Book Vs. Movie Passing
Nella Larsen’s 1929 Novella Vs the 2021 Rebecca Hall Film

February is African American History Month and the Margos use that time to cover creators who write, act, and direct films with African American themes. This episode is devoted to writer Nella Larsen (1891-1964) who grew up in a Danish family though she was the only one with African/Cuban ancestry making her different among her community and family. She married Elmer Imes (the second African American to earn a PhD. in physics) in 1919 and they settled in vibrant Harlem as it was becoming an artist’s mecca.

She writes her first story Quicksand in 1928 and followed it up with 1929’s Passing which received good notices at the time but Larsen never achieved the fame she craved along with her male peers. After earning a Guggenheim award for writing, she tried to publish more stories but eventually returned to an earlier career in nursing. She died unknown and quietly in Brooklyn at the age of 72.

Passing, which achieved a renaissance in the 1980s, is the story of two women who are African American but are light-skinned and can, therefore “pass” for white. Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield are high school friends who meet up by chance in Chicago where Clare is now married to a racist white man (he does not know her ethnicity) and Irene is married to a doctor and lives in Harlem.

Lonely Clare causes havoc in Irene’s life by seeming to flirt with Irene’s husband and insinuating herself in Irene’s social life. Their relationship ends in tragedy.

The movie is the directorial debut of actor Rebecca Hall who has a fascinating back story of her own and stars Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga.

So, between the original story and the 2021 adaptation--which did we prefer?

In this ep the Margos discuss:
The biography of author Nella Larsen
What race relations were like in NYC in the 1920s
Why Rebecca Hall has a connection to the story
Starring: Tessa Thomson (Irene Redfield,) Ruth Negga (Clare Bellew,) Andre Holland (BrianRedfield,) Bill Camp (Hugh Wentworth,) Alexander Skarsgard (John Bellew,) Gbenga Akinnagbe (Dave Freedland,) Antoinette Crowe-Legacy (Felise,) and Ashley Ware Jenkins as Zu.

Clips used:
Clare and Irene meet
Passing trailer
Ireme meets Clare’s husband
Irene and Brian discuss Clare
Brian wants to talk about lynching
Clare thanks Irene
John confronts Clare
Music by Devonte Hynes

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Margo D. @BrooklynFitChik www.brooklynfitchick.com brooklynfitchick@gmail.com
Margo P. @ShesNachoMama https://coloniabook.weebly.com/

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