#60
Watch this interview with Sophia Stewart
Black Author wins The Matrix Copyright Infringement Case
This little known story has met a just conclusion, as Sophia Stewart, African American author of The Matrix will finally receive her just due from the copyright infringement of her original work!!!
A six-year dispute has ended involving Sophia Stewart, the Wachowski Brothers, Joel Silver and Warner Brothers. Stewart's allegations, involving copyright infringement and racketeering, were received and acknowledged by the Central District of California, Judge Margaret Morrow presiding.
Stewart, a New Yorker who has resided in Salt Lake City for the past five years, will recover damages from the films, The Matrix I, II and III, as well as The Terminator and its sequels. She will soon receive one of the biggest payoffs in the history of Hollywood, as the gross receipts of both films and their sequels total over 2.5 billion dollars.
Stewart filed her case in 1999, after viewing the Matrix, which she felt had been based on her manuscript, 'The Third Eye,' copyrighted in 1981. In the mid-eighties Stewart had submitted her manuscript to an ad placed by the Wachowski Brothers, requesting new sci-fi works.
According to court documentation, an FBI investigation discovered that more than thirty minutes had been edited from the original film, in an attempt to avoid penalties for copyright infringement. The investigation also stated that 'credible witnesses employed at Warner Brothers came forward, claiming that the executives and lawyers had full knowledge that the work in question did not belong to the Wachowski Brothers.' These witnesses claimed to have seen Stewart's original work and that it had been 'often used during preparation of the motion pictures.' The defendants tried, on several occasions, to have Stewart's case dismissed, without success.
Stewart has confronted skepticism on all sides, much of which comes from Matrix fans, who are strangely loyal to the Wachowski Brothers. One on-line forum, entitled Matrix Explained has an entire section devoted to Stewart. Some who have researched her history and writings are open to her story.
Others are suspicious and mocking. 'It doesn't bother me,' said Stewart in a phone interview last week, 'I always knew what was true.'
Some fans, are unaware of the case or they question its legitimacy, due to the fact that it has received little to no media coverage. Though the case was not made public until October of 2003, Stewart has her own explanation, as quoted at aghettotymz.com:
'The reason you have not seen any of this in the media is because Warner Brothers parent company is AOL-Time Warner... this GIANT owns 95 percent of the media... let me give you a clue as to what they own in the media business... New York Times papers/magazines, LA Times papers/magazines, People Magazine, CNN news, Extra, Celebrity Justice, Entertainment Tonight, HBO, New Line Cinema, DreamWorks, Newsweek, Village Roadshow and many, many more! They are not going to report on themselves. They have been suppressing my case for years.'
Fans who have taken Stewart's allegations seriously, have found eerie mythological parallels, which seem significant in a case that revolves around the highly metaphorical and symbolic Matrix series. Sophia, the Greek goddess of wisdom has been referenced many times in speculation about Stewart. In one book about the Goddess Sophia, it reads, 'The black goddess is the mistress of web creation spun in her divine matrix.'
Although there have been outside implications as to racial injustice (Stewart is African American), she does not feel that this is the case. 'This is all about the Benjamins,' said Stewart. 'It's not about money with me. It's about justice.'
Stewart's future plans involve a record label, entitled Popsilk Records, and a motion picture production company, All Eyez On Me, in reference to God. 'I wrote The Third Eye to wake people up, to remind them why God put them here. There's more to life than money,' said Stewart. 'My whole to the world is about God and good and about choice, about spirituality over 'technocracy'.'
If Stewart represents spirituality, then she truly has prevailed over the 'technocracy' represented in both the Terminator and the Matrix, and now, ironically, by their supposed creators.
Stewart is currently having discussions with CBS about a possible exclusive story and has several media engagements in the near future to nationally publicize her victory. June 13th 2004. Sophia Stewart's press release read: 'The Matrix & Terminator movie franchises have made world history and have ultimately changed the way people view movies and how Hollywood does business, yet the real truth about the creator and creation of these films continue to elude the masses because the hidden secret of the matter is that these films were created and written by a Black woman...a Black woman named Sophia Stewart. But Hollywood does not want you to know this fact simply because it would change history. Also it would encourage our Black children to realize a dream and that is...nothing is impossible for them to achieve!'
Greg Thomas, Editor
PROUD FLESH: New Afrikan Journal of Culture, Politics & Consciousness
www.ProudFleshJournal.Com (or via www.AfricaResource.Com)
Africa Resource Center.
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MOVIE REVIEW: Baby Mama - Friday, May 2, 2008
BY KIMBERLY GRANT - South Florida Times
In an episode of the TV show Sex and the City, a character says, �Chick flicks. Whoever came up with that idea should have his b***s cut off.� Now, that�s kind of extreme and quite visual, but I share the sentiment. Only a man could come up with that term and think it�s okay.
Even so, the term is so widely accepted that there is a whole genre of books with the same premise. Only, that genre is called �chick lit,� an equally despicable term. However, as a �chick,� I do appreciate the films and novels the term often describes.
Lately, the �chick films� have been kind of sparse and more about being a bride or falling in love. They�re all about catching the man. There�s nothing wrong with that, but it�s been a while since a movie has been released that was more about women having fun and letting men be second on the agenda. Then, Tina Fey came along.
Tina Fey, the first female head writer on Saturday Night Live, and a star on a very comical show called 30 Rock, is a celebrated woman in Hollywood right now. Whatever she writes seems to turn into screen gold. So, it�s no surprise that when she decided to produce and star in a movie that was written and directed by Michael McCullers, I was excited to see what this little movie would be about. I am delighted to report that the classic �chick flick� has arrived, and it�s quite funny.
In Baby Mama, Fey plays Kate, a successful vice president of a whole foods market company. Kate has it all; a great job, great clothes and a great apartment with a door man. All she needs to complete her life is a child with whom to share it.
At 37, she�s decided not to wait on a man to have children. After ruling out adoption and natural pregnancy, Kate decides to get a surrogate to have her baby. She enlists the help of a surrogate agency and plucks the first mommy-to-be that comes her way. Angie, played by SNL cast member Amy Poehler, is a �trailer trash� type woman with a �husband� who�s even trashier.
As the hijinks of Kate�s anal retentive personality clashing with Angie�s trashiness ensue, the movie gets funnier and funnier. Of course, the credit cannot go to just Fey and Poehler, who are best friends off the screen.
Romany Malco of Weeds fame keeps the plot moving as the doorman who knows everything that�s going on, and always finds a comical way to tell the audience and the characters about themselves. Sigourney Weaver is the president of the surrogate agency and a mom-to-be in her 50s who plays the buffer between the clashing Kate and Angie.
Greg Kinnear plays Rob, Kate�s perfect and opinionated love interest (in a quite realistic portrayal of how real relationships blossom.) Dax Shepard plays Angie�s dolt of a boyfriend who�s been around for so long he and Angie think of themselves as married. Maura Tierney, from ER, does a surprise turn as Kate�s younger sister/baby factory who doles out child rearing advice to Kate like only a mommy can. In a �mommy dearest� role similar to the one she plays on the TV show Two and Half Men, Holland Taylor plays Kate�s �can�t speak without insulting someone� mother.
My feelings about the term notwithstanding, this �chick flick� is a must see among women. Kate�s relationship with Rob seems more of a subplot � which effectively removes the �older woman trying to find a man to fulfill her desperation�� from the equation.
Instead, she�s trying to find a baby to do those things. If you think about it, that still makes Kate needy, but it�s nice to see a woman be needy about something other than a man. Most men would probably have to be dragged to the theaters to see Baby Mama, but once they get there, they�ll be glad they came. I know I was.
Photo: Tina Fey
[Ironically, the reviewer, Ms. Grant doesn't mention Romany Malco whose character comes up with the term ['baby mama'] because Amy's character is having a baby for Tina's character; making her Tina's baby mama, nor is he listed among the actors in the film at the IMDB page for BABY MAMA] -- JC
Also, see Baby Mama, below
Ain't no white boys gonna write a script about a black woman who can see or a black man who can make others see. So, I believe Sophia did write the script! -- JC
SOPHIA STEWART said, "I�ve won major decisions in the court. I got the FBI involved from the very beginning. The copyright infringement involves two of the biggest movie franchises in film history, The Terminator and The Matrix. They stole my work and I have the evidence to prove it," Ms. Stewart told The Final Call.
"I was completely blown away when I saw my work on the screen and I knew I hadn�t sold it to anyone. I shopped it around from 1981 to 1985 to Fox and in 1986 to the Wachowski brothers. I have the letters to prove they had access to my work. Fox is lying in federal court when they say they never had access to my work because I have the signed registered returned receipts and a lot of letters of access from them," she said.
She further explained, "I created an epic�which is a body of work that you can get six or more movies from. The Matrix is a derivative of The Terminator. The Matrix comes from the future part of the epic."
The book is called "The Third Eye" and is an epic science fiction manuscript with copyrights dating back to 1981. [FINAL CALL]
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0829855/
http://sophiastewart.unn13.com/interview.html
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REVIEWING BABY MAMA
These are comments resulting from a review of the film Baby Mama, written by Kimberly Grant in the South Florida Times on May 2, 2008.
Joan Cartwright wrote:
Funny how ebonic terms have become clich� and take a lot of "other people" to the bank!
JC
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KAliciaG@aol.com wrote:
Actually, JC, there is a black man in the film, Romany Malco. His character comes up with the term because Amy's character is having a baby for Tina's character; making her Tina's baby mama. It's really just a joke and the rest of the cast doesn't actually use the term too often; just Malco's character.
As far as other people using the term, it's so widely used that it has almost become a clich�. It actually doesn't bother me.
Kim
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From: Joan Cartwright
To: KAliciaG@aol.com - SoFlaTimes
Sent: Thu, 15 May 2008 5:02 pm
Subject: Re: Review of Baby Mama
Oh, I'm not "bothered" by it, just curious as to how the term came to be used in this movie. At least a brother got a role because of it. LOL
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walitinnie@aol.com wrote:
How true this is, and has always been. It is almost a microcosm of everything that Black folk have contributed to this country. Just the other day, I saw some packaged salad greens with the brand name "Attitude."
Our use of the word has totally replaced the original meaning that one finds in the dictionary. I predicted in the late '60s that "in 20-30 years, scholars and business leaders would be using 'Right on'," and that actually came true for a minute before they switched to "spot on," which we still hear from time to time. Without a doubt, America's (the whole hemisphere) desperate dependency on those slave ships was for more than just the hard labor -- what would this ever have been without the infusion of culture, wisdom, skills and spirituality that came in those Ancestors' "invisible baggage." Your comment is spot on!
DGT
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DGT,
Your commentary, as usual, hit's the mark. We need to continually dialogue about how the activities and colloquialisms of Africans in America impact the larger society, nationally and globally. This is exactly why I commented to Kimberly about the title of the film "Baby Mama".
We could make a long list of films starring Anglo Americans using titles that originated in the African American community, including "Bringing Down The House" with Steve Martin, Joan Plowright and Eugene Levy.
Of course, Queen Latifah is the main character, but the film centers on an Anglo American family and there are some horrific inferences in the film, particularly, when Plowright's character sings an "old Negro spiritual" that her family's servant sang on a regular basis, "Mama, do you think Massah's gonna sell us tomorrow?" What disturbs me in this scene is that Latifah's character reacts to this by putting a laxative in the woman's food, giving the audience the impression that she's attempting to hurt the woman. In deference to her act, Martin switches plates with Plowright and winds up in the bathroom with much discomfort.
It's difficult to explain why Anglo Americans cannot see the problem with writing a character (Latifah) that does such a deceitful and possibly harmful act, even though what Plowright says, so innocently, is really a slap in the face to not only Latifah but all African Americans who watch the film.
On the other hand, it's even more difficult for those of us who recognize how African American culture is carried to the bank by other nationalities, while reaping very little from our own cultural endeavors. I am referring to the minimal advertising dollars paid to African American publications that printing glowing reviews of films like "Baby Mama" that are based on concepts originated in the African American community, while the producers, who make millions ['Baby Mama' delivers at box office], have a few token African Americans on the payroll.
Few people know the truth about The Matrix and it's alleged scriptwriter, who is an African American woman. But that's another story altogether. [see: THE MATRIX AUTHOR] on my site, WORDS WE SPEAK.
JC
Trying to keep it real!