(Untitled)

[inverted_man]

President Freeman and the Space NegroesI am becoming increasingly irritated with the use of blue eyes in film - from everything from CGI creatures to animated creatures and animatronics as a tool to impress upon the viewer that the creature in question has a benign intelligence or a soul - and a benevolent one at that. From E.T. to the forerunner

Comments

[inimicalfool]

Wow. That was awesome, you've made my afternoon.

"Also, will the NAACP please get blacks to STOP playing American presidents from the year 3000? We get it already. It's so far in the future that having a black president is like, you know, no big thing."

Yeah, this could serve just as much to make it seem like a black president is unrealistic as realistic. By making it normal but only in the future, it makes it not normal in the present. It's sort of like how the ancient Roman Saturnalia probably served to reinforce roles rather than destroy them even though it involved a complete role reversal. Or how a "drag night" can serve to reinforce gender norms by providing a controllable and predictable category for deviance.

[inverted_man]

"Yeah, this could serve just as much to make it seem like a black president is unrealistic as realistic. By making it normal but only in the future, it makes it not normal in the present."

I totally agree. Same for the gender norms thing. I have actually had that discussion once in a club...someone was saying that they think it's a wonderful thing that drag shows push the boundaries of how we think of gender, and I felt the need to respond with something like "by having men wear purses, high heels, stockings, lipstick and exaggeratedly large breasts?"

I didn't articulate it well at the time. But my point was just that the caricature of maleness or femaleness merely reinforces gender roles. You however, did articulate it well.

[anagramatica]

You just wanted to use the word accoutrements.

[anagramatica]

I don't know but it sounds exotic!

[inverted_man]

haha! Then I definitely should have learned to spell it first!

[inverted_man]

Yea, I guess I've seen that happen too. I haven't seen too much anime, mostly the popular films such as "Ghost in etc." and Akira. Robotech probably doesn't count, but it's the only series I've seen almost in its entirety, and it is frought with both blue eyes as hero and blue eyes as villain...

But there's more: Purple eyes!

Anime can be so strange, and I often wonder how a young Japanese boy or girl's self-image is affected by its complete refusal to acknowledge the Japanese everyman. But then, I guess that could be the point.

[inverted_man]

Hey, maybe you know...Did Storm have blue eyes in X-Men comics? I keep thinking that she did in the movie (could be wrong about that too), but when she wasn't creating elemental havoc (when she had white eyes), had brown eyes in the comic.

[daisydumont]

i don't think i've told you lately that i love your writing. but i do.

[inverted_man]

thank you thank you.

i have been watching from afar. i am wishing you the best.

[daisydumont]

thank you, jimmy.

[infrarad]

The massive awesomeness of this post is marred only by the fact that my use of the massively awesome word 'presigro' (like, it is so awesome that the word itself has acquired mass!) is politically questionable!

[inverted_man]

Since the possibility of a real presigro is more likely now than at any other time in history, it is our duty as wordsmiths to bring the term into common usage. I have a dream that one day white children…and black children…(and all other children excluded by this culturally accepted false dichotomy)…will one day use the word ‘presigro’ on the same playground.

Oh man. It is so quite offensive though. Yet so fun. Alternatives pale in comparison (pun intended):

Presican American? Too obscure.
Afro-pres?
Afrident?

Presigro overpowers them all.

[infrarad]

Those black children... blue eyes, right?