While I had planned to see Beyond the Lights over the weekend, I somehow ended up on the couch, watching a trainwreck unfold before me on both the television screen and on social media.
Sites like Twitter and Instagram became the voice of thousands of ranting fans during the premiere of Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B on the Lifetime network. Heavily contested by her family members and past collaborators, this unauthorized biopic has been surrounded by conflict, months prior to its release.
The first actress (Zendaya Colem) that was hired to play the short lived singer fondly nicknamed ‘baby girl’ backed out speedily in the face of rabid fans. Also, because the late singer’s uncle and cousin withheld the rights of Aaliyah’s catalogue none of her music is used in the film–like, at all.
Instead, what we get, are cover songs that sound like they are being belted out by a Disney channel star because, well, they are. Okay so Alexandra Shipp is a Nickelodeon star but same difference.
They also dwell too long on the controversy of Aaliyah and R. Kelly’s supposed marriage. I would rather have the filmmakers spend that time focusing on the ways that she contributed to, and changed the culture of R&B and Hip-Hop. Although, I suppose that is difficult to do when your actress is more wooden than George Washington’s front teeth.
She does attempt and some times even succeeds at capturing a few of Aaliyah’s mannerisms. But it was often uncomfortable to watch Shipp balance the cliched dialogue, and the swagger, and colloquialisms that come from the singer being from Detroit.
One fan complained that, whenever Shipp opened her mouth to sing, it felt like they were watching American Idol.
I agree, there was something strangely inauthentic and showy about every number. I could imagine Simon Cowell shaming her for a performance that came off more as what he would call ‘karaoke night with friends’.
The movie jumps from date to date, moment to moment, dropping hints at important events in her life, and then suddenly moving on. Most noticeably, among others, Missy Elliot, R. Kelly and Timbaland are horribly miscast. The actor that portrayed Kelly felt like some guy they got off the street and paid $20 to just appear “rapper-like”. The actors playing Missy and Tim do not hold a candle to the originals, about 30 pounds lighter than what the two looked like in the 90s.
Nowadays networks encourage you to interact on social media, displaying a witty hashtag at the bottom of the screen during the airing. I was curious to see what other people were saying so I ran through the #aaliyahmovie tag. The feed was a never ending storm of memes, some hilarious, some disrespectful.
One of the people actively voicing their dissent during its airing was musician and producer Timbaland, 42. His Instagram was filled with critical videos aimed at the producers, captions urging fans not to watch and memes of his late friend Aaliyah implying that she would be rolling over in her grave.
Thinking back on it now, it is obvious that this was not the movie that long time fans deserved at all. It was a complete disservice to not only her family but to her memory.
Talk show host and executive producer of the movie, Wendy Williams, had this to say about the backlash she received:
“I see my Aaliyah movie broke the Internet this weekend! Errbody got an opinion. Well, I must tell you, whether you loved or hate, you watched. It was the second-highest rated movie on all of cable this year so far.”
I can not help but to be pained by such an inappropriate response. I want to give her the benefit of the doubt and say she her camp tried their best, but mentioning sheer viewership in regards to supposedly honoring an icon’s life makes it appear as if this was a simple cash grab.
Its success should be hinged on the quality of the film not on the merit of its rating.
She might as well be spitting on everyone’s heads. Thanks Wendy.
Zhana Johnson
Senior Features Editor
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