Aboriginal history. Not only does this feature set a playful tone and help release past anxiety, it also has the opposite effect of drawing the viewer in and making the image resonate and linger in one’s mind.

If the work is defined especially from the point of view of Moffatt’s Aboriginal ancestors and the way they were bound to the land, her methodology helps unbind, expel, and banish these memories. Picturesque Cherbourg, another series comprising photographs of pretty suburban landscapes that are ripped and reassembled, was in fact an area where the “natives” were held in the 1920s. Decades later, the cheerful sunny backyards attest to the passing of time and the absence of memory. Moffatt seems to suggest that time continues singularly through day and night, keeping the past from the present and future. The violence of the ripped photographs is a reminder of Cherbourg’s tainted history.

Even though Moffatt’s images reference personal themes, the notions of identity and belonging take on a larger universal significance. She raises important questions about the subtle play between traumatic memories of the past and the present, and the way they shape one’s relationship and kinship with a place. Ultimately the viewer is left to ponder these ideas from Moffatt’s persuasive and compelling body of work.

Spirit Landscapes is on view at Tyler Rollins Fine Art, in New York City, through December 21, 2013.

Bansie Vasvani is an independent art critic and writer. She lives in New York City.

Vonetta McGee.jpg: Spectrum Queer Media announcement for Blacula. Courtesy of Spectrum Queer Media.

The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, which serves Austin’s independent film and LGBTQIA communities, was my favorite theater in the city. My best friend and I would attend the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival every year there. It was the only time and place that we could see films by, for, and about LGBTQIA individuals.

When I moved to the Bay Area, I didn’t think I would find a movie theater like the Alamo until I saw an advertisement for a screening of Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years. 1984-1992 (2012) at the New Parkway Theater in Oakland. This was one of many weekly films catering to the East Bay’s LGBTQIA community—in particular those of color—that Spectrum Queer Media puts on. Kin Folkz (aka Monica Anderson) founded Spectrum Queer Media, curates these events, and aims to celebrate and empower the people who attend them. If you are feeling some sort of way when you are there, Kin Folkz will somehow appear and give you one of those lingering, healing hugs in which she totally empathizes with you. The burden of navigating through daily micro-aggressions (whether racist, sexist, or homophobic) tends to take its toll, and a hug like this will release the tears so I can go on with my week.

At the Parkway, you can order “Nacho Ordinary Nachos,” wash it down with “Periscope Mash-Up Red Wine,” and then top it off with an It’s-It ice-cream sandwich, or “Crusty Carmel Corn.” My friend’s popcorn came in a white plastic bowl, like the one passed around when watching your favorite TV show at home as a child.

Even if other mainstream feature films are screening in other rooms or at other times at the Parkway, Spectrum Queer Media films are one hundred percent LGBTQIA. Films such as Pariah (2007), The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), and The New Black (2013), as well as classics such as Blacula (1972), are shown. There are a few perks to attending: After the films, prizes are given out for answering trivia questions, and there might be a panel or Q&A with the filmmaker, in person or remotely. There have been impromptu performances and talkbacks, a common practice in African American homes. As the film unfolds on screen, another conversation may simultaneously take place during the film, which enhances the humor and viewing experience. I highly recommend going to these events at least once. You will leave feeling embraced and filled.

Spectrum Queer Media hosts Spectrum Sundays and Taboo Tuesdays weekly at the New Parkway Theater, in Oakland, California.

Felicia Hayes is pursuing her Masters of Fine Art in Creative Writing from the California College of the Arts, San Francisco.