So you don’t have to™
Yoli somewhat presciently noted that I was unlikely to want to see Wo Ai Ni Mommy.
And yet I did. What can I say, it is on the internet. I’m much more likely to watch a documentary if I don’t have to change out of my pajamas.
I knew this film was going to be bad, but I refrained from saying so to avoid the grief I get despite the fact that I am always right. For example, I saw this and it was maybe even worse than I predicted or could have imagined. If that is even possible. And I was completely right about this book. It even had those misspelled italicized phrases.
But people are always screaming “How can you criticize something when you haven’t even seen it/read it yet?”
Hey, I can tell it’s a duck before it walks or quacks.
And I knew this film was going to be maddening and infuriating and awful. It was. And in addition it was terribly heartbreaking and sad.
The duck was easy to spot. First, the story is about an eight-year-old who is adopted from China by a white American family. It is her story, but it is not hers to tell. I have a problem with adoptive parents spreading their kids’ lives all over the internet. Because there is no way a child of that age can make an informed choice. Not that anybody ever gave the subject of this documentary a choice.
But she’s treated as if she is truly being given a choice. A choice to embrace an “American” name. A choice to move halfway around the world with strangers.
Her adoptive mother phrases commands as “choices” quite a bit: Say you’re sorry or go to your room!
The little girl notes in one case that she didn’t have a choice. And she never really did.
Read the rest at Resist Racism.
And yet I did. What can I say, it is on the internet. I’m much more likely to watch a documentary if I don’t have to change out of my pajamas.
I knew this film was going to be bad, but I refrained from saying so to avoid the grief I get despite the fact that I am always right. For example, I saw this and it was maybe even worse than I predicted or could have imagined. If that is even possible. And I was completely right about this book. It even had those misspelled italicized phrases.
But people are always screaming “How can you criticize something when you haven’t even seen it/read it yet?”
Hey, I can tell it’s a duck before it walks or quacks.
And I knew this film was going to be maddening and infuriating and awful. It was. And in addition it was terribly heartbreaking and sad.
The duck was easy to spot. First, the story is about an eight-year-old who is adopted from China by a white American family. It is her story, but it is not hers to tell. I have a problem with adoptive parents spreading their kids’ lives all over the internet. Because there is no way a child of that age can make an informed choice. Not that anybody ever gave the subject of this documentary a choice.
But she’s treated as if she is truly being given a choice. A choice to embrace an “American” name. A choice to move halfway around the world with strangers.
Her adoptive mother phrases commands as “choices” quite a bit: Say you’re sorry or go to your room!
The little girl notes in one case that she didn’t have a choice. And she never really did.
Read the rest at Resist Racism.