Strange Fruit’ Music and Social Consciousness Essay

The movie under consideration is the Strange Fruit directed by Kyle Schickner which aims to show people the social problems and their arousal by means of the appearance of one song, from the day of its creation up to the day of its release in public which has managed to make an outburst of public opinion and antiracial movement.

Watching the movie from the first up to the last scene, you understand that the song has managed to raise social opinion and the historic facts cannot be changed, but the movie is directed in such a way that each time one is worried about the outcome. The movie is psychological as well as historic and the struggle against discrimination has always been a priority for some people, but n0o one believed that a simple song can impact the society in the way it did.

As for me, it was difficult to watch the movie as being psychological drama it made me worry about each of the characters, especially those who were subjected to lynching and discrimination. At the same time, I was impressed with the history of the song creation and how one single performance can change the attitude of the whole society to the problem.

Even though the movie shows the history of the son and its creation, the main idea is deeper. The movie is devoted to the social illness and points at one of the solutions which may be taken for solving the issue which is in the air, but people are afraid of talking about it referencing to the fear and social prejudices.

The main idea of the Angela Davis’ essay “‘Strange Fruit’ Music and Social Consciousness” is to show the society how one particular song may become the icon for the whole nation, how one particular idea may help people understand that it is important to resist lynching, racial discrimination and other specific biased attitude in relation to some particular classes of people.

“She could not have predicted that “Strange Fruit” would impel people to discover within themselves a previously unawakened calling to political activism, but it did, and it does.

She could not have foreseen the catalytic role her song would play in rejuvenating the tradition of protest and resistance in African-American and American traditions of popular music and culture” (Davis 196) is the quote which shows that the singer song this song to entertain people and could not even expect that others would feel the same as she did, the desire to act against those who believe that lynching and discrimination are the normal actions in the society;

it describes the meaning of the song and perfectly summarizes the main idea of the Angela Davis’ essay “‘Strange Fruit’ Music and Social Consciousness” as it points at the problems which the quote arises and at the same time considers the relation of the singer to the song, particularly the unexpected success of the song in the context is appeared;

it is obvious that the song raises the problems of discrimination and it is important to remember that the presence of such films inspire other people for creating something new, such as the movie Strange Fruit also aimed at increasing the social concern about the problems of lynching, cultural and racial discrimination and the attitude of the society to the problems.

Works Cited

Davis, Angela. “‘Strange Fruit’ Music and Social Consciousness.” Blues Legacies and Black Feminism. Ed. Angela Davis. New York: Pantheon Books, 1998. Print.