European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 6, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Lick culture redux african americans re examine the culture of the 70s by Esther Iverel a news Day. It was the baddest of limes it Vyas be worst of. Times. It was the time of Walt. Frazier it was the time of Richard he Jon it was Stin Ball players on saturday morning it was crazy glue sniffers on saturday night. It was the Jackson five the Partridge family afro Sheen Don Cornelius peace love and Sootoo Oulla. .1&Quot so goes a promotional Spiel for Spike Lee s new film Brooklyn. But with its hard push on the nostalgia buttons of the Post civil rights generation of Blacks it also could describe the Era of Matty Rich s recent film the inkwell or the 70s spirit of hew Nike commercials featuring Aba players in a fictional Barbershop in the Hood. The Era also is re created in Snoop Doggy Dogg s popular music video it s a Doggy Dogg world in which Snoop plays a Pimp named Quot Silky slim Quot surrounded by aging actors of the Quot by Axil citation Quot movies of the 70s, including Fred Williamson Antonio Fargas and even a Pam crier look alike. Thumping throughout these productions is the steady Backbeat of classic 1970s rhythm blues and Funk popular cuts such As Curtis Mayfield s superfly or More Urban esoteric offerings like Manu Debango s soul Marossa. 1 Are the e soul 7 of Bac k ? you bet you r afro p offs they Are / a a interest in the 70s in t new. But the embrace of the decade by Bung Blacks May extend beyond the trendy revivals of platform shoes and the Brady Bunch to include precious memories of a time when Black Pride flourished and a time a p re a ids pre crack pre Ronald Reagan 1 and his economic Quot restructuring Quot a when Black. Neighbourhoods had More cohesion. Both Brooklyn and the inkwell says cultural critic and author Michael Dyson Quot Are try ing to reconstitute a space where it is Safe for Black cultural expression and Black social expression to run their . As depicted in these films commercials and videos the 70s represent Quot the Urban terrain before Urban terror was at such a Peak that people could t have Safe Domestic relations or a sense of Community Quot says Dyson whose Book reflecting Black was published by the University of Minnesota last year. In the inkwell which focuses on a shy and awkward t 6-year-old boy we relive teen age parties when daring girl s to re hot pants a and Quot sizzlers very Sho it ski res of dresses with Matching bloomers and boys wore platform shoes and loudly coloured polyester jumpsuits with Matching jackets ,. Memories of childhood of music dances fashions and hairstyles of the time become the route Back into a More innocent time. In Brooklyn which focuses on the Carmichael family an d their n i go boyhood i n b Roo k Lynch in care n p Lay outdoors racing Down sidewalks jumping double dutch rope or playing hand slapping games Rock pm sock pm robots Stic Ball Skeeles and not peas and butter. Quot i look Back and i see a time when kids could have a lot More fun than they have today Quot says Lee 37, who grew up in a family and neighbourhood in Brooklyn similar to the one in the film Quot i never had to worry about getting shot in school or in front of my House. The worst thing that could happen was that somebody might take your lunch Money. Maybe you d get a fat lip or Black Eye. But it was fists nobody was pulling an Uzi and spraying r a buffets Quot. A a a a a a. A a a Rich who is in his. 20s, says what attracted him to the in Kwell project 1"was the sense of a m i by a i us. Cd a m Pion de i n the scree play. On e of the Strong elements in the movie is the caring and Hope that exists within the  Quot that both films Are about nuclear families with both Mother and father present is telling. Since the 1970s, the percentage of Black families headed by both parents has declined steadily. Now 46 percent of Black families Are headed by single women. But writer Michelle Wallace sees More than nostalgia for traditional families in these films noting that both Brooklyn and the inkwell contain plenty of family conflict. For example in the inkwell the father has difficulty communicating with his shy and Quirky son and. The father in Brooklyn is trying to reconcile his fledgling musical career with the need to support his family. Quot Brooklyn raises issues about current dissonance in the Black family Quot Wallace says Quot in general Spike Lee engages in a critique of masculinity i Don t see it As nostalgic at All. Maybe some Jse Ople feel that he idealized the Black family but i Don t think  even if there s mixed message about Black families coming through in. These movies about the 70s, the message on1 the sound tracks is unequivocal in that decade of shifting social and racial ground music and dance were Pivotal to the development of a sense of personal and group Pride for Black youth. Lee uses no fewer than 22 Vintage songs including people make the world co round by the stylistics who also crooned that classic betcha by Colly wow and ooh child by the five Stair Steps. And in the new Nike commercials repeated often during the Aba playoffs music a including express yourself by Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street rhythm band Mayfield s superfly various James Brown riffs and even Strawberry 1 letter 23, by the Brothers Johnson a immediately set a soulful mood. There also is nostalgia for the House party a social  Black culture that has diminished As Urban fear has increased. It appears in the inkwell where adults do the bump that then scandalous dance the dog and other moves inviting below the Belt Contact Between men and women. But  70s, it was pointless to get to the basement party with your hot pants and knowing the latest songs and dances if your Quot fro Quot was t together. Although images of the afro Are in heavy rotation  current revival it s used primarily for its evocative value there s just a single reference to the controversy this 1 Hairdo stirred in the Black Community splitting children ,. From their parents a particularly girls from their mothers a As the natural look was embraced As either a political or fashion statement. ,. Quot it is both humiliating and humbling Quot to be Quot remembered As a Hairdo Quot said Angela Davis one of the most visible militants of the 60s and�?~70s. Universal Angela Davis whose image from that time with a full size afro often is recycled a the March Issue of vibe Magazine for example ran a fashion spread featuring actress Cynda Williams in various poses As Davis a says the meaning of  As a political statement is being y lost today. In an essay to be published this fall in picturing us a Book from the new press about african american identity Davis says Quot it is both humiliating and humbling to discover that a generation following the events which constructed me As a Public personality i am remembered. As a Hairdo.�?�. As with the representation of the afro without its social scenery Dyson who is 35, warns about the popular Media embracing the Quot politics of nostalgia without offering a  he worries that this generation seeks like All generations to make their age the Golden one and that the current crop of feel Good images Don t convey the fact that Quot the seeds of what we be reaped in the. 1990s&Quot a unemployment the gutting of neighbourhoods a Quot were sown in the 1970s.&Quot Dyson Points out that Quot Black Folk have always hardened Back to a period of achievement when they were better a off Quot citing even interviews and research in 1914 by the scholar , Dubois even a few decades after emancipation people were telling him that the. Community had been stronger before. Quot in one Way that is positive. You always have an endless Pool of resources  regeneration,1&Quot Dyson says. Quot file left rapper Snoop Doggy dog shown with or. Dre has reclaimed the Hairdo of the�?~70s. Above Pam crier a Star of the 70s Quot Blanp citation Quot movies has changed her image for the -90s. The stars and stripes wednesday july 6,1994 the stars and stripes