A Discovery of Witches
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I got a new job with a much longer commute, so naturally the first thing I
did was get an Audible account. First I listed to *Olive Again*, by
Elizabeth S...
4 years ago
PLAYBOY: How much did you get into calibrating your movie heroine's hotness?Sure, Avatar has just about the coolest visual effects you've ever seen, but would it have killed them to put a decent story behind it? It goes like this, some US corporation has gone to a foreign planet to harvest their... get this... unobtainium and, metaphorically, what is clearly being acted out is the destruction of Native American populations by the settlers. The "noble savage" naturally has a closer relationship to the earth and their culture and knowledge is far reaching and more sophisticated than the settlers can even imagine. That's a story that's been told over and over again (by decedents of the settlers, mind you) and Cameron certainly doesn't bring anything new or interesting to the table and I have to wonder what his point is. And, knowing that he's a giant douchebag, I naturally assume his point has something to do with assuaging his massive white privilege. I'm not the first and certainly won't be the last to bring this up. Here's an article that spells it out rather eloquently:
CAMERON: Right from the beginning I said, "She's got to have tits"...
These are movies about white guilt. Our main white characters realize that they are complicit in a system which is destroying aliens, AKA people of color - their cultures, their habitats, and their populations. The whites realize this when they begin to assimilate into the "alien" cultures and see things from a new perspective. To purge their overwhelming sense of guilt, they switch sides, become "race traitors," and fight against their old comrades. But then they go beyond assimilation and become leaders of the people they once oppressed. This is the essence of the white guilt fantasy, laid bare. It's not just a wish to be absolved of the crimes whites have committed against people of color; it's not just a wish to join the side of moral justice in battle. It's a wish to lead people of color from the inside rather than from the (oppressive, white) outside.
Bliss: You guys are like, my new heroes.That - may I be so bold? - rings like a sounding bell for a new grrrl revolution.
Maggie Mayhem: Put some skates on - be your own hero.
OMG. Just saw a sign for 'Pumpkin Fall Fest' and my cell keeps having no coverage. We don't know where TF we are. We're going to be raped and mu [some text missing]
And you can flush it down the toilet! Now that's Gross! I can't wait to hear about the drains of Evanston being clogged-up....Headlines of the news..."Kitty Litter Stops Up Drains"! Now that's a lot of kitty s_ _ _!
O my country, O unhappy land,
I weep for thee now left behind;
now dost thou behold thy piteous end;
and thee, my house, I weep, wherein I suffered travail.
O my children! reft of her city as your mother is, she now is losing you.
Oh, what mourning and what sorrow! oh, what endless streams of tears in our houses!
The dead alone forget their griefs and never shed a tear.
The Trojan Women
Euripides
415 B.C.E