Remembering Eddie Van Halen: Legacy of the Guitar Virtuoso

Roxanna Zoughi on 7 October 2020

Roxanna Zoughi pays tribute to Eddie Van Halen, legendary guitarist of pioneering hard rock band Van Halen, who has died of cancer aged 65.  

Eddie Van Halen is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most innovative musicians of all time, and perhaps the greatest guitarist of his generation, who pioneered the technical advancement of his craft and played by no rulebook in doing so. He has been a huge influence on great modern players who came after him, many of whom paid their respects on social media following the death of their fellow musician and friend, including Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page who posted to Instagram: “He was the real deal: he pioneered a dazzling technique on guitar with taste and panache that I felt always placed him above his imitators.”  

The hard rock sound was first sparked in the mid-60s and bands like The Who had carried its flame well into the mid-70s, until newly emerging acts like Van Halen had begun experimenting with the genre; moving away from the psychedelic and bluesy arrangements some hard rock groups had typically stuck to and instead transformed the sound with an incorporation of pop. And with that, like Hendrix had before him, Eddie made people fall in love with the guitar again.

Eddie had originally considered naming his band after the 7th track of Black Sabbath’s debut album, ‘Rat Salad’ before deciding on his own family name, which unbeknownst to him at the time, would become a household name in rock n’ roll history. Despite being influenced by the Birmingham-born metal band, Van Halen shifted away from Iommi’s moody gothic riffs and went on to produce a vivacious hard rock and pop fusion, reflective of the vibrant southern Californian environment from which it was born. With the release of their self-titled debut album in 1978, the band enjoyed massive success as they sold more than 10 million copies and knocked disco out of its chart top spot. Eddie had proved his musical creativity in melodious opening riffs followed by surprisingly short and straight to the point solos, which despite their briskness, did not in any way belie the self-taught guitarist’s evident talent.

Renowned for their explosive live shows, amplified by David Lee Roth’s vocals and enhanced by Eddie’s athletic and dazzling solos, the group earned a reputation as one of the greatest live performances of rock, and would eventually become one of the top 20 bestselling artists of all time. But Van Halen were not just a band just for rock listeners; Eddie knew how to write great pop songs too. Their ‘1984’ album included some of their biggest hits, namely ‘Jump’, most memorable for its vibrant synth opening perfectly enhanced by Eddie’s shimmering solos.

He can also be credited as the creator of one of the most easily recognizable guitars in rock history, which he dubbed the ‘Frankenstrat’. The instrument sports intersecting black and white lines which cut across a fire red surface, complete with flashing truck reflectors on the back. The freakish creation perfectly mirrored its creator’s equally innovative and experimental musical formulations – an instrument fit for its player no doubt. But Eddie (along with his brother Alex, drummer of Van Halen) was originally classically trained on piano as a young child, which afforded him a wide range of musical skill that allowed him to revolutionize the technical advancement of guitar playing. Eddie’s most notable innovation was perhaps his use of a finger-tapping technique which involved using both hands on the neck of the guitar to produce sound, not so dissimilar to how one would play a piano.

Eddie Van Halen told Guitar World in 1981: “If you’re a musician, you just play until you die. It’s not an ordinary job.”

Photo: Paul Natkin/Getty

Government urged to ensure students can return home for Christmas

Josh Elgin on 2 October 2020

Ministers have come under pressure this week to guarantee university students will not be forced to stay on campuses over the winter break.

Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, told Sky News: “I very much want students to be able to go home at Christmas, and if we all pull together and observe these new rules […] then we will be able to get to a point where that should be possible.” 

Dowden’s comments come as thousands of students in the UK are self-isolating, following a rise of cases in universities. The University of Leeds has revealed so far six of its students have received positive test results. However, the real figure is expected to be higher as not all cases are likely to have been reported to the university.

Labour has urged the government to promise students can return home. The shadow education secretary Kate Green wrote to the education secretary, Gavin Williamson calling on him to “ensure that every student has access to testing to allow a safe journey home”.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=TheGryphonLeeds&dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1310188140456443904&lang=en-gb&origin=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.thegryphon.co.uk%2F2020%2F10%2F03%2Fstudents-will-go-home-for-christmas-says-education-secretary%2F&sessionId=2b6bf200edf2723461d87c36baec5fc36927e288&siteScreenName=TheGryphonLeeds&theme=light&widgetsVersion=0a8eea3%3A1643743420422&width=550px

The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, hopes the government won’t have to tell students to stay on campus over Christmas. Even so, he said he couldn’t rule it out. “The important thing is in the short-term, students, once they’ve gone to university, should stay at university so as not to spread the disease.”

In Scotland, specific guidance for students has been released stating “if you are able to you should remain in your student accommodation and not visit family at home. As you have formed a new household within your student accommodation, this means that you cannot stay overnight at another household.” Though it acknowledges, “there will be circumstances where it may not be possible for you to remain in student accommodation.” 

The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that the rules will be reviewed every three weeks. She stated that it will be an “absolute priority”for her government to get a position where the rules can be relaxed over the winter break. So far, specific guidance for students has not been published in the rest of the UK. Though it is expected that the advice will be similar.

The prospect of having to stay on campus over the winter break may come as less of a blow to international students, who are often unable to go back home over the holidays even in normal circumstances. 

The University of Leeds offers support for those staying on campus called ‘Christmas in Leeds‘. It gives students and postgraduate researchers in Leeds, “the chance to meet others, experience Christmas traditions and find out about help and support.” 

A message on the website says: “Please note, because of the ongoing situation surrounding Coronavirus (COVID-19), the activities we offer may be different to usual.”

Some students are already preparing for the possibility of having to celebrate Christmas on campus. 

Olivia Davies, an International Relations and Arabic student, said the policy would have a “terrible impact” on the mental health of students. She says that with the stresses of exams and seasonal depression, going home for the holidays “is a period of relief for many students”. 

Kyle Blythe, 18, a French and German student, says he understands why it might be necessary for the government to tell students to stay on campus but says his “family are completely against me staying”. “If it comes down to it then we would all have to accept it and try and make this year as magical as it normally is”. 

Kate Schneider, 21, an Asia Pacific Studies and Japanese student, says she “wouldn’t be opposed to the idea as my family isn’t always together and we don’t do a large celebration. I’m sure [Christmas] would be bigger with my flatmates.” “We get along well so we would probably cook a big meal together, get a tree and watch Christmas movies.”

Photo credit: University of Leeds

“They surrounded us and said we are taking your details”: Freshers speak of lockdown isolation

Josh Elgin on 27 September 2020

It has long been expected that the first week of this semester would be different, but the ‘rule of six’, a 10pm curfew for pubs, as well as the continued closure of nightclubs, meant that freshers’ week was virtually unrecognisable, with nearly all events taking place online. The Gryphon asked freshers what the week was like and how they are feeling as the term begins.

Leeds University Union hosted a series of events throughout the week, with interactive cooking classes, a virtual escape room and an online freshers’ fair among the events on offer. There were also a limited number of events on campus, including an outdoor cinema run in collaboration with Hyde Park Picture House, though the focus of the week was online.

Daniel Marchegiani, a Computer Science and Maths student, however, said that there is little enthusiasm among freshers for these events. “On the [Facebook event page] it says one person is going and it’s just the administrator who’s hosting the event”. And Rosaleen Sheehan, a Psychology student, said “I don’t think anyone’s thinking I want to go back into my room and go to an online party”.

Odette Dierkx, a Graphic Design student, was one of the few who did participate. She joined a meeting organised by the art society and although she would have found it “easier speaking in person”, Dierkx says she was grateful for the opportunity to meet people outside her flat.

Sheehan lives in a house on campus with 15 other students, though some of the rooms are still empty. The ‘rule of six’ had made going out as a group awkward. Her house was forced to split into smaller groups, and even then they struggled to get into pubs and bars in the city as many were at full capacity. 

A ban on students visiting other households, which was initially a university policy, but became the law following the tightening of restrictions locally, has made for a difficult conversation in some flats. Alexandra Giesbrecht, a Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Thought student, said that some of the people she lived with wanted to invite guests over but the flat “discussed it and decided against it”. Another student, who asked to remain anonymous, said he felt like he was living “in a prison” as one of his flatmates had said that they would report anyone in the house who breaks the rules to the university.

In an email sent to students last week, the University said: “whilst living in University accommodation you are required to comply with social or physical distancing and other guidance aimed at preventing the spread of Covid-19”. “Please don’t invite visitors or overnight guests into your room or into the household that you share with flatmates because if you do, that will put others at risk of infection and we won’t be able to ignore your actions.” 

Fines of up to £100 are being imposed for every breach of the rules, with repeat offenders at risk of being evicted from their accommodation or expelled.

Ava Heeney, an English Literature student, said she was fined £50 for not practising social distancing outside her accommodation. “We weren’t expecting it. We didn’t get a warning […] they just surrounded us and said we are taking your details”.

After major outbreaks of Covid-19 were reported by universities in Scotland (where the academic year started earlier than English institutions) and following a statement by the University and College Union which expressed concerns about the safety of staff and students on campus , the university announced on the 25th September that planned face-to-face teaching for courses where students don’t have to be on campus would now take place online. The Vice-Chancellor said in an email to students that they will get more “online teaching than you might have expected even a few weeks ago”.

The prospect of indefinite online teaching worries Sheehan. “I really don’t do well online. I learn best being in the same room and talking with my teacher. It’s not my cup of tea”. Marchegiani was also concerned about whether he would cope with an entirely online schedule but thought that the quality of teaching would still be high. Jasper Rowell, 18, a Robotics and Electronics student said he preferred online teaching. “It’s easier […] I can stay at home and eat whatever I want”.

LUU has advised students who may be worried about the change to speak with their school or academic personal tutor if they need support with their studies, or to use the union’s help and support service (https://www.luu.org.uk/help-support/) if they are struggling with other aspects of university life. The university also offers free, professional and confidential counselling sessions.

All of the students we spoke to said that although they thought freshers’ week was necessary, they didn’t think the lack of a proper experience would affect them. Dierkx was confident that “there’s going to be more time to meet people and form friendships later”. 

Image credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty

Culture in the Time of Covid

Owen Frost on 27 September 2020

Hyde Park Book Club 

Book Club is a great spot for either a chilled pint with friends or a great opportunity to pick up a book from their selection of great non-fiction and fiction. Over lockdown they threw book launches on Zoom to celebrate new and exciting fiction, so keep an eye on their Instagram for more details of upcoming similar events. Alongside their reads, they also offer up a tasty selection of delicious cakes (some vegan) and coffee. The downstairs venue is great for live music, comedy, poetry, spoken word and Book Club also offers up free jazz nights – gigs can be heard from upstairs in the evenings. 

Hyde Park Picture House

Now this is a cinematic gem and a must-go in your first year if you get the chance to – socially distanced. Built in 1914 originally showing pictures to boost the war effort, Hyde Park Picture House is still standing on Brudenell Road in Leeds’s bustling student epicentre Hyde Park. Run by Picturehouse who have cinemas and comedy clubs across the country, this cinema boasts comfy seats situated in a single cinema room. You enter through a lovely old-fashioned foyer and can choose from the latest amazing arthouse, towering blockbusters and cult classics. Currently closed due to renovations, Picture House is ‘exploring the viability of resuming these later this year’: make sure you check it out when it reopens its doors! Picture House has previously linked up with LUU, showcasing a roster of exceptional indie films on campus prior to the end of last academic year, demonstrating how in touch it is with the student body. 

City Varieties

Nestled in a central town alleyway, Swan Street, City Varieties Music Hall is Leeds’s oldest theatre stretching back to its construction in 1865. It is one of the oldest known surviving British music halls, the kind of venues in which Charlie Chaplin and co. used to perform. City Varieties is definitely a hidden gem and well worth the visit not only for its mix of comedy, pre-recorded theatre shows and music, but also due to its golden old-world décor. A fancier night out, there’s something special for everyone at City Varieties. 

Leeds Playhouse: 

Waiting for Leeds Playhouse to reignite its electric line-up of plays was agonising. However, the theatre will now reopen its doors from Friday 2nd October. A registered charity, the Playhouse is also one of the UK’s most critically acclaimed theatres and exhibits some of the nation’s most celebrated plays during their runs. Playhouse presents a variety of productions from Hamlet to Jackie and the Beanstalk. Donations and various support opportunities via their website are also currently accepted to keep the theatre going during these strange times. 

Leeds Art Gallery and the Henry Moore Institute 

Two lovely galleries with their collections partially now reopen including the Lower Galleries at Leeds Art Gallery and limited numbers at Henry Moore. Located on Leeds’s iconic Headrow, Leeds Art Gallery has been unveiling art to the masses since 1888. It contains plenty of twentieth century art as well as more modern installations and is both linked to Leeds Central Library and the Henry Moore Institute. Entrance to the permanent exhibitions is free! In December they are running free Youth Collective Sessions at the gallery where you can meet like-minded people while exploring your creative side, all while probing their usual collections! Henry Moore is also open after a closure of nearly five months and their sculptures, linked to the City Gallery by an archway, despite being a bit more highbrow, are well done. However, if you are quarantining, fear not: you can still conduct a virtual visit of exhibitions including Paloma Varga Veisz’s Bumped Body to fulfil your arty needs. 

Image Credits: (clockwise left to right): Henry Moore Foundation, Leeds Art Gallery, Visit Leeds, Leeds Playhouse, hydeparkbookclub.co.uk, The Gryphon 

Keep Calm and Carry On: How to enjoy nights out safely

Séamus O'Hanlon on 21 September 2020

If you were given £10,000 to stay indoors for longer, to not attend or host house parties and to socialise with strangers as infrequently as possible, would you comply?

Would you give up raves, house parties or any illegal large social gatherings? Watch out or you could be facing a nasty fine.

As university education is increasingly being seen as a business transaction, students are often depicted as childish, immature and selfish consumers. Stereotypically, students complain about high tuition fees while spending the majority of their time drunk – all of which, is paid for by government loans. With the pandemic having caused a huge strain on the entertainment industry, questions concerning the future of Leeds nightlife have arisen.

Students need to imbibe the Keep Calm and Carry On mantra.

Students need to imbibe the Keep Calm and Carry On mantra. They need to say no to illegal gatherings because they cannot risk the loss of their beloved pubs which rely heavily on student support – especially in this tough economic period. Only when young people begin to abide by social distancing rules, will the possibility of nightclubs reopening become a
reality. Equally, the implementation of COVID-secure events could provide students with a chance to create a new reputation for themselves.

The Eat Out to Help Out scheme has been an astonishing success. Crucially, it has instilled a sense of positivity within members of the public whilst providing the economy with a well-needed boost. The Chancellor would be deft to pursue a similar policy to rehabilitate our cities’ club scene and support the approximately three-hundred thousand members of staff in the associated industries. Rishi Sunak needs to implement a scheme which will both encourage students to enjoy the night scene again but safely. The re-opening of clubs with limited social distancing is likely to cause a huge spike in infection rates.

Students do not want to risk the lives of others and we want to keep our local establishments’ and local culture alive. These do not have to be contradictory aims for anyone of us. It is the government’s responsibility to come up with targeted solutions, and students must adhere to keep the infection rates low. If the state chipped into the entertainment industry, it could embolden students to go on socially distanced nights-out.

Realistically, there needs to be a better alternative for illegal parties than the dreaded zoom drinks get-together. Over the past week, news broke that eight people had been fined £10,000 each over the Bank Holiday weekend for organising illegal parties in the Headingley and Burley area. This is a testament that many grownups, sadly, are not very grown-up.
Though not necessarily student-led, the named suspect was a 27-year-old. Such selfish acts are being used as a stark deterrent for the return of university students.

Proximity within student areas and the increased number of young adults returning from all over the country is most certainly going to cause an increase in infections. Although students must be mindful that young people are more likely to be asymptomatic. However, this does not stop the spread. Local lockdowns are on the rise and no-one wants to risk campus being closed as a result of a mismanaged easing of the lockdown.

Students have the power to bring life back to university towns, help avert a second wave and be role models for future generations on how to socially navigate such an unprecedented crisis. Be sensible yourself, act for others and then the government should seriously consider reducing this year’s tuition. Have socially distanced fun. Prove our worth.

Séamus O’Hanlon

Featured Image Source: Dean Machala

Embedded Image Source: Nick Fewings

What’s in My Uni Bag? Unexpected Essentials

Anushka Searle on 14 September 2020

So, you’re packing for your first day of Uni. You’ve got your nice new backpack, pens, notebooks etc. You are ready for the day! Or are you? I’m going into my 3rd year of Uni and there are some unexpected essentials that I ALWAYS have on hand.

Cereal Bar/Small Snack

This is a bit of a random one, but I cannot tell you the amount of times I’ve been sat in a lecture and my tummy’s rumbling, or I’m feeling a bit hungover, or most likely I rushed out the door and didn’t have breakfast, and was in dire need of some sugar! Trust me this one saves lives.

A Spare Pen That You Don’t Care About

There will absolutely be a time in Uni where someone asks you for a pen. Now, this is a great opportunity to get chatting to someone new and make a friend on your course! However, there is a big chance that you will never see that pen again, so having some “disposable” pens is always handy.

Spare Socks

So, you brought some nice new shoes and decided to wear them to Uni. They look great. You’re feeling confident. Then, you’re two hours in and you are severely regretting wearing them. Most likely you’ll have plasters with you, but what I’ve found to be super helpful is to have spare socks! Especially if your feet have rubbed so much that the back of your sock is blood soaked, and we all know the horrible feeling of peeling that sock off later on.

Tote Bag

Often after Uni I like to pop into a shop to get some food for tea, and it’s always handy to have a spare bag, especially when you buy a lot more than expected! Tote bags are great because not only are they reusable, but you can throw them on your shoulder, and it won’t be digging into your hand like those pesky plastic bags.

Remember, you can never be too prepared!

Header image credit: Pinterest

Britbox. Shitbox. Hitbox?

Séamus O'Hanlon on 30 July 2020

Britbox, as it stands, is a subpar service that has more duds from over the years than gems. However, they remain hidden in this hard-to-navigate streaming platform. A lot of content is taken from largely unsuccessful programmes fresh off the television. Many titles are recognisable from alternative streaming services and there are countless titles that – for whatever reason – are absent.

Yet, old shows that you would expect to wind up on Britbox, years after release and after faded popularity, are not there. One of the most annoying examples I found is how Boys from the Blackstuff is available, but its predecessor television show The Black Stuff (contextually very important) is unavailable. At the minimum, Britbox should signpost users where else to watch sequels or related titles.

Really, it is false advertising to say ‘TV you can’t get anywhere else’ when to watch a show in its entirety you need to stream some of it on Amazon. This requires an account, meaning further spending, and even then you would struggle to find a standalone counterpart anywhere on the internet.

What is the point of a paid, additional service, which is primarily an archive, when it doesn’t have all the instalments in an artist’s visual story? Accessing any old British content, from the BBC and from older people’s childhoods, should be easy and in place already. Taxpayers and the wider public are able to access the BBC, and this visual history should be readily available for my generation to access too. It is a privilege to be a student, with normally culture abounding across universities, perhaps the majority of us don’t need the BBC, but we have benefited from it.

Britbox may seem decent for £5.99 a month, but there isn’t the content to justify even a small expenditure for more than a few months. Surely, consumers paying for a year or longer is the only way to make it profitable? Whilst UK subscription numbers for Britbox have not yet been released, it wouldn’t be surprising that lockdown has caused an increase in users.

However, that isn’t exactly a sustainable strategy for the BBC. The user demographics would likely reveal a much older viewership audience, which would reflect the nature of the content which is mostly ‘classics’, anything is iconic these days…  What’s worse about Britbox, is that it was a costly project, delayed in the UK by more than two years. Even now, the released product is unintuitive, difficult-to-use and therefore embarrassing in comparison to the bigger, better, more responsive streaming giants. What is even worse, is the shameful standard of subtitling in old titles, quick-fire dialogue in affected accents, that even my tender ears can’t decipher.

Both Britbox and the BBC need to refocus their attention on younger programming to avoid the risk of new adults feeling ignored, ultimately causing the BBC to collapse. Taking an example that reveals my taste in trashy TV: the coronavirus delayed ‘You Are What You Wear’, and I was shocked to see this was on BBC One, as well as Netflix’s ‘Say I Do’. Both are ropey, with episodes varying in consistency, but Netflix’s new addition has a clearer and more confident purpose. I guess the point is you watch people who need public help, but both fit the genre of softer reality television that proves quite successful with viewers.

Apart from budget, YAWYW, suffers from a rigid fixed structure of an hour. This is baffling as the show’s greatest weakness is its weird, constant segments featuring Ryan Clark-Neal and others to fill airtime. The old-fashioned TV scheduling of exact stately half-hours will be the death of fresh, popular shows being found on terrestrial.

Guidelines are useful, short comedy long drama, but watching the makeovers made it clear that a much stronger 41/42/47-minute show was in there. Say I Do, wasn’t great, however, it is just one new release of thousands for Netflix so doesn’t matter. A BBC One show has to be mainstream, watchable, award-winning even, and to compete it must not be restrained by the old, arbitrary rules of broadcasting. 

Britbox is a modernising step, it is the taken for granted broadcasting industry that is dragging it behind. A single monthly payment, done online without further commitment, is a vast improvement compared to the rigmarole of the British TV Licence fee. No more legal knowhow about plugging devices into the mains and no more students not being able to use iPlayer due to their budget, or yes, planning to get a licence. Removing barriers of accessibility to increase overall revenue.

If there are to be two different tiers, a licence and a subscription that covers also ITV and C4, then as much effort as possible should be made into transforming Britbox as also informative for young minds. Andrew Marr, Lucy Worsley, Bettany Hughes; they all shaped my attitude and approach to world events.

The best drama, documentary, sport and culture should be the forefront of Britbox. Have room for the past hits, make room for the best knowledge and target the marketing at students, who could do with a boxset and an easy to obtain one. Improve the dire representation of the youth and students will pay ‘in their droves’, securing the future of the BBC.

Séamus O’Hanlon

Image: PCMag.

Da 5 Bloods Review: Spike Lee does not quite strike gold

Owen Frost on 22 July 2020

The latest Spike Lee “Joint” arrived on Netflix on June 12th, off the back of Lee’s 2018 critical success with BlacKkKlansman. Da 5 Bloods is Lee’s return to satirical form with focus on African American GI experience in the reprehensible Vietnam War. Da 5 Bloods unflinchingly portrays the African American experience, challenging the traditional representation of the Black ‘buddy’ characters in war films – showcasing a diverse range of antagonistic African American characters. It stars Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr. and Norm Lewis as the four African American veterans on a pilgrimage to search for fellow GI Stormin’ Norman’s (Chadwick Boseman) remains along with their ulterior motive: searching for the gold he helped them bury. Most of the action sequences take place in the traditionally inhospitably depicted jungle and despite a promising start, Da 5 Bloods contains some questionable Vietnamese portrayals.

History is a powerful tool to provoke modern day action. This has never been truer than recently, with Edward Colston’s statue in Bristol and many other contentious commemorations being symbolically torn down across the globe. Significantly, Lee repeats his auteur technique of peppering Da 5 Bloods with historic documentary footage and does not falter in educating audiences on famous historic Black Americans including Milton L. Olive III – the first African American to receive the Medal of Honour for his sacrifice in Vietnam. As the aspect ratio alterations cleverly shift from the twentieth century to the modern era, the beginning of Da 5 Bloods morphs from the volatile sixties to the equally troublesome contemporary climate. 

The Hanoi Hannah (Ngo Thanh Van) character also advances Lee’s cultural critique of American history’s disregard of the African American GI experience. Her northern Vietnamese propaganda targets the Black American GIs, speaking to their exploitation during the war. Lee also digs at Hollywood’s whitewashing of the Vietnam experience in films such as propagandic The Green Berets, while also dedicating homage to select Vietnam war films such as Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now and Oliver Stone’s Platoon. The Marvin Gaye soundtrack along with the ironically heroic orchestral score makes audiences question the role whitewashed war movies have on the movie-going public.

Da 5 Bloods bubbles up violently in places with the four antiheroes either being shot at, blown up or chased in equal measure. It also features Lee’s iconic trope of the impassioned fourth wall breaking monologue, rampant with racially charged rhetoric about injustice symbolically relevant in the modern context. Paul’s speech parallels Mookie’s monologue in Lee’s seminal Do The Right Thing. 

Chadwick Boseman in Da 5 Bloods, (Image Credit: Insider)

The flashbacks to the war through Newton Thomas Sigel’s 16mm lens are enticing, despite Lee’s inability to de-age his main stars next to the youthful Chadwick Boseman. This was a feat that Scorsese’s enormous Netflix debut The Irishman, with its whopping $160 million budget, capitalised on. 

However, despite these praiseworthy moments of Lee excitement, the Vietnamese characterisation is underwhelming in this venture. Otis’ Vietnamese ex-lover that fathered his daughter is underexplored and the Vietcong soldiers are often simplistically portrayed as cannon fodder to be peppered by bullets. 

I found myself longing for a film that belonged more tonally to the first half than the second half’s caper which felt more like a version of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. After the initially promising start which represented America’s entrenched geopolitical misconduct in Vietnam, this all felt disappointing.  

While Lee touches well upon the racist experience that the disproportionate number of African American GIs in Vietnam experienced, and his use of historical documentary and iconic tropes resonate with today’s “Black Lives Matter” debate, the film’s two separate parts felt disjointed. This paired with the questionable depiction of the Vietnamese population detracts from the film’s appeal. 

Da 5 Bloods is available to stream on Netflix now.

Rating: 3/5 

Image Credit: David Lee, Netflix

Black Lives Matter, Covid-19 and the Arts: An Interview with BBC Two Channel Controller Patrick Holland

Owen Frost on 13 July 2020

Owen Frost sits down (virtually) with Patrick Holland, Controller of BBC 2, to discuss his channel’s policies regarding Black Lives Matter and the increasing importance of history in public broadcasting.

Owen: Hi Patrick, can you tell the readership a little bit about what your role is at the BBC and what you do?

Patrick Holland: My name is Patrick Holland and I am the controller of BBC Two. I also look after BBC Four, commissioning programmes there as well. As a Channel Controller, I work to commission programmes from across a wide range of genres including documentaries, music, arts, drama, comedy and entertainment. Each of these genres has a controller of that particular genre who work with their team to develop ideas and then they discuss them with me about whether they commission them for BBC Two/BBC Four. There is a whole portfolio of channels at the BBC and I am very privileged to run one of them.

O: Hospital, which you commissioned when you first started out as Controller of BBC Two focuses on the crucial work the NHS continues to do in our country. What do you think the importance is of broadcasting shows about the NHS during the current pandemic?

PH: I developed Hospital as at the time we felt envious of 24 Hours in A&E on Channel Four’s success, but I wanted a series which explored what was really happening in the NHS – showing bed shortages and winter flu crises. Hospital has told these stories in a very interesting and humane way. One of the things that I am most proud of in the last year is the Covid-19 special that Label1 made – a two-part series inside the Royal Free Hospital. Staff and patients know the TV show now and know that it has that commitment to exploring what happens inside the NHS at large. The access they were able to achieve during Covid-19 and the stories they were able to tell, I think will really stand as one of the outstanding documentaries made during this terrible time.

Hospital Series One, (Image Credit: BBC2)

O: It certainly sounds like these programmes reflect issues of today. In light of the Black Lives Matter Movement and Edward Colston’s statue being torn down, do you have any more programmes planned which will inform the public about Britain’s colonialist past?

PH: Over the last few weeks we have repeated series from History on iPlayer so newer audiences have access to them. David Olusoga’s series Black and British: A Forgotten History tells of black people’s experience in the UK. David’s latest A House Through Time, part of a returning social history format we have on the channel, follows the inhabitants of a house over the centuries in particular parts of the UK. Series one was in Liverpool, series two was in Newcastle and series three was in Bristol. Olusoga’s series engages with the Colston statue and the place of the slave trade in A House Through Time weeks before the Black Lives Matter responded to the killing of George Floyd. I think that there has been some extraordinary output on the BBC that has attempted to explore the deep underpinnings of the slave trade and Britain’s role in the slave trade. One of the other things we have made is a massive £100 million commitment over three years to produce diverse and inclusive content. It is not just about telling stories of BAME experiences in history but it is also really important that the people who are making films are from BAME backgrounds and also different social classes because television, like lots of professions, is quite hard to get into and once you get there the profession can be quite precarious. As an industry, we are trying to search hard for answers to retain brilliant BAME people coming into television. We need to work hard to retain them, promote those people and find the best roles for them because they need to be the future leaders as much as everyone else.

O: The reality show School documented the ups and downs of the education system. Do you think you might ever produce a show about university students?

PH: We did a series last year called How to Break into the Elite with Amol Rajan (BBC News Media Editor). His question was how you break into competitive professions (media, law, banking) if you come from a background like his. He followed university leavers from different backgrounds and tried to assess what their chances were. He found a huge amount of low-level prejudice which was stopping people from entering professions and there were discriminations made at an early stage about CVs names and how you carry yourself in an interview. We have commissioned Amol to do another two-part series which follows up about young people’s experiences. It created quite a lot of debate. Looking at the experience of young people and what their life chances are is certainly what we’re interested in. I wouldn’t say no to an observational documentary with university students like we did with School!

How to Break into the Elite, (Image Credit: BBC 2)

O: It would seem like BBC 2 focuses on challenging shows which evoke thought about everyday things in an exploratory way?

PH: I think one of the key things we are trying to do is that we don’t want a presenter who is telling people how to think. I think people are far more sophisticated in their viewing habits. We want to immerse people inside these new stories in an observational way and let them make up their own minds.

O: Thank you very much for this.

PH: You’re welcome, thank you.

Featured Image Credit: Edinburgh TV Festival