After the murder of his father, Chief of Costas de Golfo Toltecatzin (Jorge R. Guitie’rrez), by conquistador Hernán Cortés (Álvaro Morte), Yohualli/Yohu (Horacio Garcia Rojas) has no choice but to become The Bat Warrior (a.k.a. the Batman) to protect the Aztec community. Aztec Batman: Clash of the Empires (a.k.a. Batman Azteca: Choque de Imperios) will be available to stream on HBO Max September 19th. 

Spoilers ahead. 

The main question of the entire film is What makes someone a god? 

Upon arrival, Cortés, his bodyguard Pedro de Alvarado (José Carlos Illanes Puentes), and their fellow colonizers are mistaken as gods by a young and naive Yohualli. Toltecatzin was suspicious of the colonizers the moment they talked about finding the Aztec’s land as the new world. A favorite line of mine is Toltecatzin’s response: “You found the New World?”

When Yohualli is older and becomes a soldier for Chief Moctezuma (Humberto Busto), he explains,  Cortés is “not a god, but he is a powerful and cruel man.” Moctezuma’s spiritual advisor Yoka (Omar Chaparro), manipulated by an impersonator of the god Huitzilopochtli (Gerardo Reyero), says to Moctezuma that Cortés and his people are gods because they’re helping feed the gods with sacrifices. Yoka is later kicked out of the advisory for this mistake. After he is manipulated into sacrificing his family, and even finds out Huitzilopochtli is a fake, Yoka becomes The Joker, promising his mother (Regina Orozco) that he will smile more. The Joke eventually kills Moctezuma and joins Cortés. 

When his community sees Yohaualli in his Bat armor and makeup, they call him a god, and he doesn’t correct them due to his connection with his parents’ bat god in his dreams. I truly love the connection to Mexican mysticism in this iteration that makes Youahlli’s narrative arc a natural destiny and not a savior complex; especially considering most iterations of Batman portraying him as a rich white man desperately collaborating with cops in Gotham City. 

Aztec Batman: Clash of the Empires doesn’t try to erase the history of colonization and its evils just because a Brown character is finally the star. It doesn’t go into the territory of trying to portray a utopia post-battles either. 

I’m also impressed by how Cortés becomes Two-Face after Mujer Jaguar (a.k.a. Catwoman; Teresa Ruiz) scratches half of his face off when she and Yohalli first work together in battle. It is parallel to the two faces he shows every Aztec community he pillages and murders; one face as a soft Christian man wanting to learn more about their culture, and another face that seeks destruction and riches.

Not only are there familiar aspects done in a new way, there are complete firsts. This is the first iteration I have seen the Alfred Pennyworth equivalent, Acatzin (Robert Sosa) as Batman’s equal throughout the film. We finally get to see acknowledgement of the father figure he truly is in a Batman’s life. Moreover, this is the first iteration I have seen Poison Ivy as a more neutral character as the goddess Hiedra del Bosque (Maya Zapata). She gently and not so gently puts Yohualli on his path while remaining a neutral party; because “When empires clash, some will rise, some will fall.” 

One aspect of the film I have follow up questions about is the decision behind casting. I love that it is an all Latinx cast. At the same time, although the animation distinguishes Aztecs of different skin colors indicative of different regions of Mexico, and makes sure to conspicuously highlight that it was white fair skinned Latinx people who colonized, why is only one specific kind of Latinx actor cast for each role? Each of the actors have the exact same skin color, a skin color often in conversation about mestizo, or the fetishizing of mixing Indigenous Mexican identity with its colonizers, which is what this film attempts to fight against. 

Nevertheless, the other hard work in this film doesn’t go unnoticed. The most compelling scene is when Yohu is not in the bat costume but is Moctezuma’s guard, he strikes a conversation with the man who murdered his father about his worldview. Why would Cortés believe in a religious worldview that encourages him to murder people?  Cortés then asks Yohu why they discovered them before they could discover his and his fellow colonizers’ land. 

Although I wanted more characterization from Mujer Jaguar, and I was really hoping for a subversion or erasure of the usual romantic trope between Catwoman and Batman, I loved having her presence in the film. I also loved her fight choreography all throughout, including in the end (even though she originally said she wouldn’t help The Bat Warrior. 

After the final battle, The Bat Warrior dies. However, as Mujer Jaguar asks Acatzin if the fighting is over, and he responds “I fear there’s far more evil to come,” we cut to The Bat Warrior waking up! AH!! AND, after the initial end credits, we get a sneak peak of who The Penguin will be. AH!! 

This is only the first of many collaborations HBO Max Latin America has in store. And with a few caveats, I’m excited to see what will come next. 

Don’t forget to watch Aztec Batman: Clash of the Empires September 19th!

The post Mysticism and Shifting the Familiar in ‘Aztec Batman: Clash of the Empires’ appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.

This interview has been edited for time and clarity.

BGN: What is it like to have Neptune Frost paired with these films? Especially when it comes to similar conversations about Blackness, gender, global stories of people with descent from the African continent?

AU: It feels more than necessary and very prescient to have the opportunity to expose [these stories]. We find ourselves in kind of a desert of these stories shown in a truthful way. The opportunity to share something a little more closer to what it really is helps us escape fantasy and expectations of that fantasy in the Western imagination. 

BGN: Could either of you talk about the importance of supporting the AfroPoP series? Particularly when it comes to PBS often being under threat? 

SU: I think the most important position to have, especially when you’re under attack, is to remain principled.

AfroPoP is of importance on public television in the United States because people must have access to something wider than the American imagination. Much of the world is subject to the horrors and the violence. The actual violence that is born of the American imagination. 

To have something like AfroPoP on public television, for regular people, that accesses awareness is crucial. It’s also crucial that in the face of these attacks that we maintain our game. We find our way to stay on our path of greater awareness. 

BGN: Neptune Frost, Mother Suriname, and Mama Gloria do an incredible job of not erasing the violence Black people face while also not romanticizing or exploiting it. 

AU: On a personal level, I have been in great difficulties to get my attention to fiction. Reality right now is a challenge to fiction.

Neptune Frost’s correlation with the moment and with violence, it’s pretty crazy. We made a choice to not show Black bodies in a way where we’re sacralizing. All the weapons and all of those things are symbols of violence. 

BGN: I love that this fiction is in conversation with these nonfictional documentaries. 

AU & SW: Yeah. 

SW: It’s important work that AfroPoP is doing. 

I mean, we’re talking about American public television. For African Americans to be reminded of their relationship to what’s happening in the world and on The Continent. Not simply saying “Oh, yes, we were taken from there,” but realizing and acknowledging that we are in the core of Empire. That our taxes, our education is pointing towards us excusing our behavior outside of [the U.S.]. As if that somehow leads us to live a better life inside of [the U.S.]. Much of the distress we see in the world is because of our greed. 

We’re forced to accept these ideologies such as capitalism, never associating it with race. Not realizing that the only type of capitalism that exists is racial capitalism. Black and Indigenous people across the world suffer at the hands of American corporations and government. Whether in The Congo, anywhere on The Continent, in Haiti, in South America, in Asia. 

AU: Two years ago, there were things in Neptune Frost that seemed a little abstract. Today, it’s so clear. 

BGN: When it comes to the protagonist of Neptune Frost being a feminine intersex person advocating for fellow refugees, Mother Suriname featuring a biracial elder’s story living long enough to see Suriname’s independence, and Mama Gloria featuring a trans elder’s story and community leadership in the AfroPoP series, how do y’all see Black feminine leadership for our future? 

SW: Dr. Ruth Gilmore Wilson defines racism as a group differentiated from vulnerability to premature death. When I think of groups that have been targeted–not just by the butt of a gun, but a butt of a joke – I think about the recent election cycle where our own people have been used as a fig leaf. 

There is great danger in not critically thinking about the entire spectrum of what we are engaging with in Black feminine leadership. When I think of Black feminine leadership, I quoted Dr. Ruth Gilmore Wilson, an abolitionist. It is abolition I consider and think of when I think of Black feminine leadership. I think of those voices that were silenced, even by Democrats. 

The systems are acting exactly how they were built. They’ve always targeted the same people. 

Our understanding of humanity is used against us sometimes to fracture us. So we do not collectively engage with class struggle against the dominant forces.

The only thing being threatened are the rigid definitions you were given. There is a spectrum of expression and being that should be welcomed. 

AU: What Palestine made me understand in this moment when it comes to premature death, is that the definition of victimhood has to be clarified. It is not a landmark. What defines a victim of a system is when the system itself targets them. 

SW: Anti-trans mentality is colonial mentality. Spit out that poison! You are speaking as your colonial masters would have you speak. You are not in your body right now. You are operating from a place of privilege. 

AU: We need to defend all lives.

BGN: Because we’re talking so much about advocacy and community and making sure we’re not continuing to uphold certain privileges of Empire, what led you to play a conservative pastor in Ryan Coogler’s Sinners?

SW: My first love is acting. When you play a role, you are part of an ensemble. There’s never a sense of “Oh, I only want to play characters who believe what I believe in.” You understand there’s a bigger picture and you play a role within that bigger picture. 

I was exhilarated to be asked to play a role in that story. It was in a way that came close to home.

My father was a pastor. He was not conservative in [my character’s] regards. In relation to the arts, my father was very supportive of me in the arts. He himself had come from the arts. But I do have, as a result of growing up in the church, a wealth of knowledge and information of the time I’ve spent with preachers. 

I never played a preacher before. It was a lot of fun for me to go into that; my father is from Brooklyn, and I grew up around Northern ministers, [in Sinners] it’s a different era, a different region. It was a lot of work to be done. 

The energy on set really speaks to the reception by the public. We shot on an actual plantation, and the energy was very difficult. First time actually visiting a plantation. That was also very heavy. 

Season 17 of AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange made its debut on WORLD Monday, June 9th, 2025. The season can also be streamed on the WORLD and Black Public Media YouTube channels.

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Black Girl Nerds is so grateful to speak with Skye Marshall and Qasim Basir about their experience in making this film.This interview has been edited for time and clarity. 

BGN: In the press release, Qasim, you named that witnessing George Floyd’s death during the pandemic was part of the influence when it comes to this film. My question is about the intentionality behind that as well as when it comes to writing and directing; Skye, when it comes to acting on a project where the pandemic is real. 

Skye P. Marshall: I think one of my first scenes playing Asia was a night club scene. To have the real dancing energy there was so infectious! And actually helped my performance! He had all of our tested crew members surrounding me as background dancing and pointing their lights at me from their phones.

Qasim Bashir: The lights went out.

SM: That’s right! Isn’t that so creative? “Point your flash at Skye so she can be lit.” The fact that he was able to maneuver in the moment was butter for me. My scenes were all outside after that. So I felt safe. I felt protected. I got to experience Detroit for the first time in her new renaissance glory. 

BGN: Qasim, what was it like for you, filming during that time?

QB: It was difficult, the physical nature of it. It was a lot to cover. Those years, as Black folks, we pushed some things down, in the way of just accepting you might get pulled over and humiliated by an officer or something. Then just go to school [or something] the next day like that never happened. 

I had one small child, another baby on the way, that was born by one of our producers [Samantha Basir] in the middle of shooting. All of that contributed to this, like…oof. This is that, this is life, this is art, all happening right now.  The story is about my stepfather who passed away and the week I came to town. But since that happened, while we were in post, my biological father died. My sister in law died. I lost two cousins. My uncle. We were like, “What is going on?” It was an intensely emotional time. I think what a lot of us do, we put it into the art.

SM: From the performer’s side, I will say, my brain doesn’t know all the time that I’m playing make-believe if I allow myself to use the right imagery. If I can relate to any form or fashion to that level of pain, that level of betrayal or uncertainty — which I have experienced consistently — if I allow myself to hijack the character, my body will literally start responding. The fact that I have [people watching me], it is in the carpool lane of healing. Through that honesty and vulnerability, my body releases the toxicity of pent up emotions.

Grief will never stop. No one really teaches you how to grieve. It’s easy for the mental health to break when you don’t know what to do with all these feelings. Like in the film, having to plan for a funeral, I just had to do this for my brother. But I still need to process, I still need to cry, but I gotta pay seven grand for this, and you want me to pick out a coffin and flowers? [Throws two middle fingers up] You can’t! 

BGN: Speaking of grief and funerals, not only does this film do a great job of portraying the bureaucracy that often comes with death, this is one of the very few films I’ve seen the portrayal of Muslim funerals and Muslim burial processes. What stands out to me is when Muhmmad says, “You need less than three days to bury the body.” But less than twenty-four hours is most preferred for Muslim burials. Not only are there barriers when it comes to Black Muslim life, there are barriers when it comes to Black Muslim death. Qasim, it’s a recurring theme in your work done so beautifully. Skye, I’m curious about your perspective playing Asia, who is more spiritual than religious, as she has conversations with Muhammad. 

QB: It should be that everyone should be able to tell their story. But that’s not the case. There is a tremendous imbalance in the way certain people have been portrayed. Some people have not been portrayed at all. Coming up in a community that is amongst that group that really never had a voice on screen, I feel a responsibility towards folks. 

What more could you want to do than highlight [your community] and make them feel like they have a voice too? The more nuance we discuss through these characters, the more balance we can have in this world. 

SM: Amen…Can I invest in your next project please?

SM: [Qasim], your work is so intentional. And that’s what I want to be a part of. I’m happy to play the white lady’s best friend in all of these shows that I have done. But I have great creative teams that allow me to still be a strong character. Not just stare at the white gaze. I want to expand exactly what you’re speaking about. That was one of the most beautiful funeral scenes I’ve ever seen [in To Live and Die and Live]. The mother in the white, and the siblings! Ah! The music, the washing of [the stepfather’s body]. It was just phenomenal work. 

BGN: What makes the intimate moments between Muhammad and Asia so important? Asia says, “I don’t need a doctor telling me I only have one or two months to live. I’m just gonna live.”

SM: The quote that you just stated, I live by that, prior to receiving Asia and after shooting [as] Asia. The work I was able to do with Amin Joseph in that scene in the hotel room, in the window, that was one of the most beautiful, most powerful scenes I ever done as an actor. We were just so free! That is a gift. 

QB: She talks about the screenplay, but it does not matter if you don’t have performances like these. 

To Live and Die and Live is currently playing in theaters.

The post Navigating Grief and Storytelling in ‘To Live and Die and Live’: A Conversation with Skye P. Marshall and Qasim Basir appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.

Black Girl Nerds had the opportunity to converse with Mykelti Williamson about his role in the film. This interview has been edited for time and clarity.

My first question for you is, why this role? Is it because of connections with the lead or the director? Is it because of the film’s connection to faith?

All of the above. I would say, the thing that was most interesting to me is the timing. Neal called me when he first was given the vision for this film. He said, “I know it sounds like I’m all over the place, but this is what I just got. You’re coming with me. I’m not doing this without you.” I said, “You don’t have to.” We got Jon Avnet [to direct], Neal ran Jon down.

I’m working with the best people I love doing something I love. You know a lot of people get it mixed up. This is not a faith-based movie. It’s a really good movie about a guy who made some really bad decisions. He navigates this journey in his life when he’s facing the biggest crisis in his life. It’s his faith that you get to watch. It’s not preaching to you about anything. It’s not that kind of movie, you know. We don’t even go to church in the movie.

This role connects with other roles in your career in how it portrays interracial male friendships. What stands out to you in this film about Joe and Charlie’s friendship? Is there anything you want people to inquire about their friendship?

Well, I hope they come to know what I know: that we are all kindred spirits. And everybody actually comes from Africa.

When people start buying into politics and culture and being micro specific about a religion being better than another, or lifestyle being better than another, I think it’s a wall. It’s a means to fight. And if you just go on a human journey and don’t paint with that brush with all that nonsense in it, then people show up. They enjoy the journey you take them on because you’re treating everybody around you like human beings, even if they tick you off. You know you still treat them with dignity. I think African American people, African people, are extremely dignified and extremely forgiving. Who else could have been taken such advantage of if you didn’t have a heart to forgive?

Saddle up, man. Let’s ride together, and we’ll get a whole lot more done. That’s the kind of message I want people to get when they see my work on screen. I do feel like this is my ministry.

Speaking of that ministry, there is a lot being told about the context of male friendships in The Last Rodeo, especially when it comes to a lot of pressure on men and their health and overextending themselves in the course of their health. How does this film help you reflect on your own male friendships or reflect on making sure you’re taking care of your health?

Fortunately, I have a great wife. I actually married my dream girl, so Sandra helps me prepare for movies. I don’t travel without my wife. We just navigate everything together. I think when a man does not have that, there’s definitely a component missing.

There are things that men, and only men, do well. And there are some things that men, and only men, do poorly. [My character] Charlie is a Bible guy, but he’s not necessarily in church. He’s leaning back on a saddle or sitting on a porch reading [and is supported by his Native American wife, Agisa, played by Irene Bedard]. Joe tries to [do everything] himself because he’s so angry with God because he lost his dream girl [played by Ruve’ McDonough]. He goes into such dark, deep despair that it becomes selfish. Joe turns his back on everybody except his grandson, but he’s not a full-time granddad there, either, because he makes some mistakes in that relationship.

Was the ministry you have now always throughout your film career? Is this a recent development? What final takeaways would you like folks to have from this interview?

It’s been over my entire career from early choices and on.  All your ministry is important, whatever it is. Maybe it’s taking care of your children, you know. Stay home, Dad, or stay home, Mom, and you work it out. But that’s your ministry. You give it everything you got, and that’s the way I live with this. I give it everything I’ve got.

I don’t look to people to affirm me, sure, God affirms me, but people validate what God has already affirmed in me. They’ll validate it, they’ll go, “Oh, I saw this. I saw that. I think this. I think that.” This validates what you gave me, all right, good, you know? And that’s how I roll.

Advice, first thing: Save your money. Learn how to invest your money, really learn. Take the time and start small. Save your money, learn to invest your money wisely.

And don’t diminish. People, don’t choose a side. Stay on the human side. Don’t diminish people with your art, with your creativity, with your sciences, with whatever it is you do. If you don’t diminish anybody, everybody’s going to find you because you’re going to make people better. You’re going to make them want to feel better and make them want to do better. You’re going to inspire. Just stay authentic.

When audiences see movies and the actors and the people did it for themselves because they’re so self-absorbed. Let’s make a movie about us. Audiences can tell. When we make a movie about you guys, about audiences, and we take people on a real human journey about real people, man, you guys ride with us every time.

The Last Rodeo will be released in theaters May 23, 2025, over Memorial Day weekend.

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In regards to the topic of interracial adoption, there are aspects of the film that still resonate today. There are also aspects that don’t. When watching Losing Isaiah through a 2025 lens, how does it hold up?

I appreciate how well the movie makes space for both women’s lives and not getting straight to the court proceedings. We as viewers witness Khaila make valiant efforts in her recovery while also building a community around her and being a maternal figure to young Black youth in her neighborhood and the white child she nannies. We also witness Margaret make great efforts in parenting Isaiah, especially in regards to being aware of his needs that still impact him due to the drugs that Khaila used when pregnant and breastfeeding him. 

I don’t appreciate how heavy the theme of “colorblindness” is the whole movie’s backbone. In a scene where Isaiah is blowing bubbles with his adoptive sister, Hannah (Daisy Eagan), she places his hand in hers. She asks him, “What is different about our hands?” Isaiah says, matter of fact, “My hand is smaller.” The idea that children are simply colorblind until the world hits them with reality is just not true. Children can definitely point out skin color without knowing the exact definitions of racial identity. 

There’s another scene that’s supposed to showcase Margaret’s side of why she believes Isaiah should continue to live with her that also leans into colorblindness. Even though Kadar makes super useful points about Isaiah needing to be surrounded by books with characters that look like him, dolls with the same skin tone as him, and the necessity of knowing where he comes from as a Black child, Margaret cries, “What about love? You didn’t mention love this whole time.” 

It is clear how much Margaret loves Isaiah, but the movie refuses to clarify how Khaila loves Isaiah, too, and how more than one system has hurt her chances in raising him in his infant years. The questions about making sure Isaiah recognizes his identity as a Black child are acts of love. However, in addition, love is not enough to raise a child. Especially a child who will receive mean comments about his identity regardless of the racial background of the person making these comments.

Social workers and other professionals have stressed the importance of reunification and placing children with parents of their same racial background since the ’90s, but they’re especially stressing it now because of how often class status tends to influence placing children in foster care or adoption. There is even a great witness Kadar calls to the stand who talks about how it’s terrible messaging to Black children to say the only way you’ll be safe is staying in an affluent household. Watching that now in 2025, I recognize how that messaging can cause trauma to a transracial adoptee regardless of how much or little “love” is in the household they grow up in. Parents say things like, “We saved you” or “You should be grateful.” 

It’s already bad enough how often Margaret and Charles paint Khaila as a villain, using derogatory terms like “junkie” and “inmate”; it shows how hypocritical white social workers like Margaret can be. The film sides with them in a way that doesn’t sit well with me. At the climax of the film, Isaiah is placed with his birth mother. Isaiah has too much difficulty adjusting, and I find this unrealistic. It’s good to portray him grieving his adoptive mother, but it’s not good to portray him as staying with Khaila as the “darker” choice by the film’s lighting and sad music to make the viewer feel more sympathy for Margaret losing a child than for Khaila doing her best to maintain patience since she knows she’s making up for lost time. 

In the end, after Isaiah has an outburst at school, Khaila calls Margaret for help in calming him down, but she makes it clear that Isaiah will still live with her and still attend the predominantly Black preschool he’s been attending since living with her. I love how the movie refuses to give in to the expected ending of the well-meaning white woman all about “love” getting to keep Isaiah. It is sweet seeing these two women of distinct stories and backgrounds work together at the same goal for Isaiah. But it still portrays Margaret as “the hero” in a way that I hate. The visibly unrequited affection from Isaiah to Khaila, again, is not realistic to me. 

The most realistic character in Losing Isaiah is Kadar. He makes it very clear that he will fight for Khaila to get her parental rights back but not without warning her about how the courtroom will put her under extreme examination for her history, her living situation, and anything that could perpetuate the stereotypes of low income Black women in recovery. Her hair and clothes shift significantly in the second half of the film because he’s made her aware of that scrutiny. Margaret even cries to her husband, Charles (David Strathairn), after their first day in court, “She was beautiful.” 

Some great alternatives to this film about interracial adoption and the complexities of reunification in the foster care process include the comedy Joy Ride, that focuses on transracial adoption for Asian folks in regards to upbringing and missing senses of culture, and the play A Case for the Existence of God that focuses on different lived experiences of fathers, including a single Black gay foster father having to navigate the potential reunification of his foster daughter and her aunt. 

Losing Isaiah can be watched through Amazon Prime that’s combined with a Paramount+ subscription. It’s worth watching to see Halle Berry and Jessica Lange act their butts off, a young Marc John Jefferies being absolutely precious, and the representation of Black lawyers and social workers who are great at what they do. It’s not worth watching Cuba Gooding, Jr. play someone pressuring Khaila into a romantic relationship during this stressful point in her life, a bad taste of “colorblindness is the key to love and tolerance,” well-meaning white women as the hero (even after the movie’s piss-poor attempt in critiquing that earlier in the film), or hearing derogatory language for formerly incarcerated people and people in recovery from drug use.

The post Watching ‘Losing Isaiah’ Thirty Years Later appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.

(This interview has been edited for time and clarity.) 

You’re playing such an amazing character. Such a groundbreaking character with a lot of historical context. While developing your characteristics for Sarabi, did you look for any input from Alfre Woodard [from The Lion King (2019)]? Did you look at clips from Madge Sinclair’s original performance from the original 1994 film?

I watched both performances multiple times, listened to both performances multiple times. When I got the role and I talked to [director] Barry Jenkins about what he was looking for in the performance, I asked “Do you want me to try to imitate either of these prior performances or both?” He said, “You know, I really just want your take on it. We are seeing who she is as a young lady. We’re setting the path for where she’s going.”

I think naturally, in both of those performances, there’s a regality to them that you just feel in their voices. I wanted to maintain some of that, but also, she’s a young adult. She’s having fun. She’s sassy. I feel like I was able to add some layers on there, but still be inspired by [Woodard and Sinclair’s] performances.

That’s so fantastic! Can you tell me more about “the layers”? In Sarabi’s youth, she’s the reason for Zazu coming in for Mufasa’s kingly stage in his life; he’s not the reason. Any other direction from Barry Jenkins? Any direction from Lin-Manuel Miranda for the music (if you received any)? Congratulations on the success of “Tell Me It’s You” that’s trending a lot. 

Thank you! A lot of times when I was recording with Barry, he was trying to bring my natural sassiness out. I don’t think you see a sassiness in Sarabi in the original film. You see a lot of vulnerability I was trying to bring to it. But also she’s tough and she’s confident. I think you get to see her make mistakes, be wrong, and be defensive about that. He was trying to push me to have fun with her range in that way. 

I only worked with Lin very briefly when I was recording this song. He popped in for the last time I sang “Tell Me It’s You” on Zoom, and he said, “Oh! It’s perfect! It’s great!” But his team that I worked with, we’re really just like, “There’s a specific sound to Lin’s music,” right? There’s a specific way to sing it. There’s a specific way to sing Disney songs. In the beginning, I was maybe giving it a little bit too much R&B sometimes. So it was about maintaining the character as well as staying in the world of Disney. The songs we’ve grown up loving, there’s a feeling to them, and we wanted to capture that. 

What was it like working with a voice over coach for this project?

I had a voice over coach that helped me from when I was auditioning, through working on the film for the first year or so. It was really wonderful! And this was my first time doing voice over work. She really helped me learn the basics of everything. She also helped me learn how to have fun. I had so much fear around it, and she was like, “You’re an actor, Tiff, you do film and television all the time. Stop thinking of it being so different, and think about the same things that are important to you when you’re doing film, television, and theatre. Now you get to have more freedom to to just physically do anything you want to do, make your voice sound as crazy as you want it to. Just use your imagination.” 

I loved you in The Following and Nine Perfect Strangers. In your previous work, there’s a theme of grief and death. What was it like working on this mainstream franchise that deals with intergenerational trauma and grief? 

Part of my connection for why I loved the original film so much growing up, I couldn’t articulate it as a child. It helped me process grief as a young child. It’s a gift to be able to be a part of the story of The Lion King and still continue to explore those same themes. Hopefully we’ll be able to bring lessons to other young children the way I learned some things from watching the original. 

I guess I have worked on a lot of things that deal with grief and loss. I don’t really work on anything that my nieces and nephews can’t watch. It’s wonderful to work in this medium, on this Disney film, in this legacy, because it’s a way to deal with the same themes I always feel like I’m working with — but in a way that’s light and I’m still able to have fun, and laugh, and sing, and dance. To bring such a wonderful experience to kids and adults alike.

Thank you so much! Is there anything you’d like me to ask that you don’t get asked a lot?

Just let your readers know we have the digital version [of Mufasa] streaming for purchase now! It has all the fun of seeing it in the theater, and extra bits where you can see some behind the scenes, and sing along. April 1, 2025, we’ll have the physical copy coming out. I hope people can go check it out if you weren’t able to go see it in the theater, and even if you were! Have even more fun with it. 

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Along with streaming on Amazon, Apple, Google, and more (while we’re waiting for the physical copy), here’s a feature clip to check out in the meantime. 

The post Tiffany Boone on Voicing Sarabi in ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.

I know that between 2016 and 2020 did involve a lot of celebrities who gained more opportunities for saying things like “Screw Donald Trump.” Hasan Minhaj’s Patriot Act had a successful six seasons by referencing him without saying his name. However, the majority of the demographic that may be a left-leaning media industry does not mirror the demographic outside of it. That’s why the election ruined and helped the careers of celebrities such as Roseanne Barr. In order to appease the majority of a public that allowed a second Trump presidency to happen back in 2016, it unfortunately made sense that led to some films and TV shows being made specifically for that public.

Let’s look back at a couple of films released in 2018 as examples.

Burden is based on a true story about a Black pastor (Forrest Whitaker) who is moved to protect a former KKK member (Garrett Hedlund) and his family. After the opening of the white nationalist owned Redneck Shop, the white family leaves for a better life, which causes the Klan to go after them. This film is an example of how white viewers may want to feel vindicated for their responsibility in oppression when they see how a white person can absolve themselves of their sins, especially if a Black person is willing to forgive them and help them. It also doesn’t help that this film was written and directed by white filmmaker, Andrew Heckler.

Where Hands Touch is not based on a true story. It is about a biracial sixteen year old (Amandla Stenberg) in Nazi Germany who falls in love with a Hitler Youth (George MacKay). In the end, for wanting to escape with his now pregnant love, the Hitler Youth is murdered by his father. Although I can appreciate that the biracial character is able to escape with her family, I don’t like how white viewers are able to romanticize a white savior type of ending by a young person who once enabled a Nazi regime.

Another thing worth noting is that this film is written and directed by a Black woman, Amma Asante, who directed the 2013 film Belle, which also centered a biracial woman having to face a predominantly white world in a historical time period. Her only directing credits after that were shows such as The Handmaid’s Tale and Miss America, content attempting to highlight the politics in conversation with a Trump era. This is telling about the type of projects studios were more willing to accept from Black creators at the time.

Speaking of television, 2020’s season two of The Boys has viewers viewing the character arc of an actual Nazi, not someone forced into it or choosing to leave it.

Season 2 of The Boys focused on the actions of the character Stromfront (Aya Cash), a member of the publicized team of superheroes, the Seven. As a character who lived through many timelines, she was a member of the Nazi party, and used those beliefs to perpetuate the plot of wiping out marginalized people and people without superpowers using the support of the leader of the Seven, Homelander (Antony Starr). Homelander temporarily empathized with her because of their sexual affair influenced by the kink of others’ suffering along with the belief of wanting to be recognized for being “special” for having powers. If Homelander is capable of being willing to see Stormfront’s problematic motives, viewers can too.

Even though all of these examples show how nervous I am for what entertainment media will bring between now and 2028, I’m actually excited about certain themes of content that will come too.

The 2016 election is responsible for great content too. Jason Sudeikis even said how important it was that Ted Lasso centered joy after being surrounded by cynicism because of the election. So even though most of these examples show how nervous I am for what entertainment media will bring between now and 2028, I’m actually excited about certain themes of content that will come too.

Since Wicked Part 1 was already super successful in 2024 for being a story about a phony wizard’s regime terrified of Black woman’s power, Wicked Part 2 will only continue that dialogue.

I’m also excited for content that I know will include more QTBIPOC filmmakers, cast actors who are vocal about the desire for a free Palestine, include more narratives that actively critique law enforcement, and support reproductive rights of people with uteruses.

When it comes to writers like myself who write about oppression, the common misconception we receive is that we like to talk about it so much. We actually want to talk about content that fills us with joy and the content that is possible to make to include more people in that joy. We have every right to be cynical in another Trump presidency, but we also have every right to be hopeful too.

The post In this Second Era of Trump, I Don’t Want More Films about Empathizing with Nazis appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.

The film tells the story about two Jewish cousins, David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin), who travel to Poland together after the passing of their Grandma Dory, a Holocaust survivor. They decide to attend a facilitated tour by a British man named James (Will Sharpe) along with four other individuals before visiting the home Grandma Dory grew up in.

Out of the four companions on the tour, the person who stands out to me is Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan). He is a survivor of the Rwandan genocide who converted to Judaism after his escape. It frustrates me when he says, “I’m a convert, obviously,” when he introduces himself, because there are plenty of people of many racial backgrounds who aren’t only converting but are actually born into the faith too. It’s not “obvious.” However, it makes sense that he would introduce himself that way amongst a white non-Jewish tour guide and the rest of the group being white Jews.

The film then becomes a gateway into a conversation about Black-Jew solidarity.

When Eloge tells the group about he and his family’s experience with the genocide, Benji reacts wholeheartedly with his voice and body to let Eloge know that he feels his pain. It then makes sense when the two men and an older woman on the tour, Marsha (Jennifer Grey) talk about the importance of really reckoning with the past and presence of pain in the world after witnessing sites of war in Poland. In both scenes, David is visibly uncomfortable, and even names his discomfort with these conversations. Not because the pain doesn’t matter but more so because of how insignificant pain may be on a larger scale because of how everyone endures it in similar ways.

We especially see this discomfort come into play when the whole group has dinner together to share about the struggles of immigrants shifting from generation to generation. When Benji takes offense to David quoting their grandmother about how third generation immigrants live in their mother’s basement and storms off, David talks about how much he loves and hates his cousin simultaneously. How can he be part of the lineage of someone who survived through what their Grandma Dory calls “a thousand miracles” and still want to attempt to take your own life?

This is a similar instance we see in Black immigrant communities and Black communities that were born in the United States. How can you be depressed when your ancestors escaped genocide? How can you be depressed when your ancestors went through so much worse in regards to enslavement and Jim Crow?

The scene that stands out the most to me, however, is when the group visits the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague. James and Eloge engage in a conversation about their fascination with the headstones’ architecture and history, and it makes Benji upset. Benji wants this sacred space to be treated with more respect than an average tourist site. Benji asks Eloge to consider his own family history in regards to what it’s like to be in a space with real dead bodies and calls out James for not facilitating the tour in a way that allows them to interact with fellow Polish Jews in the area. Although Kieran Culkin himself isn’t Jewish — and Jesse Eisenberg is — what his character talks about resonates.

In response to Benji’s feedback, James offers a moment of silence and allows group members to pick up stones to place on one of the headstones as a reminder that they were there to remember, a common Jewish practice when visiting gravesites. This inspires David to convince Benji to allow the two of them to place a stone at Grandma Dory’s house in the climax of the film. Even though her body isn’t buried there, it’s to let her spirit know that they remember her.

In most cemeteries of enslaved Black people or Black people who served in the Civil War or any historical site of Black people who have died, there isn’t enough signage or attentive tour guides to remind visitors to treat those sites with respect and reverence. It’s also important to note how often Black and Jewish cemeteries get destroyed or vandalized by racists and antisemites. A film such as A Real Pain can encourage conversations amongst Black folks and Jewish folks about honoring our cultural death sites and how to facilitate intentional pilgrimages to those cultural death sites.

Clearly, although the film mostly centers Benji and David’s relationship as cousins, the film does a great job in addressing the external and internal ways pain affects all of us. I also appreciate Eisenberg being intentional and realistic enough in including a character such as Eloge so that the conversations about Black-Jew solidarity doesn’t stop. Black people are capable of antisemitism, Jews are capable of Black racism, both groups need to do a better job in recognizing how Blackness and Jewishness are not mutually exclusive to a great deal of people. A Real Pain is a great first step in those contemporary conversations.

The post How Jesse Eisenberg’s ‘A Real Pain’ Can Present a Conversation about Black-Jew Solidarity appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.

Although Chloe is coded as white in every iteration we see her in the Life Is Strange series, she is always voiced by Asian American voice actors; she was voiced by Rhianna DeVries in Life is Strange: Before the Storm.

Now, on October 29, 2024, since Deck Nine took over the Life is Strange series in 2017, Max Caulfield returns to us in Life is Strange: Double Exposure. Max develops a new supernatural power within her time traveling after witnessing the murder of her South Asian friend, Safi (Olivia AbiAssi). Throughout the game, you unlock what happened to Safi through two alternate timelines: one where Safi is still dead and one where Safi is still alive.

Despite the valid jokes online about how Max Caulfield shouldn’t have friends, I’m not laughing. Instead, I’m asking the question, why is it a common pattern that Don’t Nod and Deck Nine are obsessed with people of color and queer people suffering and/or dying?

In Don’t Nod’s Life Is Strange 2 (2018), the Diaz brothers (Roman Dean George and Gonzalo Martin) are on the run after witnessing their father being murdered by police in their own neighborhood. While navigating escape to Mexico along with how much younger brother Daniel Diaz should use his telekinetic abilities and whether or not older brother Sean Diaz has a love interest and of which gender, just like in the original Life Is Strange, you are given choices. All of those choices will lead to one of four endings: Sean getting arrested by ICE at the Mexican border while Daniel stays with grandparents on house arrest; Sean escaping to the border while Daniel stays with grandparents on house arrest; both brothers escaping to the border and growing up to live lives of crime; or Sean getting shot and dying leaving Daniel alone to grow up and live a life of crime.

In Deck Nine’s Life Is Strange 3 (2021), your protagonist Alex Chen (Erika Mori) is given more happy endings and intriguing love interests to choose from. However, none of those choices are able to prevent her older brother, Gabe (Han Soto), from dying in a landslide in the beginning or Alex during the climax of the game getting stuck in the mines. It also doesn’t prevent Gabe’s Black fiance, Charlotte (Exzinia Scott), from having to horrifically grieve her son Ethan’s (Ignacio Garcia-Canteli) two father figures: Ethan’s biological father who left and Ethan’s future stepfather who died, Gabe.

In Don’t Nod’s Twin Mirror (2020), Sam Higgs (Graham Hamilton) is a white journalist who has an alternate twin from the origins of his “Mind Palace,” and you as the player have to choose when and when not to use the Mind Palace. Anna (Erica Luttrell) is a Black woman who is Sam’s ex-girlfriend and former journalist partner who supports him in solving the mystery of his friend Nick’s murder. Regardless of how much you try to play the game’s climax differently, you are unable to prevent Anna from getting hurt. She either always gets shot in the arm and you call for help in time or she always gets brutally shot in the abdomen and dies.

Finally, in Don’t Nod’s most recent game Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden (2024), you have to witness Black people, Indigenous people, and queer people as ghosts who died violent deaths in colonial times. Although it’s one of my favorite games for how well it interrogates grief and what it means for a death to mean something, it doesn’t erase my discomfort with so many marginalized characters dying.

I’m not saying conflict-free games shouldn’t exist. I also don’t want to discount how Don’t Nod and Deck Nine’s diversity in race, gender identity, sexualities, and class has been well done over time. I’m especially impressed by Don’t Nod’s Tell Me Why for those representations, even amidst its critiques about the ending or how we’re reminded it’s okay for trans characters not to be perfect.

I’m saying that tropes are exhausting. Clearly, Don’t Nod and Deck Nine are full of them.

I don’t want to play Life is Strange: Double Exposure and have to deal with choosing to keep Safi dead or alive. I want to solve the mystery and keep Safi alive in all the timelines!

Excitement and nervousness courses through my veins leading up to Life is Strange: Double Exposure’s release. You can play it via Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S October 29, 2024.

The post Don’t Nod and Deck Nine’s Obsession with POC and Queer People’s Suffering appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.

(This article will reveal a lot of spoilers.)

5. Curb Your Enthusiasm

In case absolutely no one has noticed Kramer’s crappy comments about suicide in Seinfield, or all of the crappy comments Larry David made about mental health all throughout Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David’s content especially wasn’t great at depicting a person of color’s attempted suicide. 

In Episode 4 of Season 5, Larry meets a Japanese man named Yoshi (Greg Watanabe) who attempts suicide after Larry accuses his father of being a cowardly kamikaze pilot in World War II. While Larry and his friends are gambling at Yoshi’s sister’s house, when his sister (Elaine Kao) and brother in law (Kevin Nealon) get a call about his attempted suicide, Larry and his friends continue to play cards. 

In the end, stereotypical Japanese music plays while Yoshi’s father (Ken Takemoto) crashes into Larry with his wheelchair shouting “Banzai” as the sound effect of a plane crash also plays. 

I don’t feel comfortable with how Larry David always portrayed Asian people as caricatures who are victims of his antics throughout Curb. 

4. Rick & Morty

I know some may not be surprised this is on the list considering the whole well-meaning white leftist animated comedy writing that just ends up making the situations worse, but it’s still worth bringing up. Out of all of the times Rick & Morty has made fun of suicide, flippantly and casually, only two episodes out of its entire run so far presented a content warning for depictions of suicide. I will talk about one of these episodes: Episode 4 of Season 7.

Rick (voiced by Ian Cardoni) gets spaghetti from an alternate universe that is tasty for the whole family to assign once a week “Spaghetti Night.” Unfortunately, his grandson Morty (voiced by Harry Beldon) finds out that Rick has been obtaining the spaghetti from a planet where if someone chooses to die by suicide, their body’s internal parts turn into spaghetti.

When Morty brings this to the planet’s government’s attention, they turn it into a conglomerate targeting dying people of color, formerly incarcerated people, and more who are considered disposable to die by suicide so spaghetti can be sold across the universe. They also use each person’s “story” as a marketing ploy. The first “test” before the pasta goes live as a product is a Black woman who dies by assisted suicide. 

I would feel differently about this episode if we as viewers actually learned something about how to remind people that they’re not disposable and that although being alive is difficult, it’s worth it. But we don’t. Instead, it’s just another episode where Rick and Morty go the equal opportunity death route because Rick deems everything worthless. 

3. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Copaganda screws up once again after attempting to make this a “teachable moment” kind of episode. Even if their intention was to encourage people in and out of law enforcement to seek help, the impact involved romanticizing suicide for law enforcement and just reminded viewers why law enforcement can’t be trusted to handle the topic in the first place. 

In Episode 12, Season 21, of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, we see a total of three suicides in one forty-five minute episode. One by Rachel Wilson (Holly Robinson Peete), a Black former NYPD officer who ends her life with a gun publicly at Ed Tucker’s (Robert John Burke) retirement party because of a mishandling of a sexual assault complaint she filed during her career. Another by Ralphie Morris (Saul Stein), an officer who completed his suicide two hours after being interviewed by Olivia Benson (Mariska Hartgitay) and her team. The final suicide is completed by Ed Tucker within the final minutes of the episode. 

What frustrated me about this episode was the piss-poor attempt of talking about what Rachel must have felt as a woman of color while on the force. Moreover, I don’t trust writers who believe a Black woman is capable of making her suicide a spectacle for her white ex-colleagues. 

2. House

Kal Penn’s character’s exit deserved so much better.

In Episode 20 of Season 5, Lawrence Kutner doesn’t show up for work at the hospital one morning. House (Hugh Laurie) sends his team members Eric Foreman (Omar Epps) and Thirteen Hadley (Olivia Wilde) to discover why Lawrence didn’t show up. The two show up at his apartment and see Kutner’s dead body from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Although we as the viewer don’t see Kutner’s body, we do see Foreman and Hadley covered in his blood. 

The leading cast of House already isn’t very racially diverse. To have one of its popular characters, and only Indian character, have such an abrupt and heavy exit from the show like that was totally unnecessary. Because Penn was leaving the show to work for President Obama, the show could have written a celebratory episode of him leaving for a better medical job.

But no, the show creators wanted to display how suicide can be an element of surprise, I guess? No one can ever predict when, how, or why someone chooses to die by suicide. But to do it like this and viewers are only seeing it treated like a mystery to be solved instead of a public health crisis on a doctor’s drama. Disappointing. 

1. The Last of Us

Episode 5 of Season 1 involved two Black brothers: one is younger and deaf (Keivonn Montreal Woodard) named Sam; another who is older (Lamar Johnson) named Henry. They are both on the run from a resistance group because their leader (Melanie Lynskey) blames Henry for her brother’s death.

Although the brothers were able to escape the group with the help of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), in the end Sam is bitten by a zombie. Because he puts Ellie in danger as a zombie, Henry shoots Sam, killing him. Completely distraught, Henry kills himself with the same gun. 

I know the material is loyal to the plot in the video game, but this one downright broke my heart. I’m not asking for television that will never make me sad. I am only asking for television to be more intentional when it does. I will also say, in the original video game, Sam is not deaf. So although it’s wonderful to see a young disabled Black actor getting recognition, the deliberate choice of making a character disabled as a tool to get even more empathy from viewers when he dies feels gross. And to have a beautiful love story between Black brothers end because of a suicide knowing the suicide of Black youth continues to rise hurts too much. 

What would it have been like to challenge the video game’s original narrative? What would it have been like to see Henry and Sam live and fight zombies along with Joel and Ellie? What would it have been like to invite more Black writers on The Last of Us team to make Henry and Sam’s story grow? 

Remember, if you or a loved one is struggling with suicidality, contact the suicide warmline 988. For Deaf or hard of hearing folks, dial 711, then 988.

The post 5 Worst Depictions of Suicide for People of Color on Television appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.