Not-So-Cancelled (or, Hey, We’re Still Talking About the Wrong Things)
In a semi-recent piece for The Nation, David Klion discussed what is by now no longer the “latest” bit of Internet “free speech” theater in response to the cancellation of a collection of Norman Mailer’s essays. I shouldn’t say “cancelled,” really. The publisher passed on publishing the book, which means it could very well be published somewhere else (even by Mailer’s estate), thereby making the meaning of a “cancellation” rather dubious at best. Can you really be “cancelled” in the lofty meaning that term has now taken (undeserved, really) when you’re both very much dead and your work is otherwise still available? I mean, the presumed offending work, “The White Negro,” is literally right there on the Internet. Google it if you must.1 As far as I can tell, this essay has been legally published online in Dissent since 2007. While I can’t say that all of Mailer’s non-fiction will be available in similarly legal venues, it’s not exactly hard to find his writing out there. ↩
The Neo-Nazis Are in Town, and They’re Playing Us
As I write this, Richard Spencer and his cronies have arrived in Gainesville, FL for an event at the University of Florida. He was not invited by anyone but himself. The student body overwhelmingly doesn’t want him here. The city overwhelmingly doesn’t want him here. But he’s here nonetheless to share his message of hate, to manipulate young people to serve his needs, and to play all of us like a fiddle. This event isn’t just about presenting his ideas. He’ll use this as an opportunity to stage altercations, lie, and manipulate in order to legitimate his movement. This new breed of neo-Nazi/white nationalist has a wide range of technological tools at their disposal that make disseminating lies and hatred easier than ever. Every reaction we give them is more fuel for his fire. They don’t need us to discriminate against Spencer or his kind; they’ll make it up if they have to. None of this means we shouldn’t respond. What it means is we’re sort of trapped between a rock and a hard place in all of this. If we react, it will be used against us. If we don’t, it’ll seem like silent consent. Either way, it seems like we are powerless against this stuff. The problem, however, isn’t us.
Addendum: Strong Male Characters (or, That Rogue One Review is Full of Crap)
Two days ago, I wrote a post about “strong male characters” that took to task some comments made in a review by Todd McCarthy. At the time, I had not seen Rogue One, so my argument essentially rested on the idea that we don’t need “strong male characters” in every movie. Now that I have seen the movie, I feel it necessary to come back to McCarthy’s review to address the substance of the claims. Expect some spoilers ahead! As a reminder, here is the relevant quote from McCarthy’s review: What the film really lacks is a strong and vigorous male lead (such as Han Solo or John Boyega’s Finn in The Force Awakens) to balance more equally with Jyn and supply a sparring partner. None of the men here has real physical or vocal stature, nor any scenes in which they can decisively emerge from the pack in a way that engages audience enthusiasm. Both Luna and Ahmed have proved themselves repeatedly in big-screen and television performances, but their characters never pop here, to the film’s detriment. And given that Jyn is rather less gung-ho and imposing than was Ridley’s Rey, there’s an overall feel of less physical capacity on the part of the main characters. None of this is remotely accurate. Actually, I’d hazard to call it complete and utter bullshit.
Strong Male Leads (Or, Why You Don’t Need Them in Every Goddamn Movie)
The Bourne Identity, 007: Specter, The Fast and Furious, The Dark Knight, Indiana Jones, and Rocky. What do these films have in common? Well, aside from being action films and most of them featuring the name of the main character in the title, all of these films have male leads and, at best, female supporting characters. Is this a problem for these franchises? Not really. A series about Rocky should probably feature Rocky, after all, and it makes sense that the same be true for most of the films I just listed. For the most part, men dominate action franchises, with some notable exceptions That’s been the way of things for decades, and only until recently has that power been properly challenged, with more and more female-led action franchises hitting our screens. It’s a good thing. Some of those new franchises are fan-friggin-tastic. And those other franchises are fantastic, too. We can have both! Which brings me to the latest “men aren’t getting their fair share” argument in film… By now, some of you have seen Todd McCarthy’s review of Rogue One at The Hollywood Reporter. As far as reviews go, it’s a fairly standard piece; read it if you like, but be warned there are some spoilers. Part of the reason McCarthy’s review has garnered a lot of attention, particularly on Twitter, is the following quote:
Why I Try Not to Talk About Things I Know Nothing About
Update: SF Signal has officially removed the post and issued an apology on their website. To be honest, I think they handled it well. They responded quickly to criticism, removed the post, and apologized basically in the same evening, which is not something you could say about other places in our community. John DeNardo has accepted full responsibility, and Sarah Chorn, who runs the column, has said her apologies and apparently gone dark for a bit. I know both a little bit (not as much as I would like, but we do live in different dimensions, so…), so I feel confident in saying their responses are sincere and that they both feel pretty awful about it all. I hope that is the end of it and that we can use this moment to move things in a more constructive direction. —————————- In 2014, I was on a panel about postcolonialism and science fiction at LonCon3. It was a tough panel for me because as much as I should know what I’m talking about when it comes to the field I’ve spent the last 8 years studying, I’ve always had a bit of that impostor syndrome. And that feeling is always enhanced by the fact that I know I come from the very group which made a field like postcolonialism necessary. My ancestors probably enslaved people, stole land from others, destroyed entire cultures, colonized entire regions of the world and stole as many resources as they could. What right do I have studying and writing about these things in the academic context? A lot of that was in the back of my mind when I walked over to the panel location with my fellow panelists, and it stayed there even as I gave my thoughts on questions from the moderator and the audience. What am I doing here?
On Brad Torgersen’s Straw Man Left
If I could have a nickel for every time a Sad/Rabid Puppy used a straw man version of the left to defend unethical behavior, I’d probably be a lot less broke than I already am. Alas, straw man arguments don’t come with free nickels. Instead, they come with a headache.