HomeFront: Oscar picks, Ed Helms x 2, âRomeo & Julietâ
By Marie Morris Globe Correspondent,Updated April 23, 2021, 10:00 a.m.
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Director Chloe Zhao with actress Frances McDormand on the set of Nomadland. The film is the one to beat at this year s Oscars.Searchlight Pictures via AP
Welcome once again to HomeFront, where those of us in the limbo between vaccine shots have our noses pressed up against the window like a restless dog in the back of a minivan. We still need ways to stay entertained indoors, and the Globeâs experts have a slew of suggestions.
FILM: Sundayâs
It took a heroic effort by Emerson professor Rae Shaw to create âBlack Kung Fu Chickâ
By Natachi Onwuamaegbu Globe Correspondent,Updated April 21, 2021, 6:15 p.m.
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Rae Shaw s Black Kung Fu Chick was inspired by her longtime love of martial arts films. When I was a kid, I wished there were more Black heroines . but there werenât really any women of color â except for these martial artists.âPat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
âBlack Kung Fu Chickâ was never meant to be a show about an action hero. Emerson College professor Rae Shaw originally set out to tell a story about a young Black woman from South Los Angeles who reminded her of âa lot of young Black women.â She wanted to tell a story of strength, the desire to protect, and the desire to belong. But, as Shawâs Web series reveals, a Black woman taking control of her power
Black Kung Fu Chick was created by Emerson professor Rae Shaw. She s played by Taylor Polidore. (Courtesy Mikayla Gamble)
Rae Shaw remembers recording her favorite kung fu movies on VHS in her childhood home. A lover of dance and film, the fight sequences drew her into these stories of revenge and honor. But it was the rarer, female-centric stories that stayed with her.
“I really admired the women martial artists,” says Shaw, a filmmaker and Emerson College professor. “A lot of the female stories were about protecting communities, justice, and family. Those were things that were really worth fighting for. I wanted to believe that I could be like those women.”