Disqus - Latest Comments for robobt

Re: The racial empathy gap

robobt — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 14:18:12 -0000

I think that's what people self-report to justify their responses. But it's not a huge leap to say that those two things are pretty closely connected. I could say that I punch a punching bag instead of a person, at least in part, because I don't think the punching bag is being hurt by it. It makes it less wrong to do more horrible things to x, and to sit back and allow more horrible things to happen to x, to believe that x will be less affected by them. That's a scary and depressing thought. And especially when it's internalized.

Re: Mistakes, Huh?: Watching Orange is the New Black

robobt — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 14:14:41 -0000

See, I had the same reaction to the first episode. It seemed to me that the show was following the innocent white "mistake" arc. But I heard everyone talking about how amazing it is, and about Laverne Cox's sort-of glass ceiling breaking, and how after the 5th episode it *really* gets going, and yadda yadda. Still haven't taken a second look yet, but I'll probably have to make time for it.

Re: Open Thread — True Blood 6.8: “Dead Meat”

robobt — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 16:56:27 -0000

Oof, I don't know how much more I can take of TB. I'm trying really hard to still like it but the writing seems to be getting progressively worse (it's gone from campy and enjoyably trashy to straight-up terrible soap opera in some scenes -- Sarah talking the the mayor's head, or Sookie and Warlow's fairyland sexy times, even Jessica's whole scene with James made me roll my eyes). Eric and Pam seem like the only peops who get good one-liners anymore...sometimes Jason.

I can forgive most things that frustrate me about the show, but the thing that's really bugging me is Lafayette's complete transformation into Mammy. Ever since Jesus died (for no good reason at all...granted, just like [insert character name here]), La has steadily lost all human dimension and been reduced to a super-offensive caricature. I think it's been discussed here before but it's just getting worse. Anyone else bothered by that? Or does anyone disagree? I used to LOVE Lafayette, and now I don't even get what his role is anymore.

Re: Laverne Cox discusses her role in “Orange is the New Black”

robobt — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 09:28:42 -0000

"You play a white straight man in this show, so, as a white straight man, how close to home is your character?" In seriousness, it's awesome that this happened, and small victories yay. It's just frustrating to see an entire life reduced to TRANS. The interviewer says Cox has a "truly remarkable" story, and I'm sure she does. I'd love to have heard a little bit of it. I mean, ok, it's Showbiz, I get it. Maybe I just haven't watched enough daytime-type television lately so my threshold for dumbed-down interviews is low.

Also, hmmm, I may have to revisit this show. I started the first episode and I got annoyed by what looked like another take on the insanely fucked-up realworld carceral state from the angle of 'sweet innocent white person went to jail - NO FAIR'. Also, 'her manipulative lesbian ex-lover made her do it' seemed problematic. So...the show's good?

Re: Missing In Lawndale: The Daria Spoof Trailer’s Near-Total Whitewashing

robobt — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 09:07:04 -0000

Good points. I thought about Brooks too. I also think Tyrin Turner, looking amazing 20 years after Menace, has the look but I don't know about his range, if we're getting serious. Jamie Foxx has that Mack chin, but he's probably past the point of playing 30.

Re: Missing In Lawndale: The Daria Spoof Trailer’s Near-Total Whitewashing

robobt — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 10:34:04 -0000

Wow. I was so blinded by thinking, Trent got fat! Hilarious!, that I overlooked this. What the eff? Especially considering that Tangi Miller (from Felicity) would be THE PERFECT Jodie. Who would play Mack though? Gaius "Smash Williams" Charles maybe? Donald Glover wouldn't be a perfect fit, but I'd take him any day too.

Re: Fruitvale Station | Film | Movie Review | The A.V. Club

robobt — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 10:04:51 -0000

The last line of this review is eerie in the wake of George Zimmerman's acquittal.

Re: Yeah, We’re Doing This: The Lone Ranger and the Updated American Outlaw

robobt — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 18:06:44 -0000

First, I think you've convinced me to not see the Lone Ranger. I like Gore Verbinski and had hopes it would at least be *watchably* offensive.

Not to equivocate on a minor point, since the film definitely does NOT address any Jesse James's racism, but I think the title of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is supposed to be ironic -- Pitt's James is a paranoid psychopath who starts systematically murdering his former teammates; and Affleck's Ford is a more complex character than the title suggests, and ultimately, I think, the sympathetic one in the film.

Re: Django Unchained: Coonskin Redux?

robobt — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:36:34 -0000

I want to know more about how Django Unchained falls into the trap of fundamental blackness and whiteness; how it "represent[s] some 'core' or 'reality' of what it means to be black [and]
ends up reproducing the very racist stereotypes that the film claims to
counter."

The "realness" of race is surely confined to social construction, and not any actual biological category (right? why divide the line on skin color instead of, say, eye color? It's an arbitrary division with no scientific significance). But that doesn't mean it doesn't have real power. It obviously did. People declared blackness and whiteness to be real, distinct things, and created a self-fulfilling prophecy by treating people fundamentally differently based on that physical trait (skin color).

But what about Django (the character) is fundamentally "black," beyond the context of American slavery in which it is set? What about any of the white characters is fundamentally "white" in the movie?

I guess I want to know: where was the "white people all do x" and "black people do y" that the movie pushed? I ask because I didn't see that when I watched the film. I saw characters treating each other differently because of skin color, but I didn't see the film itself perpetuating that idea. Beyond the context in which white people owned, and treated like (or worse than) animals, black people, what do you feel the movie said about whiteness and blackness as fundamental kinds? Or I am misunderstanding?

Re: Django Unchained: Coonskin Redux?

robobt — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:16:01 -0000

The first of those paragraphs ends that opener with "not..."

Re: Privilege And The White Dude Super-Detective

robobt — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 12:30:05 -0000

Alas, Luther is a DCI for the London police, so he doesn't technically count. He is however the super genius who solves the crime every time, and usually through unconventional means, so no WDSD is ever necessary -- I feel like Luther at least breaks the *spirit* of the mold. Also, the closest he has to a brilliant outside consultant is essentially the female version of Hannibal Lector, which is its own blazed trail. (BTW, I highly recommend the show. Highly.)

Re: erica saves the day

robobt — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:54:43 -0000

Or was it here? And here. And here. And...here.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

What a guy!