Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Watts Riots: Watts in Pop Culture
All week, we’ve been sharing stories about the 50th anniversary of the Watts riots. In the years after 1965, what happened in Watts seeped into pop culture. Today we look at how the riots have been reflected on the big and small screens starting with the 1973 documentary Wattstax.
By Madeleine Brand • • 1 min readAll week, we’ve been sharing stories about the 50th anniversary of the Watts riots. In the years after 1965, what happened in Watts seeped into pop culture. Today we look at how the riots have been reflected on the big and small screens starting with the 1973 documentary Wattstax. The film focuses on a massive music festival that took place at the Los Angeles Coliseum for the seventh anniversary of the riots. It intercuts performance footage with scenes of everyday life in Watts.
Madeleine Brand
Host, 'Press Play'
Matt Holzman
Producer, 'The Document'
Anna Scott
Former KCRW Housing and Homelessness Reporter
Jolie Myers
Managing Producer, 'Press Play'
Todd Boyd
Professor of Critical Studies at USC School of Cinematic Arts; Katherine and Frank Price Endowed Chair for the Study of Race and Popular Culture at USC