Jamaica Story: My Story, Your Story, Our Story | Documentary Review

Mikey T's documentary "Jamaica Story" serves as a rich exploration of Jamaican culture, identity, and the diaspora's impact on societal growth. Through diverse perspectives, the episode addresses critical issues including migration, media representation, and the importance of community action.

• Discussion on the importance of accessible projects for cultural dialogue
• Reflection on the impact of social media on lifestyle choices
• Analysis of diverse perspectives presented in the documentary
• Examination of crime perceptions in Jamaican society
• Emphasis on community engagement and solutions
• Insights into cultural pride and identity struggles

Watch “Jamaica Story”

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Connect with us:

• @reelsandriddims on Instagram
• Website | YouTube

A Breadfruit Media Production

Chapters

• 0:02 Documentary Review
• 8:41 Discussion on Jamaican Cultural Documentary

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Real's Tooth, the Rhythms brought to you by Carry On Friends, in partnership with Style and Vibes and, of course, breadfruit Media. And you already know what we do we bring you commentary, reviews and perspective of whatever they go on upon TV, film and concerts with Wulipa vibes no vibes, as only Michaela and I can and of course, through the lens of Caribbean culture, caribbean American immigrant and first generation experiences. And this episode, before we get to this episode, michaela, you know, something is a drag today. Today's a dragging day. It's a dragging day.

Speaker 2: 0:43

Walk on Kerry, walk on, walk on. I feel like I'm in your stilly, though.

Speaker 1: 0:46

It's a dragging day. I am especially tired. Yes, you're tired. Yes, the sleep is in my eye. You ever watch a cartoon with Tom and Jerry when Tom are trying piercing your eyelid back just to keep himself open? That's what I feel like I want to do, but anyway, um, regardless, you know we work with a little. You know my grandmother said perk up yourself, man, perk up yourself.

Speaker 2: 1:11

So I'm gonna try to perk up myself you're good, man, you're good, you're good, you're good yeah um, yeah, so today we are talking about a documentary called Jamaica Story. So, kerry, you actually put me on to Mikey T, but his full name is Michael Campbell.

Speaker 1: 1:35

And typical to a Jamaican. Where does the T come from? Mikey, we get the T. We're not sure where it comes from, but he wouldn't be of Jamaican heritage if he didn't have a name. We never quite make sense to a full name, but we love it, Mikey T.

Speaker 2: 1:51

But the reason I say Mikey T as well is because Mikey T was on our review of the One Love movie, yes, so he was on our round table, so he talked about it briefly there and then the project actually finally is releasing, so we wanted to kind of come full circle. You know, represent for the team Mikey.

Speaker 1: 2:16

T was featured on Carry On Friends, a blog post write-up, and then, you know, through interacting with him on social media, especially when we launched Reels and Rhythms and we were talking about Champion, he was really engaged. I mean, say you know what, like you know, like he has a vibe where he knows some reasoning and some levels. I would say, all right, mikey T, you're going to rope your in. And the feature on Carry On Friends was about the documentary, but it wasn't widely available at the time so it wasn't like we could see it. You know, he was just able to just talk about it on a high level and so now we have the privilege of watching it and so we get to talk about it. So big up, mikey T, on the documentary, and we'll get into some other things down the line. What my takeaway from this was because, yeah, full stop. I was going to say full stop. No, comma, comma, dash, dash.

Speaker 2: 3:26

Yes, and I think it's important to kind of really talk about um documentaries and projects that are in the works. We do get some inquiries on our Instagram page about reviewing projects that are in the works or yet to be released or they're in film festivals, but we don't always get the chance to kind of review and see those movies. So, Carrie, I'll hand it over to you to kind of talk about the differences and how we kind of go about selecting projects.

Speaker 1: 4:00

So the decision was made not to really discuss or review projects that are in a film festival route only because the lack of accessibility for the larger audience. And I'll say that because there are some film festivals where you can only see projects by physically going to those film festivals and they are location specific. I know that there are other film festivals put on by people in the Caribbean and I can safely say this, like Kongshel Film Festival, I think, third Horizon, the one that Alicia is part of. They also have like a virtual option, but that virtual option is only during the run of the film festival. Once the film festival ends, you cannot see it again until the creators put it out on a streaming platform, and so, because of those limitations regarding availability, we just decided you know, to keep it simple and focus on things that once we talk about it and you watch this episode, you can go out and watch it, and that made it easier.

Speaker 1: 5:16

Now we've considered all options. So, as you know, michaela and I have our own individual shows, and so what we've done as a middle ground is, for instance, on Carry, on Friends, we can interview the creative of those projects on our individual shows, to kind of talk about the project. I'm not everybody go get company show if they get feature, but that's how we've decided to do it right. There's still a way for people to talk about these projects, but the way how mikhail and I will watch a movie, I want chat about the movie. We can't do that for our projects that are in film festivals, but we can talk to the filmmakers and actors or people associated with the projects on or other platform and just kind of keep reels and rhythms to things that we watch and we chattel.

Speaker 2: 6:08

So yeah, and in that same way, we're keeping, you know, our listeners in mind, because we want them to feel like they're talking about the same things that we're viewing as well, or go back A lot of people. They kind of missed, you know, some of the projects that we've talked about, and so this kind of serves as a platform to talk about the things that people just aren't aware of, as well as helping join the conversations, because I think the more people talk about it, the more we'll see more projects like this, and that was really, you know, the catalyst for having reels and rhythms in the first place.

Speaker 2: 6:46

Absolutely, I agree all right, so on to a jamaica story. Oh, I think one thing we also did forget that.

Speaker 1: 6:58

Oh yeah, one thing we didn't discuss, yes, when it comes documentaries, we do not use the rating system at all because the documentary it's not fictional, it's a real thing, you know. So it is something that we just built. Like, the rating system that we have currently does not work for documentaries.

Speaker 2: 7:22

Agreed, agreed. So what were your initial thoughts around Jamaica? Story by Mikey T. So should we give a short synopsis of it? Yeah, you can do that. Okay, so the documentary is narrated by Mikey and some other folks that he has working on the project itself, but it's really his project and he's asking questions about the progression of Jamaican culture, society, business wise, what is happening, um, as a child of the diaspora, how can, uh, there be a better connection, um and and be more growth in Jamaica specifically? So he talks to a wide variety of people, some who we've seen I think I spotted a few that I actually know in there, which I wasn't expecting and it's people in the country as well as in the diaspora, and so the documentary really follows the questions that Mikey is posing and is shared through the lens of the respondents. So what were your thoughts?

Speaker 1: 8:37

I have a lot of thoughts, okay, so.

Speaker 2: 8:41

I think the thing that was hard for me and I had to kind of decide right Was commentary on the content or commentary about the documentary. Because I'm Jamaican, I want to comment, go immediately to responding to the topics and answering those questions that he posed myself, but then the the show is really about reviewing the actual. So it was hard. It was actually hard for me to distinguish the two because I am so close to the culture. I think that for me, off the top, was one of my own observations.

Speaker 1: 9:22

So because me watch Walipa documentaries and I think the documentary I'm not comparing it, but you know there's so many documentaries on jamaica and what's wrong, what's right and all these other things for me it was not trying to pick and choose which one, it was commenting in my notes and then by the time I get here decide, okay, what we're going to talk about and by halfway through the documentary I kind of knew what I just wanted to focus on. So to your point, I felt like what he covered in the documentary is a conversation that you, your mother, your family, one of the other conversation in a group chat at least twice a week, not once at least twice a week. So we don't I don't think we need to rehash some of those conversations, but there are a few call-outs, right. So that's kind of where I'm like it not really say anything different than what we are talk about. But there are some specific call-outs that I want to kind of address. So early on in the beginning of the episode and I don't know, by the time this year the Carry On Friends migration panel probably happened it is somebody narrated and said something and I quote I quote More introduction of social media, tv, computers, people have gotten introduced to a certain lifestyle that seem easier to get abroad and in a way it doesn't matter the cost of the lifestyle right In a business.

Speaker 1: 11:00

If they want to live paycheck to paycheck, they prefer that lifestyle rather than returning to Jamaica to paycheck. They prefer that lifestyle rather than returning to Jamaica. And that is a theme that we kind of picked up in. Get Millie Black, where Janet just want cut by any means necessary. She wanted to go.

Speaker 1: 11:18

But also every generation is going to have this problem and here's why I say this. When I left Jamaica in 1993, jamaica didn't have cable. One or two people did have satellite dish and if you want to watch American show, you got somebody out with satellite dish. By the time I went back to Jamaica in 95, everybody have cable, they watch like cable programming. You know what I mean. Right, tv, never sign off, tv, always on. And I could tell the difference culturally, because now Jamaica had all this access to American TV and it's like, right now it's social media. In another 5-10 years it's going to be something else and I'm not saying like, oh, let's not focus this on this as a problem, but I think, moving from pointing to social media, which I believe social media is a different, pervasive thing than prior generational, technological you know, prior generational technology related advancements.

Speaker 1: 12:29

I think the conversation comes back to what is not available in the country because, no matter what happens, people are migrating, right? People are leaving their countries. Very few places have people not leaving their country. So migration is a thing. It changes what that thing is. So that was one call out. Then the other call out that I had was I think he did a good job to try to get diversity. You obviously saw Walipa Jamaicans, black Jamaicans, but it managed to get two white Jamaican in there talking, right, which is important to kind of show some of that diverse perspective, right? So that was one. But also within that you had people who are living in Jamaica and people living outside of Jamaica and their perspective on crime and how crime is seen. So two people in the country, I said one. I said why the crime? But I once said why are all the news reported? Cause you know them not really see it the same way. So I thought that was interesting for me.

Speaker 2: 13:42

But that's like a rundown, melissa, you can't jump in so, um, yeah, it's funny because the same two points that you brought up, I wrote those down too as points, um, and I think it kind of came back to the, the youthful generation, the youth and what they're. So I think that that was the only aspect that we were missing is today's youth, and I know it's probably hard to kind of get younger kids, because I think the youngest person that they probably had was the guy that covered his face, maybe.

Speaker 1: 14:20

Well, also the documentary, I think maybe Mikey T's contemporaries, those are in his generation. So you get people in your generation because they're really the generation who are going to try to do a thing, try to move things forward, whereas the younger generation, they may not be thinking where we are, think you know, like the younger generation probably isn't there, but I can see maybe he could get some school pitting if he thought about it.

Speaker 1: 14:51

But at the same time you notice there weren't the too much of the older generation in there it was definitely millennials Right there in the middle, which I think is fine because, again, I oftentimes feel like in the Caribbean we have a reverse ageism situation where the old people they might tell us to sit down and pay your dues until you're ready, then we give, then we make way for you. So I thought that was one thing Somebody said stop using crime as an excuse, because crime is everywhere. Stop using a crime and it's easy to say that, you know as an excuse. You know it's a different feeling for people impacted by some of those crimes. You know, but I'm always proud of how Jamaicans and me can't speak for any other Caribbean country.

Speaker 1: 15:47

I'm a Jamaican and I want to see how well informed Jamaican citizens are about the issues affecting them, whether it's privatization, imf, et cetera. You don't have to be a businessman in our office, you're going to be the man on the road. They are very well informed on the issues. And when it comes to political affiliation is, you know, other than garrison talk or other talk. It's about who they feel is better equipped, you know, to address those issues. Right, and I'm comparing that to what happens politically in America. Right, but when you think of the constituents and how well-informed. Whether you're rich or you're poor, they are very knowledgeable about what's happening. So even the man them are taught about privatization and they understand the flow of money. Let's be honest, you can't have that conversation with any anybody in the US, that's very true. Only certain people have that level of detail. But in Jamaica, the man where they push the cart on the road are the man in the business office. They have maybe the degree to which they have an understanding, but they can talk about the mana, reason with you intelligently about this issue.

Speaker 1: 17:09

And that is like one of the takeaways that I have. And because of that level of engagement on the issue, I feel like that's where I feel like it gets frustrating. Everybody knows what the issues are, so why aren't the changes happening? And on one end Mikey T said it I think you and I and Chris talked about it in the episode on competition, right, you know, and Mikey T is kind of saying we don't need to wait upon the government for the certain things. But you and I also know that there needs to still be a level of government enablement for certain things to happen. And it's not one or the other, it's a hybrid. Again, when I get into the content or the resolution of the problems, because we'll never get there, but it's the issues that were highlighted.

Speaker 2: 18:07

We'll probably have some other stuff on here, and I think that was kind of the point of the documentary it wasn't to answer questions about moving forward.

Speaker 2: 18:14

It was more about creating the conversation and ensuring, like you said, the conversations that we're having at the dinner table in the group chats on a regular basis. We know that those conversations are happening, but the solutions really are going to come from broader community talking about it, and so I think that this documentary really serves as a great launching pad to kind of have the discussion talk about solutions potentially, because I think there was someone who said it's not going to be one person's sole job, it's a community-based action.

Speaker 1: 18:52

Yeah, and that is the whole takeaway. Even Mikey T spending all you know, whatever money to put this project together, you know it for me, you know, you know. So when I shot the ideas, you know all of these ideas you want to do, and by him doing this documentary which Mikey T will tell you he's not a professional, he never go film school, he never did that, he wanted to do a thing and he took the initiative. So, even by the action of creating the documentary, is the message that we don't need to wait for perfect conditions. We can just say, all right, let's do a thing, right, me here there, we forget this and that for doing a thing. And I think that was the takeaway here that we can do what we can together in community. And community could mean, yes, the community where you come from, a jamaica, our community, the new communities, like mikhail and I make america for con, for do what we want to, for go back home.

Speaker 2: 19:51

So, um, that was one of the things that I I I got from the the documentary yeah, I think, a good takeaway for me, I think, the conversation around news and media and the impact. A lot of times even that happens here.

Speaker 1: 20:09

So it's like oh, we know it's a new sell, but and they'll publish the worst things but for some reason we never use the same lens for Jamaica.

Speaker 2: 20:30

Exactly, exactly, and so that's what. And then we tend to simplify that because I know that we hear the term well, there's crime everywhere and, yes, we know that that is true. But it just feels more intense coming from your home country and you seeing it and it being so visual. But then when you take a step back and you kind of look at it in a broader spectrum, they hear all kinds of things about our country and what's happening here as well, about our country and what's happening here as well, and when you're in it it's not as sensationalized because it's kind of what you know happens and so you're not even always thinking about it. So I think it was really great perspective.

Speaker 2: 21:12

I think the other thing about the pride that Jamaicans around the globe have is it's just unmatched, honestly, and I think we all feel that way we all are ambassadors to the culture and I think that it's a privilege to have the kind of access that we have, because, quite literally, I could go somewhere and just say I'm Jamaican and that is an automatic conversation starter with people. There's an affinity there, and so I think it's something that we don't take for granted. But I also got the feeling too, that it's not that Jamaicans in Jamaica don't know their cultural access, they just don't have access to it. If that makes sense, yeah.

Speaker 2: 22:03

In the sense that they don't have that same privilege in Jamaica to be to, to, to have that, that, that that kind of I'm Jamaican and a Gia access it. Don't.

Speaker 1: 22:14

it don't work the same, it's the opposite actually because, coming from a resort town, coming from Mobile, people come to Jamaica but it's not like, oh my God, you're from Jamaica, it's missed by this. You know you can't use this. You're asking those people with access to buy things. You're exchanging goods and services so it don't feel like a privilege. You want them to buy the things so you can make a living from it, right, yes, um, outside of when, whoever come, a party, a few, but like, and everybody go party and and and those who go party not always have some americana show up at them party.

Speaker 1: 22:53

I just like a dance in the community yes yeah, so the, the access that we feel or the privilege and I've talked about this all the time is only something we feel in the diaspora, them in Jamaica. The experience is more like oh, cruise ship are coming, hopefully they get to come on, go to you know craft market and buy things or whatever it is. So it's a very different perspective.

Speaker 2: 23:20

Very different, exactly so it's a very different perspective, very different, exactly.

Speaker 1: 23:22

I mean there's not much more we want to say because whatever we have to say is going to be on the issues. And we've just made a demarcation that we will not talk about the issues because we'll be to get frustrated about the issue, but watching it with a new lens, about how we can do community-based action. And again, community can mean community where, like the district where you come from, or it could be church, it could be school alumni, alumni association. I went to all girls and them say alumni, not alumni, and it could be community with your Jamaican friend, them over here wanna put together and do a thing.

Speaker 1: 24:12

And what this documentary teaches is that because we don't have to wait on the government, because the diaspora has power, let me tell you we do right. We can take action in small ways. It don't have to be big, it's just a small action that you can take. You can say you know, wherever you're there, some people adopt, school them, send school supplies, like it's just small and impactful things that you can do. Or if you don't want to take on that logistics, do some vetting. But Mikey T has put his contact information there because of course, jamaica Story is trying to do the work to get us involved on a community-based level. So check it out and support the thing, absolutely community-based level. So check it out and support the thing. And I'm not sure where he's going to put it. Right now it's on Vimeo, which, with a link available, but he's going to this video is available publicly, so watch, click the link in the description wherever, and watch Jamaica Story.

Speaker 2: 25:18

Yes, yes, make sure you guys check it out. It's a great documentary. Watch it, share it with at least five people and talk about it. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 25:28

All right, so that's it for us, and until next time, walk good.