Search - The Sellout Diaries Volume 1 on DVD

Stay out my Kool-Aid, homey

ned good | the real world | 10/18/2003

(1 out of 5 stars)

"A long tirade against miscegenation (the foul practice of humans mixing with -gasp!- other humans; grown people determining the course of their own love lives instead of following the rules set forth by inept filmmakers) - and an incoherent, shabbily made one at that. Theron K. Cal, the producer and director whose redundant narration runs through the film, interviews the same 5 people over and over trying to find an original thought on the topic of "sellouts", black people who don't restrict themselves to dating those of their own race(at one point, they're equated with "house you-know-whats" and african slave traders -yeah whatever dude). I could forgive the simplistic foolishness of his position(which I used to hold myself to a degree) if he had ANYTHING original or interesting to say on the subject but he doesn't.
I'm all for the black consciousness and self-determination but I've lived enough to know that love is love, and people preoccupied with how other people are gettin'down probably need to find some love themselves.
In short, homeboy has issues, issues he needs to keep to himself next time. If you're comfortable leaving major life choices in the hands of others, you probably deserve someone like Theron K. Cal for a teacher. As for me, in 2003, I can't think of a bigger waste of time than watching this."

Anticlimactic, Poorly Edited

Malcom McCormack | Atlanta, GA USA | 04/05/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Overall, I was somewhat pleased by this piece. The African professor offered the most to it and without him, "The Sellout Diaries" would not be worth watching. There are some glaring problems, however: While I do agree that miscegenation is far too prevalent in Black circles, Mr. Cal focused entirely too much on interracial dating, and still failed to make convincing arguments as to exactly why interracial dating is always, neccessarily, "selling out." He took it as a given that there is a consensus that in doing so, you are betraying your race, and exhibiting self-hatred. Had he explained why certain activities exemplified "selling out," a more cogent argument would have been made. Moreover, I don't understand his choice of interviewees - the faculty member at the University of Southern California didn't offer anything critical [in fact, she contradicted herself, and implied that being a 'real' Black person means being familiar with Snoop Doggy Dogg and having been raised in a violent, Black ghetto], neither did the old man in the Barber Shop. Also, many of the interviews were entirely too long, which showed a lack of proper editing. It's as if he simply compiled ALL of his interview footage and sent this compilation to print as the final draft.Also, his top ten sellout cites ignored New Orleans and Atlanta, which shows a clear lack of research. According to his "Sellout City" criteria, cities are ranked according to the degree of self-hatred [e.g. color-struck New Orleans, with their light-skinned "creole" people believing they are superior to regular Blacks, and inferior to Whites - truly pathetic] and crime [e.g. crime-ridden Atlanta - violence capital of the Southeastern United States of America]."

This movie is awful!

Malcom McCormack | 10/19/2003

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Where to start? First off, this T.K. Cal guy is a racist. He is so preoccupied with hating other black people that love white people, that one must really wonder if he really just hates white people.This movie is dog poop, and so is T.K. Cal."