{"id":167,"date":"2005-10-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-10-11T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/parliamentfunkadelic\/"},"modified":"2022-03-30T13:57:21","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T20:57:21","slug":"parliamentfunkadelic","status":"publish","type":"films","link":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/parliamentfunkadelic\/","title":{"rendered":"Parliament Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove"},"content":{"rendered":"

Known to its legions of fans simply as P-Funk, Parliament Funkadelic has had a profound impact on the development of contemporary music, aesthetics and culture.\u00a0Parliament Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove<\/em> chronicles the unique alchemy of the musical influences that fed into the band\u2019s singular approach to music, documenting P-Funk\u2019s continuing influence on today\u2019s artists and musicians and featuring an in-depth look at the musical and entrepreneurial mastermind of its leader George Clinton.<\/p>\n

To create a film that reflected the distinctive nature of P-Funk, filmmaker Yvonne Smith used animation\u2014both cell- and computer-generated\u2014to create the special sequences and virtual environments that reflect the P-Funk aesthetic. Inspired by a P-Funk lyric, she created the \u201cAfronaut,\u201d a cartoon character from outer space who serves as the film\u2019s host and narrator. The Afronaut\u2019s voice is provided by hip-hop comic and actor Eddie Griffin, who co-starred in the popular series Malcolm and Eddie<\/i> and feature films including Undercover Brother, Herbie: Fully Loaded,<\/i> and Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo<\/i> and its sequel Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo<\/i>. InParliament Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove<\/em>, the Afronaut descends to earth from a new millennium version of the Mothership, created by computer graphics artist Paul Collins. The Afronaut was brought to life in cell animation from the drawings of Kevin Lofton, a former animation artist on Beavis and Butthead.<\/i><\/p>\n

In\u00a0Parliament Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove<\/em>, interviews with the original Parliaments\u2014the late Ray Davis, Calvin Simon, Grady Thomas and Clarence \u201cFuzzy\u201d Haskins\u2014take place in a virtual barber shop, reminiscent of the group\u2019s early years doing hair and singing in a New Jersey hair salon run by George Clinton. The barbershop and the various environments in which George Clinton appears, were created in digital animation. In addition to the Parliaments, the film also features original interviews with George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, Garry Shider, Dawn Silva\u2014one of the Brides of Funkenstein\u2014and other key P-Funk band members and staff. Other musicians interviewed include Rick James, Ice Cube, Flea and Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, De La Soul, Shock G (also known as \u201cHumpty Hump\u201d of the Digital Underground) and Nona Hendryx of LaBelle. Reginald Hudlin, director of House Party<\/i> and Boomerang<\/i>, president of entertainment for BET and a P-Funk fanatic, also appears, as does funk historian and author Rickey Vincent.<\/p>\n

What set P-Funk apart from other bands? In the music industry, George Clinton was known as much for his innovative business practices as for his music. Ultimately, Clinton morphed his core band members into multiple groups on multiple record labels, something no one had ever done. The band also created an alternate reality in which young P-Funk fans, especially African American males, could imagine themselves. George Clinton developed a mythology about \u201cbrothers\u201d from another planet who came to liberate earth from the restrictions of Puritanical morality. It was a concept that allowed P-Funk\u2019s fans to transcend the confines of their neighborhood and imagine themselves as citizens of a much larger universe.<\/p>\n

At Parliament Funkadelic\u00a0shows, this mythology was realized in highly theatrical stage shows, which Clinton called \u201cfunk operas.\u201d They featured elaborate and outlandish costumes and the landing of a space ship onstage\u2014the Mothership\u2014from which Clinton would emerge as Dr. Funkenstein, dressed in regalia that resembled a pimp from outer space. At a time when young African American men had no comic book heroes to identify with, Clinton gave them Star Child, pitted against the villainous Sir Nose D\u2019Voidoffunk in the cosmic showdown between good and evil, between letting your hair down and staying uptight. This battle was immortalized in the Parliament hit \u201cFlash Light,\u201d which is featured prominently in the film. Complete with a special vocabulary, hand signs, chants and tribal rituals, P-Funk remains a not-so-secret society open to all who want a release from the restrictive mores of society. To enter, all you have to do is dance: \u201cFree your mind and your ass will follow!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

The Filmmakers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yvonne Smith
\n<\/b>Smith, a producer, director and writer, has in-depth experience documenting political, social and cultural history, bringing her unique cultural honesty to bear on films about the prime movers and shapers of the African American experience. She produced and directed Motown 40: The Music Is Forever<\/i>, a two-hour documentary broadcast nationally on ABC and produced, wrote and directed Make It Funky<\/i>, the episode on funk music, for PBS\u2019s Emmy-nominated, Peabody Award-winning series Rock and Roll<\/i>. Smith\u2019s film about the controversial Congressman, Adam Clayton Powell, which she produced with Richard Kilberg for PBS\u2019s The American Experience<\/i>, was nominated for an Academy Award and awarded the Eric Barnouw Prize by the Organization of American Historians, the National Educational Film and Video Festival\u2019s Best of Festival prize, the CINE Golden Eagle and the Ohio State Award.<\/p>\n

Smith was the writer, director and co-producer of Mo’ Funny: Black Comedy In America<\/i> for HBO, which won a Cable ACE Award for excellence in cable programming and a CINE Golden Eagle. She also wrote, directed and narrated Ray Charles: The Genius of Soul<\/i> for American Masters<\/i> on PBS and produced and directed Jewels in a Test Tube<\/i>, a profile of biochemist Lynda Jordan, for the WGBH mini-series Discovering Women<\/i>. During her six-year tenure at Great Performances<\/i> (WNET\/Thirteen\/PBS), Smith developed and produced the documentary Miles Ahead: The Music of Miles Davis<\/i> and The Gospel at Colonus<\/i>, a musical drama featuring Morgan Freeman, the Five Blind Boys of Alabama and the Soul Stirrers. Her other credits include the musical variety show Ellington: The Music Lives On<\/i> and several film and tape dramas for American Playhouse<\/i> including For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide\/When the Rainbow is Enuf<\/i> by Ntozake Shange.<\/p>\n

Harlene Freezer
\n<\/b>Freezer has worked extensively in television, film and theatre for more than 15 years, as a producer, programmer and production executive. She is a co-founder of The Green Room Company Limited Partnership, a unique theatrical production and investment fund created to invest in multiple productions in the United Kingdom. The two initial investments for the fund were Andrew Lloyd Webber\u2019s musical The Woman in White<\/i>, starring Michael Crawford and a musical adaptation of the film Billy Elliot<\/i>, with a score by Elton John. In 2003, Freezer co-produced three shows in London\u2019s West End: Absolutely (perhaps)<\/i> directed by Franco Zeffirelli, an all-male production of A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/i> and Ragtime<\/i>. She was the director and programmer for First Look<\/i>, a project of Robert De Niro\u2019s Tribeca Film Center. First Look<\/i> was a highly selective and competitive screening series created as a distribution platform and talent showcase for promising new American independent films and filmmakers, screening the first features of directors such as M. Night Shyamalan, Chris Kentis and Laura Lau.<\/p>\n

Freezer was the senior producer for the initial six seasons of American Masters<\/i>, PBS\u2019s award-winning arts biography series. She received an Emmy Award as the co-producer of Edward R. Murrow: This Reporter<\/i>, and an Emmy nomination for Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius<\/i>. Other PBS series on which she has worked include: Great Performances: In Performance at the White House, Rock and Roll<\/i> and Civilization and the Jews.<\/i> Freezer is a past president of New York Women in Film and Television.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From a 1960s barbershop doo-wop group to 1970s masters of funk, through pitfalls, comebacks, to becoming the world’s most sampled band, P-Funk continues to perform, record, and funk on into the 21st century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":10715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"topic":[1216],"class_list":["post-167","films","type-films","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topic-arts-and-culture"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nParliament Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove | Documentary FIlm |Independent Lens | PBS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From a 1960s barbershop doo-wop group to 1970s masters of funk, through pitfalls, comebacks, to becoming the world's most sampled band, Parliament Funkadelic continues to perform, record, and funk on into the 21st century.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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