#how dare you critique the institutions in the Critiquing Institutions movies

[yournewlodger]

I think the self-built criminal empire "drag yourself up by the bootstraps" ification of Oswald Cobblepot is indicative of a larger problem with Batman that refuses to address that hey, maybe billionaire politicians who hoard all the wealth with a refusal to relate to or in any way help the less fortunate, are bad maybe. Like of course the Penguin is a self-made criminal immigrant mob boss, because these days you can only be a Batman villain if you are 1.) Mentally Ill or 2.) An Immigrant. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with characters being immigrants. Before you say "how dare you piss on the poor" please understand I'm talking about intent when you see these characters always presented as villains.

And I'm all for reimagining characters for the modern lens, and I fully understand the inherent problematic nature of a character like The Penguin, and maybe I will be Bobo the Fool when The Penguin (the show) comes out, but I think reframing the Penguin as something out of The Godfather severely misses the point. Not only because never more have I wanted superhero media to critique billionaire criminal politicians running for public office (historically, the Penguin's whole bit), but because we don't need the Penguin to be something out of The Godfather. We have someone for that already. And clearly they know that. Because his name is Carmine Falcone.

I think that this notion that the only crime in Gotham City has to be drugs, prostitution, human trafficking, and domestic terrorism severely misunderstands the inherent whimsical nature of superheroes, and historically the Penguin. I mean we are circlejerking into infinity a self-hatred in superhero media. His name isn't even Oswald Cobblepot anymore. When's the last time the Penguin had an umbrella?

And here's the thing. I like Gotham (2014 - 2019). I do. But that universe at least understood that the Penguin is aesthetically ridiculous. Try as they may to present him as a threat, but he will always be a guy who calls himself Penguin.

I do think this problem started with Batman Returns. I'm not here explicitly to critique that version of the Penguin, but I do think it's where we began to lose the plot. Because once again the Penguin is presented as an underdog, a minority, an outcast. And again I ask you to think about intent when the Penguin is a villain and Batman is not. But that movie had Max Shreck to balance it out. What do we have now?

They are so, so allergic to presenting the rich as villains, because they'd be calling themselves out. Because calling the Penguin what he is, a cartoonish portrayal of a wealthy Gilded Age capitalist who preys on the less fortunate to further and further elevate his own wealth, doesn't align with their messaging, which is "billionaires are so awesome, and more importantly, infallible." The Penguin is meant to be an antithesis to Bruce Wayne, who is also generationally wealthy, but most importantly a philanthropist. Bruce Wayne is supposed to be someone who dedicates all he has to making Gotham City a better place, which also includes helping reform Gotham’s villains. But these days we see a man who more and more seems less like a hero, and more like a Penguin. Because if Bruce Wayne cared about Gotham City, really cared, beating every one of his villains to a pulp, just shy of his "no kill" quota, would be less of his focus. I mean how does a man with near unlimited resources allow institutions like Arkham Asylum to exist, let alone send his bad guys there?

And yeah, I know. The answer is the Batman mythos has turned it into The Good Place. His world is too complicated to do any real good. And yes, I know, it mirrors our world too. But why is it that the people who are pointing out that corruption, these We Live In A Society types, the villains? Why are they always the one presented as "insane" for pointing out what's right in front of them? And when's the last time Bruce Wayne did charity work, anyway? Tell me, who are we supposed to be rooting for in the end?

Anyway, the summary is this: The Penguin isn't a Capitalist anymore. The Penguin isn't even a Cobblepot anymore. Who is he? Because he isn't the Fine Feathered Fink I know. And we all know why. And personally, I'm sick of it.

[wlwanakin]

star wars fandom is awesome because you can say something like “a militarized religious institution having child soldiers is bad” and you’ll actually have people try to be like “UM ACTUALLY”

[morethanonepage]

☕ + anything you're feeling salty about 👀

i think a lot of sequels and just fandom content lately has a kind of....narrative revisionism that's very knee-jerk and basic and comes back around to reactionary imo.

like -- i do get the impulse. often i even agree with the impulse!! when the only queer coded or textually queer characters in a narrative are villains, it's very easy to be like, well what if THEY'RE not the villain, the HERO of that narrative is ACTUALLY the villain, and the hero is actually OPPRESSING the villain. you see this a lot with disney hot takes -- Ursula didn't do anything wrong, Scar maybe had a point, etc, etc. I think most of those are fairly harmless (lack of understanding of tortious interference w/r/t Ursula aside).

and sometimes this is can be done well, even beyond queer coded narratives, by really going AFTER what society usually considers a HERO and whether their traits are actually that heroic -- GDT did this explicitly with Michael Shannon's character in The Shape of Water, where he took what would've been the main protagonist in the 60s movies it's based on (upstanding straight white family man w kids and a beautiful wife at home, an apparently very successful government agent) and makes him the antagonist to the marginalized characters that we're rooting for. Not to be cheesy but that's real #Commentary, on society, on the way White Men have been treated as de facto heroes for doing very unheroic things like y'know. Imperialism and the founding & upholding of racist/sexist/homophobic/ableist institutions.

So that's narrative revisionism done well. (see also, loathe as i am to praise star wars on anything, how they're doing all they can to ruin Boba Fett for the portion of fandom that was alllll about idolizing a cool (presumed white) bounty hunter dude.)

But then you have like -- Cobra Kai. Where in the process of trying to broaden the scope of the Karate Kid movies and tell the story from the bully's POV, the show seems to have (unintentionally or not) convinced a BUNCH of people that Daniel Larusso is and was California's Greatest Monster for, idk, fighting back and getting a little mouthy toward a bunch of kids who were older, bigger, and stronger than him. All of which is kicked off by him defending a girl who was single at the time and flirting with him. Like this idea about the "illegal crane kick" (you see other people in that tournament kick their opponents in the face, it's either not illegal or it's not exclusive to Daniel who ~thinks the rules don't apply to him~ or w/e) seems like something that came from fanboys who saw themselves more in the Cobra Kai badasses (how DARE daniel come in and win against these HIGHLY TRAINED fighters when all he did was fuck around w a random japanese man for a few weeks!!! THEY DESERVED IT MORE!!!).

but the villains (or at least, antagonists) of TKK were chosen VERY intentionally: a white vietnam war veteran. a bunch of big, blond, preppy boys. like it's ABOUT the unjustified force!! it's ABOUT the violence inherent in privilege!!! it's ABOUT the othering and mistreatment of people with the most MINOR of deviations (i mean Daniel is white Italian, but the mere fact that he's smaller and like A LITTLE darker than the most popular his preppy California school mates marks him instantly as an outsider & therefore weak and vulnerable). like these are all highly specific critiques of 80s culture and politics, and esp pointed for being in a karate movie of all things.

so going into cobra kai w the presumption of, 'well the cobras worked hard and deserved to win and were kids and didn't do anything that bad really after all daniel fought back and mouthed off to JOHNNY despite the truce and and--' kind of defeats the point? like being revisionist toward a villain who's a villain for their white privilege is.....like coming out Beauty and the Beast going like, that Gaston had some points tho, the Beast WAS kinda rude!!!!

which to be sure is probably disney's next live action reboot plot but like. come on.

[weirdcanucks]

For Today’s feature film, we look at Damon Kwame Mason’s documentary Soul On Ice: Past, Present, and Future. For anyone who does not know Canada’s history of black hockey leagues in Canada and the contributions that these leagues made to the game played today, this is a necessary viewing. We also look at some critique towards this movie: why this film is a missed opportunity to foster a meaningful dialogue about racism in hockey.

Synopsis

Soul On Ice: Past, Present, and Future presents the virtually unknown contributions of black athletes in ice hockey and the exploits of athletes who dared to stand out and dared to make the sport their own.

Where to stream

CBC Gem if you are in Canada

Keep Reading for

Excerpts from Brett Pardy's review: Soul on Ice: Racism and an Opportunity Missed

Unpacking Racism and Resilience in Canadian Hockey

✏️ Soul on Ice: Racism and an Opportunity Missed

With this discourse on how it’s solely up to black players to prove themselves and make the NHL, it’s unsurprising the NHL has embraced the film as a staple of this year's HIFE celebrations. It fits the League’s message that anyone is accepted if they play the game a certain way (*ahem* the white way). The cost of hockey is overlooked as a potential barrier, and, as an audience member pointed out, so too is the lack of black coaches and black female players.

Admittedly, an hour and a half documentary cannot tell the full story of oppression in North American hockey, but as Richard Gruneau has argued, media production is “always the result of a complex process of selection: what items to report, what to leave out, what to reply, and what to downplay.” Soul on Ice seems like it missed a great opportunity to foster a meaningful dialogue about racism in hockey and how it has adjusted with the times. Mason stated outright that he chose to exclude the “quitters” in his narrative and that is certainly his right; however, as a result:

A false dichotomy is created between those who “succumb” to racism and those who “overcome” it, which nullifies non-participation as a form of resistance and/or participation as being complicit in the system of oppression

This partial truth performs an erasure of hurdles that exist for some hockey players and not all.  Not all players are “victims of circumstance” because the circumstances for players are not equal. Racism makes certain people more susceptible to victimhood. This reality may make for an “unsavoury” film that would likely not receive NHL support but as Angela Davis asserts, “I have a hard time accepting diversity as a synonym for justice. Diversity is a corporate strategy. It’s a strategy designed to ensure that the institution functions in the same way, except now that you have some brown and black faces.” In other words, the League’s stamp of approval on this film is proof of a partial truth that serves as an alibi against claims of institutional discrimination. This is what happens when we choose to talk about “race” instead of racism.

⏪ Our previous post on Racism and Resilience in Canadian Hockey

[whiterosebrian]

Insights from the Frankfurt School

If you’ve hopped around the World Wide Web, you might have seen the phrases “Cultural Marxism”, “Frankfurt School”, and “Political Correctness” within a few flame-wars or screeds. For those of you who are unfamiliar with those phrases, so-called Cultural Marxism is a conspiracy theory about Communist intellectuals from the Frankfurt School taking over cultural and civic institutions in order to corrupt and erode Traditional Western White Patriarchal Christian Culture through means of Political Correctness in order to take over the planet. In truth, the Frankfurt School was simply a grouping of intellectuals who studied contemporary culture and politics from a certain left-leaning perspective. Because they were mostly Jews who fled from Hitler’s regime for obvious reasons, the phrase “Cultural Marxism” is often used to demonize the Jewish people (and other vulnerable people).

I recently found a video from the School of Life channel on YouTube giving a profile of one of the most prominent intellectuals of the Frankfurt School, Theodor Adorno. I will cite that video extensively. As cursory as it might be, it gives a more realistic and less paranoid overview of the sorts of theories that the Frankfurt School promoted. As a matter of fact, it gave me much to think about as a beginning writer and illustrator, which is why I ultimately decided to compose and publicly post this text.

Theodor Adorno is probably best known for known for psychological research attempting to find the roots of the kind of regime that he fled. He conceived a test to find signs of an authoritarian personality as well as how capitalist societies can devolve into fascist regimes. Indeed, during a time when so many of our contemporaries question the hyper-capitalist system, Adorno’s thoughts are at least worth a look and some serious pondering. However devoutly Marxist he may have been, he surely wasn’t a mustache-twirling hook-nosed devil-worshipping conspirator!

He shared his own thoughts about leisure under capitalism. He had an ideal of leisure not as a mere escape from daily life but as a chance to grow one’s mind and heart, learn about humanity and the world, and find a means to rebuild society. He railed against a “culture industry” that kept people distracted, disoriented, and compliant. He believed that capitalist culture fed people desires for consumer goods in order to make them forget their deeper wants and needs, even to the point of making them depressed. A man who described Walt Disney as “the most dangerous man in America” is not likely to weaponize cheesy cartoons to turn children into Bolsheviks. That’s a rather melodramatic statement about Walt in my opinion. In an earlier stage in his career, he did attempt to make film animation into a noble artform, only to lose interest after seeing a few movies perform poorly and having to make wartime propaganda to keep his studio afloat. One can certainly argue along with many others, though, that the famously near-monopolistic present-day Disney Company does engage in the kind of soulless money-making that Adorno describes.

Let me say one more thing about capitalism. Arguments for a radical economic reformation are not confined to avowed social progressivists, much less communistic communists. Pope Benedict, even for his reputation as a staunch conservative (and I do plan to offer an in-depth reflection on the recent popes at a suitable time), has heavily criticized hyper-capitalist ideology and has suggested social democracy, or “socialism”, as a means to support people, foster harmony in society, and safeguard the very planet. Pope Francis has built on that very same rhetoric. (At this moment I don’t feel like I can say much about the current reports on the Church in the States.) On a side note, in one of his encyclicals Benedict actually compliments Karl Marx’s thought process and analysis of the capitalist system, even if he disagrees with the conclusions.

There are folks who critique the theories of Adorno and others in the Frankfurt School (in a fair and responsible way) but nonetheless still find much truth. I too find truth in Adorno’s thought. In addition to serious questions about capitalism and its effect on society, I have pondered my responsibility as a beginning writer and illustrator. For years I have believed that I have a duty to eventually create beautiful, lasting works of art. After experiencing the kind of hard work I’ve put myself through simply to create half-decent illustrations and continually refine my techniques, I’ve come to believe that my efforts should be directed towards noble ends.

I wish I knew how to better write these kinds of messages without possibly sounding snobbish. I’ve observed terrible snobbishness from rightists who sneer at ordinary modern humans and their leisure. Sometimes they brand such people as “bugmen”. There is, in fact, beauty and truth to be seen in contemporary popular culture along with banality, stupidity, or trash. I dare not deny that. I will not brand an ordinary modern human as some kind of insectoid vermin. I’ve committed to viewing ordinary people as children of God and their world as a place where God is present.

The simple fact is that I have come to see a mission on this earth, implanted in my soul by God. I don’t intend to aim for simple escapism or amusement. I aim to show real humanity and real life, even whenever I bring in any fantastical elements. I aim to bring deep truth and beauty into people’s lives. I hope that my comics will become genuine works of graphic literature. Even if I were to make, say, a videogame or a tabletop game or a Simpsons-style cartoon, I’d still want to offer an emotional and thoughtful experience. The ultimate point of my talk about the Frankfurt School is that the aforementioned profile of Theodor Adorno further reinforced a sense of a purpose of my time on this earth.

I also offer these words for your own reflection. Don’t let Nazis and reactionaries mislead you with cynical anti-corporate rhetoric that disguises anti-Semitism, but ponder how you spend the bulk of your leisure time and how you can spend money and use goods without falling into consumerism. Think about whether you can do anything to make a difference in the culture, or at least in the lives of those around you.

[neonlustmusic]

Our First Review of a Review: Pitchfork’s Review of LATEST HEALTH album gets 0.0

Review of a Review: Pitchfork’s Review of Latest Health Album Gets 0.0

On  February 11, 2019, Pitchfork.com published sasha geffen’s review of the new Health album,  VOL. 4:: SLAVES OF FEAR, which is another example of the tone-deaf-ness of many of the website’s reviewers, and the website’s general unfriendliness and ornery policies. This particularly bellicose article BEGS to be brought to task, so it has the unique privilege of serving as our very first “Review of a Review,” which we have given a 0.0.

I am first of all startled by the ignorance and, I’ll just say it, hatefulness of this review. The review itself seems very un-necessary. Again, I find myself circling to the point where music journalism cancels itself out: what really is the point of publishing a bad review? And further, who approved this review? Who hired this author? What are her credentials? Does she play an instrument? Has she ever been in a successful band? Is she not getting laid? Why is she so hostile? What could possibly explain the venom this author espoused? Another point where music journalism finds itself at a Scylla and Charybdis moment: how do we fairly review a new release? Don’t we need to spend more time with a release? Are all of Pitchfork’s harsh reviews just based on snap judgments and first impressions? Additionally, are the authors assigned to review works generally fans of the artist/genre? There obviously is the potential for biases and conflicts of interests. All of the above could explain the 3.4 that sasha gave to this excellent release, which is only one of the problems NLP had with this review.

The article seems to contradict all of the journalistic principals that we hold here at Neon Lust Productions. It is unfortunate that this review and author is bringing out the worst in us, but when others lack decorum, we don’t have to return it. We will not turn the other cheek, and neither should the band HEALTH, after this disrespectful and repugnant review. Like Nicki Minaj who recently cancelled her BET Festival performance after a diss-tweet, so HEALTH should refuse to participate in any Pitchfork events until some explanation is given for this review. Aside from the usual snobbery and harshness that Pitchfork generally has practiced since day one, this article reaches a new low, it gets personal, and it fails to fulfill any purpose except perhaps the author’s deadline. I’m not even going to get into the article’s organization because I feel like we could spend enough time simply critiquing the problematic statements coming out of geffen’s mouth.

Like all problematic attempts to discuss a work, this review begins with reference to past Health releases, and begins with the basic premise that the band will not be the same since departure of a founding member. It’s definitely a problem when a reviewer doesn’t meet a work on its own terms but rather arrives with a set of preconceptions and expectations; in other words, prejudice. Immediately, geffen’s ignorance rises to the surface here. Without knowing anything about her, I wonder if she has ever written a song or been in a band? I wonder if she has any deep understanding of the difficulties and dynamics of being in a band? And if she has specific insight into the workings of this particular band, if she can speak to the levels of input each member made? I also wonder if, as someone with obvious gender/sex fluidity, and flaming androgyny, why she would be so obsessed with fixed, stable identities. Many bands shed skin after a member leaves, or focus on different aspects of their sound after a reconfiguration. Most bands we know and love have experienced lineup changes; however, too bad for Health, in geffen’s eyes, SLAVES OF FEAR never had a chance to be a good album.

Geffen goes on to say that SLAVES OF FEAR “loses [the] thematic and musical density packed into the first three albums…Gone are the complex, ferocious rattles of percussion.”  In response, I say two things: did you even listen to the album? This album is very dense. The themes are there. And the complex ferocious percussion is gone, but in its place we have these pulsating movie soundtrack drums. The band has evolved. That’s what artists are supposed to do. I wonder if geffen has evolved beyond knowing how to play a C-major on an acoustic guitar. Of course, these are offensive and hostile assumptions I am making, but they are same kind that geffen dished out.

Later in the review she says, the “singer sounds clouded and dulled, like the record’s pervasive, muddy low end is dragging him down.”  I am left with my jaw on the floor. Obviously she doesn’t like the album, but she offers no neutral explication of the album. This review is too personal and biased. It seems like Pitchfork is flirting with becoming the FOX NEWS of music journalism for its obvious bent and skewered POV. Further the review is as negative and wallowing as the author claims of the album. The singer is not cloudy and dulled (if that’s even the accurate description) (I would say “hazy”) but nevertheless, it’s the same style on ALL three previous albums. Additionally, she complains that HEALTH once had “lithe, multifaceted songs that wrapped daring pop melodies in bristling noise.” Um, are we talking about the same Health? I never heard “lithe” (graceful, supple) Health songs. How can geffen simultaneously complain that the band is no longer ferocious AND no longer lithe. The review and author are paradoxical, confused, possibly high on drugs. This is not a sober, straight-faced, honest review that meets the work on its own terms to discuss its merits, technique, etc. I am interested in seeing geffen’s rubric for writing a review, or Pitchfork’s, if they even have one. Or do the writers get one day with an album and fart out words? I’m using fart, as distasteful as that metaphor is, because geffen herself used it.

In another part of the review geffen says, “distorted power chords abound throughout Slaves of Fear, but they tend to come in ones and twos, not progressions. ‘Feel Nothing’ breaks up its vocal segments with a chugging fart of a guitar riff, the kind you’d hear choked out of a flying V and a practice amp at Guitar Center.” The above sentences are deeply problematic, and I am very concerned that a person who writes like this is actually getting paid to write for a respectable internet magazine. These sentences are empty (again like geffen says about SOF), offensive, childish, ignorant. SO MANY ADJECTIVES. A BIG WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS PERSON. First question: does she even play guitar? Why is she so ornery? What is her deal? What is this about distorted power chords in ones and twos? What does that mean? Like Donald himself, our 45th “president”, whenever he speaks about anything, this review fails to explain herself and only deals in empty banalities and nonsense. Also like Donald’s speeches, this review rambles on and on, without any direction, sprinkled with horrific phrases. Additionally, why the hate on flying V’s. What kind of music does this person listen to? For someone who speaks from such a high horse, with such supposed knowledge about heavy music, how could she be so ignorant and unfriendly to the guitar communities and learners who go to Guitar Center. When was the last time she was in one? What a terrible, terrible metaphor.

But the shit tempest that geffen conjured does not end there. Her filthy review goes on to say, “I suspect the song got stuck with the name “Feel Nothing” because there’s already a  nu-metal track called “Numb,” and while this isn’t the place to discuss the relative merits of Linkin Park, their take on a the time-honored tradition of freezing away existential pain at least came with four whole chords and a hook.”

Another WTF moment from Pulitzer-winning and shit-grinning geffen. It looks like in her twitter profile pic she’s staring into a mirror. I hope she takes a long-hard look and thinks about her life. Now she’s criticizing HEALTH for not writing a nu-metal anthem, and comparing them to LInkin Park? Did this article even get edited? Who let this shit fly? It’s literally shit. I hope geffen sorts out her life, texts her parents, and maybe takes a walk. Anything. Please. Consider getting therapy. You are not ok.

Later, geffen says, “so little happens musically on Slaves of Fear that the ear tends to fall on what Duzsik is actually singing, which is scrambled magnetic teen poetry.” What do you mean so little happens? Aren’t as a review you are supposed to consult interviews, other press about the release, to get insight into the artist intentions and background? There is a lot going on. Open your ears. The record is massive. The band put a lot of work into it; look into the interviews they gave regarding SOF. Did you even research who worked on the album or where it was made? Or HOW it was made? Things people seek in a review. And by the way, if you want to call it “scrambled magnetic teen poetry” (which I don’t understand), it’s still nevertheless better written than your miserable review, sasha.

Later, the article complains that the band are “too miserable”, saying “Loss Deluxe” is stuttering, hollow. And that “the band seems content to throw up their hands and just die. Slaves of Fear forgoes riffs and instead just wallows. This shit does not shred.” I disagree, the band does shred. It’s harsh as fuck. Moreover, there is nothing wrong with wallowing and being miserable. If you are so miserable yourself, sasha, why deprive others of accessing that same joyless joy that sustains you?

At the tail end of this difficult review, sasha makes a simple-minded complaint about the band using Slaves in the title, and says something opaque about the connection to the institution of slavery. How dumb do you have to be to actually think that that’s a legitimate concern, or that the band actually intended that connection to be made. Sasha so desperately needs something to say that she is now policing language. This writer is just as lazy and incompetent.  She later complains that the record is not more hopeful and positive enough. In a way, I’m thankful for her review because I’ve never had an opportunity to do this kind of review, and sasha was such an easy target, literally asking for it, to be brought down into the mud herself.

This review is the perfect example of uneducated and unqualified writers who hold the careers of artists in their hands and are irresponsible with this unique privilege. Geffen’s review didn’t need to be written, Pitchfork didn’t need to publish this hate. Everyone here looks bad. Least of all the band, however, who will continue making excellent albums in spite of this. Clearly sasha was not the intended audience, and for some reason, she took it personal, reaching very far into the depths of her confused soul to tarnish her own reputation for whatever reason.

I urge Pitchfork to take a professional look at itself and review its policies on the issues we’ve outlined here.  Please stop publishing this bullshit.

Original article: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/health-vol-4-slaves-of-fear/ 

[ladykeane]

...they either want to make John [Watson] into a sort of cute little toy, or me into a cute toy, or we’re fucking in space on a bed, chained together.” Cumberbatch is referring to the rapacious slash fiction community that has turned his chilly, acerbic, and distinctly asexual Sherlock into a lustful cock monster. “It’s always, like, one of them is tired, one comes back from work, the other is horny, a lump appears in his trousers, and then they’re at it,” he says. “It’s usually me getting it — I’m biting Watson’s dog tags.” Perhaps, I suggest, making Holmes and Watson gay is a way to remove other women from the picture. “Yes, yes,” he replies enthusiastically. “I think it’s about burgeoning sexuality in adolescence, because you don’t necessarily know how to operate that. And I think it’s a way of neutralizing the threat, so this person is sort of removed from them as somebody who could break their heart.”

http://www.out.com/entertainment/movies/2014/10/14/sherlock-star-benedict-cumberbatch-poised-make-alan-turing-his-own-imitation-game

This really, really bothers me. The bulk of this interview addresses the nature of celebrity and LGBT+ experiences, particularly to do with academic institutions. For the most part it’s pretty interesting. But Christ, even OUT magazine has to take the heterogeneous and layered experience of young artists creating slash fiction & art and reduce it to a sordid and infantile caricature of itself.

My guess is because not only is slash an LGBT+ experience, but one largely participated in by younger women and non-binary people, and most importantly an experience of social media and on-line communities, that it somehow takes away its importance as a vehicle for self-expression and validation in a community of like minds. It makes slash an easy target for smarmy journalists looking to make themselves seem insightful by taking an easy pot shot. If the journalist who wrote this had dared to insert the word ‘millenials’ anywhere in this article I swear I would currently be hunting him down to punch him in the nose. Why is this creative endeavour somehow less sacred and more justifiable to bully people over than wealthy white cis boys experimenting in boarding schools?

I suppose the semi-public sharing of sexually explicit content encourages people to reflexively get on a puritanical high horse: ‘Porn is bad and sinful and you should feel bad about it’. Except the worst aspects of mainstream commerical porn are its commodification and commercialisation of human sexuality, at its core it is ultimately something very cookie-cutter, anti-humanistic and cynical. Even the smuttiest, kinkiest fanworks do not fall under this - they are sincere and organic, and are not focused on the acquisition of profit.

Other fans have said this before - if we wanted to simply watch two men fuck meaninglessly, all we would need is to enter a few simple search words into Redtube or Pornhub to come up with millions of results. The core essence of slash has never been about that. How irksome that a publication like OUT should reduce this particular permutation of gay love down to *insert sleazy voice here* animalistic SEX. This is something I have heard many LGBT+ activists lament and accuse heterosexual culture of doing. As if love (and artistic endeavour) had nothing to do with it. One thing I have noticed when older males cite slash in mainstream media (see Stephen Colbert and Graham Norton for other instances), they always seek out the smuttiest examples they can possibly show, providing audiences with an incomplete, out-of-context snapshot of this art form and its communities. Have you ever seen them highlight a story or piece of art that focuses primarily on the romance, the intimacy, the sense of validation and belonging that is so often featured in these works?

I don’t blame Benedict, he has his own obligations in working on Sherlock and therefore can’t really afford to delve too deeply into the fandom or its culture when he has to focus on getting the show made. It’s the journalist who was directing the conversation, responsible for its tone and material, and also responsible for researching the topics covered. It’s really a shame because the rest of the article is quite sensitive and nuanced in its approach. I suppose it’s just one instance of the larger systemic problem that young + queer + female/nb + online community = pariah who deserves to be caricatured and scorned. These kinds of harsh reprimands and critiques should be leveled at those with power and influence, not those with none.

I really don’t appreciate having to bear this kind of derision in the light of everything that has happened recently, both within fandoms and without. 

@outofficial

[kartiavelino]

Allowing Black Kids To Enjoy Nice Things

Taking my youngsters to see Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a no brainer. My son is a highschool junior with a robust curiosity in graphic arts and animation. My daughter is a dancer and self-professed B-girl who’s equally considering drawing and takes pc coding electives. Bookending a yr that started with the Afro-futuristic excellence of Black Panther with a visually gorgeous, five-fingered serving to of New York-centered heroism was a straightforward alternative. RELATED: Black Panther’s M’Baku Is The ‘Reelest’ Man Of 2018 So, after I first screened Into the Spider-Verse for work and was launched to not simply Miles Morales, the Afro-Latino honor scholar from Brooklyn, however the ballerina-turned-hero, Spider Gwen, and robotic pilot Peni Parker, my resolve to make this movie a household outing was cemented. From the primary beat I knew that my instincts have been spot on. My daughter bobbed her head alongside to the hip-hop rating and pantomimed DJ scratches all through. We spent the subsequent two hours laughing on the gags, marveling on the animation and whispering concerning the loving however stern relationship between Miles, his dad and mom and his uncle. The film was a success with them, because it was with most youngsters judging by $100 million+ home gross. Whereas no movie is ideal, I’ve seen some critiques of Into the Spider-Verse that discover “challenges” for folks of Black youngsters seeing this movie. One from The Washington Put up, “Into the Spider-Verse diversifies the Multiverse, presents a brand new problem for black dad and mom,” makes an attempt to unpack the privilege our youngsters have rising up in a time the place movies like Black Panther and Spider-Verse are their actuality—one thing I addressed in a Tweet of my very own—however as issues go, it’s a good one to have. It’s vital to make our kids conscious of the struggles that made the issues they now take pleasure in attainable, however we will’t rob them of that pleasure within the course of. Making a life that shields our kids from racism whereas making them conscious of its historical past is a continuing push-pull for folks of Black youngsters. This Christmas I had an ungainly second when James Brown’s “Santa Claus Come Straight to the Ghetto” began to play on the Soulful Christmas playlist and my youngest requested with all sincerity, “Daddy, what’s a ghetto?” How do you reply that throughout the context of the tune with out perpetuating the stereotype that “Black” equals “ghetto”? That’s one other piece for one more time, however protected to say I’m delicate to the plight of the creator, however I don’t agree that Spider-Verse ought to bear the load of explaining institutional racism and it seems like, regardless of all of its inclusion, the movie is being penalized for daring to bloom on this nation’s tainted soil.  The piece I take extra situation with ran within the New York Instances, “A Father Confronts His ‘Spider-Verse’ Drawback,” the place the creator took us by means of the priority he had after seeing the movie along with his youngsters.  “Miles Morales, the primary Afro-Latino Spider-Man, was the main target for the primary half of the movie, however, thereafter, he turned a Spider-Man amongst Spider-Males. He was not the main target, and that places me in a tricky place as a father of younger youngsters.” He goes on to sight the racist portrayals in movies like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and the historic erasure in Pocahontas as examples of movies focused at youngsters that he took situation with. It was straightforward to take these movies away from his youngsters as a result of they have been 1) unhealthy and a pair of) of no curiosity to his youngsters. However Spider-Verse posed an issue as a result of—gasp—his youngsters truly favored it, as did he. I learn by means of the article looking for extra flaws that he wished to deal with however discovered none. Miles not being the only focus was it, which makes me query why being a part of a staff was deemed a flaw.  For arguments sake, if he took Miles being joined by the opposite Spider-Folks (Spider Ham and Spider-Man Noir spherical out the quintet) as a flaw, it pales compared to the examples he posited in Pocahontas, Transformers and different problematic movies he was allowed to take pleasure in as a toddler, like Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. It’s short-sided at finest and harmful at worst to equate the racial insensitivity and xenophobia of the aforementioned movies with something Miles Morales experiences in Spider-Verse. He’s an clever, awkward, self-aware, biracial teen rising up in NYC surrounded by a loving household who needs to see him excel. It is the imagery that ought to thrill any comedian ebook loving cinephile who suffered by means of well-meaning however subpar fare like Clean Man and Meteorman. There may be hardly ever a second on display screen the place Miles Morales is not current, and, by the ultimate act, there is no such thing as a query about who’s the hero of this movie. Moreover, the truth that Miles has the chance to satisfy different particular individuals like him of various genders, ethnicities and ages ought to be celebrated, not seen as an issue. For Black youngsters particularly, rising up on this world would require cooperating with like-minded residents from across the globe. We’re aware of seeing Miles develop into his powers each along with his adopted household and on his personal. If Thor and Captain America can profit from an ensemble forged of heroes (in Civil Struggle and Ragnarok respectively), why cannot Miles Morales? Lastly, as a mum or dad of Black youngsters attending the same college to Miles with only a few classmates who appear to be them, I used to be relieved to see their problem in constructing a tribe mirrored on display screen. No youngster ought to be requested to face the challenges of this world alone, even one with superpowers. http://feeds.bet.com/~r/Betcom-Celebrities/~3/1d8Ak7ZFQOA/spider-verse-movie-parents-op-ed.html The post Allowing Black Kids To Enjoy Nice Things appeared first on My style by Kartia. https://www.kartiavelino.com/2019/01/allowing-black-kids-to-enjoy-nice-things.html

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