WINNERS - Ryan Coogler, there is nothing sinful about IP
The Intellect & The Intellectual Property
Vision transforms, Culture Inspires
Near NYU after its run at Sundance, my wife and I walk the streets of lower Manhattan, reflecting on what we just saw with tears still welling in our eyes. The experience was the freshman film release for a former football player turned film director and USC alum. Ryan Coogler's Fruitvale Station was like a tragic foreshadowing of the world that was before us or the world we currently are living in though a fairly recent period piece. The tears I experienced in the film, I would say were genuinely the first. It was like a transcendent experience where built up tensions and an unearthed love for a fallen human soul of a character that you never knew but got to know through the familiar face Michael B. Jordan.
Fast forward years later, post an expressly outward love for Wakanda AKA the Diaspora, an election cycle, global pandemic, 3 Creed films, and $2 billion in revenue at the box office and Oscar noms, the meteoric rise of The Bay native is a notable success and not just an exception to the rule, but now the cinematic and cultural standard. With film centered on black culture, Coogler's approach to his first project written and directed by him was not an appropriation to the system, but generational transformative interpretation. For decades ideas and innovations of the minds of the diaspora often have been sucked from the soul of people because of the system in all unintentional purpose could be viewed as a global caste system. I recall first learning of the term caste system and was like, this sounds familiar. Though not a physical caste system, the intentional constructs of the American psyche could very well be considered a caste system even if just in others' minds. Yet to escape any form of caste, one must take ownership of your mind, your ideas, your intellectual property. Ownership is the gateway to freedom and the tearing of the veil into the way of America, business.
Sinners within its second week is a box office success by multiple metrics, already grossing over $80 million worldwide. Yet, the film though performing at the box office is performing well above metrics on social media. With over 600 million impressions across platforms, 250,000+ dedicated hashtag uses, and a 92% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, the digital conversation around the film has created a cultural moment that extends beyond traditional box office measurements. Driven by research, the film explores historical and cultural themes not any more riveting than Quentin Tarantino or Spike Lee with the visual prose of a master sculptor. Outside of the exhibited excellence as a director and writer, the headlines are over-indexed on the intellectual prowess to direct, write and produce the film through his production company Proximity is "unheard."
The business of unprecedented is a sign of shifting winds in any industry essentially powered by intellectual property bought managed and sold for a profit without rights returning to the originator. What an industry that fronts the capital to place your talents on display. But Coogler's reward wasn't handed to him. It's a principle of business, he solved a problem. His first film uncovered a genuine story, his next film he pursued and revived a storied franchise, and with tremendous success, he stewarded the last cinematic memory of a man that touched millions of hearts for the most iconic studio and comic. Ryan Coogler's reward is that he stewarded the work of others well. When you give you receive. And those that have broad comments on the film's progression must be coming from the very vampires called out in the film of course taking to survive.
We aim to celebrate the win that is a pivotal film in the industry while uplifting the mind behind it that minded history, culture and his personal self-awareness to deliver a beautiful work.
Peace and Love, Mike A. W.
Image Credit: Warner Bros.