The Projector #77: Two Sevens Clash (Again?) (Patreon)

by Keith Phipps

In 1977, the roots reggae band Clash release its first, and best-known album, Two Sevens Clash. The title came from a prophetic statement Culture leader Joseph Hill attributed to Marcus Garvey: that on July 7, 1977, chaos would erupt in Jamaica. The album’s title track caught on, so much so that businesses closed in Kingston that day anticipating trouble, if not the apocalypse. It didn’t arrive, but 1977 still looks like a pivotal year for culture. In music, it’s year zero for punk and, in some ways, for hip-hop, since no less an authority than D.J. Kool Herc (another musician from Jamaica) has said the ready availability of looted DJ equipment became a kind of jet fuel for the nascent musical form.

At the movies, a different kind of revolution was happening, even if it wasn’t obvious just how profound an impact it would have at the time. May saw the release of Star Wars (since cumbersomely renamed Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope), which would become a financial success on an unprecedented scale. The years that followed would see blockbusters eventually go from being one aspect of the Hollywood movie business to Hollywood’s primary concern.

It remains that, but I can’t help but wonder if 2020 will end up being a year as important as 1977. It was a year mostly without blockbusters that ended with Wonder Woman 1984 premiering simultaneously in what theaters remains open and on HBO Max — as all of Warner Bros.’ releases will do throughout 2021. It was a big movie that ended up feeling kind of small. That’s partly a matter of quality but also a matter of positioning. It’s a weird irony that having a movie in your home, front and center on your television, can make it easier to ignore or forget.

But maybe quality will win out in the end. Soul had an impact even away from theaters. I suspect moviegoers — if that’s the right word — will enjoy Raya and the Last Dragon. Maybe the first real test of whether or not home viewing will swallow up the theatrical experience will come when theaters are fully reopened and enough of us feel comfortable going out and something really great comes along — must-see and not a maybe-I’ll-watch-that. Will theaters bounce back? Or will blockbusters become just television writ large? Will 2020 mark the end of the chapter Star Wars helped begin? The answer might not be apparent for a long time.

I may have mentioned Raya too soon. We’ll be getting to that shortly but, in the meantime, we hope you’re enjoying our discussion of Jean de Florette and, imminently, Minari.

And if you want some reading, here are some pieces we like (kind of a short list this week; we’ll look harder and further next week):

• Speaking of the blurring movie and TV divide, what did you think of WandaVision? Our pal Oliver Sava wrote about it, and how it relates to the (dark) history of comic book marriages, for Vulture.

• For GQ, I, Keith Phipps, talked to the terrific Tahar Rahim about The Mauritanian and more.