Watch out, President Bush. "The Beat Back Bush Workout" is warning you - you better be ready to be danced on!
Part hip-hop music video, part political soapbox, part fitness routine, "The Beat Back Bush Workout," brainchild of 15 RISD and Brown students and alums, is gaining public exposure. After winning a "Crowd Pleaser/People's Choice" award at the Fourth International Hip-Hop Odyssey Film Festival in New York City this weekend, the activist filmmakers plan to push their film into the national political consciousness with a cross-country summer tour and the development of classroom and community workshops centered on the movie.
The 12-minute film tackles issues including abortion, consumerism and war using dance numbers set to politically-inspired parodies of popular hip-hop songs such as Lil' Jon and the East Side Boyz "Get Low (remix)." Throughout the film, a small featureless white figure acts as a "follow-along" aerobic instructor by dancing out the performers' steps. Settings range from the waiting room of an abortion clinic to a virtual digital fighting arena inspired by the video game "Mortal Kombat."
Besides the choreographed scenes, the film incorporates footage from presidential debates, civil rights marches and the front in Iraq.
"(Beat Back Bush Workout) is an organizing tool and a tool to relight the fire in people," said the film's director Jazzmen J. Lee-Johnson RISD. Her group's objective is to "get people thinking about some of the issues that we address."
Neel said films such as "Beat Back Bush" can encourage political activism across the country. "We'd ideally use this thing to say not just 'beat back Bush,' not just, 'get rid of him,' but (to ask), 'What is it we want to see instead?' " she said.
Last week's festival, organized by the Hip-Hop Association, ran from Nov. 6-12 and ended with an awards ceremony Saturday. Themed "Peace, Love, Unity, and Having Fun," the festival included panel discussions and the screening of over 75 films ranging from public service announcements to short documentaries.
A large number of Brown and RISD students and alums came to the festival to support the Beat Back Bush Collective, said producer Julia A. Grob '05. "People were laughing and cheering and really responding vocally."
The team went to the festival planning to publicize their film, make contacts and discuss future plans in hopes of "creating a larger community of people who are interested in the same issues," said spokeswoman Kira Neel '05.
At the festival, the group discussed incorporating the film into a variety of workshops with members of the Hip-Hop Education Summit. Post-screening discussions would unite people who share a passion for the issues the film explores, Neel said.
In the future, they said, they would also like to produce a Spanish translation and an edited version of the film for middle-school youth in order to reach a broader audience.
The idea of "The Beat Back Bush Workout" was conceived a few days after the 2004 presidential election. "One of the girls said something like, 'Oh my gosh, I can't believe this. I want a punching bag with Bush's face on it,' " said Lee-Johnson. That image inspired a discussion on channeling political frustrations through physical means, and the genre of workout-activism video was born.
One of the film's creators, Sage Morgan-Hubbard '05, contacted Lee-Johnson, whom she knew through open mic poetry readings, to tap her resources as a film, animation and video student. Lee-Johnson agreed to head the production, and the video ultimately became her final project for a filmmaking class.
The team completed its first version of "The Beat Back Bush Workout" in just three weeks. At the end of the semester, they held an interactive screening at the Gate that featured the whole cast performing in tandem with the film.
Inspired "to take it to another level," the team decided to create a more polished, thorough second version, Lee-Johnson said. The group recruited more students from both Brown and RISD and "went back to the drawing board" in January, she said. Thanks to a $500 grant from the Creative Arts Council, the group began filming in March and finished in May.
Ultimately, Lee-Johnson said working on the project empowered its creators. "These girls are young, up-and-coming activists (who) will, I am sure, in the future, affect legislation and really impact the world in a special way," she said.
