Tweet

Hilluminati

May 31, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read

For those that don't understand the anger they're seeing, let me share a few words...

I'm successful. I am, in broad terms, "respectable." I still had to de-escalate a confrontation with law enforcement this morning, and it's happened enough to me that I've grown good at it.

I grew up poor in Saint Louis so before I was "respectable" and had the resources I have now, I had to de-escalate a few situations.

One of them, I couldn't and I wound up slammed on a hood with a pistol aimed at me. I was 15. Didn't get arrested. Just terrified and cut loose.

My story is not uncommon. I imagine most people of color have a similar story, even if they don't share it.

I have factored the risk of getting killed by law enforcement while just living into my mind, my heart, and my soul. It is a truth that America has taught to me.

I spend a lot of effort managing my anger, in general...but for me, with my success that's easy to do. It doesn't make me "better." I am not "one of the good ones."

I'm lucky to have the resources I have. Most people aren't.

If you see "Black Lives Matter" and you start thinking about liberal conspiracies and feel the urge to "all lives" in response, THINK about what it means to think your life matters less. Think about how it feels to believe, and have evidence, that your life matters less.

No, I don't support violence, but violent anger is the inevitable result of dehumanization. History will teach you that. If you are considered inhuman, and that's really what racism is, you will lose any hope of systemic change, of having a future, of your life mattering at all.

Again, racism is the denial of humanity. The racist believes they are "human" and the target of their racism is lesser than that, therefore not worth treating AS human.

So you kneel on their neck until they die in defiance of the young woman recording you with her cell phone.

We throw the word "racist" out so much that I don't think we really think about what that means. It's the destruction of the target's humanity. To the racist, I am not a human being. I am a pest. A lesser thing. Inherently "wrong." A mistake of nature.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @bryanedwardhill

Hilluminati

@bryanedwardhill

Sep 19, 2021

Here's a #writing tip about the necessity of a STRONG, EMOTIONAL MOTIVATION for your protagonist.

So, I'm doing a third draft of this studio thing. Challenging project and I like the executive a lot -- but he wants a great deal of MISDIRECTION in the storytelling. Now --

-- that's not normally how I fight. I tend to get frustrated with narrative misdirection. I write how I live -- I come at you from the front.

But this is the discipline of the job. Sometimes, you have to fight in the ring with a style you don't use on the street.

So, what --

-- I have to do inside of all of this misdirection is MAKE CERTAIN the audience always has some understanding of the protagonist's EMOTIONAL MOTIVATION, what they WANT TO ACCOMPLISH.

Otherwise, all the clever moves are just frustratingly opaque. It's just technique. So --

Read 14 tweets

Hilluminati

@bryanedwardhill

Aug 11, 2021

I did pretty well last year with zoom pitching as a screenwriter. As I said, I learned a bit from studying YouTubers I watch and here are a few adjustments I made in the age of digital story trapping, LOL.

Your mileage may vary...

@razer

1. Get a decent camera. I have a @razer kiyo and I'm about to try out the new @elgato -- but having a decent webcam is a good investment. Also, have good lighting. My Razer has a built in soft ring light, but try to give yourself a nice soft source.

It'll look good on you.

2. Mind that background game. Because I'm a filmmaker/photographer I went too far and I designed my office with color theory in mind, but if you can FRAME yourself with things behind you, that will make the image more compelling.

Eliminate clutter.

Read 16 tweets

Hilluminati

@bryanedwardhill

Jun 25, 2021

I don't mean to be politically divisive, but more philosophical...

The right wing preaches about American exceptionalism, its enduring power and providence over all other nations. They also treat America as a nation so fragile, ANY criticism will destroy it.

Can't have both.

What this says to me, is this isn't a defense of the nation, but rather a defense of its NOSTALGIC MYTHOLOGY (which IS fragile), and the self-esteem many receive from their perceived (and generationally perceived?) role in that mythology.

That, to me, is why anything like CRT or accurate, revisionist history is immediately met with emotional outbursts and personal slander.

The destruction of your personal mythology feels like a personal attack...only because you've made it one. That's the key. It's self-injury.

Read 6 tweets

Hilluminati

@bryanedwardhill

Jun 25, 2021

Here's a funny #DavidLynch story, since I was posting LOST HIGHWAY.

So I'm in film school, like sophomore year, I think. NYU. We're shooting a project on the street, forgot what it was. Silly, film student stuff. Working with something like a krasnogorsk-3 super 16, but 8mm...

...so my friends and I were setting up a shot and I see -- who I THINK is -- David Lynch walking with a group of folks, taking photos. Like he was scouting something.

I'm like "if he looks at our camera, then that's probably Lynch." So we walks closer, across the street and...

...he sees our OLD camera and stops in his tracks. He points at us. Then he quickly jaywalks across the street, with a smile on his face.

At this point we all know it's ACTUALLY DAVID LYNCH.

And he's coming over to us, smiling, and we're FROZEN. So...

Read 8 tweets

Hilluminati

@bryanedwardhill

Jun 25, 2021

https://twitter.com/SilvermanJacob/status/1408407446784253955

If you can find Tony Gilroy’s script for this, it’s amazing. It’s one of the scripts I always read before starting on an assignment. There are three scripts I re-read before every feature gig. MICHAEL CLAYTON by Tony Gilroy…

https://twitter.com/SilvermanJacob/status/1408407446784253955

THE HUSTLER by Robert Rossen and Sydney Carroll.

ALIEN by Walter Hill, Ronald Shussett and Dan O’Bannon (but I think the draft I have is mostly Walter Hill).

Read 8 tweets

Hilluminati

@bryanedwardhill

Jun 24, 2021

In case it's not clear, they're not actually concerned about Critical Race Theory. They know they don't have any actual ideas and this is a solid "scary brown people" culture war scare for fundraising and sound-bytes because actual governance is difficult.

Engaging them is playing into it. They don't want to talk about not having any good reason to fight infrastructure bills and they REALLY don't want to talk about making it harder to vote.

So yeah, "scary brown people corrupting your kids."

When you see them, remember...

Trump got his booty kicked. They know that. They're looking for ANYTHING that can rally their base...and usually they rally it around being angry at some cultural boogeyman. Uncle and Auntie Facebook, Jimmy 4-Chan, Johnny-Reddit. They all buy in.

It's noise.