The New Zombie Paradigm?
One of my old TAs from the University of California, Santa Cruz had this interesting thing to say about zombies: When we’re as sick of zombies as they are of being alive, when the total overextension of the metaphor shades all things blankly and uniformly under the prospect of undeadness, a fantasy bright spark I’ve been having: how about a post-Reconstruction deep South story of metayers and croppers forced to work too close the recently buried, putting rentier capitalist-backed structural racism back where it belongs (that is to say, where it still remains insistently, against any illusions otherwise, in the house of the never dead and never gone), bringing zombies back to the fields, and above all, taking this as theme song and title? A screen play to be pitched, perhaps, if only the catcher wasn’t a Hollywood who won’t stop making Resident Evil films. A curious idea indeed! If only the catcher wasn’t a Hollywood obsessed with repeating itself. If only.
Dear Authors: Please Don’t Stand Up For What’s Right (Make Profit Instead)
There’s been a lot of talk about whitewashing covers lately. I haven’t brought it up here yet because I didn’t think there was much else to say that hadn’t already been said elsewhere, and to greater effect. Then someone wrote the following: But there was one response from people who were justifiably angry that I do not think was practical, and that was the expectation that the author should have spoken up publicly and denounced this cover. Even if, these people said, even if authors really have no control over their covers and it’s all the publisher’s doing, she should make a stand! This is roughly equivalent to expecting someone who has just acquired their dream job to curse their boss for doing something wrong. In front of a packed press room. While the boss is standing beside them on the podium. Economics do not equal ethics, but I think it is important to consider how much we demand of people who could endanger their livelihood and their futures by speaking out. Great change has been made by brave people who have spoken out on social injustices committed by their employers, but they paid and paid and paid for it. There is real and substantial risk, and it is sometimes hard to gauge the cost-benefits to society of taking it, especially when we are talking about someone who wrote a story about a woman of colour who could well end up unable to do so ever again if she is decided to be a troublemaker not worth publishing. The short of it is this: if you’re afraid of losing a publishing deal for standing up for what is right (i.e. fighting against whitewashed covers, a.k.a. white people on covers for books with “colored” characters), then don’t say anything. Those who get angry with you for not doing anything are just jerks. To which I say, “Bullcrap.” While I understand the fear and the apprehension to act against any form of institutionalized (or even accidental) racism, you can’t keep quiet about it while assuming that that no-action is ethically appropriate. Why? Because it makes anyone who doesn’t say something, who doesn’t stand up for what’s right complicit in the wrong being committed, particularly if that person continues to participate in the institution committing the wrong (in this case, publishing). Complicit, you say? Yes, because presumably that author is going to make money (or already has) by selling a book whose cover is the product of a racist system/accident. Said author is literally profiting off of racism, even if he or she had no control over the artwork for the cover (silence is complicity). If you don’t see the ethical problems there (and I don’t know if the original author does), then there’s a disconnect between your reality and the reality the rest of us live in. So, please, authors far and wide, do not stand up for what you believe to be right. Please, profit off of a system that under-represents people of color and women (for whatever reason) and participates in a racist scheme (even if it is accidental). Give in to fear and help the institution of racism to continue to permeate our industries. A big middle finger to all those Civil Rights activists who were assaulted by fire hoses or beaten by police officers (or murdered) for having the audacity to face their fear and stand up for their rights. Big middle finger indeed. P.S.: To the point about telling your racist boss off for being racist — explain to me why you would want to work for a racist if you yourself are not of the same mindset? Exactly. I also think the author isn’t giving enough credit to the power of the Internet. If a whole bunch of authors writing about traditionally marginalized figures started getting “offed” by the publishing houses for speaking up against whitewashing, do you honestly think that the Internet wouldn’t be on top of that like a diabetic on the last insulin shot on the planet?
Things You’d Think Female Movie Characters Would Have Learned
…or why having key chains full to the teeth with keys and knickknacks for things no human being can possibly need for every moment of the day is really a bad idea. First things first, a disclaimer: I am talking very specifically about female characters in movies. I am not talking about real women (though movie characters are, I should hope, played by real women). This entire post is talking about fictional representations of women in the movies. Now that that’s out of the way, I would like to pose a question preceded by a discussion. It seems odd to me that so many action-oriented movies (and in this sense, I mean movies in which the plot, characters, and scenery are all active, such as might be common in, say, a horror or action movie) represent women as being unholy wielders of absurdly exaggerated key-blobs (for that is what they are, when you get right down to it). The oddity of this comes in the form of a familiar re-occurrence: every time you see a woman running from another person, specifically to escape, and they have one of these key-blobs, there is always a frantic moment at the very end where she proceeds to get caught precisely because she can’t find the right key for the *insert object here* (typically a door or a car, or both). This is not at all like what is more typical of every other character with moderately accentuated key-blobs; in such moments such characters may be caught simply because fear overwhelmed them and they couldn’t put the key correctly into the appropriate hole. Curiously enough, female characters haven’t learned their lesson. They continue to have these key-blobs, something that is generally not true of male characters; in fact, if ever there is a moment where a male character fails to escape due to a key failure, it is because of the innuendo implied above, not because they couldn’t find the appropriate key. Evolution, I’m afraid, does not apply to female movie characters, for whatever reason. And all of the above leads me to my question: if we are to take out the obvious answer of “misogyny” (or a more “friendly” term might be “gender stereotyping”), how are we to account for female representation in film where habits that historically have proven to be disastrous are still held? One must assume, for this question, that disastrous implies death (or, at the very least, a sound beating that one would not want to remember in the end). How, I ask you, how?
Two Quick Things: A Story and A Movie
Two big things to discuss about what is happening this week and today. First, as you undoubtedly know there was a massive earthquake in Haiti and all sorts of bad things are happening there. Crossed Genres is asking people to help acquire donations by posting stories online for free with a donation button pointing to one of the many relief efforts for Haiti. They’re calling it “Post A Story For Haiti.” Later tonight I will be participating by posting a new humor/Steampunk/detective story for your enjoyment. Even if you don’t like the story, I encourage you to donate (in fact, you don’t even have to read the story if you don’t want to; that’s not why I’m posting it). Second, I saw The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus last night and I have a few things to say before I post a full review: See it. It is by far one of the best movies I have ever seen. The story, the magic, the visuals, and all else are simply stunning. This is what films are supposed to be. They should be enjoyable, beautiful, and should say something deeper in a way that allows the audience to choose between seeing or ignoring it. If you are having a hard time picking something to see in theaters, then see this one. Screw Avatar. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a must see. And that’s all for now.
Haiti and Pat Robertson: Slavery is A-OK
There are only a few things to say, but you have to watch the video first. Now, having seen that, let me translate:Pat Robertson is saying that the Haitian slaves who revolted against the French colonists all those years back made a deal with the devil to do just that, which means that Robertson is perfectly fine with slavery and colonialism. That’s right. Robertson thinks both of those things are perfectly acceptable conditions by which people can exist, and that the idea of violently opposing a system that violently oppresses people based on skin color is the same as being in collusion with the devil (i.e. Satan). And, no, it does not matter one bit whether he’s talking about the original slave revolt, or the brutal Haitian defense against France some years later. It’s all the same thing: Pat Robertson is a-ok with slavery and colonialism. Now I leave the floor to you.
What I Learned Today: the Nook, Taco Bell, and Google
I have a few quick things to say about some experiences I had today (one of them was actually from earlier in the week, but it was too small to devote a post to). First — The NookI had the opportunity to fiddle with Barnes and Noble’s Nook today while I was running errands. I have a few impressions: The Good–It’s exceptionally light (about the weight of an average trade paperback), making for a reading experience that doesn’t break your wrist.–It looks lovely. The design is fantastic, though I would prefer it came in different colors.–Text actually looks good on the screen. It’s readable, easily changeable to other fonts or sizes, and I can see myself reading from such a machine at some point in the future without losing the reading experience. Immersion is possible.–The touchscreen and buttons are pretty easy to figure out without reading a manual (I had it down in about a minute). The Bad–It’s not as fast as it should be. This criticism is something many others have said about the Nook and other eReaders, and is probably simply a problem with e-ink technology that will have to be overcome in the next few years. I do know B&N is planning to upgrade the software for the Nook, which should alleviate some of the sluggishness. I should clarify that when I say slow, I mean it has a very slight, but noticeable lag when turning pages. If you’re the kind of person who often flips back and forth between pages (like me), it might be irritating. For anyone who tends to read “simpler” texts, it likely won’t be a problem.–It still costs more than I’m willing to spend for a product that isn’t quite as good as it could be. At $259 it’s still one of the cheapest and best eReaders out there, but I find it hard to justify spending that kind of money for something that has less computing power than one of those mini laptops. Overall, it has potential (and B&N is far less evil than Amazon has been in the last year), but they’ve still got a long way to go. Second — Taco BellApparently Taco Bell has been running a series of health ads on television in the same vein as those Subway commercials we’re all familiar with (you know, the ones with the guy who lost weight eating Subway and what not). The reasons are clear enough: they want to sell food (particularly their “healthy” food). I’m actually surprised by this, because when I first saw the commercials some time ago, I thought they were a joke. I laughed and thought, “I have to give Taco Bell props for turning a somewhat goofy, but appealing story into a joke for the purposes of selling food that induces cardiac arrest.” But, then it came to my attention that the woman in the commercials is real, and so is her story. Am I the only one that has a hard time taking the whole thing seriously? I can’t stop myself from laughing at what seems to be an outright mockery of everything Subway has stood for over the last decade. But that’s me. Third — Google Smacks ChinaI heard the news from Tobias S. Buckell and the first thing I thought was: “Way to go, Google.” You can’t ignore the rampant institutionalization of Orwellian-style politics in communist China, from their desperate desire to control information to their disturbing thought police who patrol the Interwebs in search of anti-Communist bloggers and the like in order to incarcerate them indefinitely. And now Google is saying, “Yeah, we’ve kind of had it, jackasses.” Okay, so they’re not really saying that (they’ll likely play the whole thing fairly safely, if not a-politically), but they might as well be. And that’s all I have for today. Thoughts?