Set in 1902, Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust chronicles the Gullah people, a unique group of individuals who live off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. Their dialect is based on the West African languages spoken by their forefathers who were brought to the Americas as slaves. Preserving many of the West African tribal culture and traditions, the Gullah people live culturally secluded from American culture. Daughters of the Dust chronicles one island family who begins to feel the strains of staying on the island, with conflict boiling over among the various generations of the family, some of which want to free themselves of the poverty and take their chances on the mainland. A challenging film that is sure to be a tad slow for most casual viewers, Daughters of the Dust shows little interest in narrative, instead creating a visual lyricism which focuses far more on the themes of conformity, identity, culture, and ancestry than plot points. Featuring strong performances from everyone involved, Daughters of the Dust's greatest attribute is its ability to capture the emotional pain associated with cultural transformation, showing how conforming is essentially a loss of individuality, which is particularly felt through the elder woman of the family, Nana. Considering the well documented budgetary constraints of Daughters of the Dust, the aesthetics of the film are quite impressive. Dash creates a film that flows with visual poetry, which captures the authenticity of African culture, in particularly the mysticism and spirituality. Obviously I'm not expert in the subject, but Dash's use of mise en scene and juxtaposition to create what seemingly is an authentic portrait none-the-less. Another interesting aspect of Daughters of the Dust is how it contrasts the male and female roles in Gullah culture, showing how segregated they really were, as each gender had very specific roles and seemed to keep to themselves, outside of intimacy. The differences between those who have stayed on Gullah island and those who have lived off of it is also felt, as the lines between these two conflicting cultures and ways of life put extra constraint on the family throughout the film. Featuring a in-depth, albeit languid look at the Gullah culture off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust is a story of the importance of culture and heritage, and the loss of identity which can exist when assimilation takes hold.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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