UCLA’s Asian Racist
Alexandra Wallace, the so-called “Asian Racist,” is a political science student at UCLA who uploaded a YouTube video complaining about Asians talking on their cell phones in the library. The video has become the flashpoint for a national discussion about racial insensitivity and the limits of free speech. Wallace has since dropped out of UCLA after having her class schedule posted on the Internet and receiving multiple death threats. But what does the video, and the response it has evoked, actually say about American society?
In the Realm of Forms
But what about those “old” formal styles of film developed in Europe in the early decades of cinema? They’re still around; one of the distinctive qualities of American cinema is its quality of assimilation—it’s quite prone to taking influences outside itself and absorbing them. It took those European ideas and stripped them of their ideology (Hollywood’s appearance of a lack of ideology can be said to be an ideology of its own), deploying them because they can perform certain functions admirably. Where are you most likely to see collision montage, expressionism, and avant-garde elements in the supposedly-realistic sphere of mainstream Hollywood? Curiously enough, you see it in dreams.
A Slightly Late Response
James Zadroga was a NYPD officer and one of the police, fire, and paramedic first responders to the attacks at the World Trade Center on 9/11. He died in 2006; the cause was in dispute but is believed to be a result of toxic materials he inhaled while performing his duties at Ground Zero.
A number of his fellow first responders are too sick to work and are fighting with insurance companies for the funds to pay for their medical care. A bill named after Zadroga, intended to give financial aid and medical support to these people who have been lauded as heroes, passed the House but was blocked by a Senate Republican caucus that is fighting for the passage of tax cuts.
Office Politics
The latest episode of NBC’s The Office (Thursdays, 9 PM) entitled “China” uses Michael (Steve Carell) and his newfound fear of China’s economic power as the launching point for its storyline. It’s interesting how this ambivalence towards corporate internationalism seems to be of a piece with another NBC Thursday sitcom, Outsourced. And while that other show appears to be the most egregious example of racial minstrelsy on network television since The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer or perhaps Homeboys in Outer Space, The Office manages to poke fun at American naivety about China while exploring the political and cultural fears permeating the China discussion.
I Hate The Big Bang Theory
No, I’m not talking about the actual theory, which is the first joke that people make when I say that; I’m talking about television here. I understand that “hate” may be too strong of a word to deploy against The Big Bang Theory. A more accurate title might be “I Hate Chuck Lorre”, or “I Am Alienated by The Big Bang Theory and Not in the Good Brechtian Way.”
3D is the New Color
In The City (La ciudad), a 1999 drama film directed by David Riker, we get an unvarnished, unsentimental look at the plight of Hispanic immigrants in New York: language barriers, alienation and isolation, and abusive labor practices and lack of access to social services. Riker attempts to accurately reflect these experiences as they would happen in the real world, and uses non-actors and location photography to enhance this element. The City comes off as an utterly realistic film—and yet it is filmed in black-and-white.
Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees
(with apologies to Lawrence Weschler) Imagine our national media as the population’s mental landscape. What’s playing in the cinemas and on our televisions reflects something about our collective psychology – our hopes, dreams, and fears. We engage with entertainment to experience catharsis and indulge in fantasy. Things in the real world have a presence in [...]
Reflections on a Thunder Emperor
I’ve made no secret of my hatred for Graydon Carter’s society rag Vanity Fair, so guess what happened when I opened its September 2010 issue? I sliced my finger open on a subscription card; not off to a good start. I was only interested in this issue because of the feature story devoted to Lady Gaga, who you may know as an artist of particular interest to me.
REPOST: Mad Women
In honor of Kathryn Bigelow’s historic achievement in being the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director, this is a repost of my article about women in Hollywood, originally posted in August of 2009.
Execution of British National
On December 29, 2009, China executed by lethal injection Akmal Shaikh, a British national convicted of smuggling 9 pounds of heroin into the country, despite repeated pleas for clemency due to Shaikh’s history of mental disturbance. Is this due process, or China defiant in the face of Western pressure? Lack of human rights, or cultural imperialism? Added to all this is the historical resonance of Britain, China, and drugs.
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