Black Women Becoming Whole: Bridgett M. Davis on Naked Acts

Not satisfied with the exotic yet assimilationist sensuality cultivated by the African American actresses of her grandmother's era (Als's "Something Else"), nor the in-your-face, hypersexualization that defined her mother's on-screen persona ("Something Freaky"), Cece searches for an alternative but struggles to overcome physical insecurities and sexual inhibitions. Cece wants control-over her body, her image, and her sexuality-but lacks adequate role models from her immediate family and community. Thematically, Davis's focus on family places her work in the tradition of black independent filmmakers associated with the "L.A. Rebellion" such as Charles Burnett, Billy Woodberry, and especially Julie Dash and Alile Sharon Larkin, whose work focuses on mother-daughter relationships. [...]her representation of a woman grappling with sexual expression is an indirect response to Spike Lee's female protagonists, especially the sexually uninhibited Nola Darling in She's Gotta Have It (1986, United States). [...]a colleague said to me, "Think of Go Fish [Rose Troche, 1994, United States].