BSU Movie Discussion: Queen & Slim
On February 2nd, 2021 at 8 PM, Evan Fossen, Assistant Director of Student Life, hosted a WEBEX movie discussion on the film Queen & Slim to start off Black History Month at Fairmont State. Anyone who was interested in discussing this could join! The only requirement was to watch the movie before-hand, which is available to staff and students for free on Swank video through the Library’s website.
A brief summary of this movie is that: Slim and Queen’s first date takes a turn, a policeman pulls them over for a minor traffic violation. The situation escalated and Slim took the cop’s gun and shot him in self-defense. The media instantly labeled them “cop killers,” and they felt they had no other choice but to run. A video of the incident went viral, unwritten laws soon became a symbol of trauma, terror, grief, and pain for people across the country.
Once it was time to join the WEBEX, all you had to do was follow the link and join in. After joining the meeting along with a few others, the discussion began. Many questions arose about what was felt and thought during most of the scenes. As we discussed these questions, it was learned that this film was produced by two black women, Melina Matsoukas and Lena Whaithe, as “Protest Art.” In an interview, these women said that they wanted to highlight an accurate depiction of their people. Everyone present agreed that this film painted a very powerful and accurate picture that is not often shown or featured.
As of February 10th, Fairmont State will be holding three more events to celebrate Black History Month. On February 16th, there will be a Soul Food Luncheon being held in the Dining Hall from 11 am – 2 pm. Later that night, there will be a Trivia Night at 7 pm online. You can find the link on the Student Life calendar. To wrap up celebrating Black History Month, there will be a Soul Food Dinner held in the Dining Hall on February 23rd from 4 – 8 pm.
