By Sarah Leventer<\/p>\n
Beasts of the Southern Wild<\/i> remains a critical darling thanks in no small part to its \u201cmagical realist\u201d aesthetic and its tough young star, Hushpuppy (Quvenzhan\u00e9 Wallis). But, cultural critic bell hooks sees \u201cNo Love in the Wild,\u201d arguing that the \u201cmagical\u201d focus of the film deflects attention away from the pornography of violence at its center. Understanding the gulf between these reactions, and what they suggest about the current media landscape, means placing Beasts<\/i> into the two artistic contexts it draws from\u2014Southern artmaking, (encompassing artists as wide-ranging as Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty, and Charles Burnett) and American mainstream filmmaking. This dual history illuminates the film\u2019s power, problems, and reception. Continued<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Once There Was a Hushpuppy, Once There Was a Gatsby: African American Representation in Contemporary American Film By Sarah Leventer Beasts of the Southern Wild remains a critical darling thanks in no small part to its \u201cmagical realist\u201d aesthetic and its tough young star, Hushpuppy (Quvenzhan\u00e9 Wallis). But, cultural critic bell hooks sees \u201cNo Love … Continue reading Essays<\/span>