One for the road
Like Jay-z dropping an album after announcing his retirement, or Gloria Macapagal Arroyo running for a second term after saying she won't, tonight is a night of recantation. Just a last hurrah, then I'll disappear into the void.
I read this article which puts three of my favorite things together: street art, Batman references, and political schisms. Plus, this is the sort of thing the campus paper won't let me run with, since it doesn't concern many UP students. LET'S DO THIS SHIT.
All you care about is money. This town deserves a better class of criminal. I'm going to give it to them.
I haven't been following a lot of foreign media in some time. Lots more pressing news bits on this shore. A couple of things that sift through-- Obama's proposed universal health care plan (which was shot down by the American public, I believe?) and stimulus plans to revive the US economy. I'm sure there's more to that, but hey, I'm a 20-something colored girl living in a third wold country. What do I know.
What I know is this: during the last State of the Nation Address delivered by our president, I ran after a small group of graffiti artists, serving as a look-out for cops while they vandalized public walls and spaces. We (that is to say, they) put up calls for GMA's ouster, painted slogans to end this oppressive regime, called for people to make a stand against the proposed charter change that may allow GMA to extend her term as president. I know what vandalism and graffiti represent.
In the Philippines, hundreds of political activists and journalists have been forcibly dissapeared, tortured, and executed by military agents under GMA's presidency. Freedom of speech is an illusion. Media is whitewashed. Mainstream media barely reports about Melissa Roxas' case for reasons known only to them. When your country enjoys the silence of a graveyard, there will always be forces that make sure the very walls of our cities scream.
Last year's SONA, actually. Yoinked from someone else's blog. Sorry.
Then again, that's what street art is over here. Giving credit where credit is due, street art did originate from the US. There isn't that big a difference, as far as I understand. A documentary I watched mentioned that graffiti came from Black neighborhoods because they were marginalized, invisible in the US socio-political space for a long time. It's not a leap of logic: people deprived of the opportunity to be heard end up writing on walls to force the public to look-- LOOK-- because society isn't nice and neat and just. If we have to dirty up your comfortable lives to make you pay attention, we'll do just that.
Speaking of Black neighborhoods, I've always wondered about the precise moment/ issue when Batman started visiting Black neighborhoods (yes, that was my transition, FUCK YOU and your pretentious notions of structure). Around the 70s or 80s, I think. Silver age Batman would fight black pimps, man. Or stop black gangbangers smuggling drugs into Gotham. Killer Crock, I believe, is black underneath his green scaly skin. Only recently did the Batman comics become racially benevolent. Rene Montoya, former Gotham City Police Officer turned The Question is Latina, hey! And that sack of shit Cassandra Cain, the new Batgirl, is some sort of Azn. The 90's brought Batman to black neighborhoods to *protect* black Gothamites. You go, Batman.
Here in the Philippines, there is that strange turn of phrase "Bahala na si Batman." The word bahala comes from the word Bathala, meaning god or greater spiritual deity. To say "Bathala na" means to leave the matter to god/ greater spiritual deity. Somehow, somewhere, the letter T was dropped and the phrase became Bahala na. You're broke and you've got a hot, high-maintenance date? "Bahala na." Let chance/ god/ circumstance sort it out. "Bahala na si Batman" means to leave the matter to Batman. Three major papers and two exams tomorrow and you haven't begun anything yet? "Bahala na si Batman."
This is strange because Batman is not a figure natural to Filipino mythology. I'm chalking it up to the American collonization of these islands, bringing their culture and superheroes along with them. Plus the notion that Batman can overcome anything, even --YES-- the Omega Sanction.
Batman NOT dying by Darkseid's hand
Of course, you can't talk about Batman without talking about his best friend, The Joker. Epitomized by the late Heath Ledger to the collective satisfaction of women's panties all over the world, the Joker is Batman's opposite. He is the blast of color to Bats' monochrome, the wheezy, high pitched squeal to Batman's gravely growl, the lanky effem to Bats' muscular butch. He is anarchy, he is chaos. He is, in fact, resistance to Batman's RSA. (Oh no she didn't!)
When you boil it down to the essentials, what is Batman? The vigilante alter ego of grotesquely-rich Bruce Wayne. He is the capitalist dream. Wayne Enterprises practically owns Gotham City. Financially and politically powerful, what else can Bruce want? Oh yeah, the liberty to operate outside the law without consequences. The freedom to install CCTV cameras in institutions in Gotham (Animated series Batman has a special button in his Batmobile that lights up whenever there's a riot/ breakout in Arkham Asylum). No transparency or culpability whatsoever, even when he beats the teeth out of criminals. Commit a crime in Gotham, expect Batman break into your house and punch you in the face while you're sleeping.
Not Batman, but also a fear that strikes in the night
He's the best detective in the world, our caped crusader, but this guy, this Joker boggles his mind. On one hand, the Joker's insane. Clinically. So, you know. "I don't need money, I use money," says the Joker in one comics issue or another. He doesn't want to get rich. He's already famous. He knows he's powerful. He once beat a man to death with a bunch of bananas (Batman DCAU series, an issue entitled "second banana"). Green bananas too, for maximum pain. He did not stop beating that man until the man died-- which must have taken a few hours, considering how poor a bunch of bananas are as a weapon. But that's perseverance for you. And if that doesn't give you fame and power in Gotham's criminal circles, I don't know what can.
I am not kidding.
The Joker, it seems, only exists to annoy the fuck out of Batman. He exists to prove that, while Gotham's guardian may seem untouchable, there will always be forces that resist repression (see how everything in this rant ties up so neatly?)
I'll skip the part where the Batsignal is a model for Foucault's Panopticon, or what meaning can be derived from the fact that Batman is masked whereas the Joker uses his real face. Let's go back to JOkerBama.
Slapping the Joker's face paint on politicians' faces aren't new (at least not anymore. They were new in 2008, when the movie came out). We did that for GMA too. The message was that these politicians are like the Joker-- villains, basically. Unpredictable criminals. Insane. What have you. But there's one crucial difference that makes the comic book geek in me bristle with indignation: The Joker is funny. He's lovable, hilarious. Batman takes himself too goddamn seriously and the Joker provides comic relief (albeit in the form of a few maimed bodies). When these politicians fuck up, it's not funny. Murder and manslaughter are only funny in comics, apparently. It's why that part of the newspaper was known as the 'funny pages'.
Slapping Joker's face paint on Obama is strange. Add the 'socialism' label at the bottom of the graffiti sticker in the mix and I get mixed messages. For one, I don't believe the Joker is socialist at all. He's a nihilist. He'll hate any form of authority on principle.
Secondly, Obama is no socialist. Have no fear, America, you are still very much the capitalist hegemonic imperialists you've always wanted to be. You are Batman. One phone call from your president and 3 things happen simultaneously: Nicole recants her testimony that she was raped by a US soldier, Lance Corporal Daniel Smith is returned to your loving arms, and the Visiting Forces Agreement is stronger than ever. That's some Batman ploy if I've every seen one.
Recently, GMA along with 30 of her henchmen went to the US for 30-minutes face time with Obama. Doing his best Bruce Wayne impression, Obama complimented GMA on a number of things, ignoring her 9-year track record of corruption and human rights violations in her own country. Of course that's what he's going to do. Batman allows the Penguin to continue his illegal trade in Gotham in exchange for information, doesn't he? When the meeting was over, GMA went over to the Iceberg Lounge to wine and dine with Two-face, the Riddler, Condiment Man, and other such unsavory people.
This is a goddamn long rant, but it's heading somewhere, I promise. The article from the Washington Post mentioned above (scroll up, scroll up) seems truly, genuinely concerned that the anonymous graffiti poster may be carrying some insidious jab at Obama's color:
Obama, like the Joker and like the racial stereotype of the black man, carries within him an unknowable, volatile and dangerous marker of urban violence, which could erupt at any time. The charge of socialism is secondary to the basic message that Obama can't be trusted, not because he is a politician, but because he's black.
I dunno. What do I know. 20-something colored girl from a country smaller than Florida blogging from the middle of nowhere. From what I can see, the Washington Post got it wrong. JOkerBama doesn't reaffirm Black stereotypes of violence. It's just Obama with a white face-- no different from all the other white American presidents that came before him: Unknowable, volatile, and dangerous.
I read this article which puts three of my favorite things together: street art, Batman references, and political schisms. Plus, this is the sort of thing the campus paper won't let me run with, since it doesn't concern many UP students. LET'S DO THIS SHIT.
All you care about is money. This town deserves a better class of criminal. I'm going to give it to them.
I haven't been following a lot of foreign media in some time. Lots more pressing news bits on this shore. A couple of things that sift through-- Obama's proposed universal health care plan (which was shot down by the American public, I believe?) and stimulus plans to revive the US economy. I'm sure there's more to that, but hey, I'm a 20-something colored girl living in a third wold country. What do I know.
What I know is this: during the last State of the Nation Address delivered by our president, I ran after a small group of graffiti artists, serving as a look-out for cops while they vandalized public walls and spaces. We (that is to say, they) put up calls for GMA's ouster, painted slogans to end this oppressive regime, called for people to make a stand against the proposed charter change that may allow GMA to extend her term as president. I know what vandalism and graffiti represent.
In the Philippines, hundreds of political activists and journalists have been forcibly dissapeared, tortured, and executed by military agents under GMA's presidency. Freedom of speech is an illusion. Media is whitewashed. Mainstream media barely reports about Melissa Roxas' case for reasons known only to them. When your country enjoys the silence of a graveyard, there will always be forces that make sure the very walls of our cities scream.
Last year's SONA, actually. Yoinked from someone else's blog. Sorry.
Then again, that's what street art is over here. Giving credit where credit is due, street art did originate from the US. There isn't that big a difference, as far as I understand. A documentary I watched mentioned that graffiti came from Black neighborhoods because they were marginalized, invisible in the US socio-political space for a long time. It's not a leap of logic: people deprived of the opportunity to be heard end up writing on walls to force the public to look-- LOOK-- because society isn't nice and neat and just. If we have to dirty up your comfortable lives to make you pay attention, we'll do just that.
Speaking of Black neighborhoods, I've always wondered about the precise moment/ issue when Batman started visiting Black neighborhoods (yes, that was my transition, FUCK YOU and your pretentious notions of structure). Around the 70s or 80s, I think. Silver age Batman would fight black pimps, man. Or stop black gangbangers smuggling drugs into Gotham. Killer Crock, I believe, is black underneath his green scaly skin. Only recently did the Batman comics become racially benevolent. Rene Montoya, former Gotham City Police Officer turned The Question is Latina, hey! And that sack of shit Cassandra Cain, the new Batgirl, is some sort of Azn. The 90's brought Batman to black neighborhoods to *protect* black Gothamites. You go, Batman.
Here in the Philippines, there is that strange turn of phrase "Bahala na si Batman." The word bahala comes from the word Bathala, meaning god or greater spiritual deity. To say "Bathala na" means to leave the matter to god/ greater spiritual deity. Somehow, somewhere, the letter T was dropped and the phrase became Bahala na. You're broke and you've got a hot, high-maintenance date? "Bahala na." Let chance/ god/ circumstance sort it out. "Bahala na si Batman" means to leave the matter to Batman. Three major papers and two exams tomorrow and you haven't begun anything yet? "Bahala na si Batman."
This is strange because Batman is not a figure natural to Filipino mythology. I'm chalking it up to the American collonization of these islands, bringing their culture and superheroes along with them. Plus the notion that Batman can overcome anything, even --YES-- the Omega Sanction.
Batman NOT dying by Darkseid's hand
Of course, you can't talk about Batman without talking about his best friend, The Joker. Epitomized by the late Heath Ledger to the collective satisfaction of women's panties all over the world, the Joker is Batman's opposite. He is the blast of color to Bats' monochrome, the wheezy, high pitched squeal to Batman's gravely growl, the lanky effem to Bats' muscular butch. He is anarchy, he is chaos. He is, in fact, resistance to Batman's RSA. (Oh no she didn't!)
When you boil it down to the essentials, what is Batman? The vigilante alter ego of grotesquely-rich Bruce Wayne. He is the capitalist dream. Wayne Enterprises practically owns Gotham City. Financially and politically powerful, what else can Bruce want? Oh yeah, the liberty to operate outside the law without consequences. The freedom to install CCTV cameras in institutions in Gotham (Animated series Batman has a special button in his Batmobile that lights up whenever there's a riot/ breakout in Arkham Asylum). No transparency or culpability whatsoever, even when he beats the teeth out of criminals. Commit a crime in Gotham, expect Batman break into your house and punch you in the face while you're sleeping.
Not Batman, but also a fear that strikes in the night
He's the best detective in the world, our caped crusader, but this guy, this Joker boggles his mind. On one hand, the Joker's insane. Clinically. So, you know. "I don't need money, I use money," says the Joker in one comics issue or another. He doesn't want to get rich. He's already famous. He knows he's powerful. He once beat a man to death with a bunch of bananas (Batman DCAU series, an issue entitled "second banana"). Green bananas too, for maximum pain. He did not stop beating that man until the man died-- which must have taken a few hours, considering how poor a bunch of bananas are as a weapon. But that's perseverance for you. And if that doesn't give you fame and power in Gotham's criminal circles, I don't know what can.
I am not kidding.
The Joker, it seems, only exists to annoy the fuck out of Batman. He exists to prove that, while Gotham's guardian may seem untouchable, there will always be forces that resist repression (see how everything in this rant ties up so neatly?)
I'll skip the part where the Batsignal is a model for Foucault's Panopticon, or what meaning can be derived from the fact that Batman is masked whereas the Joker uses his real face. Let's go back to JOkerBama.
Slapping the Joker's face paint on politicians' faces aren't new (at least not anymore. They were new in 2008, when the movie came out). We did that for GMA too. The message was that these politicians are like the Joker-- villains, basically. Unpredictable criminals. Insane. What have you. But there's one crucial difference that makes the comic book geek in me bristle with indignation: The Joker is funny. He's lovable, hilarious. Batman takes himself too goddamn seriously and the Joker provides comic relief (albeit in the form of a few maimed bodies). When these politicians fuck up, it's not funny. Murder and manslaughter are only funny in comics, apparently. It's why that part of the newspaper was known as the 'funny pages'.
Slapping Joker's face paint on Obama is strange. Add the 'socialism' label at the bottom of the graffiti sticker in the mix and I get mixed messages. For one, I don't believe the Joker is socialist at all. He's a nihilist. He'll hate any form of authority on principle.
Secondly, Obama is no socialist. Have no fear, America, you are still very much the capitalist hegemonic imperialists you've always wanted to be. You are Batman. One phone call from your president and 3 things happen simultaneously: Nicole recants her testimony that she was raped by a US soldier, Lance Corporal Daniel Smith is returned to your loving arms, and the Visiting Forces Agreement is stronger than ever. That's some Batman ploy if I've every seen one.
Recently, GMA along with 30 of her henchmen went to the US for 30-minutes face time with Obama. Doing his best Bruce Wayne impression, Obama complimented GMA on a number of things, ignoring her 9-year track record of corruption and human rights violations in her own country. Of course that's what he's going to do. Batman allows the Penguin to continue his illegal trade in Gotham in exchange for information, doesn't he? When the meeting was over, GMA went over to the Iceberg Lounge to wine and dine with Two-face, the Riddler, Condiment Man, and other such unsavory people.
This is a goddamn long rant, but it's heading somewhere, I promise. The article from the Washington Post mentioned above (scroll up, scroll up) seems truly, genuinely concerned that the anonymous graffiti poster may be carrying some insidious jab at Obama's color:
Obama, like the Joker and like the racial stereotype of the black man, carries within him an unknowable, volatile and dangerous marker of urban violence, which could erupt at any time. The charge of socialism is secondary to the basic message that Obama can't be trusted, not because he is a politician, but because he's black.
I dunno. What do I know. 20-something colored girl from a country smaller than Florida blogging from the middle of nowhere. From what I can see, the Washington Post got it wrong. JOkerBama doesn't reaffirm Black stereotypes of violence. It's just Obama with a white face-- no different from all the other white American presidents that came before him: Unknowable, volatile, and dangerous.