Read Anything Good Lately?
It’s Feel Good Friday, and as such, I’m going to throw out some links to a few things on the Internet I read this week with pleasure.
I already recommended this on Twitter, but Roger Ebert’s essay about no longer being able to eat or drink is fantastic. The man is a national treasure. (Via.)
When we drive around town I never look at a trendy new restaurant and wish I could eat there. I peer into little storefront places, diners, ethnic places, and then I feel envy. After a movie we’ll drive past a formica restaurant with only two tables occupied, and I’ll wish I could be at one of them, having ordered something familiar and and reading a book. I never felt alone in a situation like that. I was a soloist.
After I saw The Princess and the Frog, which I loved, I of course had to go see what Racialicious had to say about it, especially since I had read this essay, discussing some concerns.
I had been on the fence about our heroine’s role as a southern belle’s maid. Yes, it’s [canon] for fairy tale protagonists to begin their stories having low status, but a black heroine who is a domestic could be legitimately read not as a fairy tale trope but a reinforcement of real world racial denigration. Some may claim that it would be historically accurate for a 1920’s black woman to be a maid, but Disney doesn’t even care about historical accuracy when animating actual history (for example, Pocahontas.) Disney films often include generic European landscapes and eras and anachronistic details and social conventions. Let’s consider Beauty and the Beast. Did French peasants like Belle’s dad really have the time and resources to invent complicated gadgets? Should Belle have had access to so many books or even have been literate?… Deciding to suddenly be historically accurate while telling a fairy tale about a black princess seems a little suspect. Not to mention after decades of singing candlesticks and flying carpets, it’s a little late in the game to start claiming a commitment to realism.
(Another good essay about a recent movie is this one, which articulates some problems with Avatar.)
And finally, while we’re all smartypantsing around thinking about things like feminism and race and privilege and gazes, Linda Holmes at NPR has a great piece up about how transforming Penny from an object of the male gaze to a protagonist in her own right has made The Big Bang Theory a better show.
This is, in maybe the most literal form in which you’ll ever see it, the male gaze. She exists relative to Leonard and Sheldon’s arrival home (just standing there reading a magazine in profile with the door open!), relative to their door, relative to their apartment. It’s a comedy, but it’s still true. This is it; this is the thing. This is the thing people talk about where she’s not really herself, she’s just the lady standing in the doorway.
How about you; read anything good lately?
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Celebrities, Feel Good Friday, Feminism, Movies, Question, Race & Ethnicity, TV
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Not a good read, but a note about one of the articles above:
“Deciding to suddenly be historically accurate while telling a fairy tale about a black princess seems a little suspect.”
LOL Srsly, this poor little movie cannot win. There were tons of other complaints about how historically inaccurate the friendship between Tiana and “Lottie” would have been. :-P
I completely enjoyed the movie, and felt like anyone who had problems with it were LOOKING for problems. KWIM? Cinderella was a maid too. Good grief. I felt like it it was very well done – as if they wrote the movie, and *then* decided the girl would be black, instead of writing a movie for a “black” character. Which is how it should be.
I loved the movie too, but I almost felt the opposite, if that makes sense… it felt like it was a very specific story of that time and place, and incorporated the New Orleans setting, jazz, white voodoo magic like the bottle tree, the contrast between Tiana’s life and Lottie’s, and other details that wouldn’t have resonated as much if they’d just plunked in a white character.
I also loved the fact that she had a dream of her own, not just to meet a prince and live happily ever after.
Can you fix the link for the Big Bang Theory article? Right now it goes to the Avatar article instead.
Reading the article about the Princess and the Frog reminded me of an article I read. It was written by a very talented illustration student and is entitled “When did we start hating everything?” http://news.deviantart.com/article/103809/ The article is mostly in reference to that hate on Avatar, but its message is more or less universal.
“My point here is that why are people so critical and cynical of entertainment these days? Whatever happened to being able to just sit back and enjoy something for what it is? Why does everything need to be critiqued down to the smallest, most insignificant detail?”
Blogging is great in that it allows people to share their lives and interact with others. But it also allows anyone and everyone to become a critic. And sorry, but just because can type and have internet access does not make you a literary, cinema, or television critic. At least, not a good one.
I did see Princess and the Frog and as a whole I loved it. As I started watching it I felt myself going down that road and picking out the stereotypes and possibly offense aspects of the film. But about twenty minutes in I caught myself and just stopped. And I think I had a better movie going experience because of it.
Anyone can pick out and spew the bad aspects of a film. But knowing when to keep your mouth shut and just enjoy it… now that’s an admirable skill.
Maid? I thought Tiana was a waitress. did I see a bootleg version?
Thanks for letting me know, Jezebella, I fixed it!
Geans, Tiana was originally written as a maid named Maddy; both her name and her occupation were changed.
Yes, I can see what you mean about the specifics making more sense because she was black. I think I meant if change only a couple of details, it could have been a girl of any race. I think the in series they based it on the girl is not black. My daughter loves those books. They are very funny.
I read the Ebert’s article. I have to reread it. It seems unreal. It kinda made me sad and appreciative at the same time. Sad for the man who has lost the dining experience; appreciative for the fact that I still have mine. Dining and eating will never be the same thing for me.
Just read the Ebert article that is lovely and awesome. Currently reading “Cleaving” by Julie Powell and am still unsure about whether I love it or not. It’s such an odd mix of butchery and confession that I’m not even sure I’m supposed to like it.