Janelle Monaeis keenly aware of the criticism a film likeAntebellumis subject to.
We should remain authentic in our blackness.
We should dress how we want to dress, f— respectability politics.
They didn’t ask to be enslaved, Monae explains.
They stole teachers, they stole doctors, they stole nurses, they stole geniuses.
They had real lives and dreams, and passions and were pillars in their communities.
You are very smart for a black person, Monae says she finds it particularly frustrating.
I would slap anybody who said that no matter where you come from.
This is not a slave movie, and this is not a white savior movie, the actress declares.
I don’t think that [they hold] white folks accountable in the way that they should.
I’m not the filmmaker, I’m not the writer.
She pauses to consider whether or not to expand on the subject.
And I’ll just leave it at that.
As for reactions toAntebellum, once it reaches a wider audience?
It’ll trigger people in general, Monae says.
Black folks deal with trauma in different ways.
And I think that everybody is entitled to their opinion, even if I disagree or agree with it.
I really want white people to watch this film, she says.
