MadameNoire
Source: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty
Writer, filmmaker and director Melvin Van Peebles became an ancestor at 89-years-old, Variety reported. He was a national treasure. Van Peebles was integral to bringing the grit and grime of Black life to the big screen. While many have dubbed his work and genre Blaxploitation, it is incorrectly defined. Peebles didn’t merely place Black life at the center of his storytelling as a means to air out our dirty laundry or make us spectacles for the white gaze.
He handled Black narratives with care and showed us to ourselves in ways that Hollywood refused. Seminal films like Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song and Watermelon Man were odes to unapologetic Blackness and should be categorized as such. Black Hollywood is the house that Peebles built. He owned a brilliance that won’t be easily forgotten nor matched.
Here’s how directors, filmmakers, creatives and fans alike are paying homage to the “Godfather of Black Cinema,” and sharing the impact he’s had on their lives:
“You have to not let yourself believe you can’t. Do what you can do within the framework you have. And don’t look outside. Look inside.”
― the iconic artist, filmmaker, actor, playwright, novelist, composer and sage Melvin Van Peebles, who has gone home at the age of 89. pic.twitter.com/36BQKzN9G7
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) September 22, 2021
We’ve lost another lion, the true revolutionary, an artistic gangsta, cultural disrupter who forever changed the game Rest n Peace Melvin Van Peebles ✊🏾🙏🏾✊🏾 pic.twitter.com/OH9D6Slnbx
— David Alan Grier (@davidalangrier) September 22, 2021
I did my HS senior paper on him and Sweet Sweetback. He was cool before I knew what cool was. RIP Melvin Van Peebles. pic.twitter.com/AvQ2cLLi1U
— Lemu. (@lmckr) September 22, 2021
A giant. Ah, man. Rest in peace. The night I met Melvin was the same night I decided to become a filmmaker… https://t.co/VsLJXbwhEY via @thr
— Cheo Hodari Coker (@cheo_coker) September 22, 2021
When I was young Melvin Van Peebles was a role model. Melvin was an iconoclast, a filmmaker, a novelist, a playwright, a bon vivant, cigar smoker, international traveler, a runner, a maker of odd furniture. I'm lucky to have to known him. A giant. #ripmelvinvanpeebles
— Nelson George (@nelsongeorge) September 22, 2021
Sending condolences to the family of the late great #MelvinVanPeebles💔
A true legend in his time and an old friend of my moms. Their kids would go on to work together when @MarioVanPeebles directed me on #21Jumpstreet and we starred together in #KillersInTheHouse
RIH MVP 🙏🏾🕊 pic.twitter.com/8Y6dOpfAvl— Holly Robinson Peete 💃🏾♍️ (@hollyrpeete) September 23, 2021
He made the most of every second, of EVERY single damn frame and admittedly, while the last time I spent any time with him was MANY years ago, it was a night in which he absolutely danced his face off. The man just absolutely LIVED pic.twitter.com/IIpfU8wI7q
— Barry Jenkins (@BarryJenkins) September 22, 2021
A cinematic king is dead.He was a pure rebel.A genius that created the blue print for indie film.I exist because of https://t.co/m9XgHe9vd1 heart goes out to his family,especially my friend @MarioVanPeebles
Mr.Peebles took slings and arrows so we may live… Long live the king… pic.twitter.com/0cQDbXkSKs— Robert Townsend (@Robert_Townsend) September 23, 2021
