Aaron Barnhart's Blog, page 6

“Two Towns of Jasper” and how to pierce W.E.B. DuBois’ “veil” between the races

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Twenty years ago, three men with ties to white supremacist groups chained 49-year-old James Byrd Jr. to the back of a pickup truck. They dragged him for miles, strewing his remains along the backroads of Jasper, Texas.

It was a grisly crime that seemed to come out of a different era, when black men could be lynched with impunity.

But by 1998 times had changed. The suspects were rounded up by the white sheriff. They were arraigned by the white district attorney and put on trial. Their cases w...

"Two Towns of Jasper" and the invisible veil between the races

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Twenty years ago, three men with ties to white supremacist groups chained a black man, James Byrd Jr., to the back of a pickup truck. They dragged him for miles, strewing his remains along the backroads of Jasper, Texas.

It was a grisly crime that seemed to come out of a different era, when black men could be lynched with impunity. 

But this was 1998, and times had changed. The suspects were soon rounded up by the white sheriff. They were arraigned and put on trial by the white district atto...

"The Crown" creator wrote a forgotten gem about a murder scandal

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If you’ve been enjoying “The Crown,” or look forward to tucking into the second season on Netflix, then my Friday Pick, “Longford,” is for you.

“The Crown” was created by Peter Morgan, Britain’s premier writer of historical drama. I’ve been a fan of his work for a long time  — and so, obviously, have the executives at Netflix, who invested $100 million to launch this series, a record for that network.

Morgan also wrote “The Queen,” for which Helen Mirren won her Oscar, also playing Queen Eli...

"Longford": forgotten gem from "The Crown" creator Peter Morgan

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If you’ve been enjoying “The Crown,” or look forward to tucking into the second season on Netflix, then my Friday Pick, “Longford,” is for you.

“The Crown” was created by Peter Morgan, Britain’s premier writer of historical drama. I’ve been a fan of his work for a long time  — and so, obviously, have the executives at Netflix, who invested $100 million to launch this series, a record for that network.

Morgan also wrote “The Queen,” for which Helen Mirren won her Oscar, also playing Queen Eli...

"Casting JonBenet" is a film for the year of "alternative facts"

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“Casting JonBenet” may seem at first like an unlikely film for understanding “alternative facts,” the phrase we lived with throughout 2017.

Bear with me here.

You’d be right to wonder about the historical value of yet another examination of the sensational 1996 murder of JonBenet Ramsey, the Colorado six-year-old and beauty-pageant contestant.

But Australian director Kitty Green is up to something much deeper than recapping an all-American crime story.

Something even darker than the still-un...

David Letterman in the 1980s was as good as it gets

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My Friday Pick is Jason Zinoman's stellar book about David Letterman and — to accompany your reading of the book — an exclusive YouTube playlist from the premier archivist of Letterman's work.

If you were a college or high school student in the 1980s and were looking to find your place in the big world, chances are you paid close attention to "Late Night With David Letterman." America was undergoing a sea change, not just in terms of comedy ("SNL" had actually blazed that trail in the mid-19...

The Video Companion to "Letterman: Last Giant of Late Night"

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My Friday Pick is Jason Zinoman's stellar book about David Letterman and — to accompany your reading of the book — an exclusive YouTube playlist from the premier archivist of Letterman's work.

If you were a college or high school student in the 1980s and were looking to find your place in the big world, chances are you paid close attention to "Late Night With David Letterman." America was undergoing a sea change, not just in terms of comedy ("SNL" had actually blazed that trail in the mid-19...

Late-night talk shows: propping up Male Power since 1954

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Not since 2001 has a woman headlined a network late-night talk show. More than bedtime rituals, late night talk shows deliver news and cultural messages to key viewers. They've even shaped elections.https://t.co/Gnyjf2ZAfI

— History Is Power (@historyispower_) December 21, 2017

After PBS cut ties with Tavis Smiley, host of one of its late-night talk shows, the media treated the news as just one more name added to the list of stars accused of inappropriate sexual advances at work.

But thi...

"Wormwood" rewrites Cold War history as conspiracy — but is it?

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In "Wormwood," a six-part Netflix miniseries debuting this week, filmmaker Errol Morris reopens the case of a scientist working for the CIA who died under mysterious circumstances in 1953, at the height of the Cold War.

Another artful hybrid of documentary and docudrama from the Oscar-winning director of "Fog Of War" and "The Thin Blue Line," "Wormwood" is my Friday Pick.

Here's the setup:

Frank Olson, a scientist working for the CIA, falls from a 10th-story room at New York's Statler Hotel....

'Wormwood' rewrites chapter of Cold War history, without conspiracy

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In "Wormwood," a six-part Netflix miniseries debuting this week, filmmaker Errol Morris reopens the case of a scientist working for the CIA who died under mysterious circumstances in 1953, at the height of the Cold War.

Another artful hybrid of documentary and docudrama from the Oscar-winning director of "Fog Of War" and "The Thin Blue Line," "Wormwood" is my Friday Pick.

Here's the setup:

Frank Olson, a scientist working for the CIA, falls from a 10th-story room at New York's Statler Hotel....