#This make no sense economically or historically but fuck it's alternate history

[blueberryattack]

A long StEx headcanon: what are these trains?

I wrote this mostly at around 1 am while sick so there's a good chance it's nonsense, but yeah, they're like hermit crabs, sort of.

Trainfolk have two “bodies” so to speak - their humanoid forms and their “working” forms. Working forms look like trains in our world and exist separately from the humanoid forms when not in use. Humanoid forms are biomechincal in nature - from the outside they look mostly human but they have more mechanical innards (engine, for any train, is a term used akin to guts as a result). Generally they're human-size, with Engines tending to be a bit bigger (Rusty and Electra would be close to/over 7 feet tall). 

When Trainfolk go to work, they meld into their working form - basically melting down into something like liquid metal and fusing to it (this happens very rapidly, within a second or two). They are still aware in this state, and Engines can operate independently without the need for a human driver (one is generally on call within the train in case of emergencies). Trainfolk can easily distinguish between an active working form and an “empty” train, as can more experienced human rail workers. Passengers generally cannot, if they're even aware of Trainfolk at all, but do tend to report a better atmosphere and experience when riding in an active Coach vs an empty one. Working forms are not necessarily permanent arrangements, but most Trainfolk tend to meld with the same Working form for long periods. 

Engines can only meld into engines with a set fuel type, though this can be changed via physical conversion. Freight and Coaches are more flexible, and on rare occasions a freight may meld into a coach for their working form or vice versa. 

Not all trains in a yard will be active Working forms, but Trainfolk strongly prefer to work exclusively with other Trainfolk - or if absolutely necessary, that any empty cars be at the back of the train. Nearly all coaches and freight will refuse to work with an empty Engine. Active working forms are usually preferred by human rail staff, as they have a reputation of being more reliable and even luckier than empty trains. 

There are two ways new Trainfolk come into existence - birth and emergence. Birth is self-explanatory - a trainlet resulting from a relationship between two adult trains. Trainlets start out as infants and grow at roughly the same rate as human children. Designation as a Freight, Coach or Engine can be determined through testing before birth, though it's not 100% reliable. 

Emergence occurs after a newly built train sits empty long enough - usually around 3 years, though sometimes it can happen more rapidly. This is especially the case for prototypes - the emergence of a trainlet is seen as an early sign of success. Emerged trainlets generally match the age of the train they emerge from. If not already in a yard, these trainlets are sent to be fostered at one as soon as possible. Emerged trainlets basically result from a melding in reverse, and tend to be more attached to their original working forms than born trains. Some trains choose this as a means of having a kid, but it's expensive and unreliable endeavor - not all trains left empty will result in a trainlet emergence.

Born trainlets tend to meld for the first time around their early teens. This can be done earlier, but there tends to be concern of youngsters getting permanently stuck if they try at too young an age. Some kids take to it more easily than others. A trainlet who does not meld into a train by the time they're in their mid-teens can lead to a host of issues, such as poor growth, and it drastically shortens lifespan.

A few physical changes come with the first meld (or are already present in emerged trainlets). The first is plating. Plating - and any underlayer that might come with it - serves as a protective layer when outside of their working form, and tends to match the livery and form of the working form (repainting the train would cause a change in the plating). The overall shape is more or less set at the first meld, even if the trainfolk eventually melds with a different working form. Plating is physically attached but can be removed; some trains prefer to wear human clothing when not working but plating is usually required for work and some activities like racing.

Melding can also change trainfolks cosmetically, altering thing like hair color, eye color, face and paint/makeup. In more extreme cases there are other physical changes (such as cryogenics like Hydra feeling cold to the touch). Damage to plating (or to a Trainfolk’s body in general) can reflect on working forms and vice versa (such as rust in cases like Rusty). They can also make more drastic changes to their humanoid forms when coming out of a meld, as long as they retain the same mass, though they'll usually make such changes gradually rather than all at once. 

Both engines and fuel trucks have at least a small tank for their fuel as part of either their internal systems or in newer generations of trainfolk, in the backpack which is part of their plating. Provided they've been in their working form recently, Engines can go a long time without needing to eat, as can electrical components, though most choose to do se in both cases. Engines can also consume fuel in their humanoid form, especially when doing more intense physical activity like racing. Other Freight and Coaches need to eat more regularly.

In the event of death, Trainfolk will usually separate out from their working forms before expiring. Funerary practices for the humanoid form vary from yard to yard; the working form they melded with most recently may either be scrapped or refurbished depending on need. In the event of catastrophic failure, such as a crash, the Trainfolk may die while melded into their working form. As Trainfolk won't meld into a working form if another has died in it, they are always scrapped. 

[unprocione]

name : rian!

pronouns :  he/him :)

preference of communication : discord! always discord, i constantly forget tumblr ims exist, and on discord i can remark things as unread, so i don't lose the notification if i can't reply at the time, which helps when i'm burnt out or if my attention span is particularly bad that day.

most active muse :  leon & only leon these days!

experience / how many years :  i've been writing on tumblr since late 2018! it feels like way longer, i started writing on tumblr when red dead redemption 2 was released and i was writing josiah trelawny while the game was actually still under embargo, scrambling to watch every new playthrough episode i could find while the fandom was setting up. i didn't actually play the game myself until it was released on pc in late 2019!

best experience : i had several really good experiences writing atlas/frank fontaine from bioshock in a western cusp-of-the-nineteen-hundreds american heartland verse, going into alot of topics like industrialism at that time, the american labour movement and american union history, strike tactics & the economics of greed. it was inspired alot from a show on the usa network called damnation that got cancelled, i did a ton of historical research and i mostly wrote with red dead redemption ii muses, did alot of worldbuilding with @sharp-teeth-and-wide-grins who is an excellent roleplay partner! i'm working on potentially setting up that verse again but from a different perspective for leon, because i miss it.

rp pet peeves : oh i have alot of opinions but i keep 'em to myself until you give me an opportunity. can't stand people getting cancelled for writing villains as the actual villains they are in canon, or characters generally as more complicated morally, especially when they're referencing content from the actual media and people are losing their minds because they're not the fandom expectation or easy ship material. so many people will have 'mun does not equal muse!!' in their carrds and byfs but will clutch their pearls if you even quote directly from source material, and then harass the fuck out of you, send hate anons, suicide bait, i mean we've all seen it happen or heard about it if it hasn't happened to us directly, definitely so if you're on this site for more than a year, so you know what i mean. i don't like people looking to my writing for moral directives or sifting through all my content to glimpse some kind of agenda, i think that's chronically online behavior. obviously it's different if someone is writing pedophilia or something but i just feel like i shouldn't have to make that disclaimer at all, it feels like common sense but if i don't say something i run the risk of someone messaging me like 'so you support so & so? kill yourself!' y'know.

fluff, angst, or smut : i like all of these in moderation so long as there's depth to it further than just being fluff, angst, or smut for no cause, you know? if it's not signature to our muses, if it doesn't fit narratively, and is just feel-good content, i just get bored, and having any of this in back to back to back to back threads of just one roleplay genre is like being smothered to death with chocolate cake, i only like a little bit once in a while otherwise i get sick of it, y'know.

plots or memes : plotting 100%, but even though i heavily prefer plotting, i don't often have the energy for it? even if i really like the other muse's portrayal. or, alternatively, i will do all of this plotting in my head, and just like. never act on it, or bring it to my roleplay partner, due to this weird ocd-adjacent anxiety symptom i'm trying to break now that i have meds to help me out, where i make alot of social rules and conditions for myself that just overall completely pens me up and isolates me. i don't know what it's called but i've just always had that and it gets in the way of what i love doing all the time.

long or short replies : i don't have a reliable perception of long or short replies! i'm happy with two paragraphs but i'll reply with like six or eight paragraphs average because once i get over my anxiety there's really nothing else stopping me and i like run-on sentences and exposition and scenery and internal monologues!! and i know it's not always appropriate sometimes too, like if we agree on a shorter thread for less pressure, but i've always had a hard time knowing where to stop with anything, i have no perception of an appropriate point to cut off? i need like. a reverse nanowrimo.

time to write : apparently 11:00 pm - 6 am est, since that's when i'm most productive lately.

are you like your muses : god i hope not. i did choose to write leon as gay though because, i'm gay myself and it was more comfortable for me, even though he's pretty heterosexual in canon, but that's less from me wanting to relate with him on a point, and more because i have had some really uncomfortable and bad experiences shipping with female muses who didn't respect boundaries in the past. whether that's projecting attraction on me as a person instead of my muse, or wanting me to write noncon or torture porn, and finding a way to take it out on me when i said no or tried to let them down easy, and it's one of those things where looking back on the memory of it gives me the same tight-chested feelings as alot of people get when they've been involved in intense drama and callouts and stuff. just can't do it anymore! maybe that'll change someday ^^

tagged by: @blitzkriegers & @omniterror thamk u both for tagging :) tagging: @ubcs, @sinibell, @valour-bound, @mycelae

[qqueenofhades]

Do you really hate this county? Or were you just ranting?

Sigh. I debated whether or not to answer this, since I usually keep the real-life/politics/depressing current events to a relative minimum on this blog, except when I really can't avoid ranting about it. But I have some things to get off my chest, it seems, and you did ask. So.

The thing is, any American with a single modicum of genuine historical consciousness knows that despite all the triumphalist mythology about Pulling Up By Our Bootstraps and the American Dream and etc, this country was founded and built on the massive and systematic exploitation and extermination of Black and Indigenous people. And now, when we are barely (400 years later!!!) getting to a point of acknowledging that in a widespread way, oh my god the screaming. I'm so sick of the American right wing I could spit for so many reasons, not least of which is the increasingly reductive and reactive attempts to put the genie back in the bottle and set up hysterical boogeymen about how Teaching Your Children Critical Race Theory is the end of all things. They have forfeited all pretense of being a real governing party; remember how their only platform at the 2020 RNC was "support whatever Trump says?" They have devolved to the point where the cruelty IS the point, to everyone who doesn't fit the nakedly white supremacist mold. They don't have anything to do aside from attempt to usher in actual, literal, dictionary-definition-of-fascism and sponsor armed revolts against the peaceful transfer of power.

That is fucking exhausting to be aware of all the time, especially with the knowledge that if we miss a single election cycle -- which is exceptionally easy to do with the way the Democratic electorate needs to be wooed and courted and herded like cats every single time, rather than just getting their asses to the polls and voting to keep Nazis out of office -- they will be right back in power again. If Manchin and Sinema don't get over their poseur pearl-clutching and either nuke the filibuster or carve out an exception for voting rights, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act is never going to get passed, no matter how many boilerplate appeals the Democratic leadership makes on Twitter. In which case, the 2022 midterms are going to give us Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House (I threw up in my mouth a little typing that) and right back to the Mitch McConnell Obstruction Power Hour in the Senate. The Online Left (TM) will then blame the Democrats for not doing more to stop them. These are, of course, the same people who refused to vote for Hillary Clinton out of precious moral purity reasons in 2016, handed the election to Trump, and now like to complain when the Trump-stacked Supreme Court reliably churns out terrible decisions. Gee, it's almost like elections have consequences!!

Aside from my exasperation with the death-cult right-wing fascists and the Online Left (TM), I am sick and tired of how forty years of "trickle-down" Reaganomics has created a world where billionaires can just fly to space for the fun of it, while the rest of America (and the world) is even more sick, poor, overheated, economically deprived, and unable to survive the biggest public health crisis in a century, even if half the elected leadership wasn't actively trying to sabotage it. Did you know that half of American workers can't even afford a one-bedroom apartment? Plus the obvious scandal that is race relations, health care, paid leave, the education system (or lack thereof), etc etc. I'm so tired of this America Is The Greatest Country in the World mindless jingoistic catchphrasing. We are an empire in the late stages of collapse and it's not going to be pretty for anyone. We have been poisoned on sociopathic-libertarian-selfishness-disguised-as-Freedom ideology for so long that that's all there is left. We have become a country of idiots who believe everything their idiot friends post on social media, but in a very real sense, it's not directly those individuals' fault. How could they, when they have been very deliberately cultivated into that mindset and stripped of critical thinking skills, to serve a noxious combination of money, power, and ideology?

I am tired of the fact that I have become so drained of empathy that when I see news about more people who refused to get the vaccine predictably dying of COVID, my reaction is "eh, whatever, they kind of deserved it." I KNOW that is not a good mindset to have, and I am doing my best to maintain my personal attempts to be kind to those I meet and to do my small part to make the world better. I know these are human beings who believed what they were told by people that they (for whatever reason) thought knew better than them, and that they are part of someone's family, they had loved ones, etc. But I just can't summon up the will to give a single damn about them (I'm keeping a bingo card of right-wing anti-vax radio hosts who die of COVID and every time it's like, "Alexa, play Another One Bites The Dust.") The course that the pandemic took in 21st-century America was not preordained or inevitable. It was (and continues to be) drastically mismanaged for cynical political reasons, and the legacy of the Former Guy continues to poison any attempts to bring it under control or convince people to get a goddamn vaccine. We now have over 100,000 patients hospitalized with COVID across the country -- more than last summer, when the vaccines weren't available.

I have been open about my fury about the devaluation of the humanities and other critical thinking skills, about the fact that as an academic in this field, my chances of getting a full-time job for which I have trained extensively and acquired a specialist PhD are... very low. I am tired of the fact that Americans have been encouraged to believe whatever bullshit they fucking please, regardless of whether it is remotely true, and told that any attempt to correct them is "anti-freedom." I am tired of how little the education system functions in a useful way at all -- not necessarily due to the fault of teachers, who have to work with what they're given, and who are basically heroes struggling stubbornly along in a profession that actively hates them, but because of relentless under-funding, political interference, and furious attempts, as discussed above, to keep white America safely in the dark about its actual history. I am tired of the fact that grade school education basically relies on passing the right standardized tests, the end. I am tired of the implication that the truth is too scary or "un-American" to handle. I am tired. Tired.

I know as well that "America" is not synonymous in all cases with "capitalist imperialist white-supremacist corporate death cult." This is still the most diverse country in the world. "America" is not just rich white middle-aged Republicans. "America" involves a ton of people of color, women, LGBTQ people, Muslims, Jews, Christians of good will (I have a whole other rant on how American Christianity as a whole has yielded all pretense of being any sort of a principled moral opposition), white allies, etc etc. all trying to make a better world. The blue, highly vaccinated, Biden-winning states and counties are leading the economic recovery and enacting all kinds of progressive-wishlist dream policies. We DID get rid of the Orange One via the electoral process and avert fascism at the ballot box, which is almost unheard-of, historically speaking. But because, as also discussed above, certain elements of the Democratic electorate need to fall in love with a candidate every single time or threaten to withhold their vote to punish the rest of the country for not being Progressive Enough, these gains are constantly fragile and at risk of being undone in the next electoral cycle. Yes, the existing system is a crock of shit. But it's what we've got right now, and the other alternative is open fascism, which we all got a terrifying taste of over the last four years. I don't know about you, but I really don't want to go back.

So... I don't know. I don't know if that stacks up to hate. I do hate almost everything about what this country currently is, structurally speaking, but I recognize that is not identical with the many people who still live here and are trying to do their best, including my friends, family, and myself. I am exhausted by the fact that as an older millennial, I am expected to survive multiple cataclysmic economic crashes, a planet that is literally boiling alive, a barely functional political system run on black cash, lies, and xenophobia, a total lack of critical thinking skills, renewed assaults on women/queer people/POC/etc, and somehow feel like I'm confident or prepared for the future. Not all these problems are only America's fault alone. The West as a whole bears huge responsibility for the current clusterfuck that the world is in, for many reasons, and so do some non-Western countries. But there is no denying that many of these problems have ultimate American roots. See how the ongoing fad for right-wing authoritarian strongmen around the world has them modeling themselves openly on Trump (like Brazil's lunatic president, Jair Bolsonaro, who talks all the time about how Trump is his political role model). See what's going on in Afghanistan right now. Etc. etc.

Anyway. I am very, very tired. There you have it.

[stolligaseptember]

oi what's the situation in sweden, with the elections coming up and all?

Um. Chaotic.

Okay, SO. The traditional status quo in Swedish politics, which it has been ever since we got our current parliamentary system a little over 100 years ago, is that the parties are divided into two “blocks”; the Reds and the Blues.

The Reds are the socialists, while the Blues are the liberal and conservative side. We’re a socialist country in our bones, and the Social Democrats ruled Sweden for like 50 consecutive years in the middle of the 20th century. Since the 70′s though, we’ve switched between the Reds and the Blues, leading us to become the socialliberal state we are now.

But, 8 years ago, the Sweden Democrats were first elected into parliament. They’re a “social conservative and nationalistic” party that doesn’t fit anywhere into our traditional political scale, and which us antifascist lovingly refer to as the Brown block. The Sweden Democrats first became popular due to their anti-immigration policies, and have only grown in popularity over the years. This summer they even went so far as to becoming the second largest party after the Social Democrats in supporting polls. So they haven’t only established their place as the third block in Swedish politics, they’re a real threat to becoming the largest party of all in this election. Thank the heavens they’ve slipped down to the third most popular party in the latest supporting polls though.

The Sweden Democrats are the worst kind of trash. They were founded by unabashed Nazis, as in, honest to god national socialists that worked in Germany during the Nazi rule. Their current party leader, Jimmie Åkesson, joined when the party was still largely considered a violent radicalization group. They still cling tightly to their Nazi roots, even though they try to gloss it over.

This is also why they’re considered the “third” block in Swedish politics. No other party has, so far, been willing to work with the Sweden Democrats. We’ve had both Blue and Red governments since they joined the parliament, and they’ve been firmly excluded from all political activity. They, somehow, represent about a third of the political will in Sweden, but they still haven’t gained any political input so far. We’ve, somehow, managed to stand up for our democratic rights up until now.

And I just. I can’t tell you why they’ve grown so much in popularity. There’s ultra-right breezes blowing all over the world, the political climate has shifted to somehow accommodate even the most atrocious opinions, and Sweden is no exception to this. Immigration and integration has been among the most hotly debated topics in Sweden these last couple of years, we’ve gone from being the most open country in all of Europe to one of the most strict when it comes to immigration in just a couple of years, and the Sweden Democrats has been the most striving force behind it all. They gained popularity because of it, and now they’re just riding the wave.

And they, honest to god, scare the everliving fuck out of me. Like, this is so far from just about immigration anymore. They want to limit abortion rights; they want to strip LGBT rights; they want to leave the EU. They’re climate change deniers, even though Sweden went through the worst drought in all of recorded history this summer and was quite literally completely on fire. Their representatives are not only literal Nazis, but honest to god idiots and fools; they can’t go more than a month without a scandal, with their most prominent leaders committing everything from tax frauds to just straight up beating people up out in broad daylight. They work with fear mongering and propaganda, they claim that Sweden is in the middle of a “system collapse”, even though we’re literally among the most prosperous countries in the world right now. They weren’t far behind Donald Trump in working with “alternative facts” and outright lies. They have no economic foundation; their economical spokesperson even went so far as to say, ad verbum, “there’s nothing strange about 300 million kronor missing from our budget, seeing how we budget for things we don’t want to do” just this week.

And yet, somehow, they’re still the third largest party.

My uncle and aunt are avid Sweden Democrats supporters. Which is. Interesting. We don’t discuss politics during family reunions, it’s a hard rule for us. And, yeah, my uncle’s always been a racist fuck, but my aunt’s a loving, emphatic and reasonable person, but she still supports them.

And I just. I don’t know how the Sweden Democrats got their claws into our society like this. Because I’m tired. And frustrated. And angry. And so, so fucking scared.

They only got 12% of the votes last election, but they’re looking to get up to 20 this year, and Swedish politics are just fucked. The Reds and the Blues are because of historical reasons each other’s worst enemy, and now the Sweden Democrats have gone and thrown a wrench into their carefully balanced dynamics. Even if the Sweden Democrats only become the third biggest party in the election, that would most likely mean that neither the Reds or the Blues will be able to scrape together enough power to form a major government. The Reds have reigned by a minor government this term, and everything’s just been one big mess. They didn’t get their first budget through, and we all lived with the threat of a re-election for a good couple of weeks before the Blues finally got their senses together enough to avert that disaster by forming an agreement with the Reds, but that agreement only lasted for about half a year, and I honest to god don’t even know how the government have gotten their budgets through these last couple of years. Policy making is a literal warfare, because the Reds have to fish for individual votes within the Blues to make any kind of change, and we’ve just been stuck in an endless stalemate these last four years.

And we’ve managed to keep the Sweden Democrats out of political power up until now, but I don’t know for how much longer we’ll be able to keep this up.

So yeah, even though Sweden’s still a very good country, we’re also somehow a trashcan that’s just waiting to be set on fire, and I just kinda low key want to die.

Good times.

[arts-culture-honours-programme]

What is South African culture? I give you: Die Antwoord

‘’Whatever Man’’

  Check it,

I represent South African culture.

In this place you get a lot of different things:

Blacks,

Whites,

Coloured,

English,

Afrikaans,

Xhosa,

Zulu,

watookal.

  I'm like all these different things,

all these different people,

fucked into one person.

  Whatever man.

  When the members of South African music group Die Antwoord speak these words, they present themselves as the embodiment of South African culture. In contemporary society, South African culture includes people from countless different ethnic backgrounds. But this has not always been the case.

  It is probably sensible to say that South Africa knew a more peaceful time before colonialism. European countries, specifically the Netherlands, took the country of South Africa under their wing. Not necessarily in the positive sense, but with a rather forceful emphasis on imperialism. In doing this, masses of Dutch people immigrated to South Africa. They packed their bags with clothes, wealth, and feelings of white superiority. When the colonialists arrived in South Africa, these feelings were manifested into the act of simply conquering land that belonged to the country’s first inhabitants (Minty, 2006).

  Clearly, white supremacy and racial segregation are issues that South Africa has dealt with for centuries. Segregation has been argued to support the development of the capitalist system in South Africa, thus perpetuating white economic ideologies that the colonialists brought with them (Dubow, 1989). It is this course of events that lead to the notion of apartheid. Apartheid may also refer to ‘’separate development’’ (Wolpe, 2006, p. 425). The oppressive government implemented apartheid quite literally. African communities were relocated to townships where the police could exercise constant control. (Wolpe, 2006). Gradually, black and white communities were separated altogether. A structure was built in which the white settlers gained full control over the African inhabitants. Ironically, the minority dominated the majority.

  It appears that apartheid challenges the definition of South African culture. The separation of communities may be argued to have created two developmental paths, or rather two histories: that of white people and that of black people. Since colonialism, the history of black people is characterized by resisting white domination (Wakashe, 1986). The opposition between blacks and whites defines the structure of South African culture, and is of central importance to every South African citizen today. (Minty, 2006).

  But what exactly is South African culture? Did South Africa only have its own distinctive culture before European interference? Is it a mixture of cultures, or is it authentic due to its historical path? The remnants of cultural elements that colonialists left behind, including racist ideologies, are omnipresent in South African culture. Not only this, but also the development of ‘’Afrikaans’’ language, similar to Dutch language, makes up a great deal of South African identity. An interesting subject to discuss is where this particular aspect of culture collides with art.

  The Afrikaans music scene has exploded in the last decade. Noticeably, the majority of artists in this music scene are white (Marx & Milton, 2011). This raises complications in defining Afrikaans identities, especially because the Afrikaans music scene speaks to a wider (less whiter) audience in South Africa (Coetzer, 2009). Within the field of whiteness studies, Marx & Milton (2011) find that this challenges the normative stance of whiteness. Whiteness is argued to be the standard that white people use to measure other identities. (Perry, 2001). Or, as Heavner (2007, p. 65) puts it, white identity has been ‘’serving as a marker against which difference is drawn’’. In South Africa, this argument does not necessarily hold. Marx & Milton (2011, p. 723) comment that ‘’white people are acutely aware of their whiteness’’.  They feel responsible for limiting their performance of whiteness. This condition of practicing whiteness unsettles culture: unwritten rules and codes are broken (Hall, 1997).

  In a culture as unsettled as in South Africa, a reconfiguration of white identity is taking place. This is especially evident in the art world, and in this case: the music scene. The negotiation of Afrikaans identity, however, seems contradictory within this scene. Afrikaans commercial music invokes nostalgia and glorifies what it means to be Afrikaans. Alternative music opposes these characteristics, and denounces the apparent stability of Afrikaans identity. In addition, it expresses cynicism with the dominant position of Afrikaans identity (Marx & Milton, 2011).

Die Antwoord belongs to the latter category of alternative Afrikaans music. Die Antwoord is a white music group based in Cape Town, South Africa, and consists of three members: Yo-Landi Vi$$er, Ninja (Watkin Tudor Jones), and DJ Hi-Tek (Jeffries, 2017). They can be categorized into the genres of rap and hip-hop. Typically, these genres are associated with black artists. Black people are socially marked, because they deviate from whiteness, which is considered the norm (Brekhus, 1998). Due to this markedness, black artists find themselves confined within genres. White artists, as the ‘unmarked’, are not explicitly associated with specific genres or styles. But precisely because Die Antwoord performs within typical black genres, they call for a reconfiguration of white (Afrikaans) identity. They appear to do this in an almost parodical way.

Afrikaans bands like Die Antwoord challenge white identity by participating in ‘zef’-culture. They consider ‘zef’ to be the ultimate South African style. ‘Zef’ means being common, and was considered kitsch when the term originated in the 1980s (Marx & Milton, 2011). Nowadays, being ‘zef’ is ascribed with credibility, and according to author and singer Koos Kombuis, ‘’being truly zef takes guts’’ (cited in Fourie, 2010). Yo-Landi explains what it means to her in an interview: ‘’It’s just a style that came out of South Africa. Like, my haircut is zef. And Ninja’s tattoos are zef, and the fact that he wears his underpants, that’s zef’’ (YouTube, 2017). Poplak (cited in Marx & Milton, 2011), associates ‘zef’ with being white trash. White trash is not common in negotiating white identity, so by expressing themselves through this particular ‘zef’-culture, Die Antwoord’s whiteness becomes marked (Marx & Milton, 2011).

  ‘Zef’-culture is clearly visible in the way Yolandi Visser and Ninja strut their style. However, this ‘zef’ identity also presents itself in their music. By employing the encoding/decoding model, music can be read as a text in which artists negotiate their identity (Laubscher, 2005). ‘Zef’ identity is thus reflected in the music that Die Antwoord produces. One of their songs, ‘’Dis iz why I’m hot’’, accurately describes what they represent:

  I'm hot because I'm ZEF, you ain't because you not

  Furthermore, Ninja comments on the omnipresence of racial issues, even outside of the context of South Africa itself:

  When you say South Africa the first things that come to mind

Is, yup, racism apartheid and crime

Fuck a racist, motherfuckers is stuck in '89

But the crime's still wildin' - word to my 9

  In the lyrics above, Ninja discards ideas of racism and criticizes immediate race-related associations with South Africa. Being part of ‘zef’-culture, for Die Antwoord, signifies that South Africa should be treated as one distinctive culture. Their music may be regarded as a social commentary on the complexity of race inequalities. This is also apparent in earlier mentioned lyrics, where he proclaims:

  I represent South African culture

  This is a contradictory statement, because Die Antwoord is negotiating a white Afrikaans identity. How can they then represent an entire culture consisting of so many different identities? Perhaps, representing South African culture is embedded within the act of criticizing traditional white identity. By being so expressively ‘zef’, the members of Die Antwoord mark themselves and challenge the normativity of whiteness (Heavner, 2007).

This negotiation of Afrikaans identity has not always been perceived with positive connotations. Some black critics have argued that Die Antwoord has appropriated styles commonly identified with black music forms (Marx & Milton, 2011). This sparks a debate about the authenticity of ‘zef’-culture, and Die Antwoord’s music positioned within it. According to Peterson (2005), authenticity is a social construct, in which membership of an ethnic group is the only criterion to obtain the right to represent that group. In this vein, black critics have questioned the right of white artists to use rap music in expressing themselves (Marx & Milton, 2011). However, crossing this line may blur existing boundaries between ethnic groups. One may call it appropriation, but adopting other ethnicities’ cultural elements is one step towards forming one distinctive South African culture, which Die Antwoord seems to advocate for. After all, ‘’ethnic groups only persist as significant units if they imply marked difference in behaviour’’ (Barth, 1969, p. 15). Hence, by adopting each other’s behaviour, gaps between ethnic groups are reduced. Whether or not this process is a desirable one is up for discussion, because it does hold implications for the persistence of authentic ethnic cultural heritage.

  Conclusively, how does Die Antwoord represent South African culture? They do not, necessarily. They do represent the construction of white Afrikaans identity and thereby challenge relationships between South African ethnicities. So what is South African culture? As to that, there is no definite answer… But Die Antwoord definitely is controversial.

Bibliography

  Barth, Fredrik. (1969). Ethnic groups and boundaries: The social organization of culture difference. London: Allen & Unwin (‘Introduction’).

  Brekhus, Wayne. (1998). A sociology of the unmarked. Sociological Theory 16 (1): 34-51.

  Coetzer, D. (2009, August 29). Speaking in tongues: Afrikaans artists find mainstream success in South Africa. Billboard.

  Dubow, S. (1989). Racial Segregation and the Origins of Apartheid in South Africa, 1919-36. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan UK.

  Fourie, M. (2010). The dummies’ guide to zef. news24.com. Retrieved October 29, 2017, from

http://www.news24.com/Entertainment/SouthAfrica/The-Dummies-guide-to-Zef-20100216

  Hall, S. (1997). The spectacle of the other. In S. Hall (Ed.), Representation: Cultural

representation and signifying practice (pp. 223-290). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

  Heavner, B.M. (2007). Liminality and normative whiteness: A critical reading of poor white trash. Ohio Communication Journal, 45, 65-80.

  Jeffries, D. (2017). Die Antwoord [Blog post]. Retrieved October 29, 2017, from https://www.allmusic.com/artist/die-antwoord-mn0002454832/biography

  Laubscher, L. (2005). Afrikaner identity and the music of Johannes Kerkorrel. South African Journal of Psychology, 35(2), 308-330.

  Marx, H., & Milton, V. C. (2011). Bastardised whiteness: ‘zef’-culture, Die Antwoord and the reconfiguration of contemporary Afrikaans identities. Social Identities, 17(6), 723-745. doi:10.1080/13504630.2011.606671

  Minty, Z. (2006). Post-apartheid Public Art in Cape Town: Symbolic Reparations and Public Space. Urban Studies, 43(2), 421-440. doi:10.1080/00420980500406728

  Perry, P. (2001). White means never having to say you’re ethnic: White youth and the construction of “cultureless” identities. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 30(1): 56-91.

  Peterson, Richard. (2005). In search for authenticity. Journal of Management Studies 42(5): 1083-1098.

  Wakashe, T. P. (1986). ''Pula'': An Example of Black Protest Theatre in South Africa. The Drama Review: TDR, 30(4), 36-47. doi:10.2307/1145780

  Wolpe, H. (2006). Capitalism and cheap labour-power in South Africa: from segregation to apartheid. Economy & Society, 1(4), 425-456. doi:10.1080/03085147200000023

  YouTube. (2017, September 17). Why Yolandi Visser is a queen in a 10 minute video [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogw-FdnMuUY

‘’Whatever Man’’

  Check it,

I represent South African culture.

In this place you get a lot of different things:

Blacks,

Whites,

Coloured,

English,

Afrikaans,

Xhosa,

Zulu,

watookal.

  I'm like all these different things,

all these different people,

fucked into one person.

  Whatever man.

  When the members of South African music group Die Antwoord speak these words, they present themselves as the embodiment of South African culture. In contemporary society, South African culture includes people from countless different ethnic backgrounds. But this has not always been the case.

            It is probably sensible to say that South Africa knew a more peaceful time before colonialism. European countries, specifically the Netherlands, took the country of South Africa under their wing. Not necessarily in the positive sense, but with a rather forceful emphasis on imperialism. In doing this, masses of Dutch people immigrated to South Africa. They packed their bags with clothes, wealth, and feelings of white superiority. When the colonialists arrived in South Africa, these feelings were manifested into the act of simply conquering land that belonged to the country’s first inhabitants (Minty, 2006).

Clearly, white supremacy and racial segregation are issues that South Africa has dealt with for centuries. Segregation has been argued to support the development of the capitalist system in South Africa, thus perpetuating white economic ideologies that the colonialists brought with them (Dubow, 1989). It is this course of events that lead to the notion of apartheid. Apartheid may also refer to ‘’separate development’’ (Wolpe, 2006, p. 425). The oppressive government implemented apartheid quite literally. African communities were relocated to townships where the police could exercise constant control. (Wolpe, 2006). Gradually, black and white communities were separated altogether. A structure was built in which the white settlers gained full control over the African inhabitants. Ironically, the minority dominated the majority.

              It appears that apartheid challenges the definition of South African culture. The separation of communities may be argued to have created two developmental paths, or rather two histories: that of white people and that of black people. Since colonialism, the history of black people is characterized by resisting white domination (Wakashe, 1986). The opposition between blacks and whites defines the structure of South African culture, and is of central importance to every South African citizen today. (Minty, 2006).

             But what exactly is South African culture? Did South Africa only have its own distinctive culture before European interference? Is it a mixture of cultures, or is it authentic due to its historical path? The remnants of cultural elements that colonialists left behind, including racist ideologies, are omnipresent in South African culture. Not only this, but also the development of ‘’Afrikaans’’ language, similar to Dutch language, makes up a great deal of South African identity. An interesting subject to discuss is where this particular aspect of culture collides with art.

            The Afrikaans music scene has exploded in the last decade. Noticeably, the majority of artists in this music scene are white (Marx & Milton, 2011). This raises complications in defining Afrikaans identities, especially because the Afrikaans music scene speaks to a wider (less whiter) audience in South Africa (Coetzer, 2009). Within the field of whiteness studies, Marx & Milton (2011) find that this challenges the normative stance of whiteness. Whiteness is argued to be the standard that white people use to measure other identities. (Perry, 2001). Or, as Heavner (2007, p. 65) puts it, white identity has been ‘’serving as a marker against which difference is drawn’’. In South Africa, this argument does not necessarily hold. Marx & Milton (2011, p. 723) comment that ‘’white people are acutely aware of their whiteness’’.  They feel responsible for limiting their performance of whiteness. This condition of practicing whiteness unsettles culture: unwritten rules and codes are broken (Hall, 1997).

            In a culture as unsettled as in South Africa, a reconfiguration of white identity is taking place. This is especially evident in the art world, and in this case: the music scene. The negotiation of Afrikaans identity, however, seems contradictory within this scene. Afrikaans commercial music invokes nostalgia and glorifies what it means to be Afrikaans. Alternative music opposes these characteristics, and denounces the apparent stability of Afrikaans identity. In addition, it expresses cynicism with the dominant position of Afrikaans identity (Marx & Milton, 2011).

            Die Antwoord belongs to the latter category of alternative Afrikaans music. Die Antwoord is a white music group based in Cape Town, South Africa, and consists of three members: Yo-Landi Vi$$er, Ninja (Watkin Tudor Jones), and DJ Hi-Tek (Jeffries, 2017). They can be categorized into the genres of rap and hip-hop. Typically, these genres are associated with black artists. Black people are socially marked, because they deviate from whiteness, which is considered the norm (Brekhus, 1998). Due to this markedness, black artists find themselves confined within genres. White artists, as the ‘unmarked’, are not explicitly associated with specific genres or styles. But precisely because Die Antwoord performs within typical black genres, they call for a reconfiguration of white (Afrikaans) identity. They appear to do this in an almost parodical way.

Yo-Landi Vi$$er and Ninja

  Afrikaans bands like Die Antwoord challenge white identity by participating in ‘zef’-culture. They consider ‘zef’ to be the ultimate South African style. ‘Zef’ means being common, and was considered kitsch when the term originated in the 1980s (Marx & Milton, 2011). Nowadays, being ‘zef’ is ascribed with credibility, and according to author and singer Koos Kombuis, ‘’being truly zef takes guts’’ (cited in Fourie, 2010). Yo-Landi explains what it means to her in an interview: ‘’It’s just a style that came out of South Africa. Like, my haircut is zef. And Ninja’s tattoos are zef, and the fact that he wears his underpants, that’s zef’’ (YouTube, 2017). Poplak (cited in Marx & Milton, 2011), associates ‘zef’ with being white trash. White trash is not common in negotiating white identity, so by expressing themselves through this particular ‘zef’-culture, Die Antwoord’s whiteness becomes marked (Marx & Milton, 2011).

‘Zef’-culture is clearly visible in the way Yolandi Visser and Ninja strut their style. However, this ‘zef’ identity also presents itself in their music. By employing the encoding/decoding model, music can be read as a text in which artists negotiate their identity (Laubscher, 2005). ‘Zef’ identity is thus reflected in the music that Die Antwoord produces. One of their songs, ‘’Dis iz why I’m hot’’, accurately describes what they represent:

  I'm hot because I'm ZEF, you ain't because you not

    Furthermore, Ninja comments on the omnipresence of racial issues, even outside of the context of South Africa itself:

  When you say South Africa the first things that come to mind

Is, yup, racism apartheid and crime

Fuck a racist, motherfuckers is stuck in '89

But the crime's still wildin' - word to my 9

  In the lyrics above, Ninja discards ideas of racism and criticizes immediate race-related associations with South Africa. Being part of ‘zef’-culture, for Die Antwoord, signifies that South Africa should be treated as one distinctive culture. Their music may be regarded as a social commentary on the complexity of race inequalities. This is also apparent in earlier mentioned lyrics, where he proclaims:

  I represent South African culture

  This is a contradictory statement, because Die Antwoord is negotiating a white Afrikaans identity. How can they then represent an entire culture consisting of so many different identities? Perhaps, representing South African culture is embedded within the act of criticizing traditional white identity. By being so expressively ‘zef’, the members of Die Antwoord mark themselves and challenge the normativity of whiteness (Heavner, 2007).

            This negotiation of Afrikaans identity has not always been perceived with positive connotations. Some black critics have argued that Die Antwoord has appropriated styles commonly identified with black music forms (Marx & Milton, 2011). This sparks a debate about the authenticity of ‘zef’-culture, and Die Antwoord’s music positioned within it. According to Peterson (2005), authenticity is a social construct, in which membership of an ethnic group is the only criterion to obtain the right to represent that group. In this vein, black critics have questioned the right of white artists to use rap music in expressing themselves (Marx & Milton, 2011). However, crossing this line may blur existing boundaries between ethnic groups. One may call it appropriation, but adopting other ethnicities’ cultural elements is one step towards forming one distinctive South African culture, which Die Antwoord seems to advocate for. After all, ‘’ethnic groups only persist as significant units if they imply marked difference in behaviour’’ (Barth, 1969, p. 15). Hence, by adopting each other’s behaviour, gaps between ethnic groups are reduced. Whether or not this process is a desirable one is up for discussion, because it does hold implications for the persistence of authentic ethnic cultural heritage.

            Conclusively, how does Die Antwoord represent South African culture? They do not, necessarily. They do represent the construction of white Afrikaans identity and thereby challenge relationships between South African ethnicities. So what is South African culture? As to that, there is no definite answer… But Die Antwoord definitely is controversial.

[terramythos]

Review: The Prestige by Christopher Priest

Genre/Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Split Narrative, Unreliable Narrator, Memoir, Journal, Stage Magic, Historical Fiction, Horror

Warning(s): Child death, miscarriage (unrelated), suicidal ideation, self-harm

My Rating: 3/5 (Somewhat Recommended)

**Minor Spoilers Follow** (Unusually long review!)

“I step forward to the footlights, and in the full glare of their light face you directly.

I say ‘Look at my hands. There is nothing concealed within them.’

I hold them up, raising my palms for you to see, spreading my fingers so as to prove nothing is gripped secretly between them. I now perform my last trick, and produce a bunch of faded paper flowers from the hands you know to be empty.” -Alfred Borden

An Aside: The film The Prestige (dir. Christopher Nolan) was based off of this book! The movie is honestly one of my favorites ever and certainly my favorite Nolan film; it’s a concise and harrowing tale of obsession and revenge and how it consumes the two main characters, all wrapped together with a strong cast, interesting twists, and a good nonstandard setting. Definitely my kind of story.

Obviously it’s impossible not to compare the two, and I know some of that will come across in my review. That being said, I strongly believe that adaptations are different for a reason and should be judged on their own merits, so my base review will only cover the book and my impressions of it. You can probably tell, however, that I preferred the film purely from the rating. I will write more about how the two compare near the end. This review is a bit longer than usual for it. 

My Summary: An investigative journalist named Andrew, adopted at a young age, is sent to research a local cult holed up in an abandoned estate owned by the Angier family. In doing so, he meets a woman named Kate Angier, who recognizes him from childhood. It turns out their ancestors, Rupert Angier and Alfred Borden, were two feuding stage magicians in the late 1800s, and the bad blood between the two families has spilled out into modern times. While Andrew doesn’t particularly care about the family that abandoned him, he gets the sense that his long-lost twin is calling out to him from somewhere and compelling him to stay, and he learns the history of the feud.

From there the narrative shifts to a memoir by Alfred Borden which exposits notable facts of his life, including what got him into stage magic and an immense secret which influences everything he does, including how he pulls off his most famous trick, The Transported Man. He also documents an ongoing rivalry between himself and fellow magician Rupert Angier, and the latter’s constant attempts to one-up him, leading to a climactic and uneasy final encounter between the two, with supernatural elements to it.

An interlude narrated by Kate comes in the middle which reveals an Uncomfortable Detail about her childhood and connection to Andrew. Some supernatural stuff is implied.  Then, the story shifts to a narrative from the point of view of Rupert Angier, this time in the form of a journal. Similar to the first half, it goes over Rupert’s life and history, and the circumstances the rivalry between him and Alfred. It documents his attempts to surpass The Transported Man, a trick he obsesses over. It is also noteworthy in that mutual scenes between the two are not the same, implying unreliable narration on part of one or both men. Their rivalry eventually comes to a head.  

The Good:

Features a strong voice. It felt like both halves of the story were solidly rooted in their time period and I never felt “taken out” by the phrasing and language of the two protagonists. It ultimately felt interesting to read.

Parallels between the two halves of the story are interesting and satisfying when they occur. It was interesting to flip back and forth between certain scenes and see what was different between them, and try to piece together who was telling the truth. I haven’t run into many books that do that.

The story is obviously well-researched; Priest has a working knowledge of stage magic and the general economic climate of late-1800s London (and, to my surprise, Colorado history, which I’m familiar with). When the characters describe their acts, it has a lot of depth which makes them come across as convincing professionals.

The core concept itself is really quite interesting; it’s an odd conflict and time period to pick, but it pays off in a lot of ways. The choice to use unreliable narrators in a story about stage magic is brilliant.

Of all things the story reminded me heavily of Frankenstein, particularly the way the book describes the supernatural/science-fictioney elements and how it plays into the lives of both men. I could appreciate the references it dropped.

The choice to do a pure half-and-half split narration was risky, but I think it paid off and ended up more effective than just threading the two stories together in alternating chapters. As I mentioned above, I liked that I had to flip between the two. You take what Borden says in the first half for granted– after all, why lie about it?– but the inconsistencies between him and Angier are an intriguing and come much later. (I’d prefer it if the book DIDN’T mention this directly, but unfortunately…)

The Mediocre:

While I liked the split narrative, having the halves be purely autobiographical or journalistic ultimately bogged the story down. By its nature a journal contains a lot of fluff that doesn’t necessarily connect to the story. It felt like Priest was trying to be “authentic” by including a lot of life details that end up… ultimately irrelevant? It detracted a lot from my experience because I had zero reason to care about those things and they served no purpose to the story.

As a result of the above issue, the events of the story felt episodic and disconnected, not a part of some overarching and connected feud. Especially in a story that relies on subterfuge and deception, things that might seem irrelevant should reflect in a new light as the story progresses. The first half accomplishes this in some ways, but it falls apart in the second half.

It had an annoying tendency to foreshadow a twist, reveal it, backtrack and reveal the twist to be “impossible” then… go back to it? Just kind of an irritating bait and switch, generally. Twists work with this type of story due to the whole stage magic thing but that gimmick completely goes against the attitude of it.

The framing device with the modern characters seems ultimately pointless. The story would have been fine without it. It would also prevent that… ending. See the final point under “The Bad”.

The Bad:

The characterization was lacking. There are a lot of people that come into the story and leave virtually no lasting impression on it, which isn’t a good sign. The big problem here is with this type of story, characters SHOULD be the driving force, and they simply aren’t. I get that the story focuses on the main two, but it shouldn’t be to the exclusion of all else.

And I really hate to say it, but the main characters were not especially interesting. A memoir and a journal by nature have a laser focus on one specific person, and while that was true enough, the characters don’t really change all that much. Both Borden and Angier are self-important assholes. That’s fine. The problem is they stay that way the entire story and refuse to examine themselves or develop in any concrete way until the very last second. Even when a character has a moment of reflection, like “this feud is stupid we should just end it”, something contrived keeps it going and neither character grows or matures from the insight. If this is intentional, it’s a frustrating position to put your reader in.

The conflict ultimately makes no sense. The feud is founded on stupid reasoning, and the way it sustains itself seems unrealistic. Even when a spoiler event happens that gives a character EXCELLENT motivation to push the story along and solidify the feud (possibly justifying this story built, ultimately, on miscommunication), it gets resolved in three pages and then the feud just… continues for no reason? If the feud is intentionally pointless, then play that up more! Show it through the side characters, or the modern framing device, or something. It feels bad otherwise.

I’m just going to say it. The ending is stupid as hell. Just really fucking dumb. Yeah, let’s turn this into a supernatural horror story… randomly? It makes no goddamn sense with the rest of the book. It felt like a joke ending. Nothing really set it up beyond the science fiction elements of some of Tesla’s stuff and even then it went in a way different direction. If the rest of the book had been like that, sure, but it wasn’t.

Final Thoughts: The Prestige is a book that features a fascinating core concept. Rival stage magicians at turn-of-the-century London trying to one-up each other and how they ultimately go too far? Frankenstein style science fiction? Nikola Tesla features prominently? But to me it fell short– it’s the type of book that could be great with a stronger editorial hand clipping out unnecessary fluff and bolstering the characters. The movie accomplishes this! It’s just a shame it couldn’t happen with the… book it’s based on.

That doesn’t mean the book is bad– far from it. It obviously came up with the framework that made one of my favorite films, and I liked seeing connections between the two. Again, I have to stress that it’s well-researched and an interesting idea, and the writing quality is good even if it falls short on storytelling. The idea of having unreliable narration for a story about stage magic is goddamn brilliant and I’m glad the author went for it. I just think he jumped the shark.

A lot of my complaints with the book are solved in the movie adaptation. It’s ironic that a book that has so much more time and space to develop characters falls flat, but the shorter movie version doesn’t. A story about obsession, one-upmanship, and how revenge destroys a person when they go too far should be character-driven and the movie understands this. The feud between Angier and Borden is caused by a stronger and more personal event, and you start off rooting for Angier. However, as the story progresses, Angier’s willingness to go to further and further extremes switches sympathy to Borden. Even more important are the side characters, their arcs, and seeing how they react to each man’s obsessiveness, and how it tears everyone apart on an interpersonal level. It’s raw and it’s structured well; everything is relevant, which makes the twist at the end all the more satisfying. You get a more concise and philosophical story overall, and I feel it’s way more appealing that way. The ending is also much different and much, much less stupid– I cannot stress this enough.

So ultimately I’m glad this book exists because it gives us an excellent story– one that only reaches its full potential in the adaptation. If it weren’t for that egregiously bad ending then maybe it would be a 3.5 (I’d penalize it more based on that but… ehh). You can certainly read it if you want to for the good aspects of it, but you should probably just watch the movie. If you want a story about rivalry gone too far, I’d recommend Vicious by V.E. Schwab or Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, both of which are character-driven with fascinating (and consistent) premises.