Every aspect of the film is imbued, created and viewed through the lens of the black female spectator as filmmaker. Nana is arguably the center of the film – she’s an old wise woman and the leader of the Peazant family. She is regarded as the seat of knowledge in the family – which is already a subversion of mainstream cinema that usually gives that type of knowledge to old white men. Nana Peazant’s knowledge is ancestral and cultural, yet gives her the wisdom of any great scholar - the African intelligence is put toe to toe with the Greco-Roman mythologies in a manner similar to the asserting of the African Griot style as valid in comparison to the linear narrative. The respect of African knowledge is also evident in the peaceful co-existence
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Traditionally in mainstream cinema, visual coding is built on the suspension of reality, so the emphasis is on continuity editing (Tzioumakis, 2006), continuous diegesis, the all-knowing viewer and easily to understand mise en scene elements such as props, costumes and location. However, Dash challenges mainstream cinema with each of these visual elements in Daughters of the Dust. Firstly, just like the positioning of black women at the center of the plot – the visual coding is designed to be resistant to mainstream cinema’s traditional depictions of films of that time period. For example, despite the apparent financial poverty of the Peazant family they dress in Victorian-styled clothes, the colours of which are used by Dash to communicate proximity to or distance from the African heritage. Nana Peazant is the only one dressed in full indigo. Her dress symbolizes her position as the last of the old Peazants who remember slavery – while visually reminding the viewer of slavery not being quite so distant – as the indigo of her dress was produced using slave labour. The indigo motif is also present on the permanently stained hands of the older members of the family and symbolizes cultural retention. Most of the family members wear full white but hints of blue can be seen throughout the film when their actions are informed by their African history – such as the blue ribbon in the hair of the unborn and the blue apron around Hagar’s waist when she prepares the traditional food. Scenes that have historical significance like the final scene of Nana, Eula and Yellow Mary walking on the shore and being followed by the
Traditionally in mainstream cinema, visual coding is built on the suspension of reality, so the emphasis is on continuity editing (Tzioumakis, 2006), continuous diegesis, the all-knowing viewer and easily to understand mise en scene elements such as props, costumes and location. However, Dash challenges mainstream cinema with each of these visual elements in Daughters of the Dust. Firstly, just like the positioning of black women at the center of the plot – the visual coding is designed to be resistant to mainstream cinema’s traditional depictions of films of that time period. For example, despite the apparent financial poverty of the Peazant family they dress in Victorian-styled clothes, the colours of which are used by Dash to communicate proximity to or distance from the African heritage. Nana Peazant is the only one dressed in full indigo. Her dress symbolizes her position as the last of the old Peazants who remember slavery – while visually reminding the viewer of slavery not being quite so distant – as the indigo of her dress was produced using slave labour. The indigo motif is also present on the permanently stained hands of the older members of the family and symbolizes cultural retention. Most of the family members wear full white but hints of blue can be seen throughout the film when their actions are informed by their African history – such as the blue ribbon in the hair of the unborn and the blue apron around Hagar’s waist when she prepares the traditional food. Scenes that have historical significance like the final scene of Nana, Eula and Yellow Mary walking on the shore and being followed by the