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Is it possible to like anything? Mixed thoughts on morality, turning a blind eye and "The Matrix"

I care a lot about media, and communication. As a guy that has some issues talking about exactly how he's feeling and has low social energy, things like shows, movies and books were a lot more important and relevant to my formative years than interaction with other people – not that I didn't have friends on my teen years, I did, just. Well, a lot of stuff to consider at that time that is irrelevant to this stream of consciousness. Something that I also care about is the message said media brings, and how that is inherently linked to who wrote, or directed the piece of media. This brings question to some of the internet's most infamously discussions: is it "ok" to like something made by someone that does very questionable decisions? I honestly don't have a definitive answer for that. More often than not, this kind of discussion feels to me to be in a vacuum in the internet, or of less politically inclined people. There are good articles out there, but they never seem to demand you not watch something, but to make people reflect on the bad writing, direction or production something got. Which I think is the way to go. Most of what I read and watch of radical left doesn't even mention such an issue with representation and how it should be completely isolated and burned to the ground, as I'm afraid they're more concerned with some more "tangible" problems, like the rise of imperialism, neoliberalism and fascism and imperialist and neoliberal feminism as a tool to maintain the capitalist system, often times built by people of color and resources from the "Southern" countries, and maintained cleaned and pristine by women of color (VERGÈS, 2019)¹.

I'm just a guy in his mid twenties with a degree in graphic design and a thesis in communication design. I didn't study political science in university. So I think I can do my part by talking about communication, then. Also I will try not to pull info out of my ass.

As some people might know from now, Matrix "4" Resurrections' trailer launched this week, and with that, some people were kind to remind past's fuck ups of Lana Wachowski regarding race in many of her works, like Sense8, Speed Racer and Cloud Atlas. Listen, I can't ignore the fact that the decisions made in these films are in the very least, questionable and distastful, specially regarding Asian people. Also she really out there rocking dreads, which I'm not even gonna get into, as I think it's already very well established why that's not a good look for white people. I only watched maybe one episode of Sense8, but this article here sums up pretty well what's weird about it. It also brings a good message by the end.

So, can you like anything without being morally crushed by what you know is right? Can you enjoy a piece of media that is flawed by the creator's White Gaze/Straight Gaze/Cisgender Gaze? I admit I have a hard time dealing with feelings of morality. It feels rather individual and super subjective on most accounts, and doesn't leave out (ironically?) a lot of nuance for different cultures and practices in the world. I wanna talk about that more in the future. Either way, about media, I'm of the opinion that you can enjoy those things if you wish to. Fuck it. Make it your own. Be critical of what you consume, as most things we do are made under the wing of big corporations owned by people that don't care about us, if we need screen time or actually be portrayed as a human being.

If anything, I would like to plead that people pay more attention to the independent side of media creation, if possible. The internet has its advantages in that regard. Don't lock yourself in on Netflix and [insert other streaming services here] and its desperately neoliberal vision of queer people. It's hard, but there's many POC and LGBTQIA+ folks that work hard to bring better stories for people just like them. Look for POC that make books and short films and documentaries. By comparison, it will be easy to spot how flawed The White Gaze makes when telling a story.

I'm gonna talk a little about The Matrix (1999) below, so I'm gonna do one of those fancy "Keep reading" right now.

So, I re-watched The Matrix (1999) yesterday and found the plot with Cypher turning against the other members of the Resistance as a pretty good analogy of what most people live their lives currently, under capitalism and overconsumption: Willing to throw your group under the bus, to literally destroy the remains of human existence that are still left, for the comfort of being blissfully ignorant. "I wanna be rich, and someone important, like an actor", he said to Agent Smith, that probably wouldn't fucking do that even if the plan did the way they wanted to. I like to believe it was the greed of the few that brought down humanity by their own creation in the Matrix universe, but unfortunately that is not brought up, in that case, bring in that "humanity" as a whole did it. There's another scene, when Agent Smith is alone with Morpheus, where he monologues about how "humanity" is a "cancer" for the Earth, for "abusing all the resources from an area and have no way to survive but to move to another area". This again shows the lack of perspective from The Wachowskis, blaming humans, that have existed for thousands of years, for the environmental atrocities that capitalism, that has only existed for a couple hundred years, has caused to the planet.

Like I said, it is okay to like things that can be questionable. I like this slip that the character Cypher is. He is the embodiment of a lot of issues and he is inherently opposite of our "good guys" characters in Matrix. I can still be critical of their lack of eyesight on what – and who – is really killing the planet, and their very distasteful idea of going post-racial when the fact is that race still very much matters.

¹ VERGÈS, FRANÇOISE, Decolonial Feminism. 2019

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Getting back at it... ?

I don't even remember the last time I actually posted something here. Not sure why I wanna actually use this as a blog and not the – mostly – reblog dump that this URL has been for several years. The truth is, I feel like I need a place where I can just talk about some of the very random things that get in my mind, that being media analysis, politics, memories, my field of study and work, or really just overelaborated shower and sink thoughts. I've been feeling like I have no one to talk to about things, which is pretty awful if I'm being totally honest.

Isn't it awful to feel like no one wants to listen to you? I feel like that's something that happens to me a lot. Therapist certainly has that checked out on me.

Anyway. Probably no one will read these, and these are not really to be read, if I'm being totally honest. I just like the calmness that recording something gives me. Also, looking up in the future what I was thinking of is always an interesting experience. That's something new that I've been doing lately: considering the future. Very odd feeling still, but I'm working on it.

I guess that's it, basically. Probably not everything will be in English. Barely nothing will make sense. I don't own the Truth™.

Goodnight.

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ladies, if she

likes caviar and cigarettes

is well versed in etiquette

is extraordinarily nice

shes not your girl. shes a killer queen, gunpowder, gelatine, dynamite with a laser bean, guaranteed to blow your mind

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I will make it through this. No matter what.

Love from the sad ghost club x

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Pros and cons of wearing all black

pros: hot as hell

cons: hot as hell

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some fools be like “i play games to escape my responsibilities” then pick tank or healer

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When we’re worried that things won’t go to plan, we can feel compelled to just ruin it ourselves, to eliminate the POSSIBILITY of things going wrong. It’s tough, and it’s a hard habit to break, but you deserve all the goodness that comes your way, nurture it and take care <3

love from the sad ghost club

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Me, the person with memory problems, perfectly aware I have issues with memory: I don’t need to write this down, I’ll remember it

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Relationships are about helping each other grow and that involves emotional labor on both parts both big and small things. If you know your partner has some sort of anxiety issue or w/e sending “hey i’ll be busy today i’ll text you when i can love you” will literally absolve so many issues in less than 30 seconds. But you freaks up here seem to think that caring about someone and catering to them (to a certain degree) is weird and unhealthy. And you wonder why you have no good relationships romantic or platonic. 

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u know what’s really fun and in style right now? making others feel loved and valued

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Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of T/D/S

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“Looks like they brought in the heavy hitters.”

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“how’s life going?”

me: