Category Archive

I’m working through a book I started months ago and am finally going to restart and finish. It’s bell hooks’ All About Love and it attempts to sever the ties between love and mainstream romance (read whiteness, patriarchy, heteronormativity) and instead calls for an ethics of love. I’m only a few pages in, but I already loving it - although I admit at times I’m a bit surprised at the borderline hallmark card-iness of the writing (coming from hooks it just strikes me as different than what I’m used to reading from her), so we’ll see how it turns out!

I leave you with a line from her introduction:

“Ultimately, cynicism is the great mask of the disappointed and betrayed heart”

Uh..yeah.

I stumbled across this today, a new show on CW Tv called “Crowned: the Mother of all Pageants” - I’m going to side-step the obvious annoyances I have with a mother-daughter pageant reality show (not even because they are obvious to me, more like it’s one in the morning, I should be writing a paper, so this post has to be short) and get straight to pointing out some things I noticed about the cast descriptions on the website. Get ready, because this is just amazing - and by amazing I mean I want to laugh and cry and scream at the same time.

1. Ada and Christian: white mother who has a daughter of color; the tagline under their names is “Hot & Not.” There is simply no way to justify this title.

2. Angela and Tenia: black mother and daughter team whose tag is “Skin Deep” even though neither of them mentions the relationship they have with one another, or their race or ethnic identity of any kind. What does “skin deep” even mean here?

3. Annette and Alana: another mother/daughter of color pair and lo and behold their title is “Silent but Deadly.” I like to refrain from cursing in blog posts but seriously: what the —-.

What I really don’t need right now is another reality show that is telling me that women of color cannot be “dream gals” or “sassy sisters” or “tomboy queens” (these are some of the other taglines of castmembers - not without their problems, but that isn’t my point here) - instead the threat they place on their competitors has to be indirectly or directly refer to their category as a racialized Other. None of the titles talk about their attitude or personality, and two of the phrases involve some sort of negative comparison - they’re silent, but also deadly! Watch out bombshell blondes, they’re coming after you.

And seriously, someone explain to me what “skin deep” means.

I’ve been meaning to write a post on this show for a while now.

I have seen pretty much every promotional video about this show and I’m attaching the one that sends the clearest message regarding the plot-line of the show:

When I saw this video, I actually thought it was a skit from a late night comedy show. Turns out, it is the real deal, folks. This is a show about a white middle America family with a young awkward teenage boy whose mother tries to get him a friend by signing up for an exchange student. Turns out, the exchange student is a Muslim Pakistani boy, who follows every ridiculous stereotype for South Asian men who are “fresh off the boat” - this clothes, his naive enthusiasm and wonderment for the United States, his lack of social cues, etc. The thing that struck me the most though, is his thick accent. It sounds fake, it sounds contrived. It sounds like the makings of some racist television.

I have a feeling that the show is supposed to be a clever commentary on the xenophobia that plagues many predominantly white communities and families. The scene in the classroom for instance when the teacher says something like “Raja, in this country we raise our hands when we want to talk” then proceeds to ask if people are angry at him because “his people blew up the towers”. This is the only scene that appears in any way redeemable to me.

But this is the problem I really have with this show.

People, as a general rule, who watch mainstream television, are not that smart.

They don’t necessarily have a critical eye for the nuances of racial and political commentary. So when a character like Raja shows up, there aren’t going to be a whole lot of people who look at him as a smart and possibly witty caricature of how America perceives Muslim people. Instead, they are going to proceed to think that all Muslim people are awkward outcasts, that they all have really thick accents (think Apu from the Simpsons) and the boys are emasculated by their “foreign” values and cultural or religious practices. This is the kind of show that perpetuates stereotypes.

I guess the argument would be that it is a show about coming together despite differences. Two boys who are social outcasts from their big bad high school, can come together over food and religion and music. They can both feel like Aliens in America together.

This is some big, bad bullshit to me. This show is falling into the myth of the melting pot - we can all come together and overlook, even erase our differences and be happy living and working together. If we focus on our similarities, then our histories of institutional racism and sexism and homophobia will melt away. Enter the color blind zone. Of course, what’s even more complicated about this show is it isn’t advocating for color blindness so much as nation-blindness. “People are awkward in America, too. White kids are dealing with bullies and socially uncomfortable situations here, just like when a person of color visiting from another country comes to the United States” - This is such a problem, I’m having trouble stating why exactly it is. It just seems so obvious to me.

I’m going to say one last thing about this which is that I think it’s easy to focus on individual conflict and circumstance and ignore the larger framework that the circumstance is taking place in - what an endearing plot, to meet someone who understands what it’s like to be an outsider. I can only imagine what kind of lessons Raja is going to teach his host family and host brother, through his exotic culture and religion.

Also, it’s 2007. I really think it’s time to stop using cliched “ethnic music” whenever a brown person appears on screen.

I rarely fall in love with any kind of television series. But after sitting through one episode of The Office (US), I was hooked. I spent many hours during the tail end of the semester watching every episode, and I have to say, it is one of the few, if not only shows on television, that I recommend or talk about with anybody. What could possibly motivate me to write a blog post about a television series without tearing it apart? The following (In no particular order…actually, maybe that isn’t true):

1. Great cast, great comedic timing…The Office has all the elements for a smart and laugh-out-loud series. Its mockumentary style teamed up with those subtle and dialogue-less tensions makes me squirm in my seat or laugh until I fall off of it.

2. JAM. I was never a fan of the will-they-won’t-they plotlines from Friends (actually, that’s the least of my problems with that show, but I doubt that needs any explanation) or Scrubs. It gets old and fast. But the relationship between Jim and Pam is…hell, I’ll say it. Addictive. Those private interviews with the camera, those awkward pauses and miscommunications, those sad stares from across the office…I can wallow in the tension. Granted, I’m a sucker for characters such as Jim, who have a dry sense of humor and unacknowledged compassion. I’ve even a place in my heart for the plain personalitied Pam who dreams of terraces and is close to her mother. Together, they are a match made in heaven, regardless of their relationship status.

3. Kelly Kapoor. Sarah wrote a post about her kudos to Kelly, so I won’t go into much more about her. But actress, producer, and writer Mindy Kaling is pretty awesome, and it’s great to see her face on television and her name roll through the credits for multiple reasons. Actually, East West magazine recently listed her as one of the top 10 people to look out for in 2007. She’s written a few episodes of The Office, besides “Diwali”, and you know what? She’s good at what she does. Kaling’s writing is a perfect blend of social commentary, humor and wit. And this isn’t new: she wrote a comic strip titled “Badly Drawn Girl” at Dartmouth (where she graduated in 2001) that addressed climate of the campus. I’d be so interested to find and read it..

4. The content. Racism, sexism, homophobia..all with a figurative (and sometimes even literal) wink to the camera. Why? Because it’s real. Because bosses, management…people…do point to token racial minorities and laugh at queerness and don’t defend women when they are being called stupid. Because we do hear the occasional “I think 1 billion asians would beg to differ” equivalant and the constant attempts to be culturally sensitive only to end up revealing ignorance and privilege. The seemingly extreme racist/sexist/homophobic remarks in the show are the kinds that we can only respond to with a shake of the head, a scream-turned-laugh, and a silent open mouth. And for those of us who recognize the problematic from miles away, and furthermore, who have been in these situations (eg. having someone mock an Indian accent for you…because..they think you’ll find it funny?)…we can sit together and produce the same half smile and raised eyebrows that most of the characters do in a sort of communal empathy. Social commentary can and should appear in all forms, and it’s nice to take a break from textbook or often-overwhelming personal experience and channel our anger about marginalization, tokenism, and oppression into a cleverly written, and perhaps all-too-realistic, 20 minute episode.

Update (12.20.06): I just found this over at Racialicious and I think it’s a really great commentary on the latest Office episode. If you have never seen the show, do NOT watch that episode first. It definitely was not one of the smartest.

So, today NPR’s “The World” did a segment on the Diwali Barbie. And I’m in it! That isn’t really what is exciting.

This is though. Inderpal Grewal is interviewed. I just finished writing a paper that cites her about 50 times! It was so awesome. I’m totally smitten with her work.

I feel so special I just want to hug my computer.

I was having a kind of day (this happens frequently when I’m feeling stressed) where I was beating myself up over wanting to be affirmed by people around me - people I love but don’t necessarily respect. That is to say, I don’t necessarily respect their politics. Yet I still seek their approval. And I was so angry about it - so unable to let that go.

And then I saw the link and I just felt so empowered and honored to be alongside such awesome bloggers and feminists and professors. It was just what I needed to get through the next couple of weeks - I miss writing in this and I’m sorry I haven’t recently.

Over thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to watch way too much television. I’m in the middle of an episode when I caught a commercial for Crayola - one of their “use your imagination” advertisements that is supposed to be very sentimental and endearing, possibly nostalgic.Well this commercial was a little bit more than all of that - let me try to describe it as best as I can. I wasn’t able to find a copy of the commercial online, but maybe someone will and can add the link - because it really should be seen.

Young white girl is drawing - she draws a lion. The lion jumps off the page and the girl is transported into a jungle - trees, elephants, and other animals (all animated to look like they are made of cutout paper or markers, etc.). The ywg is riding an elephant and is now wearing a purple and pink outfit that can only be described as a cross between Princess Jasmine’s clothes and a problematic halloween costume. (Strike one)

She turns around to wave a young white boy - who is also drawing. He’s dressed in (deep breath) and outfit that strongly resembles a British colonial officer’s clothes.

Actually he looks just like those little miniatures above - sans gun/facial hair. (Strike two)

And just when you believe that it’s over - the boy removes what he’s been drawing off the paper - turns out it’s a bridge - and places it in the jungle, over a waterfall. I’m pretty sure there are little stick figures walking across after he puts it up. (Oh yes. Definitely strike three.)

I just don’t understand the thought process involved when this commercial was being produced. Someone thought “I want to encourage children to use their imagination - so I’ll put them in a jungle dressed as colonizers and appropriaters and have the women explore culture while the men build bridges and show the natives how it’s done”?

They thought “in our post 9-11 world, the historical nostalgia we want to bring up and echo is one of colonization, of remembering that our place is to help the less fortunate. the earlier we begin to imagine this, the better”?

Oh wait. They didn’t think.

I understand, it’s one advertisement. But - it’s always one advertisement, one statement, one instance - until these instances and moments become the instituional norm, the foundation that our foreign (and domestic) policy begins to echo, and continues to perpetuate.

I wish I could be more articulate about how frustrated I was about the depiction of the White West exploiting the Other. But I can’t right now. Rest assured, I will be writing about this again.

Actually the most frustrating thing ever - Orientalism meets globalization - the only comfort to me is that at least they are women of color. I saw this and laughed to save from crying or breaking something.

Oh and just by the way, the thing that angers me about this isn’t even the attempt-at-fusion dance itself. It is the fact that a company like Nike is benefitting from it - it is the colonizer using the other, the colonized, to gain economic strength and respectability…

So, this is a great podcast which I highly suggest subscribing too - the link here is an episode that covers a lot of ground, including the media continuing to exoticize women of color when they are finally represented (if you haven’t seen the Aishwarya video I posted earlier, well then you need to, particularly if you are skeptical of this belief. Of course if you are…you probably aren’t reading this site ever.)
Listen to it while having breakfast or during your lunchbreak.

Then watch “real Brawny men“. I know what you’re thinking - how could she stoop to watching this. Well, after you’ve seen the commercial 10 million times you do become a bit curious. And I have to say…it’s….well…its not riveting but definitely interesting. And pretty diverse I might add.
Oh yea and the Brawny guy is HYSTERICAL. Apparently he’s supposed to be like, the ideal man or whatever - “good looking sensitive” straight white man who lives in the woods and is one hatchet away from being out of a grocery store romance novel.