Sun Ra's Mythmaking

Okay, guys, I'll try to keep it short because I can already see that end-of-semester weariness setting in everyone's eyes.

Our selection for this week, Space is the Place, could have easily been categorized in the nutty crazy section if not for the illuminating ability of Lock. I was also pretty disgusted with the general atitute toward women in the film, i.e. all women are hoes waiting for a good pimp, even women who go to school to become nurses will gladly undress themselves and their sistas' for a good pimp man. But, because I was generally impressed with Sun Ra's philosophy as explained by Lock, I did a bit o' research and found that we were watching the 2003 director's cut of the film. The original of 74 or so deleted the bitches and hoes scenes, with the director calling Ra "prudish". I think Ra's philosophies make a helluva lot of sense. And, how huge! He attempted to rewrite history. Unfortunately, he didn't succeed. But I sure as hell wish he did. The whole call back to Moses thing of slave songs and stories never made sense to me. A call back to Egypt as the mother land, the birthplace of humanity sounds so empowering and a beautiful way for the black community to unite in a new way. It's too bad it wasn't picked up during the civil rights movement. Judeo-Christian worldview was repeatedly used to keep slaves enslaved, to keep blacks on the low end of the social hierarchy. Traditional West African religions, by anyone's standards, more closely resembles what we know of ancient Egyptian religion and worldview.
And, hey, Sun Ra's from my hometown. Yeah!
Alright, that's it.
yip.
summary: awesome readings; movie doesn't give Ra the credit he deserves as a visionary