{"id":5249,"date":"2020-06-10T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/join-the-john-david-washington-appreciation-society\/"},"modified":"2020-06-10T16:30:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-10T13:30:00","slug":"join-the-john-david-washington-appreciation-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/join-the-john-david-washington-appreciation-society\/","title":{"rendered":"#Join The John David Washington Appreciation Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Join The John David Washington App<\/a>reciation Society<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

Welcome to\u00a0Filmographies<\/strong>, a biweekly column for completists. Every edition brings a working actor\u2019s resum\u00e9 into focus as we learn about what makes them so compelling.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/hr>\n

John David Washington<\/strong> has landed in Hollywood on his own terms. Well, \u201creturned\u201d could be a fitting word to describe his career in 2020, seeing as a Google search of the erstwhile football running back\u2019s screen history introduces something of an elephant in the room. Washington\u2019s parents are the<\/em> Denzel and Pauletta Washington. Perhaps you, dear reader, may wonder how it\u2019s possible for him to fully stand apart from them when\u00a0they are such respected established actors in their own right.<\/p>\n

However, whatever advantages come with having a superstar mom and dad virtually melt away once the younger Washington is onscreen. It is firstly worth acknowledging that many moons ago, his earliest movie projects include appearances as unnamed characters in his father\u2019s work, namely Spike Lee\u2019s Malcolm X<\/em><\/strong> and Carl Franklin\u2019s Devil in a Blue Dress<\/em><\/strong>. But one twenty-year hiatus later and Washington emerges as a thoroughly engaging, thoughtful actor whose breadth of work is consistently impressive, despite a lighter filmography to boast about at the time of this writing.<\/p>\n

Patterns happen to be one of my favorite things to dissect whenever the time comes for a new edition of Filmographies, yet it is admittedly tough to see if Washington will outwardly follow any this early in his career. Honestly, this is far from a bad thing. As a performer who so far concerns himself with creating memorable characters through a mix of pathos and humor, Washington fills the shoes of complicated men and imparts multiple layers of significance within them. If anything, these qualities exemplify that he\u2019s fit for many more characters to come.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, Washington\u2019s premier role in HBO\u2019s sports-themed comedy-drama Ballers<\/em><\/strong> has turned out to be his perfect springboard back into the world of acting. Focused on the private and public lives of American football stars, agents, and financial advisors, the five-season series<\/a> presents the actor with the perfect marriage of both his careers.<\/p>\n

In Ballers<\/em>, Washington is part of a hefty collective of performers headlined by the formidable, ultra-charismatic Dwayne Johnson. That said, to believe the series is merely a vehicle for The Rock\u2019s ever-growing onscreen empire would be folly. As one of the main characters in the show, Washington is more than capable of taking his superficially stereotypical bad boy, Ricky Jerret, down an intriguing path of nuanced self-reflection and reformation. He definitely has the time and narrative space for it.<\/p>\n

\"Ballers<\/img><\/p>\n

For full disclosure, I am the distinct opposite of a sports (media<\/a>) aficionado. By virtue of existing, Ballers<\/em> is already topically out of my comfort zone. Moreover, I had my reservations about any potential alienating portrayals of overt masculinity, coupled with previously documented HBO-esque issues such as the complete erasure or inordinate sexualization of the network\u2019s female characters.<\/p>\n

Ricky\u2019s personal journey is paced in such a way that audiences may find trouble sticking with him at first. He\u2019s a hotshot football player whose quick temper and fervent competitiveness more often than not gets in the way of his actual talents. Especially at the start of the show, Ricky exhibits maddeningly entitled behavior as he basks in the lavish lifestyle of a pro footballer.<\/p>\n

However, Washington is careful to balance out Ricky\u2019s moments of selfishness and brashness with pockets of considerable compassion and intuition. He embodies many of Ballers<\/em>\u2019 main storytelling themes \u2013 family problems, anger management, and excessive hedonism \u2013 and fights against them season by season. Washington also absolutely turns on the incredibly personable charm, leaning wholeheartedly into the show\u2019s jokes, crassness and all. This crack in the veneer of sports celebrity culture is precisely what makes Ricky\u2019s narrative and, consequently, Ballers<\/em> as a whole so fascinating to watch, even for the skeptical.<\/p>\n

While working on the small screen, Washington was simultaneously shifting gears and to this day, continues to cut his teeth in movies. Sometimes \u2013 and unfortunately so \u2013 his roles just aren\u2019t outstanding enough. Washington\u2019s appearance in David Lowery\u2019s The Old Man & the Gun<\/em><\/strong> is an example of such, wherein he is truly written as a character in the background. However, the film is reasonably focused on Robert Redford\u2019s excellent lead performance (as it was the last film he made before retirement) it, at the very least, provides Washington the chance to feature among another strong ensemble. Plus, the prettiness of a Lowery film cannot be overstated. It makes me hope that Washington will get a chance to work with the director again in a more substantial capacity.<\/p>\n

Comparatively, a small but unforgettable turn of Washington\u2019s can be found in RZA\u2019s musical drama Love Beats Rhymes<\/em><\/strong>. Showcasing real-life musician Azealia Banks in her feature film debut as an aspiring rapper fighting to prove the worth of her gift of lyricism, the movie is a coming-of-age story that goes straight for the heart. Its strong sentiments towards the validity of black women\u2019s voices \u2013 celebrating them as artistry \u2013 makes the film utterly transcendent and wholly relevant in today\u2019s media and cultural landscape.<\/p>\n