wow. i disagree with so much here, i feel like we saw completely different movies. neither the play nor the movie are about Ma Rainey and to watch either expecting that does a disservice to Wilson's work which looks at america's racism through a lens of Black masculinity https://twitter.com/angelicabastien/status/1341878054411522048

Viola Davis' makeup at Ma Rainey *is* grotesque and off-putting. it's honestly hard to watch her face, but it's definitely taking in historical accounts of how Ma used her body & makeup as armor against people who tried to take advantage of her.

when you're pretty, people think a compliment or flirting will distract you as they rob you. no one can fool Ma Rainey with pretty words. if you want something from her (a recording), give her what she wants (a cold cocacola).

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (film) is about how Black people constantly have to sift through parts of themselves to find the best tool to use to survive every single encounter-- with each other, with white people, with trauma, with progress, with the past...

when Levee says to Dussie "can i introduce my red rooster to your brown hen," of course, it's cheesy & silly. it's supposed to be. Levee is a goofy playboy kind of lover. He's using humor to loosen Dussie's thighs. also it's 1927 dialogue written in 1982 as we watch it in 2020.

Levee's whole thing is about how he doesn't take anything seriously except his music so expecting him to.. . idk... recite verse during seduction is a bit outside the characterization presented.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is about Levee and it's unfortunate that Chadwick's performance has the context it has bc i think he was fantastic. he perfectly captured what it is to chase your own version of the american dream while ghosts of american trauma haunt you.

i don't think the tightness of the scene with Ma and Dussie is meant to avoid queer sensuality. i think it's to show Dussie as an opportunist who maybe isn't as into Ma as Ma is into Dussie.

i also don't think anyone was trying to step around Ma Rainey being a lesbian. everyone referred to Dussie as Ma's girl. Ma was frequently & openly possessive. it was very clear what their relationship was.

Ma Rainey relied on white people's fear of her size, sexuality, and race to protect herself & get what she wanted. to want a portrayal of her to combat the stereotypes she used as armor is to want an entirely different character and film/play.

the film is not a biopic meant to fight sexist & racist stereotypes. It's about what happens when the (L)evee inside us that's been holding back trauma, microaggressions, exhaustion, all the different people we have to be at any given moment breaks