In this special double episode, we will discuss two films, the Netflix release Malcolm & Marie, as well as the latest biographical drama Judas and the Black Messiah. 

Starting with Malcolm & Marie, we will discuss the genre of romantic drama, character dialogue, white screenwriters, and the plight of the muse. After this, we will switch lanes and explore the highly anticipated Judas and the Black Messiah and explore how the film does and does not tell the story of Black Panther chairman Fred Hampton (aka the “Black Messiah”), or that of William O’Neal, the Black informant (aka “Judas”) who was blackmailed by the FBI to orchestrate Hampton’s assassination.

Tying together this unlikely pair of films, we will wrap up the episode with a discussion of what it means to tell another’s story and how race, gender, and power dynamics play out in each film’s ability to ask and answer these questions.