Down, Down, down

What a range or emotions yesterday! We started with a marvelous discussion of sex, gender and sexuality, and followed it with a visit from Marko McWilliams, who i had known previously. His presentation was brilliant, but I noticed that people did not want to actually voice the content of his Vogue cover. I felt somewhat this way myself, but the more i think about, the nastier those implications seem. His World War I recruiting poster gave, and still gives me shivers. Who was that white woman being ravished? I think perhaps it may have been intended to represent Belgium, and that brings the period phrase "Rape of Belgium" to mind. So are we actually looking at a repressed representation of interracial rape? Is the idea of interracial rape what we are disturbed by? Suppose it were on the other hand consensual sex? Are we being tantalised by the possibily of mixed race encounters and the mythology of the black man as sexual superman, and the white woman as eager participant? is that why an issue about health and swim suits shows both partners clothed in manner than conceals their bodies? Are we afraid to address or confront them as attractive physical entities? A disturbing picture, with yet more disturbing thoughts.


The afternoon was, on the other hand, a disappointment. Disney's Up was a downer. Here's a piece that suffers from way to little development. The plot is underdeveloped. Certinly things happen, but since the characters are also poorly drawn, no one really cares. In the guise of adventure, the values distributed are largely hegemonic, with just a cynical soupcon of the transgressive to trick the viewer into thinking that it is not patriarchal. It is hard to find a charcter to identify with, except perhaps Ele, who is dead. Russell, Charles and Carl are unattractive, lacking maturity and dynamism. Only Kevin seems in any way likable. he is in fact, a throw back to the old disney type character, while the others are contemporary, cutting
edge corporate bilgewater. Kevin seems to be a reincarnation of the aracuana, from Disney's 1947 Clown in the Jungle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0rBeoOiV1c

For me, Up was a waste of good money, I spent 2 hours bored, and even a bit offended by clumsy mecahnistic way in which Pixar assumes that glitz can substitute for content. To be sure, some of the 3D effects are good, and impressive, but wearing the glasses gave me headache for which I felt I received no compensating return. Glitzy crap remains crap. I was offended the more when I realised that I much preferred Midnight Meat Train to Up. Disney's cynical manipulations left me cold.