Ever Ever After : Black Girls and Fairytales ...
Another night where I could have danced (or talked) all night.
As y’all may or may not know, I’ve been brought on as a producer on a short script written by Celeste Banks called Black Girls and Fairytales. If you know me you know this is my jam. This is where I live. I mean, I made myself into a duchess.
A short film written by Celeste Banks, directed by Kiara Barnes, and starring Khaliah Daniels.
“A princess-for-hire gets the chance of a lifetime to be an actual princess, but her ingrained colorism and insecurities hold her back from her crown.”
In particular, the Author’s note :
“"Black Girls and Fairytales" [explores] many intersections that include -- racism, colorism, and beauty in a fantasy setting. How does a girl who comes from OUR world deal with a world that has no concept of colorism or racism? Would she simply accept the rules or will she stick with her assumptions of what a traditional princess looks like?”
Me, doing what I do, wanted to organize a roundtable discussion, though there was no table in our room. But there was discussion.
In the room were five other beautiful black women, from the spectrum in age, size, shape, sexuality, and gender expression. Abd we had a kiki in my living room which I transformed into the Mad Duchess’ Salon, or Le Salon de la Duchesse folle.
Two things - the discussion helped me realize where I want to go with The Ava Davis Show. And the other, how powerful an experience like this is.
To back it up a bit, my journey to womanhood. I’ve often found myself in female spaces, first as an effeminate queer black male, and now … as me. In the early stages of my transition, I had dear friends who I felt shepherded me into womanhood. Jasmine, Carlette, Anterior, Hillary, Sarah, Laura, Nicole, and so many more. They are my tribe. And they are in the world of entertainment – as writers, stand-up comedians, actors, directors, etc. They were my Guidestones for the longest.
When I started to physically transition, our (Eddie and my) spiritual community took over. Even Eddie commented on how the older women in our church? Gathering? We still don’t know what to call ourselves but we all grew up with Christian teaching and now changing to something more … spiritual. Either way, the women of our church embraced me. Unless you were looking, you would not know. But I was looking. And so were they. And they embraced me.
In my duchy, in my community, I have never been made to feel less than others. I have been embraced, celebrated, and treated as me.
So to sit in this room, as a black transwoman with other black women, the feelings I felt were powerful.
Because we had such common experiences as we delved into the topics Celeste raises in her film. Colorism. Racism. Beauty. Fantasy.
We shared our favorite Disney princesses growing up, and how our interactions with those images affected us. We talked about colorism within our own homes and communities, and how that affected us. One friend even explained a moment how she examined a moment when she unconsciously perpetuated colorism, and changed within that moment. And also explored what it meant to be a black woman in America, and specifically in entertainment. Casting.
Opportunities. For those who went to drama school, instances of “not looking the part.” And the biggest takeaway, one person brought up, is where we are now, where we see a large section of womanhood embracing being strong and “overthrowing the patriarchy,” while black women (specifically in America) are running towards embracing softness and not having to be strong (after being strong for so much of our country’s history). Plastic off the sofa kind of softness. We even brought up the slap heard ‘round the world, and the day the country realized Beyonce was black.
Look, I cannot wait to share this roundtable discussion with you. It was a truly magical experience, and the conversation we had, to me, helps to highlight why I am in love with Celeste Banks’ story.
We are crowdfunding to help shoot some additional scenes for this short film so we can finish it - a three-day shoot with an estimated cost of $10K (Fairytales ain’t cheap). We hope that you will join us for this journey, and if you’re able to donate that would mean the world, but even if you’re not we hope you’ll follow along as we release not only the roundtable discussion in the coming days but also eventually the short!
