#yes this is unpaid propaganda go buy it

[only1bedtrope]

Beyond the bet chat highlights

[millicentthecat]

Why The Last Jedi is a Reactionary Propaganda Film

I've been waiting for my thoughts to coalesce (and for the "spoiler" window to pass) to make a unifying analysis of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.  This is not a position piece on whether you should or should not enjoy the movie.  It is not any kind of call to action.  It is only an analysis on how The Last Jedi works as a propaganda film.  It’s my personal interpretation based on my experience with assembling message.  This post is tagged "tlj critical" and "discourse" in hopes that will assist people in finding or blocking the content they wish to read.

To begin:   

As important as diversity in representation is, so too is balanced programming of message.  Programming message involves building value by presenting the very ideologies and mechanisms which sustain paradigms of injustice.  Will these be established as inescapable, natural, desirable, or effective?  The Last Jedi (TLJ henceforth) promotes integration with these ideologies and mechanisms.  It does not promote Resistance.

There are three central messages repeating in TLJ.  They are:

1. Respect and trust authority figures and institutional hierarchy

2. Girls like guys who Join (the military)

3. It is the work/role of women to be caretakers and educators (for men)

1. Respect and trust authority figures and institutional hierarchy

After The Force Awakens, my understanding of Poe Dameron's character was that he was designed as a classic rogue-individualist pilot--a hotheaded "flyboy," as it were.  This was not the fanon interpretation, which is understandable; The Force Awakens gave us a lot of poetic material to take in different directions.  I felt my interpretation was valid as it was supported by the visual dictionary (which calls Poe a rogue, I believe) and a line in The Force Awakens novelization about how some people are inherently more important than others.

In short, Poe Dameron was an individual who trusted his own instincts more than others and didn't believe in always playing nice.  In TLJ, this manifests in his relationship with a new character: Vice Admiral Holdo.  Now one of the only things we know FOR SURE about Poe Dameron is that he has no problem taking orders from women, respecting a female General, and trusting her experience.  This is demonstrated by his relationship to Leia, who he knows.  Holdo is a stranger who Poe has never met.  She is not just a woman, but an unknown woman.  EVEN SO, Poe is willing to trust her (at first) by sharing his assessment of the situation--essentially, submitting what he knows for her consideration, sharing his thoughts.  She responds to this by withholding information, reminding him of his recent demotion, and calling him names.  She responded to his  gesture of openness and respect with domination and authority.

This is well within her right, as established by both in-universe and our-universe rules of institutional hierarchy.  Poe, however, does not blindly trust authority figures OR institutional hierarchy more than his own instincts.  It's actually pretty unusual for a protagonist in this universe to do that, for reasons.

Later, General Leia reveals to both Poe and the audience that Holdo had information she was not willing to share.  She is strongly moralized as having been "right" about her plan: Poe takes his reprimand from Leia like a boy accepting a scolding.  Holdo is martyred and established as an example of strong leadership.  Her decision to withhold information from her subordinate is never highlighted (by a narrative authority or third party, such as Leia) as a mistake.  In our society, the rules of hierarchy dictate that "superiors" do not have to share what they have with "inferiors" or treat them with respect.  Those with more power are not beholden to those with less.  Poe is reprimanded for challenging that.

I was almost willing to overlook this deliberately moralized messaging as a botched attempt at a feminist moment before encountering the reviews about TLJ.  In general, there are a large number of reviews for this film which insinuate that most of the people who dislike this film are white male bigots, threatened by the presence of women. (a, b , c , d , e , f , g , h) .  This is not my experience.  The other thing many reviews point to is how Feminist this film is (as a selling point.)  It is an eerily unanimous opinion in mainstream, corporate media that Poe mistrusted Holdo because of her femininity--not her behaviors.  On social media where unpaid people are speaking, many young women are challenging this.  The shouting-down of women's opinions by accusing us of misogyny is a separate topic, but I did want to call attention to the discrepancy between the corporate media response and the social media response.  To me this is evidence of a deliberate misdirection.

Another story arc which enforces the position that we should trust authority figures and institutional hierarchy is in the reestablishment of the Jedi Order, via Luke, Yoda's Force Ghost, and, more significantly, Rey.  Now, much has been written (on this blog, and in many more prestigious place and by better known writers.  See Tom Carson's "Jedi Uber Alles," for instance) in the way of criticism of the Jedi.  The child abducting, the mind control, the over-extension of executive powers, the militarized cult status, the extermination of the Sith race, the monopolization of the Force; their crimes go on and on.  Moreover these are not just mistakes the Jedi made--crimes secondary to their nature--but rather these are the very nature of what their institution stood for.  The Jedi are not "the Light."  They are a specific religion with specific, inherently problematic practices and ideologies.

The Last Jedi is literally a movie about how it's ok that there are going to be more Jedi.

Luke's not on board with that, at first.  Master Yoda (from beyond the grave) reasserts the divine right of the Jedi to rule, as badly and indefinitely as they like.  Because even their failure is valuable.  Try try again, one supposes.  Whatever happened to, "there is no try?"  Oh yes, I remember.  The laws of the privileged do not apply to them.  

Last but not least, the character most overtly challenge institutional hierarchy in TLJ is Kylo Ren, when he kills Supreme Leader Snoke.  This move is not specifically negatively moralized (unless you read Kylo as the villain, which I prefer to) but it also very clearly does not result in a positive or progressive change for Kylo.  At the end of the film, he is miserable; his coup changed nothing.

2. Girls like guys who Join (the military)

"It's all a machine, brother," slurs an alcoholic loner-character known as "Don't Join," sometime after dropping the news on us that Good Guys and Bad Guys buy their weapons from the same arms dealer.  His general sense of hopelessness rubs off on Finn, who grows in his story arc from being willing to Unjoin, himself (as a deserter) to throwing himself into a suicide run for the Resistance.  What stops Finn from a kamikaze end is Rose: she saves him.  For the young viewer who agrees with DJ and sees machinery in war and capitalism, this suicide run represents the realistic (and popular trope) outcome of "joining."  War leads to death.  Capitalism leads to death.  Our generation knows this and we ask, as many before have asked, "why should I be a hero?  I'll just end up dead!"

The Last Jedi does what every great work of propaganda targeting young men does.  It gives a reason.  Why be a hero?  Because girls, that's why.

Before this pact is made, however, there needs to be a little softening-of-the-way--a little grooming.  The word "hero" has been deconstructed in the language enough that people know to associate it with self sacrifice.  We are wary of heros.  The Last Jedi substitutes the word "leader" to mean what hero once meant: a person in power whose sacrifices are gratified with moral rightness in the narrative.  This subverts any counter-programming people were able to apply towards "heroic" stories.  Leadership is presented as an inherently positive and desirable quality, linked to selflessness, sacrifice, martyrdom, and rewarded with female attention.

This same re-programming wordplay is employed in Rose Tico's call to action: "not fighting what we hate.  Saving what we love!"  Question: if the behaviors and outcome are the same, does the mental engineering matter?  Is a Rose by any other name still a Rose?

Is war still war if you call it love?

At this point I also want to call attention to the fact that there is AGAIN very little opportunity in this film where to SEE the First Order committing atrocities: abducting kids, repressing a labor uprising, etc etc.  The First Order is never called fascist (nor, if I recall, are they referred to as an actual nation.)  Their politics aren't even alluded to.  I wouldn't go so far as to say that the film implies it doesn't matter which side you join, but I think there's definitely an argument that being involves with one side or the other is lauded more highly than staying neutral.

Worth mentioning: "Girls like guys who Join" is also the message of Luke's story arc.  Both Rey and Leia wanted Luke to rejoin the arena.  Rey even expresses a willingness to get closer to Kylo--while he is acting like a Joiner.  The minute he makes it clear that he wants no part in either side of the conflict (No Jedi, No Sith, no ties to the past, etc) Rey's trust is broken.  She leaves.  Her rejection IMMEDIATELY follows his insistence on leaving tribal war in the past.  It does not correspond with any immediacy to his acts of violence, nor to his stubborn declaration that she "will be the one to turn."

A brief note.  Army enrollment messaging is a necessary and functional part of maintaining an imperial state.  The in-text discourse positions an offensive/insurgent military organization against a defensive military organization, during combat.  "Join up" is therefore an aggressively interventionist and arguably imperialist position.

3. It is the work/role of women to be caretakers and educators (for men)

This is one of the oldest motifs in storytelling, so when I say it's conservative I mean really, really conservative.  Traditional gender roles and traditional family values are just that: extremely traditional.  Many people find comfort in them and are extremely threatened by their breakdown.  For this reason, storytellers are authorized to hand-wave or sexualize an inordinate amount of violence toward women in order to keep paradigms of labor as gendered as possible.

First of all, there are literal feminine-coded creatures on the island of Ahch-to called "caretakers."  These aliens watch over the island and look after the hutts where Luke Skywalker has taken up residence.

Second of all, Holdo's arc with Poe and Rose's arc with Finn are full of nods to the idea that women must teach and lead men.  Men (who are inherently dogs, apparently) will speak over us, desert us, aim guns at us, and otherwise challenge us, and it is our duty to keep them in line.  This is to be expected.  Flyboys will be flyboys.

Third, it is Rey's sacred duty to prepare Luke to return to the arena of battle.  When Luke fails to step into that role, she turns to Kylo Ren.  Rey and Leia both possess Force-related powers.  Both spend most of their time directing these powers to trying to save, protect, or heal male warriors around them.  When they do fight, rather than act themselves as subjects, they punish men who objectify them inappropriately as a corrective measure.

To be fair, Admiral Holdo and Paige Tico both act directly against the enemy.  They also both have close mentor relationships with other women.  However, Paige and Holdo both die in the course of the film.

A final personal note: in my opinion, there are many ways socially problematic and coercive content offers comfort to a population where uncomfortable traditions feel like the only option.  However, this way of life is not the only option, and this media is not comforting to everyone.

[nickyschneiderus]

TSA agents are the latest tool in the government shutdown meme war

Twitter users are tired of federal employees being used as cheap propaganda—while they are ordered to work unpaid through the ongoing government shutdown—and are turning partisan agitprop into a fresh meme to troll lawmakers.

In recent days, prominent lawmakers and individuals on the left and right have been recounting shutdown stories from federal workers they meet in order to sway public opinion or opportunistically smear the opposition. The stories are often inauthentic, too good to be true, insultingly theatrical and emotive parables that fit the narrative of whoever is telling them—which seems to be why so many people are annoyed by them. 

On Tuesday, for example, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) described looking “into the eyes” of a broke but woke TSA agent who told her “don’t stop fighting.”

So hard going through the airport today. I looked into the eyes of our workers who deserve better. A TSA officer said: "Don't stop fighting. Keep it up." I broke down & felt the weight of the responsibility on me. I will never become numb to the human impact. We must end this.

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) January 14, 2019

Another Democrat, Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), had a similar shutdown story.

Flying to Washington yesterday I met a TSA agent working without pay because of shutdown. She is a single mother raising a 15 year-old daughter, & her family is struggling to make ends meet without her paycheck. #ShutdownStories

— Rep. Brad Schneider (@RepSchneider) January 15, 2019

Then, on Wednesday, senior Trump 2020 campaign aide and former 2016 campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson found a few Republican TSA agents on her travels.

According to her tweet, while making her way through Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport security, Pierson happened upon an angelic choir of TSA agents defending the president’s uncompromising stance by blaming the Democrats “in unison.”

Going through TSA Pre

at #DFW and a man in front of me started apologizing to agents (5) for the shutdown chaos and said, “Congress could end this tomorrow.” The agents – nearly in unison – replied, “Yes – but the Democrats are all on a beach in Puerto Rico.”

— Katrina Pierson (@KatrinaPierson) January 16, 2019

Both stories were immediately met with cynicism online. Conservatives were dismissing Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s tale on Tuesday.

pic.twitter.com/iZICtsplJv

— Joel (@Jamisen) January 15, 2019

LOL this didn't happen

— Allen (@raiderbrowns88) January 15, 2019

And liberals definitely weren’t buying Pierson’s story on Wednesday.

Such

https://t.co/kLjBJjGlUS

— Mike Houston (@mikehouston2) January 16, 2019

What was going on became particularly clear to one user.

Choose Your Fighter pic.twitter.com/kzA38MBaPq

— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) January 16, 2019

It was Pierson’s story, however, that sparked the TSA agent meme as Twitter users on both sides of the political aisle took the story format and rewrote in ridiculous ways.

I was at the airport this morning and a TSA agent stopped me and said "Don't listen to the trolls on Twitter…keep those hot food takes coming…you're always right!" I broke down and she hugged me…then we had a burger with no tomato followed by some milk chocolate.

— Yashar Ali

(@yashar) January 16, 2019

On the way back, another TSA agent stopped me.

As she motioned me forward we locked eyes.

She leaned in, and sighed:

“The MCU is trash. Spider-Man isn’t even dead."

— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) January 16, 2019

Going through TSA and I stopped to ask three agents if they were getting paid. They all broke down in tears and began telling me how terrible Trump was. "ORANGE MAN BAD," they said in unison. I gave them a hug and told them it would be okay lol jk none of this happened you idiots

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) January 16, 2019

a TSA agent just stopped me and said “I want to say: your fun facts about Gore Vidal are interesting and you should keep sharing them with whoever will listen” and then she clasped my hand and wept but we weren’t even near an airport I’m honestly not even sure she was a tsa agent

— Alexandra Petri (@petridishes) January 16, 2019

Some Twitter users compared the TSA agent meme to the hipster coffee shop meme backlash faced by conservative Jacob Wohl.

From the hipster coffee shop files https://t.co/sPR36lFhMm

— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) January 16, 2019

Republican strategist Rick Wilson even merged the two.

I was just in a hipster coffee shop where a group of TSA agents who moonlight as Benedectine monks broke out in a Gregorian chant calling on Pelosi to approve 4 trillion dollars for the solid platinum border wall.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 16, 2019

Around 51,000 TSA employees across the country didn’t get paid on Friday, their first lapsed paycheck of the shutdown, a demoralizing new phase in what is now the longest ever government shutdown.

from Ricky Schneiderus Curation https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/tsa-agent-meme/