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U series wraps with film featuring music of Mayfield, Franklin

April 19, 2001

The Department of American Thought and Language will end this semester’s film series tonight with Sam O’Steen’s “Sparkle.”

The 1976 film, about three sisters who become Motown-like pop stars, features music by Curtis Mayfield with vocals by Aretha Franklin.

“It’s a story of growing up and how, for many young people, the entertainment industry is a way to fame and fortune,” said Diana Malouf, MSU visiting assistant professor of American Thought and Language. “However, it has its own perils that beset one along the way.”

Malouf, who’ll be introducing the film, said “Sparkle” mirrors the problems of young performers in the public eye today.

“I’ll be looking at the entertainment industry and the differences in our singing groups at the time,” she said. “That was a more structured time - they had a more structured presentation, and it’s taken a different turn that’s affected society.”

Starring Irene Cara in the lead role, with “Miami Vice” alumnus Philip Michael Thomas thrown in, “Sparkle” tells the story of a girl from poverty making it good despite adversity, such as drug problems within her family.

And while it was made during the time period, “Sparkle” is not a product of blaxploitation, a 1970s style of film that played up black stereotypes.

“It doesn’t have anybody acting like a fool, for one thing,” said Kay Rout, professor of American Thought and Language and chairperson of its media committee.

“If this was close to anything, it would be Diana Ross in ‘Mahogany’ or Judy Garland in ‘A Star is Born.’”

In fact, Rout said the film is heavily influenced by Ross’ story, just as it could be compared to Jennifer Lopez’s today.

“Sparkle” is the spring semester’s final presentation in the department’s African American Film Classics series, which followed films from the 1940s through the 1970s.

The series will resume in the fall, bringing in selections from the late 1970s to the late 1990s. Some possibilities for the fall include Spike Lee’s “School Daze” and Norman Jewison’s “A Soldier’s Story.”

“Sparkle,” though, seems to be in a decade all its own.

“There’s Curtis Mayfield music,” Rout said. “It has a real ’60s sound, despite (that) it was made in the ’70s.”

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