If you get this from a friend, it's a scam:
"This had to come in a hurry and it has left me in a devastating state.We are in some terrible situation and I'm really going to need your urgent help.Some days ago,unannounced we came to visit resort center in Leicester Square.City London,but we got mugged by
some hoodlums and lost all my cash,credit cards,and cellphones,I was little injured but i thank god we are fine,we are financially stranded right now and our return flight leaves in few hours time but I need some money to clear some bills,So all I can do now is
pay cash and get out of here quickly.I do not want to make a scene of this why I did not call my house,this is embarrassing enough.I was wondering if you could loan me some cash,I promise I'll refund it to you once we arrived home, hope to read from you as soon as possible."
Makes me laugh a little, how transparent these things are now.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Avatar
Just saw Avatar. Quick thoughts. Execution, great. Technology and visuals, revolutionary. Story, tired. Cultural implications, huge. Lots of spoilers, though I feel like I'm one of the last folks on earth to see Avatar.
I'll concentrate on the cultural implications of the movie. One can totally see what James Cameron is trying to do here - to show another culture in a protagonistic light, to welcome the audience into this "exotic" and different culture, to get us to relate to the characters, their plight, to make us feel their pain when their home is destroyed. He even goes as far as to make Jake Sully choose to abandon his (Western) culture to join the Navi (what I feel is simply a shortened version of "Native" or, in other words "primitive" - I know this point can be argued).
So there's this clear dichotomy between Western culture and non-Western, primitive, "Indian"-like culture - cultures traditionally placed on a power scale in which Western culture is seen as superior. Avatar puts a lot of effort in stressing that the culture of guns and technological advancement is not necessarily superior - a point we are duly convinced of by the end of the film. By the end of the film, we, like Jake Sully, are drawn into this exotic culture, and we embrace it as a culture that, within this fictional world, is better than the gun-toting, tree-blasting military officials that represent the Western world. And then we go back to our own Western world, our consumerisms, our commodifications, our very Western-centric culture.
As a matter of fact, Avatar puts us, the audience, in a privileged position to embrace a "primitive", "inferior" culture. By the end of the movie, we give ourselves pats on the back for being open-minded enough to see that a non-Western culture is superior to our own.
Here's where things get problematic. The protagonists, the natives - they're visually (and aurally at times) portrayed as aliens, different, foreign. Here's that thing with system and culture again. System being what we're told, culture being what we internalize and feel. Sure, at the end of the movie, in an almost tongue-in-cheek way, the humans are called "aliens". But, dude. They LOOK like us. That we can't deny. We're just not blue, lanky creatures with pointy ears and flat noses.
Good for us for embracing a culture so very different from our own. Good for us for accepting the visually (and underlying tones of racially) and culturally different groups. But this film PUTS us in this position of privilege, PUTS us in this place where we can be entertained by the struggles of the Navi, and yes, even relate to them in some way. But the fact that we feel good about relating to a culturally different group (and then using that for commercial gain - James Cameron, once he breaks even, will be making bank) carry with it invisible, subconscious reinforcement of the pre-existing cultural power structures in place as it relates to the Western world and how the Western world perceives and relates to non-Western cultures. In the case of Avatar, these cultures become appropriated through the narrative, and appropriated by us, even being represented by Jake Sully taking on the form of a Navi by the end of the film. We each become a Jake Sully by the end of the film. But at the end of the day, only a Western protagonist can really save the day. Only a Western guy can change himself, and thereby change the world.
Furthermore on the two-dimensionality of the Navi, the film falls into that dangerous polarized categorization of good guys and bad guys. By making the "bad guys" (the humans) SO bad, while the Navi can do no wrong (there wasn't even a bad Navi who went to the side of the humans - but of course, our human protagonists side with the Navi) - that's a bit overcompensation, don't you think? That, or all Navi are homogenously earth-loving and good-doing. Or victimized.
I'm not going to belabor the point more - I think I already have. I will say, though, it was a very enjoyable three hours, but the 3D aspect of it is completely unnecessary.
I'll concentrate on the cultural implications of the movie. One can totally see what James Cameron is trying to do here - to show another culture in a protagonistic light, to welcome the audience into this "exotic" and different culture, to get us to relate to the characters, their plight, to make us feel their pain when their home is destroyed. He even goes as far as to make Jake Sully choose to abandon his (Western) culture to join the Navi (what I feel is simply a shortened version of "Native" or, in other words "primitive" - I know this point can be argued).
So there's this clear dichotomy between Western culture and non-Western, primitive, "Indian"-like culture - cultures traditionally placed on a power scale in which Western culture is seen as superior. Avatar puts a lot of effort in stressing that the culture of guns and technological advancement is not necessarily superior - a point we are duly convinced of by the end of the film. By the end of the film, we, like Jake Sully, are drawn into this exotic culture, and we embrace it as a culture that, within this fictional world, is better than the gun-toting, tree-blasting military officials that represent the Western world. And then we go back to our own Western world, our consumerisms, our commodifications, our very Western-centric culture.
As a matter of fact, Avatar puts us, the audience, in a privileged position to embrace a "primitive", "inferior" culture. By the end of the movie, we give ourselves pats on the back for being open-minded enough to see that a non-Western culture is superior to our own.
Here's where things get problematic. The protagonists, the natives - they're visually (and aurally at times) portrayed as aliens, different, foreign. Here's that thing with system and culture again. System being what we're told, culture being what we internalize and feel. Sure, at the end of the movie, in an almost tongue-in-cheek way, the humans are called "aliens". But, dude. They LOOK like us. That we can't deny. We're just not blue, lanky creatures with pointy ears and flat noses.
Good for us for embracing a culture so very different from our own. Good for us for accepting the visually (and underlying tones of racially) and culturally different groups. But this film PUTS us in this position of privilege, PUTS us in this place where we can be entertained by the struggles of the Navi, and yes, even relate to them in some way. But the fact that we feel good about relating to a culturally different group (and then using that for commercial gain - James Cameron, once he breaks even, will be making bank) carry with it invisible, subconscious reinforcement of the pre-existing cultural power structures in place as it relates to the Western world and how the Western world perceives and relates to non-Western cultures. In the case of Avatar, these cultures become appropriated through the narrative, and appropriated by us, even being represented by Jake Sully taking on the form of a Navi by the end of the film. We each become a Jake Sully by the end of the film. But at the end of the day, only a Western protagonist can really save the day. Only a Western guy can change himself, and thereby change the world.
Furthermore on the two-dimensionality of the Navi, the film falls into that dangerous polarized categorization of good guys and bad guys. By making the "bad guys" (the humans) SO bad, while the Navi can do no wrong (there wasn't even a bad Navi who went to the side of the humans - but of course, our human protagonists side with the Navi) - that's a bit overcompensation, don't you think? That, or all Navi are homogenously earth-loving and good-doing. Or victimized.
I'm not going to belabor the point more - I think I already have. I will say, though, it was a very enjoyable three hours, but the 3D aspect of it is completely unnecessary.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Systems and Cultures
I've always (ok, not always, but came up within the last year or so) had this theory. In any modern society (let's not think too much about how we define society, or we'd get tangled in semantics all night - just what you'd normally think of as a society), there are two forces at play. One is culture, one is system. At least, those are the words I use. And they're always at war - very rarely do they go hand in hand. For instance, we all know that racial equality is an ideology of America that we're taught, and is reflected in our legislation. Hate crimes, employment discrimination, etc are against the law. However, I don't believe anyone would argue with me that racism and racial discrimination still exists in society. That's our culture, that's what gets internalized through visual and educational representation, that's what goes on beneath the surface of consciousness, and that's how people live every day.
I bring this up because I've been getting into a lot of debates lately about China's economic condition (ie: everyone seems to want to do business in China because the economy is booming), but I've been hesitant to believe that China's economic boom is sustainable. This is, of course, based on almost no research on my part nor any in-depth knowledge about the global economic climate and all the messy dynamics of. However, I recently found this article about China's economy (by Thomas Friedman), which seems to say a lot of what I feel. Not sure I agree with it completely, but it's an interesting read.
This is a theme I'm probably going to try and expand upon more in later posts, but for now, I'm underslept and, hence, underthunk, so more later.
I bring this up because I've been getting into a lot of debates lately about China's economic condition (ie: everyone seems to want to do business in China because the economy is booming), but I've been hesitant to believe that China's economic boom is sustainable. This is, of course, based on almost no research on my part nor any in-depth knowledge about the global economic climate and all the messy dynamics of. However, I recently found this article about China's economy (by Thomas Friedman), which seems to say a lot of what I feel. Not sure I agree with it completely, but it's an interesting read.
This is a theme I'm probably going to try and expand upon more in later posts, but for now, I'm underslept and, hence, underthunk, so more later.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Losing a train of thought...
I found this in my "drafts" folder in Blogger today. It's an incomplete blog from early November that I let sit until I forgot entirely what I was going to write about...
"I used to read so much news. I don't anymore. It occurred to me just now as I read two articles - one about a missing baby found in a box and another about a teen who was set on fire. You know, the 2-minute news stories that are entertaining, but ultimately inconsequential. I used to snarf those up. What happened?
"Anyway. I had an epiphany today on the train. Not really an epiphany, but just a quiet thought, I guess." .......?!
Ok, that is where I stopped. Reading that again, I want to take myself by the shoulders and shake me and yell, WHAT WAS YOUR EPIPHANY?! I even tried looking in my journal to see if I made some sort of reference to this epiphany about stupid news, and couldn't find any. Maybe my quiet thought had to do with the fact that there's so much consequential stuff out there I need to read that I can't take the time to read stupid news like that. Or maybe it's all this insignificant news that's causing a culture of fear and paranoia in which our society seems to be entrenched. Or maybe it's lamenting the fact that we've gotten so lost in the little details of culture and life that we lose sight of the really "important" stuff. I really don't know.
Maybe this blog is more representative of why I shouldn't be reading news. I simply don't have time. I mean, I obviously don't have time to finish a blog (until now). But I somehow magically find time to Facebook-stalk people for hours. My response to myself there is, hey, it's for research.
"I used to read so much news. I don't anymore. It occurred to me just now as I read two articles - one about a missing baby found in a box and another about a teen who was set on fire. You know, the 2-minute news stories that are entertaining, but ultimately inconsequential. I used to snarf those up. What happened?
"Anyway. I had an epiphany today on the train. Not really an epiphany, but just a quiet thought, I guess." .......?!
Ok, that is where I stopped. Reading that again, I want to take myself by the shoulders and shake me and yell, WHAT WAS YOUR EPIPHANY?! I even tried looking in my journal to see if I made some sort of reference to this epiphany about stupid news, and couldn't find any. Maybe my quiet thought had to do with the fact that there's so much consequential stuff out there I need to read that I can't take the time to read stupid news like that. Or maybe it's all this insignificant news that's causing a culture of fear and paranoia in which our society seems to be entrenched. Or maybe it's lamenting the fact that we've gotten so lost in the little details of culture and life that we lose sight of the really "important" stuff. I really don't know.
Maybe this blog is more representative of why I shouldn't be reading news. I simply don't have time. I mean, I obviously don't have time to finish a blog (until now). But I somehow magically find time to Facebook-stalk people for hours. My response to myself there is, hey, it's for research.
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