Maybe my brain is a bit too pessimistic but am I the only one that is sometimes troubled by how certain parts of the media embrace black culture.
I'm not talking about institutional racism. What I mean is, even when the media is RT'ing a photo of Janelle Monea or Lupita Nyongo, there's this feel of tokenism and/or objectification.
“Here's this wonderful black thing that we love. Look at how progressive we are.”
I laud that these actors are being celebrated, but...
@sonicbooming except I see black people do it too, which confuses me. Like self-tokenization? Idk. For the record im white and not American so it's all quite foreign (literally?) to me
@sonicbooming ...but also, like they're used as figurative gatekeepers (not that they engage in that, but are being used that way) - like "look at these women who meet acceptable standards, but are also black. if you're like them, you might one day be acceptable, too. if you force yourself into this mold, we'll let you in the club." - so, simultaneously self-congratulating, but also reinforcing the dominant narrative...
I bring this up because of this tweet from birdsite.
The sucking up to celebrity is painful to behold.
It's probably another reason why Rule #1 of Mastodon is: DO NOT FOLLOW ANY MEDIA/NEWS/BRANDS.
I'm just tired of this kind of shit.
And I'm absolutely excited for #BlackPanther. As a PoC, I'm all about seeing more representation on larger screens.
But this frenzy around Black Panther has a very "othering" and "tokenism" feel to it.
Yes it's a bad ass film. But you know what, it's also sad that it took this fucking long to get a black super hero.
@sonicbooming Do you mean descriptive privilege?
Whatever non-men, non-"white" people, non-"normal" people are famous for, they are described in terms of the observer's reaction rather than their agency.
In contrast with "default" people who are frequently described by their achievements even if they are famous for their appearance.
@DaveHiggins Not familiar with that term but that's definitely a part of it.
I also just feel like there's a lot of fetishizing of black culture and women. The fashion of Black Panther and these actors. It's a complicated and ugly mess and I feel dirty when I see the media engage in it.
@sonicbooming Dominant cultures have taken a prurient interest in the Other throughout history. I recall my Latin Master at school delicately skirting around mentions of certain famous Romans having Nubian body-slaves.
Not sure if modern media is worse, or just more noticeable.
Either way, it would be productive if the tropes died.
It's like that one friend who has to tell you that they're really good friends with black people and they listen to rap.
It's certainly ok to like things. But so much of the media feels like its "performing".
Maybe I'm just exhausted and overthinking things, maybe its a result of being on bird-site too much.