tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60336961719407944152024-03-05T17:39:00.000-08:00Look Ma, No Agent!Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.comBlogger198125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-64215084630993462542017-06-15T12:40:00.000-07:002017-06-15T12:40:23.011-07:00Chapter 119: In Which I Discuss Sense8 Being Cancelled :(For your information, I still don't have an agent.<br />
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Netflix canceled <i>Sense8</i>. I'm not happy about this. First, it was a good show. A sci-fi actioner with compelling characters and storylines. Second, it was the only TV show I can recall recently that celebrated diversity and inclusion. So of course it had to go, 'cause that stuff isn't cool anymore.<br />
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It was also a show with a diverse cast that addressed a number of social issues. Representation is important in giving oppressed peoples a voice, and <i>Sense8</i> was great about that, specifically in addressing LGBT issues. But I'll get to that.<br />
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Here is when I knew I was watching something special. I was caught up in the characters' individual stories and the macro plot of the evil corporation coming after them. If I had to pick a favorite sub-plot, it would probably be Leto's, because I loved him and Hernando so much. I liked that the show wasn't afraid to show a grown-ass man being vulnerable and sensitive like that character was, and to not treat his being a "drama queen" as some terrible weakness.<br />
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I don't think there was a single bad storyline (they even got me to care about the cop) and watching the characters' interactions was a lot of fun. The show cost a ton of money to make and all of it was onscreen. It <i>looked </i>expensive.<br />
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But there was an outlier. What's with this chick walking around Iceland being depressed? At first it seemed Riley's storyline would be about her running from drug dealers, which I was down with. But no. All the money she gets from the drug robbery gone bad she dumps in a beggar's hat and she runs back home, where she spends the latter half of season one reconnecting with loved ones and quietly musing on her traumas.<br />
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All of the sensate cluster lead exciting lives. A super hacker! A movie star! A safe cracker! Even the pharmacist Kala, who is on the surface a regular person, has a storyline where she enters wealth through her new marriage, and has to navigate Indian politics as an outsider.<br />
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Riley does not have a compelling political/crime storyline. And she's not special like the others. Sure, she's a DJ, but she's not the best DJ. Her DJ powerz! don't ever come in handy like Kala's chemistry powerz! The character's storyline is primarily internal.<br />
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If the Wachowskis simply needed a damselly love interest for Will to rescue at the end of the season, they could have cut out all the stuff having to deal with her dead child and still accomplished that. But they really took time and care in developing her storyline and humanizing her. And in the end, it's Riley who saves the day. She overcomes her fears in order to rescue Will, through the brave act of . . . getting in a car and driving it down the road.<br />
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And that was how I knew, once the season was over, that I was watching something special. <i>Sense8 </i>works under the premise that a DJ trying to heal emotionally is just as epic and important as somebody having to fight their evil brother from a prison cell. The show believes that all life matters. Not All Life Matters, meaning shut up about your oppression, but really that all life matters. And they put it up there onscreen. Even the characters' sidekicks were compelling.<br />
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<i>Sense8 </i>was the type of show that actually got me excited for streaming services as a form of entertainment. A big budget, R-rated action sci-fi drama about the power of empathy. A show that is violent and sexy and woke. That's about as weird and niche as you can get, and opens up new possibilities in long-form filmmaking. HBO or Showtime wouldn't touch something like that. But Netflix prioritized it . . . for a little while.<br />
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Then came the show's second season, where everything that could go right went right. Instead of doubling down on action and conflict for its own sake, the Wachowskis and J. Michael Straczynski doubled down on the characters. I loved seeing Leto come out the closet, or Nomi deal with all the family stuff around her sister's wedding, or Kala navigating marriage. There are so many moments of simple human connection in this season and it's really powerful.<br />
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The Kenyan storyline gets expanded to include upper and middle class Kenyans. Leto chooses love over his career and has to deal with the consequences. The asexual-seeming Sun isn't asexual at all and gets a hot love interest. Wolfgang gets invited to become a big time mobster and turns it down because he <i>doesn't </i>want the power. Will is physically neutralized and has to use his smarts to beat the bad guys. Riley, who at first looks like she's tagging alone in Will's story as the girlfriend, ends up sharing the storyline with him instead. The interracial lesbian couple has as much prominence as the heteronormative white one.<br />
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And, most surprising, the sensates are a team. They support and help each other. Where is the bickering? Where is the alpha male posturing? Maybe on every other bullshit show, but not this one.<br />
Every episode the showrunners do something unexpected and subversive. The world building got deeper while the plotlines became explicitly became about social justice issues. I admired how the show wore its heart on its sleeve to speak for the marginalized.<br />
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That's why people got upset it was cancelled. That's why there are petitions to bring it back/finish it. A show about social justice done with that care and quality is something a lot of people have <i>never seen </i>before. And might never see again.<br />
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I've come to the conclusion that the Golden Age of Television really isn't that impressive. They say it started with <i>The Sopranos</i>, a show about a middle-aged white man fighting his own feelings of emasculation to basically conquer the world. Tony's crew is a tiny gang of old men, drug addicts, and psychopaths who shoot civilians in broad daylight yet get away with everything, and ultimately he defeats his more powerful enemies in the New York mob. Because who needs compelling drama when you can get wish fulfillment? This started the whole "antihero" formula that has basically repeated <i>The Sopranos</i>' throughline over and over.<br />
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My favorite cable drama ever is, of course, <i>The Wire. </i>An intelligent and critical look at the fall of the American city with a multicultural cast. So it was surprising to me when, a few years later, everyone got into <i>Breaking Bad. </i>And I'm like "What's so special about a damn meth dealer?"<br />
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What made it special was it had a white protagonist. Walter White defeats his feelings of emasculation by defeating the stupid people of color around him and rising to the top of the drug trade. Never mind that the Latinos he deals with have been doing it longer than him; he's naturally smarter and more hard-working and they don't stand a chance. It's a white supremacist outlaw fantasy that is repeated in shows like <i>Weeds </i>and <i>Orange is the New Black</i>:<i> </i>a middle-class to upper middle-class white person moves into a criminal space and proves themselves the baddest on the block through intelligence and ruthlessness.<br />
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Over and over and over. White man maneuvers to the top of the political scene. White man maneuvers to the top of the biker gang scene. White man maneuvers to the top of the marketing industry. White man maneuvers to the top of the zombie-slaying industry. And now that we have an "antihero" as president, we can watch <i>The Sopranos </i>every day on C-SPAN! What is continuously touted as intelligent, gritty television is some stuff Hemingway could have written.<br />
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It actually makes me miss the days of network television, when advertisers required that the shows be about good people in order to sell products. Mary Tyler Moore was a hard-working and decent person who tried to better herself. Murphy Brown was smart and ambitious, but also a team player. Goddamn Steve Urkel was a creep with horrible boundary issues but he invented time machines and stuff in order to help people.<br />
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In this way, <i>Sense8 </i>seems like a throwback to the days of <i>The Andy Griffith Show, </i>where there is a basic assumption of the characters' decency. They are flawed but not in irredeemable ways. Yes, Sun kills people, but only in self-defense.<br />
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There was, of course, an outlier in the character of Wolfgang, the sexy German badass who on any other show would be the sole protagonist. Wolfgang is undeniably not a good person. He's a thief and a murderer who kills his own family members without a shred of remorse.<br />
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Thing is, the character exists to be a foil, and to prove a point. The characters' sensate connection is so strong that it often overrides ideas of common societal morality. That is why Capheus, who comes from a very conservative part of the world, will participate in a bisexual orgy. That is why the cop Will will help Wolfgang murder his uncle, and why nobody judges his life choices. And Wolfgang will step in to help the others, who are all people he wouldn't care about otherwise. Wolfgang exists to show what it really means to empathize with another person, even one who on paper you might not like. It speaks to a larger point that so many of our ideas of right/wrong are societal constructs. If we were really able to get in the mind of someone society has deemed a criminal, would we think of him as a demon, or as a person with fears and desires like ourselves?<br />
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It's hard not to be cynical that <i>Sense8 </i>gets canceled during a time when marginalized people are under direct threat from the fascist right. It is easier to kill and torture people when they are invisible, an alien other thought only as stereotypes. I doubt your average Trump supporter has ever met a Muslim, so of course they buy the propaganda shoved at them about raving eastern hordes. A show like <i>Sense8 </i>getting canceled early is a victory for xenophobes, in that it elevates their voices by erasing others'. I tell myself that the victory of oppression will not be accomplished through TV shows, and it won't, but there's something to be said for representation. Then again, because it's a TV show, I can't get too upset. There are far bigger threats.<br />
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For twenty years, the Wachowski sisters have been some of the most progressive, subversive, ambitious filmmakers of their generation. Lesbian love story? Check. Live-action anime adaptation? Check. An Alan Moore adaptation that actually works? There's nothing they can't do. (I forgave them the <i>Matrix </i>sequels a long time ago.) They were too big for Hollywood and now they're too big for television. While I don't know where they go from here, I think they just made their masterpiece, and viewing it was an exciting experience.Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-8560430455799263502016-10-21T23:41:00.001-07:002016-10-21T23:41:36.617-07:00Chapter 118: In Which I Discuss the Literature of TransienceSo, I'm getting kicked out of my apartment. I'll probably have to leave the San Francisco Bay.<br />
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This is the third time I've had to leave the Bay. The first was after I moved here in 2008, and quickly ran out of money. I worked a summer job in Pittsburgh, and ended up staying. Wouldn't trade that for the world, as I made a lot of connections with other writers that have lasted to this day. The second was right after graduate school, when I had no money, and took the first job I could find in Louisiana. This time, I am not broke. I'm doing pretty well. But not well enough to stay in one of the world's most expensive cities.<br />
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This comes on a wave of bad luck. In May, I got fired from my teaching job at a private school. It was a toxic atmosphere (the kind of school where they fire a teacher in May, instead of March like a decent person) and it was small loss. Right now, I'm living at a house in West Oakland, in a unit with my landlord, a pretty abusive and miserable person. The kind of person who arbitrarily decides to evict someone, which is happening now. Both job and house were white privilege spaces in which I had to keep my mouth shut in order to save money. I won't miss either. I'm excited for the next step, which will most definitely be an improvement.<br />
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Something I notice is how good I am at moving. I've trained myself not to acquire too many things, assuming I'll have to leave whatever space I'm in every two years. I have enough stuff to fit in one suitcase. I accept the fact that I have no control over my circumstances, particularly being a black person in an area where most black people can't afford to live. Where 12,000 blacks left in the last four years. The Bay is being remade into the center of the tech thing, and it's awful. It's a effect of capitalism, not a personal failure. In other words, getting displaced is old hat for me.<br />
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The last time I moved was in 2015, when I got evicted from my apartment. Before that, I left Louisiana. Before that, plenty more moves, leading me all over the country. It's interesting to see the things I've carried through so many moves. I keep a lot of things from students, going back to when I first began teaching ten years ago. I have cards from them, notebooks, artwork. Also, I keep all the notebooks and notepads for my writing. Hell, I have post-it cards and receipt papers I wrote on back in 2010. Newspapers from college. These are all things I feel I need to have around me for when I revise certain stories. I'm keeping things that <i>could</i> be helpful with stories: an anthropology conference program, some photocopied notes on the <i>Arabian Nights.</i> I have programs and guest badges from myriad conventions. A subway ticket from Barcelona.<br />
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I have a violin I don't even know how to play.<br />
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One thing that occurred to me is that most of the fiction notes I've kept are for short stories. The last time I worked on a novel was also the last time I had the space and comfort to do so: during my MFA. It was called <i>The Motley & Plume Players, </i>a project I know I'll finish, as it's stayed in my head for so many years. During my MFA, I was all jazzed to work on it. Then I moved to Louisiana, and had to move twice during that time, and, well . . . I ended up writing a lot of nonfiction pieces for journals.<br />
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I loved writing lit crit. It's also something I can write relatively quickly compared to the more journalistic and research projects I'd like to Ta-Nehisi out sometime. And my interest in performance art fell entirely by the wayside when I had to rebuild my community every two years.<br />
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I'm finally starting to see how being displaced has influenced my art. Moving so much has made it impossible to have the proper head space, or resources, for longer projects. Case in point: these last few years I've working on a narrative podcast. I went to the L.A. Podfest, learned some things, got all revved up to do it . . . and then my landlady kicked me out. The podcast will have to wait until I'm resettled. I wonder if writers who started later in life, like Cormac McCarthy or Toni Morrison, had the same economic problems that I have keeping them from really delving into their writing careers. Moving has also exposed me to new things all the time, and short stories provide an outlet for that.<br />
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Simply put, I've been writing what I can. Things that can be easily digested by whatever writing group I have at the time. My pieces have gotten longer, which is the novelistic impulse coming through. I want to do longer work, and am determined more than ever to write around the transience. And, yes, maybe I should have just become a lawyer. But I didn't.<br />
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I recently watched the <i>Cowboy Bebop </i>movie, <i>Knockin' on Heaven's Door. </i>Now I'm sure of something I've always suspected: the Japanese might as well have stopped making cartoons after this show. It really is the apex. It's been nothing but <i>moe </i>stuff for otaku since then, and I think the decline in anime quality is correlated to the lack of creativity in Hollywood, where the Japanese always took their ideas. And part of what makes <i>Bebop</i> so great is that it's a show for adults. I love <i>Attack on Titan, </i>but it's a show for teenagers, Harry Potter with vore. Watching the movie, I found I could relate to Spike like I couldn't as a kid. He makes a big deal about how the Bebop is a purgatory for him, and he ultimately confronts his past to find out if he's really alive. In doing so, he dies.<br />
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Here's the thing: Spike <i>is </i>alive. He was alive the whole show. He has a job. He has a work partner and does hobbies in his free time. And his job is literally about life and death. He kills people. Spike is living the life of a rover, but his unfinished business makes him feel purgatorial. I think that can describe the experience of a lot of people in their 20s and 30s. If he'd never confronted Vicious, or found some way to kill Vicious without dying himself, he would go on as a bounty hunter and maybe retire. So much of my own life feels ephemeral, when in fact I've been building my writing career at every juncture. Spike's sense of aimlessness, contrasted with how life goes on, is a typical adult experience. <br />
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I'm starting to realize the cynical reasons why so many of my peers find a way to legally bind a roommate to them for life, and then fill the house with human beings who they biologically create. None of this was ever my bag (particularly the children part). But within transience there is a lot of room for permanence, which I'm discovering with every move. Regardless, leaving the Bay will be sad. But part of life is learning to say goodbye.<br />
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I'll miss the area. Until I return.Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-29164768075395843512016-10-04T11:16:00.003-07:002016-10-04T11:16:24.318-07:00"What is the American Dream of a brown peson, except the dream of America leaving us alone?"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX7FWtFKqfg<br />
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The best part of this poem is the last line, which does what good writing does: makes me look at the world differently. I live with a dog whose owner never never plays with it. It's allowed in the yard to run about and constantly yelled at for barking. And damned if that dog doesn't start barking right as I'm listening to this poem. Of course she barks. I would bark, too.<br />
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I first became aware of Danez's work at the 2014 National Poetry Slam in Oakland. Poetry is very important to me, and slam particularly so. I honed my skills as a writer at poetry open mics. A few things I learned:<br />
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1. Do not get a festival pass to a slam competition. You will end up hating slam.<br />
2. It serves a unique purpose as far as being hiphop for conscious people. You cannot walk into a poetry slam and say oppressive shit. You will get hated on and shamed. If you're a mainstream rapper, you're encouraged to say such nonsense. Slam poetry is the safe space for outsiders, minorities within minorities.<br />
3. It's not real poetry It's dramatic monologue. I can think of very few slam poems I've heard that would work on the page. I have seen few slam poets pay attention to things like meter, enjambment, all those words that come up in your graduate poetry class. But what's important is that they call it poetry. Stake their claim when they take the name of an art form that is, although a little under the radar, very important to white men. They sure do like their sonnets and villanelles, their Whitmans and Shakespeares and every other way they can say how cultured they are. Appropriation of the word "poetry" for something so formless, something that is straight up <i>not poetry</i> is, for me, an intensely subversive act.<br />
4. Slam, at its best, can move me like no other artform. There have always been elements of slam in my writing. The climactic scene in "The Elvis Room" was written with slam cadence in mind. For me, that cadence almost works the way a song does in a Broadway musical. When my characters go about their lives, things can be minimalist or descriptive. But when they feel strong emotion, it turns into slam.<br />
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The Nationals were the first time I've seen Danez' work, and I'm pretty sure he did "Dinosaurs in the Hood." That's the one envisioning a 90s movie about fighting dinosaurs, where the people of color are empowered. It was interesting to later find it on my friend's poetry syllabus for her seventh grade class. I've taught it twice myself. The first time was with seventh graders who came from OUSD schools. The second time was with super rich kids at a private school in Dublin, CA. Both times it worked great. Like, "Can we see it again?" great.<br />
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I've seen Danez spit a few times, both solo and with the Dark Noise Collective. I suggest you (all eight of you; I check views like a fiend) go out and watch/read everything he's done. His work speaks directly to the genocide of black people. It's also blatantly fantastic, which is my jam. "Dinosaurs" drew me in by his delving full force into such a creative spec-fic scenario. "Alternate Heaven for Black Boys" works with Christian mythology to address genocide. Its based on the idea of black boys murdered by whites finding a paradise in death, which is profound in itself, but made moreso by how important the mythology of Heaven is to black people. Our ancestors were convinced to become Christians by being promised as a place where suffering ends, where you're no longer a slave, and I'm pretty sure the Heaven they envisioned was entirely black. Else it wouldn't be Heaven. I wish more writers in general would mine Christianity for its fantasy properties.<br />
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"Genisissy" is an Old Testament riff about the awesomeness of queerness. "Dear White People" (the one which spawned all kinds of dumbass responses from the aforementioned race) is about leaving this busted planet and going to space to get away from whites' racism. I wish I knew more poets who use fantasy elements not only to form the narrative (like Neil Gaiman does, and does well) but to get political. Saul Williams has always excelled at this, as well. <br />
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Anyway, enough fangirling. Right now I'm finishing up the manuscript for my new collection. Off to bang out a few more pages.Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-13625464058087980402016-10-02T15:32:00.002-07:002016-10-02T15:32:33.719-07:00Chapter 117: In Which I Discuss an Educated PopulaceEarlier this year, I attended AWP. It's still a good time. As usual, overwhelming, exhausting, a great way to see friends. It was in California this year, meaning I saw pretty much every writer I knew. It's also depressing. There's no quicker way, as a writer, to feel you don't matter than going to AWP. You're surrounded by people who've also written books, a small percentage of whom have made money at it. And if you're working a dealer table, as I was, you cease to be an artist and become a salesperson. In other words, you ain't shit. Everybody's on an even playing field, trying to sell, until the elegiac final day in which they're just giving the stuff away for free so they won't have to take it on the plane. Maybe you sell enough books to pay the cost of the table, but there's no profit, which is fine, until you consider the conference itself has to be making millions off an event whose main draw is off-site readings. As usual, I found myself surrounded by more successful writers, and it was insanely humbling.<br />
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The question being: did I have to leave my house and travel all the way to L.A. just to be humbled? I'm pretty humble already.<br />
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Every year I ask myself this, and every year I register again. I think things would be different if I'd put out a book recently; without having new work to show the world, my fire for the writing life has cooled. I don't like promoting old stuff, no matter how good it is, when I know my best work is waiting in the wings.<br />
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One thing AWP did very, very well this year was their diversity programming. I went to a lot of panels involving black writers, speaking directly to the genocide of black people in the United States. The keynote speaker was Claudia Rankine, whose so popular she "sold out" the auditorium and I had to watch her speech on video in the run-off room. However, I smelled a conspiracy. Last year, the conference got in hot water because one of their board members, Vanessa Place, was using racist iconography on her Twitter. I'd never heard of her before, but apparently she's some avant-garde, New Wave poet type from long ago. She was removed from the board. Then, all of a sudden, they're inviting black people onto the board! All of a sudden, you've got more panels about James Baldwin and Octavia Butler and Audre Lorde than you can handle.<br />
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Which is maybe why I keep coming back to AWP. Why the community of small press writing appeals to me, with its valuing of ideas. When accusations of racism came up, the conference runners tripped over themselves to not be associated. Which makes them the exact opposite of mainstream white America right now. These people identify themselves as scholars and intellectuals, and as such outwardly reject the blatant stupidity racism entails. They don't want to be associated with the mouth breathers at the Trump rallies. Do a lot of college writing programs have a racist bent to them? Sure. For fucking sure. But diversity programming based on fear for reputation is good, far as I'm concerned. In the end, it provided a platform for writers of color they might not have otherwise received.<br />
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Certainly not in any type of mainstream, big money industry. Yes, Jay Z makes money--making ultra-capitalist, cynical art. Black creators speaking to the black experience are in an especially unenviable position. When I was a child, Spike Lee was everywhere. Anytime some news station wanted to talk about race, he was there in his Malcolm X shirt, talking shit. This is because, in the 80s and early 90s, white people were feeling alienated. So, like in the 20s and 30s, they turned to black culture as a way of finding authenticity. Hiphop changed the world. Black filmmaking came out of the grindhouse and into the multiplex. <br />
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Nowadays, Spike has to crowdfund his movies. That's because white people are no longer interested in the black experience, even for voyeuristic reasons. This is the era of gentrification, the era of Lena Dunham's Brooklyn. They want us gone. After the cities are reclaimed and they've settled, they will get alienated again, and turn back to other cultures for something real. There are, of course, other things at play such as the rise of white supremacy in the country. White voices are the only ones that are currently valued in the mainstream.<br />
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Literature, however, real honest to god literature, is still a place for a non-white person to have an in. Because learning about other people and places is, ultimately, why people read books. Literature is a challenging artform, not something for the cowardly, or those closed off to ideas. It really is about the life of the mind, as well as the fun of reading.<br />
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At AWP, I went to a great panel with the poet laureate of Los Angeles. And he said, straight up, that a world in which people read would be one where Donald Trump got no traction. So real. The rich intentionally keep the poor ignorant, degrade reading, degrade intellectualism, and perpetuate the myth that everyone's opinions are equally valid, the expert and the raving hatemonger. Poor people buy into this, and they suffer.<br />
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As I see it, the main advantage of reading and educating yourself is realizing that so much of what we perceive as normal is, in fact, engineered. Global warming isn't real? A little research shows the "experts" are paid off by corporations. Black people are a race of thugs and drug addicts? A quick Google search reveals crack was shipped into the community by the CIA, as part of the Nixonian scheme to destroy the black community, doubled down on by Reagan and Clinton to criminalize black people and fill prisons. White people are naturally superior? A quick read will tell you whiteness was invented as a way to keep indentured servants from teaming up with African slaves. Capitalism is human nature? Plenty of societies have actually stepped up to the challenge of being an intelligent animal and lived communally. The danger of self-education (i.e. reading books) is the lower classes becoming aware of their education as something that was <i>done to them. </i>A conspiracy. A set-up. Somebody else reads a book and tells you what to think.<br />
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Literature is still the realm of ideas and self-education. And that is why I love the community, why I come back again and again, why I travel to spend time with writers. I will always be challenged in such a space, and find art that reflects the diversity of the world. It's awesome. Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-53438607736080293312015-05-16T23:19:00.002-07:002015-05-16T23:19:42.638-07:00Chapter 116: In Which I Discuss Nostalgia and Continuityhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaL6NxTvWRM<br />
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This track gets me so pumped up. I listen to it and start feeling like this guy.<br />
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I just saw <i>Mad Max: Fury Road.</i> My lord, it is glorious. An instant classic. Proof that George Miller needs to direct every movie. There is so much heart and imagination and pure joy fit into those two hours that I'm still reeling. What a masterpiece of fantasy.<br />
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One thing (of many) that I found interesting was that it's a reboot that doesn't feel like one. Reboots/remakes/sequels are all the rage now. They seem to be rebooting <i>Spider-Man</i> faster than they can release the things in theaters. But <i>Fury Road</i> feels like it could easily fit into the established canon. Like its the lost film between <i>Mad Max</i> and <i>Road Warrior</i>. It's no surprise to find it was originally supposed to film in 2001 with Mel Gibson before it got pushed back.<br />
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George Miller has said the Mad Max films are supposed to be mythic Sergeo Leone-style movies with no real continuity. I suspect he's a bit of a troll. There are both visual cues and character beats that establish a continuum over the trilogy. Even without these cues, I felt no real disconnect between the new film and the old, except Max has a new face.<br />
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Also, thank Poseidon Mel Gibson is nowhere near this film. Some movies might need the nostalgia value he brings to sell tickets. <i>Fury Road</i> is making money based purely on quality. He would be nothing but an albatross around the film's neck. His presence is absolutely unneeded and Tom Hardy is great as the new Max. (Needless to say, Charlize Theron is an acting goddess.)<br />
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It seems to me that Miller did the impossible: he resurrected a franchise after thirty years without a bit of nostalgia. All the gags and storytelling and action beats feel fresh; you don't have to have knowledge of the old Mad Maxes to enjoy this movie. Miller is looking ahead with his filmmaking, to the point I can't even really call it a resurrection.<br />
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After all, you can't resurrect what was never dead in the first place.<br />
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In our current milieu, "new" is uncool. It seems that all of today's entertainment is geared towards making adults relive their 3rd grade summer vacation. Later this year, <i>Star Wars</i> is reemerging as part of Disney's campaign to mass market everyone's childhood under their umbrella. I would not be surprised if we soon got <i>Lisa Frank: The Movie</i>. And as a genre fan, I'd really like to see something new. Even anime, which has yielded some of the freshest shows and movies I've seen, has descended into moe, otaku-made, otaku-served navel gazing.<br />
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There are upsides to this nostalgia, of course. The main being that a lot of the stuff from our childhood actually sucked. I've never watched <i>My Little Pony, </i>but by all accounts it's a better-written toy commercial than the toy commercial it was based on. I hear there's going to be a new <i>Masters of the Universe </i>flick. Hopefully, since the studio can see the dollar signs, they won't kneecap it like Cannon did to the almost-good 1987 version.<br />
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Then there's a part of me that's like, "Wait! That He-Man cartoon sucked in the first place. Give me something new." Is the future so bleak that we're all trying to be kids again?<br />
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I just answered my own question. I live in California, where we're facing a water drought that will inevitably end with rich people having water while poor people have to pay out the ass for it. Water privatization is coming. Water riots are coming. We're staring at the world of Mad Max in real life and I can see why a lot of adults with the time and money (i.e. mostly white people) would want to throw on their <i>Ninja Turtles</i> jammies and pretend like none of this is happening.<br />
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But back to entertainment and the hipsterization of American culture. The last blockbuster movie I can recall that offered something new was <i>The Matrix</i>. They took a little bit from anime, a little bit from John Woo, a little bit from Grant Morrison, but in the end it was their creation. And it was a great movie. I thought the sequels were bloated and tension-free and nonsensical, but they were all the Wachowskis'. They stand alone as works of art.<br />
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Compare this to the nostalgia-drenched trailers for <i>Star Wars</i>. It might be a great movie. I hope it is. But the trailers are filled with cues to the original. So far, a lot is banking on people's love for a 38-year-old movie. My fear is that the new characters and their storyline will suffer. A bold move would have been to cut out the old characters entirely. Everyone's excited that Luke, Han, and Leia are back. That's pure nostalgia. The original actors also made <i>Return of the Jedi.</i> There's things to like about that movie, but it certainly doesn't come from Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher sleepwalking. The original cast are 2 for 3. <br />
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And it's frustrating after seeing <i>Fury Road</i>. Here you have an old school, honest-to-god filmmaker who crafting beautiful images and stirring sequences. He is obsessed with the craft, not at what callbacks he can make to something from long ago. There's no Mel Gibson cameo or gratuitous shots of a dog or putting a Tina Turner wig on Zoe Kravitz to signify she'll be the next Aunt Entity. It's a vibrant, alive movie. I don't know if modern big-budget filmmakers have the space to do that kind of auteurship anymore. Maybe Christopher Nolan, but who else?<br />
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George Miller pretty much created the post-apocalyptic genre. Everything from <i>Borderlands</i> to <i>Fist of the North Star</i> to every 80s metal band to the entire existence of Burning Man stems from Mad Max. If our current zeitgeist existed in Miller's heyday, we would have never gotten <i>The Road Warrior.</i> After making <i>Mad Ma</i>x, he would have been scooped up to do the third <i>Dick Van Dyke Show</i> movie in the 50s Sitcom Cinematic Universe.<br />
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I mean, they're resurrecting <i>Jem and the Holograms </i>(in a shitty manner, judging by the trailers) while we still don't have a proper <i>Avatar: The Last Airbender </i>film. Come on, people. Get on it.<br />
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<b>Continuity</b><br />
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New creator = new continuity. That is my policy.<br />
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Mad Max has me thinking about this, as it is the only "soft" reboot I've seen that I would put in canon with the original films. That is because it remains Miller's singular vision. If they'd brought on a new director, it would automatically be new canon for me. This philosophy has saved me a lot of grief as a fan of spec-fic shows and movies. Big studios own the rights to intellectual property. In such a world, art is seen as capital, and artists as product creators. How to determine canon in such a world?<br />
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I came to this philosophy after reading a Wikipedia article on Alan Moore's <i>Watchmen. </i>For the character profiles, they included background info from <i>Before Watchmen. </i>And I asked: how could this info be listed in the bios for Moore's character's when Moore had nothing to do with the comic? When he was against it from the very beginning? How can you just insert your ideas into someone else's story without their say-so?<br />
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We have a word for that. It's called fanfic. I never wrote fanfic; having taken creative writing classes since I was a kid, I had it drilled into my head not to write something you can't market. But fanfic has it's place and people seem to get a lot out of it. What they don't get is the original creator's vision.<br />
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In fact, lately I've become, if not partial to fanfic, intrigued by it. Fanfic is the realm of the happy ending. For every individual fan, there is a realm where Spike got with Buffy. There is a sphere where the werewolf kid hooked up with Bella instead of with her infant daughter. There is a world out there where Charlie Brown hooked up with the Little Red Haired Girl. All you have to do is find it in the labyrinthine universe of online fanfic. I'm glad fans have their happy endings out there. Everybody ends up happy. The ones that tickle me the most are the <i>Song of Ice and Fire</i> fanfic, which usually take place in some sort of AU where the characters are high schoolers. Then, you know, Arya hooks up with Gendry or Sansa gets with Sandor and they all go to the prom. It seems like the only way to squeeze a happy ending out of George R.R. Martin's crapsack universe is to get rid of the universe entirely.<br />
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But Martin himself will tell you: those aren't his characters, that's not his story. Neither is the TV show <i>Game of Thrones. </i>It's head-canon, the same as <i>Before Watchmen</i>. The fact that DC chose to market that comic makes it no less fanfic.<br />
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I believe in artistic integrity. I loathe the idea that a different artist's take on a universe can ruin a good story or validate a bad one. Say what you will about the <i>Star Wars</i> prequels, but they were overseen by the same guy who directed and produced the originals. Lucas may have messed it up, but it was his story and his imperative to do so.<br />
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J.J. Abrams' sequels? Whole new canon.<br />
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People say <i>The Simpsons </i>got bad. No, it didn't. <i>The Simpsons </i>we all grew up on was a brilliant show that lasted for an unparalleled nine great seasons. After that point Matt Groening turned his focus to <i>Futurama. </i>What followed was a series of mediocre shows with the same name and character designs. <i>The Simpsons</i> you loved ended when Groening left and remains untouched. Those who came after him were following a separate vision. Their artistic faults (as well as Fox's continuing to renew the show long after it had anything to say) has no reflection on what came before.<br />
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Greg Weisman and the other creators of <i>Gargoyles</i> had the cartoon wrested from them by Disney to make the inferior third season. All <i>Gargoyles</i> fans consider this season non-canon. The creator disavowed any part in it. But it exists as a separate continuity. Weisman's is a cautionary tale: he tried to continue Gargoyles in comic form, but had to quit because he couldn't afford to keep licensing his own characters from Disney.<br />
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But what of when the original artist cedes the story reins to a minion? What if they say it's part of their continuity? If so, then it is for me.<br />
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Until . . . continuity errors.<br />
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The moment continuity errors emerge, it's a new story for me. Simply put, if the artists don't care enough to keep things consistent, I'm not going to jump through hoops to do the storytelling myself.<br />
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An example of this is<i> True Blood</i>. Alan Ball left after season 5 and the new team was left to clean up the mess he'd left, with a dozen story arcs and a massive cast and a human-vampire war they couldn't possibly film. The spent much of season 6 retconning away season 5.<br />
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In that season, the character Terry gets glamored (read: hypnotized by a vampire) to forget his PTSD.<br />
The problem? It was established in the first season that Terry couldn't be glamored because he has a metal plate in his head. This entire plot development is impossible based on what has come before. Everything falls apart.<br />
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Unless you accept that this Terry and the one before are two different characters. Yes, you go into the season knowing Terry is a short order cook with PTSD from the Iraq War and a wife named Arlene. You also go into every Robin Hood movie knowing he's a lord who went off to fight in the Crusades. They're still separate works of art.<br />
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The original <i>True Blood</i> ended on the cliffhanger of Bill drinking Lilth's blood and becoming a god. Then there was an unconnected two-season show with the same name.<br />
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When I was a kid in the 90s, there were a lot of <i>Elfquest </i>offshoots made by artists other than Wendy and Richard Pini. Warp Graphics was expanding and with it the EQ Universe. Most of those comics were of debatable quality, and twenty years later are entirely unmarketable, so it's best they're available for free online. Nobody would ever buy them.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This sucked.</td></tr>
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One such comic called <i>New Blood</i> was just . . . bad. In a lot of ways, starting with the art. And it played fast and loose with the rules. Part of Elfquest lore is that elves use telepathy. But Barry Blair totally wrote a scene where some elves are stuck in a tree or something and don't know how they're going to contact their friends.<br />
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Nope. Elves use telepathy. It's always been this way. In <i>New Blood</i>, these powers can apparently short circuit. Different rules = different universe. <i>New Blood </i>is non-canon for me, and not just because it's a crappy comic. It's rules don't align.<br />
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I like the Elfquest <i>Rogue's Curse </i>comic a lot. Wendy Pini herself did some <i>Rogue's Curse </i>one-shots, so it's safe to say the original creator signed off on the storyline. Still, I remember that story having some parts that didn't gel with the Pinis' canon. Henceforth, it becomes non-canon, AU, What If?, Elseworlds, whatever you want to call it.<br />
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This theory feels liberating as a fan, but also frees up artists to tell the story they want to tell. Really, the new <i>True Blood</i> team shouldn't have had to abide by the set rules if that doesn't suit the story they want to tell. (Which is not to say I loved those two seasons. They were awful. Just a different kind of awful than what came before.)<br />
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There are exceptions for things like pro wrestling or superhero comics, where lack of continuity is the point. If you're asking yourself why Batman never ages, that's the point you put down the comic and pick up a novel. If you need to find reason in-character as to why CM Punk is a fighting champion one day and a cowardly heel the next, then you're over pro wrestling. The storylines are meant to be fluid. Then there are comics that follow a linear storyline, like the Dark Horse <i>Conan </i>comics. But the moment a new writer forgoes canon, or embarks on a complete tonal shift, it becomes a different Conan universe for me. And I get to choose which I like best.<br />
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Whew! That was a ramble. I haven't gone on a nerdy rant in a while. Feels good.<br />
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Watch the new <i>Mad Max. </i>It will kick your ass.Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-30170573415844817302015-04-30T11:52:00.002-07:002015-04-30T11:52:51.913-07:00On Anime Conventions, Part 3Baltimore!<br />
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The power of black people is an unstoppable force. Beautiful to see.<br />
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In such times, it feels weird to devote a weekend of my life to an anime convention, but also necessary. Anime is the realm of the imagination, which they cannot take from us, even if they kill us for having imaginations.<br />
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Today I'll talk about my latest anime con. I was overjoyed to see all the black folks at Tekkoshocon in Pittsburgh last weekend. Most surprising to me was that black dudes were running the LARP. I generally avoid LARP, as the idea of giant aggro white dudes hitting me with foam bats doesn't sound appealing. But apparently we've taken over LARPing. When did this happen? Am I gonna see cats walking down International Blvd. in armor on their way to the club? Will we start donning armor to bash cops? Anyway, loved seeing a multicultural crew handling the LARPing, which was really friendly to beginners.<br />
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Some notes:<br />
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There has been a complete generational turnaround in anime fandom. I saw maybe three people I recognized from my con-going days in college. Two of them were vendors, which seems a logical step for a fan. One of them was the old chair, who was visiting for the day. It was cool, as I felt like I was stepping into an entirely new space, with opportunity to meet new people.<br />
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Sometimes I wonder if I can call myself a real otaku since I've never seen <i>Evangelion. </i>I caught maybe two episodes when it first came out in the late 90s. Didn't strike my fancy. Then it became a seminal anime. The thing is, first there was <i>Neon Genesis Evangelion, </i>then <i>Death, Rebirth, End of Evangelion, </i>now <i>Rebuild. </i>And it's all THE SAME STORY. I understand not getting it right the first time, but the second? The third? I'm sorry, but a story so convoluted it has to be remade every five years sounds sloppy.<br />
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At some point, I'm going to have to watch <i>End of Evangelion </i>for the weird imagery alone. But I won't enjoy it. Shinji Hikari is pretty much designed to be the most loathsome character in all anime. The whole point seems to be that these characters are miserable and unrelatable. I wouldn't want to watch one show about Shinji, let alone several shows getting made until the end of time.<br />
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The only anime I sat down and watched in the Tekko video rooms was <i>Space Dandy. </i>Shinichiro Watanabe is a maniac. That is all.<br />
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I saw a panel about putting on cosplay skits that showed some examples of good ones. I've seen a lot of bad skits but there are people out there who think of it theatrically and pull out all the stops to put on a show. I particularly liked this one, a tribute to the classic <i>Duck Hunt </i>game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSRLITM-KTw<br />
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Tekkoshocon taught me the true value of a good staff. All through the weekend, con ops was helpful as far as setting up equipment for my panels. They were easy to talk to, totally accessible. Around 10 pm Saturday night, there was a fire evacuation right as I was doing a panel on Leiji Matsumoto. Staff immediately got on directing people down the stairs and out of the building. Thousands of anime nerds made it outside just in time to see the fireworks from PNC Park. It was pretty magical. Then everybody came back inside (complete with a Daniel Bryan "Yes!" chant) and staff had to hold everybody on a bridge in David Lawrence Convention Center while they got the convention floor ready. This could have been a disaster, but we weren't waiting more than ten minutes before the con resumed. I went to con ops, which was already up and running, to see if I could get my panel rescheduled for the next day. I couldn't. You would have never known they'd just led an emergency evacuation, that's how professional they were. Amazing, especially considering so many on the staff are college kids. Competent staff can make or break a con, and these ones made it.<br />
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My Matsumoto panel getting scheduled at 10pm was kind of weird. Its a panel on old school anime and gender roles, not really conducive for the J-pop rave and porn that occupies that hour. Strangely, the evacuation actually helped, as my audience quintupled afterward.<br />
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In other nerd news: The new <i>Star Wars </i>trailer looks great. I noticed they focused a lot on the characters, both old and new. I noticed they didn't focus on CGI cartoons, not so subtly letting everyone know the mistakes of the prequels would not be repeated. I didn't like that J.J. Abrams used <i>Star Trek </i>as his demo reel for <i>Star Wars</i>, but they seem to be making all the right moves so far. I'm also genuinely intrigued by Justin Lin bringing his diversity-minded sensibility to <i>Star Trek. </i>I might have to start watching both series again.<br />
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Synchronicity. I did a panel on anime and black culture. I was inspired to do it by the police murder of Darrien Hunt, an otaku who got shot in the back by police for cosplaying. And I began to wonder what draws black folks to anime, product of a culture as racist as our own. The intersections between our culture and Japanese culture are just so myriad. Tekko had an educational panel track this year called Tekko Gakkou, which I got into.<br />
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I had an hour and a half for the panel and I was the only panelist, seeing as how I live in California and don't know too many otaku in Pittsburgh. This was not what I wanted, to sit up there alone and pretend like I am the All-knowing Authority on Blackness. I was thinking of just picking some people from the audience to come up and riff with me.<br />
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On the Wednesday before the con, I did a reading at the Cyberpunk Apocalypse. It went well. Beer, wine, sausage, poetry, etc. Only complaint is that Pittsburgh was too damn cold to be having an outside reading like that. I told someone at the reading what I was in town for and she said one of her advisee's at Pitt was doing his senior thesis on anime.<br />
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My response: "Hook it up."<br />
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I ended up doing the panel with Tom Bautista and it went great. He's doing his senior thesis on representations of blackness in <i>Afro Samurai. </i>Really smart guy; it was cool to give him that space to share his work. I went first, with some historical info on how anime has influenced black culture, and the other way around. Then Tom got into his part.<i> </i>The discussion afterward dealt a lot with what the audience got out of anime, how black people have related to it, and anime fandom as a potentially anti-racist space. Between AWP and Tekko, I spent two straight weekends in the company of brilliant black people having serious discussions. No complaints.<br />
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Okay, racism. I can still complain about that.<br />
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All geek culture is together now. When I was doing cons, plenty of people cosplayed western characters. But I genuinely feel in our globalized world that it all occupies the same space. You can put your <i>Frozen</i> meme on Tumblr right next to your <i>Naruto</i> one. Or combine them. I went to two panels celebrating the ridiculous of 80s cartoons and none felt out of place. I think all cons now are multimedia cons, no matter their specified purpose.<br />
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I met a girl who referred to the Nintendo Gamecube as something from the early days of gaming. I told her I had an original NES. She had no idea what I was talking about.<br />
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Cons are the realm of the imagination. I attended a panel where a bunch of college kids sat up front pretending to be characters from <i>Attack on Titan</i>. The audience asked them questions based on the anime. What is more fun than pretending to be a cartoon character? It was nerdy and niche and entirely worthless if you're not a fan of the show, but it's all good. I noticed the girl playing Sasha stayed in character the whole time. Kudos to her.<br />
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On that matter, there were AoT cosplayers everywhere. I was always interested by the uniform aspect of cosplay, especially military ones. Once upon a time everybody cosplayed <i>Full Metal Alchemist,</i> and when you saw somebody else in the blue military uniform you were automatically in a brotherhood. Now you can join the AoT army. When I cosplayed, I made a lot of friends cosplaying <i>Naruto. </i>The popular anime of the day creates an instant bond between cosplayers that goes beyond apreciation of the show.<br />
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Cosplay has gotten really good. With the internet, there's fame and fortune for those who do great costumes, and you'll see a flurry of professional quality outfits at any con. Get on enough Tumblr posts and you're a celebrity cosplayer. AMVs are also really good, with the editing software to seamlessly splice all kinds of stuff together.<br />
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I had four panels crammed into Saturday afternoon and evening. There was a ton of interesting panels about gender, doll-making, translation, video game design, fashion . . . so much educational stuff. I went to an awesome one about wielding a katana where the audience got to go up and practice in the end. (With wooden practice swords.) Just fun paneling all around.<br />
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Anime fandom is queer, sexually deviant, kinky, bi, trans, lez, sadist, masochist, furry and pony, and I would have it no other way. I definitely saw a girl cosplaying the Nazi fetish furry slave from <i>Hellsing. </i>There were your requisite gay girls cosplaying gay boys. There were your standard femme boy ravers in fishnet shirts. I'm trying to remember if I saw a single male cosplay Levi from AoT. Otaku subculture has always been welcoming to different lifestyles, and provides a friendly space for queer kids to celebrate queerness in all its yaoi/yuri/beyond iterations. For many kids, cons are their only safe space for some healthy genderbending.<br />
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What I found interesting was how kids (and yes, I mean teenagers) were dressing in some very fetishy costumes. It was like Folsom Street Fair: PG Edition. I'm betting many of them will get into kink as they get older, with anime as their gateway. And I wonder if they're fully aware of the sexual aspect, or if it's more about dress-up at that age.<br />
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Anime is really normal now. The popular new show is about Satan working at a McDonald's. It's called <i>The Devil is a Part Timer. </i>And I'm thinking: so Satan is in this. At what point does he die and get resurrected as a sex slave for an evil warlord who cuts off his hands and feet so he can walk on all fours like a dog? I think a lot of otaku nowadays would vomit at the weird shit I grew up on.<br />
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Oh yeah! I almost forgot you weren't allowed bags in the dealer room. Somebody said you had to check your bag and it was $12 and there was a long line to do so. Fuck that. I carried my bag all weekend.<br />
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Also, Tekko needs to do day passes again. Fifty bucks isn't steep for me, especially since the panelists got reimbursed. The day pass exists so kids without tons of cash, and who have school on Friday, can still have a solid day at the con. It could be that only weekend passes cover the rent at the convention center, but its still unfortunate.<br />
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Anime cons basically exist for young people to have fun, and that's what happened at Tekko. Not much has really changed since my con-going days, including the requisite scene drama that people would mutter about over the course of the weekend. Friends having falling outs, sleeping with each other's boyfriends, hating somebody for winning some cosplay award, etc. I was never into con drama, as I go to these things to have a good time. The drama feels oddly quaint and fun because the stakes are so low. It seems less like a stressful thing and more like a feature of the space.<br />
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Good lord, I wrote a lot. It feels good. Hopefully, generations to come with be finding their imagination stirred by the art of Japanese animation. I know I have.<br />
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Baltimore!Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-55477187670826123932015-04-14T09:33:00.001-07:002015-04-14T09:33:41.044-07:00Chapter 115: In Which I Discuss the Myth of White Male MeritocracyI just got back from AWP in Minneapolis. Had an amazing time, as usual. It's funny about AWP. Every year I do the same thing. Go to readings, speeches, panels, old friends, new friends, drink. This might have been the best year because I had a hotel and got to fully experience the conference. But no year feels any better or worse than another. It is all a blur of activity that's over too fast. I'm starting to think AWP exists outside of time, like a perpetual conference that takes place over an endless weekend in a pocket universe into which I periodically materialize.<br />
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Mark-out moment: getting a hug from Pulitzer nominee/dragon highlord Karen Russell. "Keep writing weird," she told me. Yes, Karen. I will do that.<br />
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So, onto less fun topics. Puppygate. Black Gate Magazine has a pretty nice writeup of the controversy.<br />
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http://www.blackgate.com/2015/04/07/sad-puppies-and-super-puppies-the-2015-hugo-train-wreck/<br />
<br />
Basically, a cabal of straight white male Republican writers decided the Hugo Awards have been hijacked by a leftwing conspiracy. According to them, this is the cause for stories with progressive topics winning Hugos over the last few years, as opposed to changing readership. As a response, they hijacked the Hugo nominations and filled it with candidates of their choosing.<br />
<br />
Writers far more eloquent and experienced with the Hugos than I have debunked their conspiracy theories. http://grrm.livejournal.com/418285.html. Not like it matters, because talk of making the Hugos more "diverse" and fighting a "leftist" agenda is all poppycock. Simply put, some people who weren't supposed to get through the gate got through anyway, so the gatekeepers are closing it again.<br />
<br />
The rhetoric of straight white males is strangely steeped in victimhood and this weird idea of them being the little guy. The dialogue from the Puppies side certainly reminds me of the Tea Party rhetoric from a few years ago. A lot of whining about big government coming to oppress them. The Tea Party was a scam, a Republican get-out-the-vote campaign disguised as grassroots organizing, appealing to those whites who think they are "losing everything."<br />
<br />
As Chris Rock said, if they're losing everything, then who has it? 'Cause it sure ain't us.<br />
<br />
What we have here are straight white males, a.k.a. the people who run the publishing industry, asserting their dominance over the marginalized. It all comes down to fear. In a way, they are the little guy. In the acronym SWM, the S is the only letter connotating a majority. So much of white supremacy stems from them knowing they're surrounded and acting out of fear.<br />
<br />
In reading the Black Gate article, I was struck by the language of the Sad Puppies side. I am not going to quote because I don't want to read that shit again. One was the SWM language of false equality. At the suggestion that Hugo voters will No Award their nominations and nullify the entire ballot, Vox Day claims this is an extremist thing, and it is up to the "other side" to "negotiate."<br />
<br />
Like Israelis killing thousands of Palestinian children while getting double digit casualties is a "war." Like a photo of a black boy hugging a cop means there is hope for reconciliation between our two sides. Like everybody is on the same footing. Painting the oppressed as a rival power instead of the underdog is a key trick of the oppressor. And Day's insistence that his side is winning smacked of demagoguery.<br />
<br />
What I found most interesting was the notion of "deserving." Did <i>Resdshirts </i>"deserve" best novel? Did Rachel Swirsky's dinosaur story (which conservatives hate) "deserve" best story. He's talking issues of meritocracy in a fan-based scifi/fantasy award.<br />
<br />
That Rachel Swirsky, man. If only she'd pull her pants up and start speaking correct English, maybe she'd get somewhere in life. But you had to give her a Hugo handout and now she'll never go away.<br />
<br />
America is based around the notion of meritocracy and it's a complete myth. It's easier for a SWM to succeed when the whole system is made for him to do so. Ironically, meritocracy becomes real when applied to the marginalized. To get a dark-skinned man in the Oval Office required him being the most amazing negro who ever lived. His predecessor was actually sold as "the guy you want to have a beer with." Mediocrity was his marketing point. Bush had everything handed to him from the moment he was born but in the eyes of his supporters he's a bootstraps story.<br />
<br />
Their ancestors created a world in which they can coast. I am assuming that most white male writers, no matter how bad their elementary school, were not criminalized from a young age. I would wager they were given the tools for success and had a support network on their way to publishing. I'm guessing they never had to worry about police gunning them down in their own neighborhood. But so many are told from the beginning that they are a badass who can do anything and internalize the myth of work and reward. Really, their forefather who shot that Native American is the one with claim to badassery. What we call merit in America is actually inheritance.<br />
<br />
And it isn't just related to POC. Gamergate was structured around slut-shaming a female journalist for who she slept with. You now what? I don't care. Plenty of people move up in their industry because of who their friends are (again ,the myth of meritocracy). Mark Zuckerberg is an industrious dude, but he had the right friends. Being rich, white, and going to Harvard also helped. Whether or not he slept with the Winklevoss twins is irrelevant to the fact he had them in his corner in order to start Facebook. But with a woman, all of a sudden her sex life is the biggest part of the argument against her.<br />
<br />
I went to Day's website once and had to leave quickly at the echo chamber of mouth-breathing and hatemongering. This is the troll who called N.K. Jemisin a "savage." Her response was far nicer than mine would have been. The Hugos are officially about straight white men versus everybody else. But they always have been. When it was only SWM on the ballot (plus or minus a lightskinned black man or a woman writing under a male pseudonym), science fiction imprints like Ace and Ballantine were highly exclusionary as to who they published. The war was going on, just not out in the open. Puppygate is not an uprising but the status quo trying to protect its spot.<br />
<br />
And I wish I could say it's not important, but it is. Look at South Carolina. If you remove the voices of marginalized people, it is easier to dehumanize them. Shoot them down in the woods like deer. If we don't express our truth, someone else with no emotional investment will do it for us. Literary awards factor into this. Toni Morrison's Pulitzer. Jhumpa Lahiri's Pultizer. Their stories are part of the global consciousness.<br />
<br />
Even in defending their position, people like the Sad Puppies can't set it outside of political arguments. This is about diversity in the Hugos. The storm of misogynist rape and death threats last year was (in)famously softpedaled as being about "ethics in game journalism." None of this has to do with life and death matters. These trolls could walk away form the internet and their lives would go on as before. They could simply read the books they like and not care about awards and they'd be fine.<br />
<br />
But for POC, visibility is about life. Things suck, but not as much as when we had no voice. The blues happened, then rock'n'roll, and all of a sudden black people had access they never had before. In the long run, whites benefited more from the music. But what we were doing was expressing our humanity, reacting to oppression. And doors opened. For artists of color, the political is entirely personal.<br />
<br />
Of course, there are those who want to close the doors. As the saying goes, that seat on the front of the bus was leading us straight to a prison cell. It will be interesting to see how Worldcon voters react, and what the atmosphere at the con is like. I often debate how much I want to engage in scifi fandom. Sometimes I go to cons and do panels, but the idea of struggling against men like the Sad Puppies for a spot in their world sounds stupid. Better to just write stories and get them out to my audience, while staying away from places like Worldcon. Better to burn it down and make something new.<br />
<br />
What's a nerd to do? I find my joy in anime fandom. This weekend, I'm doing four panels at Tekkoshocon in Pittsburgh. Anime is a truly international art form that people around the globe celebrate. It is a youth-oriented fandom, with few of the intergenerational battles you see in scifi/fantasy spaces. Anime has always been a friendly space to females and LGBT. Yes, the art form itself comes from a culture that racially oppressed most of Asia, and there are problematic elements. But the moment a cartoon leaves Japan, it becomes part of the world, loved by people of all colors. Anime fandom is far from perfect, but it sure as hell ain't the shitstorm of this Sad Puppies thing.Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-37456249025514856392015-04-07T19:13:00.000-07:002015-04-07T19:13:06.522-07:00On Anime Conventions, Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizzZ-PkaPH6ndAEPu_wGVh-uJj5a3sGtJriIgVpv2_cSSJ-F52GeMr7eaoC_SfibkRjdYVUI_Bz2PHXdWbA_sYBFeo7PCyxMM18Z5aQBO-sW8fh-BB4nhncEYa7swafmcqQYlvw7pR6CUc/s1600/otakon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizzZ-PkaPH6ndAEPu_wGVh-uJj5a3sGtJriIgVpv2_cSSJ-F52GeMr7eaoC_SfibkRjdYVUI_Bz2PHXdWbA_sYBFeo7PCyxMM18Z5aQBO-sW8fh-BB4nhncEYa7swafmcqQYlvw7pR6CUc/s1600/otakon.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Otakon 1999</b><br />
<br />
Otakon was the first convention I ever went to. I ran upon an ad for it randomly while surfing the net and saw that it was that very weekend. Needless to say, the fact that they had conventions for ANIME blew my mind. I knew they did it for comics and scifi, but anime? This was new to me and I was beyond hyped.<br />
<br />
This was shortly after my freshman year of high school and I had yet to assemble an otaku crew. Hell, the name otaku itself had yet to gain the cultural cache it would among US anime fans. It was weird to find a convention called otakon, as in a con of otaku, as in a con of desperate nerds. As to not be wandering around Baltimore by myself, a called up a kid named Darrell who I didn't know very well, but knew he was into that anime stuff.<br />
<br />
ME: Dude! You're not gonna believe it! They have conventions! For anime! This is gonna rawk!<br />
<br />
Darrell came over on a Saturday and my mom drove us two miles from Montgomery County to Baltimore. It was my first time that I can recall visiting America's most famous hood city, which didn't seem so scary when hanging around the Inner Harbor. Otakon was a strange, overwhelming thing for someone who'd never been to an anime con before. Even back then, it was crowded, stuffed full of panels and more things to do than my mind could track. I remember you could get a day pass back then. I also remember the lines being short, in contrast to the four-hour mire they would turn into over the next few years.<br />
<br />
There were a lot of <i>Final Fantasy 7 </i>cosplayers, as it had recently bridged the gap between anime and games. Most of the cosplay was pretty obscure, as there weren't a lot of mega-popular shows at the time. There was certainly more cosplay of 1970s properties like <i>Yamato </i>than you see nowadays. The Ota-Cafe with its daylong karaoke was a great idea. Whenever we got bored, we just went and watched more karaoke. I wanted to go to every panel possible, whether it was voice acting or model kits or an academic treatise on <i>Evangelion. </i>I was already drifting away from video games but played with other otaku in the game room nonetheless. Me and Darrell were basically running around the whole time, trying to fit in as much anime-related sights as possible.<br />
<br />
The big deal that year was a performance from Yoko Kanno, who I'd never heard of, but had nerd popularity from scoring some ridiculous-sounding show called <i>Cowboy Bebop</i>. Even then, she was accomplished from shows like <i>Escaflowne</i>, so getting her to come was pretty special. Sad I missed her.<br />
<br />
Ota had a good sized dealers room with a bunch of obscure stuff. In those days, the dealers room had stuff that you simply couldn't get anywhere else, so it felt like finding a treasure trove. And it was priced like treasure. The cost of a single J-pop CD made my brain bleed. With my limited amount of spending money, I bought a Satoshi Urushihara art book. Also known as: porn. Ah, the good old days when nobody checked IDs for anything.<br />
<br />
The best part was making a new friend and bonding over this obscure thing we liked. And it set the template for the next few years, when Otakon or Katsucon was the reason to load everybody in someone's mom's van and go be ourselves a while.<br />
<br />
In a twist straight out of an 80s movie, while I was having fun, my mom and little sister got lost driving around the Baltimore ghetto. When it came time to leave, I called her on a payphone, during which she told me she'd seen a man with a penis wrapped around his neck. I'm guessing said phallus was fake. Anyways, my mother was distressed. When I asked if we could stay longer, she emphatically said no.<br />
<br />
It's interesting looking back at photos from then, because Ota 99 wasn't very crowded. For one of the biggest cons in America, there weren't huge numbers. Around 4,500. In fact, it only took up half the convention center, the other half hosting a Muslim convention. But at the time, it felt like an otaku tsunami. In fact, I was at the cusp of what would be an explosion in anime fandom, and the numbers would only increase.Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-7233292508798447142015-03-30T03:09:00.000-07:002015-03-30T03:09:05.069-07:00On Anime Conventions, Part 1I used to go to a lot of anime conventions. From 1999 to 2013, I attended at least fifty. I've been a fan, a staffer, and a panel participant. And lately I've been thinking about this, because I'll be doing panels at this yea's Tekkoshocon.<br />
<br />
This is also the most personal I'll get in a blog post. Memoir has never been my thing--I enjoy looking at life experience through the lens of fiction. But this particular important part of my life is probably something I'll never write fiction on. There's thousands of con reports online that go into the good and bad of every convention held since the start of the millennium. That's not what this is. I'd like to look at what anime fandom meant for me growing up.<br />
<br />
The storytelling in anime influenced my outlook on life from an early age, and certainly influences my writing. When I was a kid, MTV used to show reruns of <i>Speed Racer. </i>I thought the show was cheesy (because it was), and paled next to kewl cartoons like <i>The Maxx, Beavis and Butt-head </i>and <i>Aeon Flux. </i>This was long before I knew where animators like Peter Chung were taking their influence. Or that Nickelodeon cartoons like <i>Maya the Bee</i> and <i>Adventures of the Little Koala</i> were anime. I had always loved cartoons. Even today I'll sit down for some Daffy Duck or Tom & Jerry. The medium is amazing. Anything can happen. I wanted to be a cartoonist when I grew up.<br />
<br />
I don't know when my actual initiation to anime was, but I believe it was watching <i>Vampire Hunter D </i>on TNT one weekend at my Aunt Barbara's house. This was the Streamline Pictures dub, so the voices were obnoxious, and I'm sure it was edited. But the visuals! The action! And the story! It was complex for a cartoon, a series of crosses and double-crosses. Ever character had their own game they were playing. I could relate to Rei Gansi's desire for immortality, or Lamica's desire to keep her bloodline pure. And then the poor thing finds out she's a half-breed? Lawdamercy! And these were the villains! On the flip side, I hated Greco. Couldn't wait for him to die.<br />
<br />
In other words, I was invested. This was epic fantasy. A far cry from American cartoons at the time, which were uniformly toy commercials<i>.</i><br />
<i><br /></i> By the way, and this has been confirmed by other otaku I've met, the event horizon of American cartoon awfulness has a name. It's called <i>Inspector Gadget</i>. I would sit there watching Nickelodeon's endless reruns, thinking: how come the plot never moves forward? How come Dr. Claw doesn't just have him shot, if they're mortal enemies? How come he can't solve a case without Penny and Brain? And if they're really the heroes, why is Inspector Gadget there? Why am I watching a show about an idiot who can't do his job?<br />
<br />
Another seminal piece for me was <i>Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer. </i>I watched a lot of the movie adaptations of American cartoons. It was hard not to. I saw <i>Star Stealer </i>at least ten times on cable because my parents simply plopped me down in front of HBO. It is the only 80s cartoon movie I can sit through nowadays, besides the Care Bears movies. I'm sure there are a million blogs about those films, but good lord were they dark. In the first one they fight the Necronomicon. The second is a children's version of <i>Paradise Lost. </i>Whoever made those films zeroed in on the weird religious aspect of the franchise, and bless 'em for it.<br />
<br />
But back to <i>Star Stealer.</i> It's an all-around fun movie. There's also some cool cross-genre stuff, with the color-loving kewpie doll/kami/pagan nature goddess going on a scifi adventure. There's a strong female protagonist <i>and </i>antagonist. Plus, it's pretty dark. Imperialism, resource depletion, slavery. Rainbow Brite deals with it all. On top of that, she blows the villainess to smithereens. They later retconned this in the series, which doesn't change the fact that somebody thought it perfectly fine for the child protagonist to off the Dark Princess. <i>Star Stealer </i>isn't just animated in Japan. It's an anime.<br />
<br />
I got to witness the ascension of anime's popularity, from roughly 1995 to 2005. Before school, there was <i>Sailor Moon </i>(which I didn't get then, but get now). There was <i>Samurai Pizza Cats, </i>a goofy cartoon that actually had <i>plot twists </i>and <i>stakes </i>and a <i>three act arc w</i>ith an <i>ending. </i>Sometime in elementary school, I watched <i>Akira</i>,<i> </i>and it was a wrap. As I've mentioned before, thank Paladine my dad thought all cartoons were for kids. Because that poor man definitely rented me hentai when I was eleven years old. You really could just go to the Animation section and grab a copy of <i>Urotsukidoji</i>. Nobody working there had a clue it was porn.<br />
<br />
Then again, so much of '80s and '90s anime is straight B-movie. That's why I like it. I like that if I feel like vegging out I can pop <i>Plastic Little </i>in the VCR. No thinking required. In fact, thinking is discouraged.<br />
<br />
In the midst of garbage OVAs, I found <i>Akira, </i>which up to that point was the most epic movie I'd ever seen. <i>Akira </i>was the face of anime for about a decade, probably because otaku of my generation had such low expectations, then this epic and beautiful cyberpunk film comes along to blow us away. The name Katsuhiro Otomo had so much otaku leverage we were watching crap like <i>Harmaggeddon</i> just to get a piece of that <i>Akira </i>magic.<br />
<br />
I would buy videogame magazines to look at the artwork for whatever new RPGs were coming out on the SNES. I was entranced by these colorful characters: big-eyed, blond (or blue) haired Japanese people with crazy costumes. It was like a window to a secret world.<br />
<br />
In middle school there was the original Toonami with its million-year-old reruns of <i>Voltron</i> and <i>Thundercats</i>. Then they reran the first two Robotech series. Also, during this time, <i>Princess Mononok</i>e got a wide release from Disney. <i>Gundam Wing </i>premiered and I found a bunch of other kids who were into it. We would discuss the latest episode in the foreign language hall of my high school before class. This was my first taste of an anime community.<br />
<br />
If you were a nerdy kid at the turn of the century, it was hard not to be an otaku. Masterpieces were coming to our shores at a rapid pace. <i>Cowboy Bebop</i>. <em>Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex</em>. <i>Samurai Champloo</i>. <i>Paranoia Agent</i>. <em>Jin-Roh. Witch Hunter Robin</em>. <i>Inuyasha</i> (yes, asshole, I consider <i>Inuyasha</i> a masterpiece). <i>Spirited Away</i>. Roughly 1995 to 2005 was the rise of anime in the US. I paid for those $20 VHS dubs at Suncoast. Worth every penny. We were also seeing the beginning of what would become the dominance of videogames, and I played <i>Final Fantasy VII </i>just like everybody else. The <em>Final Fantasy </em>series basically became an anime in it's subsequent releases, with mostly bad results, but that's another story.<br />
<br />
I admit, the foreignness was part of the appeal. Imagine watching <i>Project A-Ko</i> as an 11-year-old. It was like stumbling upon a piece of extraterrestrial technology. Oh, the movie works if you understand the pop culture references and have some cultural context. But at that point, the giant robots and blue hair and big muscly dudes in schoolgirl outfits was just <i>bizarre. </i>And why are all the girls in sailor uniforms? I honestly didn't know what to make of it, which was part of the appeal.<br />
<br />
Besides cultural differences, a lot of anime at the time was just weird. <i>Mad Bull 34</i>? <i>Crying Freeman</i>? <i>Angel Cop</i>? <i>ANGEL COP??!! </i>These bizarre crime story-horror-porno-scifi hybrids where everything popular at the time is pushed into a blender. I don't think <i>Violence Jack</i> could even get made nowadays. Anime of the time had a prominent nihilistic streak, a fatalism that can only come from a country that had two nukes dropped on it. Even a piece of crap like<i> M.D. Geist</i> has an overall mood of darkness and despair I couldn't help but find intriguing.<br />
<br />
I got introduced to fandom even before I found anime. When we were kids, my little sister started reading comic books. I would read hers, which pissed her off. She was pretty possessive about most things. Eventually, she stopped reading series like Archie's <i>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</i>,<i> </i>but I kept it up. Every month I spent my dad's money to pick up a new issue at the newsstand in Monroeville. My parents divorced when I was seven, which was the start of a prolonged period of depression for me. My dad quickly caught on that comic books were one of the few things that made me happy. He started taking me to the Pittsburgh Comic-con.<br />
<br />
It's insane to think how young I was, running around the Monroeville Expomart, buying old <i>Elfquest</i>s and paying dudes for their self-published comics. At this point, kids had new distractions, and comic books were becoming the domain of hobbyists. So most of the people there were grown men. I was maybe seven or eight. Somewhere, I have a panel of original art from Scott McDaniel. Somehow, his work called out to me. This was long before I became a true fan from his work on <i>Nightwing</i>. He was a struggling artist running his commission table, and I was a child, and we met. Pretty cool.<br />
<br />
In the mid-90s, the only manga to be found on a regular basis were <i>Ninja High School</i>, <i>Gold Digger</i>, and <i>Usagi Yojimb</i>o; cutesy big-eyed characters wedged between all the Liebfeld big muscle-little head stuff that even as a kid I thought looked pretty stupid. These were manga-influenced American comics. The original stuff was a beautiful mystery, smuggled across borders and translated by fans in their basements. One cool thing about the Pittsburgh Comic-Con is that it had BOOTLEGS. They had all sorts of geeky giant robot shows long before anyone licensed them. I figure the internet's killed the trade show market, even for unlicensed subs. But in those days, the dealers room was the appeal. I went to the Comic-Con year after year, knowing I could find anything in those cardboard boxes.<br />
<br />
So I was already familiar with the idea of geek community, even if I didn't have one of my own. There were only a few kids I could talk with about these obsessions. The instant camaraderie of Twitter and Tumblr wasn't around then and I was too young to know of things like listservs and message boards.<br />
<br />
But I did read about something called Otakon.<br />
<br />
To be continued . . . Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-165171815081711562015-03-29T17:47:00.000-07:002015-03-29T17:48:54.843-07:00Chapter 114: In Which I Discuss Last Year's Wrestlemania<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">I've been a pro wrestling fan for a long
time. Some of my fondest memories involve watching WWF Superstars with my
little sister. It seemed like any Saturday morning show, with sneering villains
and larger-than-life heroes. The All-American Lex Luger was going against the
"Japanese" heel Yokozuna and I could not wait for Luger to slam him.
It was like watching <i>WMAC Masters</i>,
only with less reruns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">However, I was only getting half the
story. Eventually, I discovered Monday Night Raw, which during the mid-90s was
going through a strange transition. You had Bret Hart, a champion who was heel
in America and face everywhere else. His main enemies were a trash-talking
Texas redneck and a male stripper. The show felt gritty and adult and scrappy.
It seemed like they scripted on the fly, two hours of chaos flying at the
screen. I loved it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">The WWF's programming grew along with me,
so I started high school right at the start of the Attitude Era. I had a pretty
diverse group of friends, and it seemed the unifying factor was that EVERYBODY
loved wrestling. The question was who was your favorite. Mine was Chris Benoit,
who I respected for his technique and showmanship. He could get a good match
out of anybody and knew counters to more moves than I could keep track of. I loved that
floppy arm swinging he would do to get out of the Walls of Jericho. Anyways, I
had a friend who loved Jericho, another who marked for Too Cool/Rikishi,
another who loved American Badass-era Undertaker, and another who adored the
Hardy Boyz like they were the Backstreet Boys.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">In short, I've been a wrestling fan a
long time, but the love is waning. Occasionally I'll watch Lucha Underground or
a Ring of Honor match. The WWE is really bad now. Monday Night Raw hasn't been
must-see TV in years, but I read the recaps, and their Road to Wrestlemania
that started with the Royal Rumble has been a legendary bedshitting. So awful
that it's actually entertaining to read about just to see how far they'll go to
disappoint their fans. From Roman Reigns getting booed at the Royal Rumble to
his laughable tug o' war with Brock Lesnar on Monday, the WWE has done
everything to seemingly kill interest in the show. The only feud they haven't
messed up is the Cena/Rusev <i>Rocky IV </i>retread,
which will end with Cena winning, and Rusev getting shunted down the card until
they eventually fire him. I can't get excited about somebody losing his job.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Wrestlemania is in the Bay this year and
I wouldn't go if somebody gave me a free ticket. So I'll write about last
year's Wrestlemania.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">At the time, the WWE’s attempt to push
Daniel Bryan from the main event was frustrating, maddening. And downright
bizarre. A multi-million dollar company was actively trying to make the
audience not cheer for its most popular performer. What other business punishes
a guy for being too good at his job? The fans rebelled, hijacking multiple
Monday Night Raws with "Dan-iel Bry-an" chants. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqE3D0NaQO5jTA9ksgB0HeKpw0zI4IdoHZUjtVAdauhve-fXLF6Q82QZXVXfB-RDjSA5BI4O5dq_YhqTUsnpMf9GjpwM5Ic7WaSYyjSjU-wFMBt6Q38fU93HgPet60C9tpYU-lKC9QF1SU/s1600/bryan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqE3D0NaQO5jTA9ksgB0HeKpw0zI4IdoHZUjtVAdauhve-fXLF6Q82QZXVXfB-RDjSA5BI4O5dq_YhqTUsnpMf9GjpwM5Ic7WaSYyjSjU-wFMBt6Q38fU93HgPet60C9tpYU-lKC9QF1SU/s1600/bryan.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">When Batista won the Royal Rumble, I was
considering selling my ticket. They had no plans for Bryan and it looked like
the main event was going to be a heel vs. heel trainwreck between Batista and
Orton. Then the company followed the fan response, turned Batista heel, and put
Bryan in the main event via a people power storyline taken straight out of the
Occupy Movement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">In short, the WWE was ready to have an
awful Wrestlemania, and the fans forced them to have a good one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Bryan's twisting road to the championship
had some truly great moments. For instance, they tried to de-push him by making
him join the Wyatt Family. Making your most popular performer into a
midcarder's henchman is, of course, a recipe for disaster. When the fans still
cheered him, he turned on Wyatt, leading to this exhilarating cage
confrontation and the electrifying crowd reaction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttiGTC5B2gg</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Goosebumps. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then there was also the go-home show before 'Mania, which didn’t end in a preschool tug o' war, but an epic beatdown on his
arch-nemesis Triple H.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Bryan Danielson had an organic rise to
the top of the card that was exhilarating to watch. A lot of the time, the WWE
insists on forcing things, and it ends up terrible. For instance, they tried to
turn CM Punk heel when the audience wasn't ready. So you have him doing
increasingly dastardly stuff trying to make people hate him, including
insulting the dead, and he gets cheered like Hogan. All through his heel run,
he looked uncomfortable, exhausted, and over it . . . which he was. Punk left
the company within the year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Now they're pushing Roman Reigns as the
next big face before he's ready and he's getting boos. Getting force-pushed to
the top of the card exposed all his flaws as a performer. They wanted a new
Cena, and right it's looking like they'll get a new Orton or Batista. A
self-entitled douchebag heel who can't play face, gets never-ending title
shots, and doesn't draw.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">I'm a fan of Bryan Danielson because he
is the best wrestler. Keeping in mind that wrestling is not just about
technical ability, but mic skills, in-ring psychology, and whatever intangible
quality draws an audience. Danielson went to Japan and became the best
shoot-style wrestler. In Ring of Honor he became the best indie wrestler. Then
he went to WWE. Not every indie guy can succeed in that environment. AJ Styles
is on Bryan's level but could never work under those restrictions. CM Punk was
a main event guy but he never seemed comfortable with the company’s politics
and PG style. Watching him try to do promos about how much he likes “crazy
chicks” was just painful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Danielson, on the other hand, proved to
be the total package. They wanted him to work WWE style, and he narrowed his
vast repertoire of moves to a few hard-hitting crowd-pleasers. They wanted him
to do comedy, and he excelled in an odd couple tag team with Kane. They wanted a
heel, and he gave them a detestable asshole who berated his nerdy girlfriend.
They wanted a face and he gave them the ultimate underdog. They wanted
catchphrases, so he gave them the most popular catchphrase of the modern era.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">If Danielson went to Canada, he'd
out-grapple everybody. If he put on a mask and went to Mexico, he'd out-flippydoodle
the luchadores. If he wrestled bears like they did in the carny days, he'd grow
his beard even more to be the hairiest person in the ring. The man set out to be
the best wrestler in the world and he succeeded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">The fans respected him because he put his
all into entertaining them. I had not seen that kind of organic growth of a
superstar in a long time, nor somebody with that level of crowd connection. And
Danielson's rise gave testament to what the WWE provides that no other
wrestling company can: scale. Danielson's matches in Ring of Honor may be
better than his current work on a technical level, but cannot contend with the electricity of a
whole arena chatting "Yes!" And it’s made better by how unassuming he
looks. The guy is a bearded vegan from Washington State. With a few turns in
his life story, he would have ended up a barista at the Red and Black Cafe in
Portland, instead of just looking like one. But this guy is the best on Earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">At this time last year, I was living
three hours from New Orleans. Not only was Wrestlemania in my backyard, but I
had a ready crew of smarky fans to go with. I even contributed to a prediction
article, which is embarrassing to read because of how smarky I was trying to
be:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.bestofneworleans.com/blogofneworleans/archives/2014/04/02/new-orleans-wrestling-fans-predict-the-winners-of-wrestlemania</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Could I have dropped any more obscure
references? Fuck is wrong with me? The best part is that their picture for that
smark-fest was Randy Orton putting Cena in a chinlock. Anyway, I bought my
Wrestlemania ticket when Danielson was in the main event, though they were
trying to push him down the card with regular ambush beatdowns from Orton and
various Triple H cronies. This "evil authority figure" mess the WWE
loves is so bollocks and kills my suspension of disbelief. Daniel Bryan is
being bullied by his boss at work. The head booker is interfering in his
matches. Why doesn't he report these people to the Athletic Commission? Problem
solved. Ugh. So they got Bryan out of the main event entirely. My hometown of
Pittsburgh, PA, proved our awesomeness by shitting all over the Royal Rumble.
They put Danielson back in. For the first time in a long time, I was invested
in a wrestling storyline. I told my students at UL-Lafayette not to come to
class on Monday. I went to New Orleans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Walking downtown from the Greyhound
station, I started to feel the magic. They were people everywhere in their old
Attitude-era shirts. I saw a fat guy with a beard cosplaying Bray Wyatt (which
turned out to be the go-to costume for fat guys with beards that year). I
passed a lady in a bar who was excited she saw Curtis Axel. It was the same
feeling of going to a large anime convention. Wrestling fans had taken over the
city, and I was among my people. I had plans to attend the indie shows around
town.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">A good friend of mine in New Orleans was
French. Several people in our circle were going to 'Mania, leaving her in the
unenviable position of being surrounded by wrestling fans talking esoteric stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">HER: I don't know anything about
wrestling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">ME: You're from France.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">HER: Oui.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">ME: Andre the Giant?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">HER: Who is that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">I was aghast. They don’t teach Andre in
schools over there? He’s the most important French person since Jeanne D’Arc.
Being with her made the weekend more interesting, serving as a foreigner's
guide to this incredibly American art form. I explained to her the histories
behind the various wrestlers. She said it sounded like a soap opera, which was
funny because we weren't even talking about the storylines, but the wrestlers'
real lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">ME: So, you see, Bret wouldn't give up
the title because he didn't want to lose to Shawn in Canada. 'Cause Shawn was a
diva who faked injuries so he wouldn't have to lose to Bret. So Shawn put him
in the Sharpshooter . . . <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">HER: What?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">ME: It's a submission move. And Vince had
them ring the bell so Bret had to give up the belt before he left for WCW and
he should have been the top guy in WCW but Hulk Hogan used politics to keep him
down. And Bret might have patched things up with the WWF earlier but then they
kinda killed his brother.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">HER: Wait? How do you kill somebody in
wrestling? I thought it was fake.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">ME: No, he really died. They tried to
lower him from the ceiling and the harness broke and he died.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">HER: . . . <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Of the myriad wrestling shows that
weekend, we saw Kaiju Big Battle, which was great, and Shimmer Women's
Wresting, which was AMAZING. Anybody whose only seen the mediocre women's
division on WWE owes it to themselves to check out Shimmer. Here's a review of
the weekend and all the shows that were going on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.bestofneworleans.com/blogofneworleans/archives/2014/04/06/notes-from-wrestlemania-weekend-kaiju-big-battel-and-shimmer</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both events took place at Tulane University, in a ring on the edge of the stage. When one of the women wrestlers almost got knocked to the outside apron, people in the audience started shouting at her to be careful, because there was a good chance of falling to the theatre floor. I think both shows had the same announcer, a hard-working guy named Reese or Royce, something like that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">The unsung hero of that weekend was
Diamond Dallas Page. His yoga practice is credited with saving Scott Hall and
Jake Roberts, both of whom were inducted to the Hall of Fame that year. A
friend of mine went to DDP Yoga and said it was inspiring. It sounded to me
like the aggro-yoga that’s popular in the Bay, but with a wrestler shouting
motivational bon mots at you. Page is living proof that a wrestler can go
gracefully into retirement, and build something for himself along the way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">We watched the Hall of Fame inductions
before we went to Wrestlemania. Seeing Jake the Snake accept the induction was
a moment no rambling Mister T monologue could diminish. The last time I saw
Jake was when I was a boy watching <i>Beyond
the Mat</i> with my dad and little sister. He was a wreck, an absentee father,
a drug addict. <i>Beyond the Mat </i>was my
introduction to the dark side of pro wrestling; Jake’s tragedy, Terry Funk’s
addiction to the spotlight, juxtaposed with the limelight of the WWF. And even
as I thrilled to see Stone Cold or Road Dogg or The Rock in a movie, I cringed
as Mick Foley took all those chair shots to the head. Now, here was Jake, one
of the survivors, getting a well-deserved accolade for all he brought to the
business. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">I went with a crew of fans to the show. In our
group was a Sensational Sherrie cosplayer, a Million Dollar Man, Vickie Guerrero,
Jeff Hardy, and Jake the Snake. I had been watching a lot of 1980s Jim Crockett
Promotions shows and wanted to do a Four Horseman-era Ric Flair costume,
complete with feathered wig, but didn’t have the time or money. Maybe for
Halloween, since I don’t see myself going to another Wrestlemania any time
soon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">The show itself? Amazing. After all the
twists and turns, the crowd was ready to see Daniel Bryan win the championship.
But with it came uncertainty. They tried to bury him in real life. Would this
insane company and its senile owner stick it to the fans one last time and destroy
their own show just to prove they were in charge? This was edge-of-your-seat
theatre and I loved it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Hulk Hogan came out and thought he was in
the Silverdome. No amount of nostalgia can make me cheer for Hogan. A few
months before, he’d finished flushing TNA Wrestling down the toilet like he did
WCW. That man is the boil on the ass of professional wrestling. However, I did sing
along to “Real American,” which is catchy as hell. Anyway, Hogan said he was in
the Silverdome, twice. Then Stone Cold came out, and The Rock, and it was a fun
segment for us “old school” fans. Austin hardly ever does events anymore, so
seeing him was a treat. When I heard that Hogan was going to be host for
Wrestlemania 30, I was afraid they’d have him involved, but they actually
played it smart and kept his bullshit to a minimum. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Bryan beat Triple H in the first match to
earn his spot in the title match. Triple H is an egotistical prick but he has a
good mind for wrestling, playing up his reputation of burying other wrestlers.
He even said that, if he won, he’d put himself in the title match. In other
words, he did his best to create uncertainty based on his real life antics. Do
you, dear reader, know who Triple H is? All you need to know is he’s a
douchebag second-tier guy who has a lot of backstage power and uses it to make himself
look good. The match was really tense. Afterward was the obligatory beatdown to
“injure” Bryan’s shoulder and create tension for the final match.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">I loved seeing the Shield squash the New
Age Outlaws in the time it took to take a piss. Good booking. If you're going
to have the Outlaws in a match at all, don't even pretend they can hang with
the younger guys. The Andre the Giant Battle Royal was the big surprise of the
night. I’d always respected Antonio Cesaro for his strength and charisma, but didn't expect to see him get such a big win. Watching him body slam the Big
Show out the ring LIVE was an unforgettable moment. I asked the person next to me when we were going to see Dolph Ziggler oversell, to which she pointed out that he'd been lying on his back, dramatically clinging to the bottom rope for, like, ten minutes. Gotta love Ziggler. I also liked how they let
Kofi bring his Royal Rumble “do some acrobatic thing to stay in the ring” spot
to Wrestlemania. He earned it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">The Wyatt Family was popular in New
Orleans, as Louisiana is the center of all things swampy/supernatural/bearded. Seeing
his song played live was awesome and the crowd clapped along. This match was
the one stumble of ‘Mania. Windham Rotunda put a ton of effort into reinventing
himself from his Husky Harris days. He remade the way he talked, how he moved
in the ring, and made a truly compelling character in Bray Wyatt. And there was
even great psychology in the match, with Wyatt trying to bring out Cena’s inner
monster. Jesus vs. Satan stuff, but Satan should have won. John Cena is more
famous for resting on his laurels than any wrestler who ever lived. So the
stalest guy beats the freshest guy. A guy in his late 30s goes over a guy in
his 20s. It sucked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Undertaker. The first thing I noticed was
how, when the camera was going over the “caskets” of people Undertaker had
beat, they skipped CM Punk’s. Burn. Not much to say about the match that hasn't already been said. The people I came with were PISSED about Undertaker's loss. I
didn't mind, as the streak was never realistic and he should have retired years
ago. If he was going to keep coming back, eventually he’d have to lose. The
reason they were mad was because he lost it to Lesnar. Somebody who has stated
repeatedly he's in it for the money, the quintessential overpaid part-timer
with no respect for the art form. Real life antipathy is legit. I dislike Randy
Orton more for him calling Kofi Kingston “stupid” on live TV than for anything
he does in his boring matches.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Yes, Lesnar’s mystique from breaking the
streak is about to be wasted on Reigns. But I think it was a cool "Your
childhood is over" moment. Undertaker doesn’t actually have magical powers. And it
was strangely positioned the night after Paul Bearer was inducted posthumously
into the HOF, and two days before Ultimate Warrior died. To see Undertaker lose
in a match where he looked so obviously old, and his younger opponent was going
easy on him, was a nice closing chapter for the zombie sorcerer of the early 90s "New Generation." And if
everybody in the Superdome looked speechless on TV, believe me, that’s how it
really went down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love AJ Lee but went to the bathroom
during her match. Next was the title match, where Bryan won in a victory
straight out of a Rocky movie. Orton and Batista were in the best form I've seen them, Orton the ruthless heel, Batista the crybaby heel, playing
their roles perfectly. The moment Triple H went down to ringside, I pretty much
expected a screwjob ending with the whole Kliq swarming in to ensure Bryan
lost. But that is what wrestling should do. It should leave you uncertain, on
the edge of your seat, like a real sport. And when he won and got the confetti
shower, it demonstrated the best of pro wrestling. Bryan Danielson won in the
story, but he also won in real life, working his way up to the grandest stage. My
crew was a group of 30 to 40-year-old jaded smarks with far better things to do
with our lives than watch guys pretend to fight. But we were on our feet
chanting “Yes!” if you give people something to believe in, they will believe. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">I’m glad I spent my money on a good Wrestlemania.
‘Mania has been bad these last few years, but ‘Mania 30 was a tightly scripted,
no frills wrestling show with a clear, well-told story. The Monday Night Raw
afterwards was pretty good too. It was long. I can see why nobody watches Raw, which is three hours of commercials. Really wore me down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">The Raw after Wrestlemania has become famous
for fans hijacking the show and doing chants that distract from the matches and
storylines. What was different this year was the overall vibe. Wrestlemania 28
was a bad show with a bad Raw afterwards. The fans were mad about the company
seemingly trying to bury Daniel Bryan so they took over the show. ‘Mania 28 was
even worse, with Cena beating The Rock in a match nobody cared about, and a Raw
filled with boring and pointless matches. The fans came up with random chants
and cheered for Fandango to keep themselves entertained.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">‘Mania 30, however, was a good ‘Mania
followed by a good Raw. The WWE booked aggressively. They used internet fave Zack Ryder and Wade Barrett for the British fans. Gosh, making your audience happy? Whoda thunk it? They had a long Cena match to tire the fans out
from booing. They kept the Orton/Batista/HHH crew limited to short bursts so
the fans wouldn't hijack. There were markout moments like Paige winning the
championship off of AJ. And they ended with a Shield face turn and Daniel Bryan
triumphant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">I decided that would be the WWE “series
finale” for me. Freeze frame it on these images. The Shield standing strong as good guys.
Daniel Bryan with the crowd behind him. AJ screaming in the middle of the ring,
having finally lost the title to a woman just as good as herself. Antonio
Cesaro smiling as the crowd hummed his theme song. A happy ending. The WWE
could feel free to drop the ball on these wrestlers (as they did), but I wouldn’t
spend my time or money witnessing it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which doesn't make it any less sad that
they de-pushed Bryan upon his return. Right now, he is in the Chris Jericho
role: the guy who the fans love, who can be used to build up the next big guy, and
plugged into the main event whenever there’s a hole. It’s a lucrative position
that will make him a lot of money and security.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">But he was meant for greater things.
Ironically, even Chris Jericho never deserved the Jericho role. They should
have built the company around him at the turn of the century. For political
reasons, they built it around the boring Triple H. Viewers tuned out by the
millions and the WWE never got them back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">It has been years since I’ve seen a
wrestler connect with the crowd like Daniel Bryan. Not since Austin. Benoit was a small, technically gifted guy like him, but he never had Bryan's charisma and mass appeal. I watch
wrestling because of performers like him, people who can create the spectacle. Despite
his being a draw, the WWE decided to leave all that money on the table because he didn't
fit their mold of what a champion looks like. And that's sad. I don't watch
wrestling to hear the audience boo supposed faces, or hijack the show with
chants about how they are awesome. I watch it to see Austin spray the
Corporation with beer. To see The Rock battle Hogan in a clash of titans. The
WWE hasn't had a true mega-face since The Rock. Cena hasn't been a face in
years. He gets booed in his hometown. After years of mediocrity, they finally
had a superstar who everybody could believe in. Old, young, aficionados, and
casual viewers. Everybody loves him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Bryan will be fine. He can do the Jericho
role until he retires, with a Bella twin on his arm. If he gets bored, it will
be New Japan or UFC. But as a wrestling fan, I will miss the chance to cheer on
a megastar in his battle against evil. Witnessing a wrestler who is so good he
transcends wrestling. No one in the last 15 years has risen to that level. No
one on the horizon will do it. The opportunity was wasted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">After Monday Night Raw in New Orleans, I sat in a ramshackle house in midtown New Orleans, telling my friend about my feelings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">ME: I think I’m finally over wrestling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">HER: I’ve been watching you all weekend. You’re not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">That weekend, there was a sense of the
passage of time. Pro wrestling is a sleazy business. It was designed by carnies
to scam people, to make money from the self-destruction of young men. And
women, as the Fabulous Moolah’s forced prostitution ring shows. My boyhood hero
Chris Benoit didn't survive the industry. He was a man who cared little about his well-being, and found promoters who cared even less. The rest is
history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">But I saw the best of independent wrestling
at Shimmer, women giving their all to entertain in a wrestling ring on a
stage at Tulane. I saw the best of the new breed, Bryan Danielson,
rise to the top of the heap. And Antonio Cesaro, another indie guy, was right
alongside him. These young guys have learned from the mistakes of their 1980s elders
and hopefully keep a clear head through their hardships.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">A friend of mine went to Jim Ross’ talk
at the House of Blues and had to endure his “entertaining” story about Dick
Murdoch punching a transsexual in the face because he was insecure about
his masculinity. I can’t say I’m upset the WWE fired JR. His time is done. But for every anachronistic
redneck like him reflecting on the “good old” territory days, there’s an old
guy like Diamond Dallas Page doing something positive. There’s Scott Hall and
Jake the Snake overcoming their demons. There’s the Undertaker passing the
torch to the next phenom, Brock Lesnar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">A few days after ‘Mania, everybody
started with insincere memorials for that fascist the Ultimate Warrior. When
the guy was alive, he was an unprofessional egomaniac who was impossible to
work with. He wished death upon the city of New Orleans because of
homosexuality, which is ironic, as he was the gayest wrestler of all time. But
the moment he dies, the rose-tinted glasses come on. The man was a politician
who made life miserable for those who had to work with him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";"> never been ashamed of watching a “fake”
sport, no more than for watching “fake” action star Harrison Ford run from a fake
boulder. What shames me as a wrestling fan is financially supporting the
horrible people who populate the business. I honestly believe that pro wrestling will
only improve when everybody from the territory days is dead. That includes
Triple H, heir-apparent to the WWE. Once all the sexual predators, steroid
pushers, bullies, racists, egomaniacs, and guys with raging masculinity issues
are gone . . . things won’t be perfect. Nothing is. But maybe the culture of
death and exploitation will make way for something better. And if wrestlers like
Bryan Danielson are an indication, it will.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Recently, I found a ticket stub in the
bathroom at my dad’s house. It said, “Super Soaker Presents: WWF King of the
Ring 1998. Civic Arena. June 28, 1998.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">I saw Owen Hart wrestle. I saw The Rock.
I saw Vader. I saw Taka Michinoku. I saw Ken Shamrock and Jim Cornette. I saw
Kane beat Stone Cold for the championship and I was PISSED. That was the show
where Undertaker threw Mick Foley of the cage. I remember watching it from the
cheap seats, that moment of terror, excitement, followed by . . .
disappointment. I came to see a match and now they were wheeling out Mankind on
the stretcher while Undertaker stood on top of the cage like some malevolent
god. At that age, I couldn't comprehend what Mick Foley just did to entertain
me. Then Mankind fought his way off the gurney, and the match continued, and
from then on it was pure awe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">The Civic Arena is now the Melon Arena.
Super Soaker, I hear, is back. The WWF is gone. They no longer produce the King
of the Ring pay-per-view. I asked my dad if he remembered the show.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">“That’s where Mankind went off the cage,”
he said. "WWF was the only thing you and your sister could agree on. Glad
you had a good time.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s been years since I've spoken to my
sister. But watching Wrestlemania live with friends was much like seeing King
of the Ring with her. The awe, the spectacle, the storytelling. And hopefully
in this boondoggle of a ‘Mania they’ve set up for 2015, there will be something to put a
smile on somebody’s face. The best of wresting does that. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-84392580835708595072015-03-24T11:56:00.003-07:002015-03-24T11:56:50.147-07:00Chapter 113: In Which I Report on FogCon 5About two weeks ago, I attended the Friends of Genre Convention. It's in Walnut Creek, a suburb which is FAR from where I live in Oakland. I've never been that far north in the East Bay and the BART ride is fascinatingly desolate. It felt like I was commuting to San Jose or something. And the town itself straight up looks like Beverly Hills. There's no doubt I was in Wealthy California Land.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I had a great time. FogCon is sort of like a western WisCon, coming from the whole "don't be a self-entitled asshole" school of con organizing. It was pretty small, and offered an interesting conundrum, as there appeared to be more people than programming for them. Thus, I ended up meeting and talking with a lot of folks. Even the simple act of grabbing a sandwich in the con suite was a great way to start up conversations with other writers and fans. I can see why the con is going strong four years after it began, because the atmosphere is so friendly and chill. I believe "relax-i-con" is the fandom word for such a thing.<br />
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I did four panels. <b>Stories Within Stories</b> on Friday was good. It was about, well, the title. To prepare, I read bits of <i>The Canterbury Tales</i>, a book I hadn't touched since AP English. When I was a teen, it was hard to get past lines like "Eek well I woot." Sounded like baby talk. Since speakers of the English language are unaware, I now declare that <i>Canterbury Tales </i>has literary merit, even if the poetic meter felt strangely like I was reading an extended version of the Vincent Price rap from "Thriller." From "The Wife of Bath's Tale":<br />
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I shall seye sooth, tho housbondes that I<br />
hadde,<br />
As three of hem were gode and two were badde.<br />
The three men were gode, and riche, and olde<br />
Unnethe mighte they the statut holde<br />
In whosoever shall be founde.<br />
Without the soul for getting downe<br />
Must stande and face the hondes of hell<br />
Or rot inside a corpse's shelle . . .<br />
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To prep, I also reread significant portions of <i>120 Days of Sodom</i>. You have to do your research. Problem: no one wants to be the guy on the panel to mention de Sade first. Thus, we went through the whole topic mentioning every author but de Sade even though we were all thinking it. All the other panelists were good and way more versed in books than I am. It was nice to do a panel with Cat Valente, a writer who did a lot to change the way I look at fantasy. I'm a big fan of <i>Palimpsest</i>.<br />
<br />
After a few hours of the typical scifi con dillying, dallying, and dithering, came the <b>Focus on Ferguson</b> panel. This was the panel that earned me a book full of pictures of naked men. More on that later. It was about the Black Lives Matter movement that's been going on in some way, shape, or form for the last 400 years. The other panelists were Shayna Cureton, Laurie Edison, Michelle Murrain, and Na'amen Tilahun. This was the one I was most excited about, as I've never been to a scifi con with an explicitly political panel, let alone one dealing with such an important topic. I was surprised at how abstract a lot of the questions were, such as, "What would your ideal future look like?" (We pretty unanimously agreed it wouldn't involve capitalism.) And several questions about the role of art in subverting white supremacy, which kind of threw me for a loop, as I had come to discuss politics. At one point the audience questions turned towards "What can white allies do to [whatever]?", to which the moderator said all the would-be white allies should talk to each other about that. As I stay away from a lot of online race debates, I forget how discussions of black pain are often co-opted to be about white pain. So, yeah. Best Moderator Ever.<br />
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The reason why I stayed away from the endless online debating following the Mike Brown lynching was because it seemed pretty fruitless. I already know how black people feel about it. To debate it with white people goes like this.<br />
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WHITE GUY: You should be dead.<br />
ME: Well, actually, good sir, I would contend that I <i>do</i> deserve to exist as a life form.<br />
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Only black people are expected to go on public forums and justify to racists our right to exist. It's maddening and I refuse to do it. So it was nice to talk about these tragedies in a room full of adults.<br />
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Another interesting question turned to whether the internet makes these killer cops celebrities. Edison pointed out that racist assholes have always been celebrities. Back in the day they were the town sheriff or mayor. Now they're the millionaire Darren Wilson. The reach is farther but it doesn't mean shit because white supremacy is not new. From here, we talked about the white supremacist icon, the American Sniper, whose real name I can't be bothered to look up. Na'amen said the movie they added moral conflict to a guy who bragged in his book about how much he wanted to kill brown people. I find this think mind-boggling. People who worship the American Sniper do so because he killed brown people. He protected the master race. They could have made the movie character explicitly racist like the real guy and it wouldn't have mattered to the people who showed up with their American flags. But Eastwood chose to sugarcoat it. White supremacists refuse to be honest about their icons' racism, making it okay to kill browns-skinned people by the score as long as you don't enjoy it, I guess. They have to believe their heroes are actually morally righteous like He-Man or something. Meanwhile, the poor, PTSD-afflicted vet who shot the sniper got sentenced to life without parole. So much for supporting the troops.<br />
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Good panel, receptive audience. And I heard a lot of hopeful, articulate words from the other panelists that were pretty inspiring. I was not so eloquent. Somebody asked me the next day if I was uncomfortable with the topic, since I visibly was. I have a hard time putting up a mask, or collecting my thoughts to say something pretty when discussing the state-sanctioned murder of black children. Hopefully somebody got something out of my commentary. Afterward, I gave Edison a copy of my book, and she was kind enough to mail me hers. Male nudes. I'm hyped.<br />
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Did I mention I got swag? Free book table! I am most excited to read a book of Mexican science fiction short stories. I know next to nothing about Mexican SFF, unless lucha libre movies count,<br />
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http://www.amazon.com/Three-Messages-Warning-Contemporary-Fantastic/dp/1931520313/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427177732&sr=8-1&keywords=three+messages+and+a+warning<br />
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I also got some Paul Tremblay and Yves Maynard, and <i>The Couch </i>by Benjamin Parzybok. Can't wait to read.<br />
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I also went to the polyamory panel. Four panelists talked about their vastly different experiences in poly, an the only consensus seemed to be that there's barely any poly representation in popular media. Also that TV sitcoms suck. It was a pretty loose panel with the audience chiming in the whole time, so at times it seemed like a bunch of people all talking over each other. A perfect encapsulation of polyamory.<br />
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I kid. I really enjoyed hearing different poly experiences. Lots of funny stories. Though I identify as poly, I haven't been in a longterm relationship in a long time, so navigating it with a partner is still very new to me.<br />
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On Saturday, I did a panel on space opera, <span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><b>"It's not over until the big spaceship sings...</b>"</span> I prepped by reading Flash Gordon.<br />
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http://www.amazon.com/Flash-Gordon-Complete-Library-1934-37/dp/0857681540/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427221068&sr=1-3&keywords=flash+gordon<br />
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The Flash Gordon strips are <i>insane</i>. They move at such a relentless pace it's wearying, with Flash meeting lion-men, fighting snake-men, suplexing dragons, and falling down pits all on the same page. The poor guy never gets a break.<br />
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The other panelists were Cliff Winnig, Michele Cox, and Chaz Brenchley. I did a reading with Brenchley at Baycon back in 2011, and hope to get randomly assigned to panels with him for many years to come, 'cause he's a delightful guy. Or delightful bloke, as they would say in his homeland. I liked that all the panelists had different experiences of space opera. For instance, Brenchley and Winnig know a lot about the genre in contemporary scifi lit, while I was the requisite anime guy. There was a good mix of lit and TV/movies talk. The prose genre of space opera grew up alongside radio and film, so I feel Flash Gordon was as instrumental in its birth as any novel. And I got to namedrop <i>Robotech</i>, Harlock, <i>Yamato</i>, <i>Gundam, </i>and <i>Bebop</i>. I haven't seen <i>Firefly </i>but I have seen <i>Outlaw Star!</i> The questions mostly came around to "Is ____ space opera?", which is fine, as these panels exist only to let us talk about X, Y, or Z story we like. "Is Harlock space opera? Sure! And here's why I like it."<br />
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Improvised folklore was fun as hell. The panelists did a series of round robin tales. Bawdy, ribald, good old-fashioned storytelling. Loved it. I also did a reading that went pretty well. In keeping with "stories within stories," I read the part in "The Elvis Room" where Junie tells her Elvis tale. This particular reading had four authors, a nice diversity of steampunk, dark fantasy, science fiction, and Elvis.<br />
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As far as panels went, my dance card was pretty full, but I had time to meet folks. Caught up with J. Malcolm Stewart and got a copy of his book, <i>The Last Words of Robert Johnson</i>. Talked a lot with Espana Sheriff about the history of fandom and cons from the 1990s onward. By then it was about midnight and I had to go home before I turned into a pumpkin, or the BART shut down, whichever came first. I need to start renting cars to go to these things.<br />
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Glad I made it to FogCon. My next convention is Tekkoshocon, the Pittsburgh area anime convention I used to volunteer at a decade ago. Anime as an art form is important to me so I'm glad to be a panelist; I'm also happy Tekko has become so big since it's humble origins out in some hotel by the Pittsburgh Airport. I'm running four panels (!) and should probably go prep for them. I'll do that now.Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-40030420107684607672014-12-31T21:14:00.001-08:002014-12-31T21:14:12.440-08:00Happy New Year!Wow! Six posts in 2014? To put it mildly, I was busy. I made this blog to discuss being a small press writer, and that's what I'm going to use it for in the coming year. I haven't published too much this year, and all the travel and life changes have kept me from writing too much. I have, however, been reading a lot, which is the best nutrition. Anyways, year in review.<br />
<br />
January--I toasted the New Year at the Free Ride bike shop in Pittsburgh. Spent some time in Philly and NYC. Most memorably, I taught my first college creative writing course. I'd been wanting to teach writing since I got to Louisiana. There were pitfalls here and there, as with any first time teaching a course, but I got to introduce students to some of my favorite writers. Learned some of my own strengths and limitations along the way.<br />
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February--I turned thirty. Celebrated by going to Krewe de Vieux in New Orleans. It passed in a blur of parties and brass bands and dancing. My actual 30th birthday was pretty low key, as I didn't have tons of folks to celebrate with at my school. Went out to a bar with two friends and had some drinks. Went to bed.<br />
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March--Second year attending the Associated Writers and Writing Programs Conference. As before, it was fun, exhilarating, infuriating, and overwhelming. I learned the usefulness of book fairs. At points there was nobody manning the UL Lafayette table, so I just sat my black ass down and peddled my books. Sold some too. Just from sitting there! Foolishly, I did not table at either NASFIC or WFC. My friend Patty Templeton tabled at both (congrats on your book, Patty!) and informed me she sold briskly. I'm still slowly learning the business aspects of this.<br />
<br />
After the conference, I deplaned in Houston, which was in the middle of a freezing ice storm. I was tired and wanted to go home. My options were a) stay at the cold and crowded Greyhound station until 9 in the morning to get a bus to Lafayette, or b) take an 11 pm Megabus to New Orleans. Did I mention the Megabus had heat?<br />
<br />
Me: "Guess I'm going to Mardi Gras."<br />
<br />
Got into New Orleans at six am. Had an early morning Bloody Mary at a gay bar. Caught up with some friends. Saw the Zulu Parade. Went to a bar on Frenchman where I, no exaggeration, saw ten different people who I had met in ten different places over the course of a half hour.<br />
<br />
April--I've been waiting my whole life to tell a class of college freshmen: "Class is canceled due to Wrestlemania." Not the whole truth; class was canceled for the Monday Night Raw AFTER Wrestlemania. The one with a bunch of drunk Europeans/older fans who don't like the WWE that much and troll the performers. Probably the best night of wrestling every year. Spending a weekend in New Orleans with a couple thousand pro wrestling fans is as close to Heaven as I'm going to get. Saw Kaiju Big Battle and SHIMMER (awesome women's wrestling). Got to boo the Ultimate Warrior, who they had the nerve to trot out in a city he said deserved to get hit with a hurricane. And no, him being dead does not make him a saint. Fuck that. Got to see the American Dragon Bryan Danielson, best wrestler on Earth, win the championship on the biggest stage. So glad this year was actually a <i>good </i>Wrestlemania, 'cause the past few years they've been garbage. While I will probably be a wrestling fan forever, I decided this would be my "series finale" for World Wrestling Entertainment. They ain't gonna top the image of the whole arena chanting "Yes! Yes! Yes!" It was glorious.<br />
<br />
May--I quit my job. Set off the financial insecurity of the rest of the year. It's been hard. Really hard. Though not as hard as it would have been if I didn't have a support network. I had finished my coursework for my PhD program, but I was not writing. I wasn't inspired where I was at. If I stayed for the next year, I would be studying for tests, not working on my projects. So it was time to go home. Caught a plane to Philly in the middle of finals week, my luggage stuffed with my creative writing class' final portfolios. It's amazing to think how natural travel is for me. Greyhound to New Orleans, flight to Philly, Bolt to NYC. Cross-country travel feels like passing between rooms sometimes.<br />
<br />
Oh, and I saw "Last Lovers Alive," or whatever it's called. Gotta agree with the fangirls. Tom Hiddleston is hot. I still don't care about Marvel movies.<br />
<br />
June--Moved into a new place in Oakland. Noted with shock how fast gentrification is going in Oakland (the "new Brooklyn," according to some dumbass <i>New York Times</i> article). Did a small press book fair in Seattle. Rode up with some queer kids from New Orleans. Rode back down with the most Burning Man-iest of Burning Man hippie chicks and a van full of Rainbow Gathering people. Broke my laptop :(<br />
<br />
In the meantime, writing. Not to the extent or quality I wanted to. In Louisiana, I got seriously unproductive, writing-wise. After putting out my last book, I didn't really have a direction, either for my art or marketing my art. But there was a variety of tough things going on. I'd essentially reset my life, creatively, professionally, personally. This was the unavoidable floundering period.<br />
<br />
July--Took a three-day Greyhound trip to a city without water for the North American Science Fiction Convention. The con was fun. All the diversity programming made me feel welcome. Lots of cool paneling about Octavia Butler and the panel I moderated on Afro-futurism went great. Seeing the moves that big business is making to privatize water, in California and Michigan, not so fun. Forget <i>Hunger Games. </i>People of color are living in dystopia and always have been. This would get more evident as the year went by.<br />
<br />
Cool story: I almost got left by Greyhound in Denver. The driver said the bus was full even though I had a reboard ticket. The prospect of missing more of the con upset me, let alone having to spend another minute in that overlit refugee camp of a Greyhound station. As the bus was ready to leave and I was calling my friend to try and get a plane to Detroit, this college girl I met on the bus ran off and told me to get on. She told the driver I was in her crew and that was enough. By the way, there were totally five open seats on that bus. Greyhound is, and always will be, the worst company ever. But people can be awesome.<br />
<br />
August--Started a job teaching first grade after school literacy. Bore witness once more to the racist dynamics in public education. Started considering, and still am, getting my certification in elementary ed. This coincided with the uprisings in Ferguson, one of the more uplifting things I've seen this year. Read at a Ferguson benefit. Started a relationship.<br />
<br />
September--Ended a relationship. Dealt with severe depression. And I still am. Had a hard time leaving the house for anything other than work.<br />
<br />
October--Got fired from my job. Specifically, because the FBI clearance was taking too long. It got back to them with my clean record--two weeks after they'd fired me. Ugh. Still reeling from having no income. On the plus side, I had a fun Halloween in the Mission. The kids were wearing all kinds of cute costumes.<br />
<br />
November--This country does not give a fuck about black people. Every news story was about cops exonerating themselves for the murder of black children. The escalation of violence against black and brown bodies was on my mind, everybody's mind. One thing I think it's important to emphasize: rioting, looting, fighting back is the legacy of black people. It is what we have always done. We have never been docile, never laid down for the extreme cruelty done by this white supremacist state. Every black child gets fed lies that the most important event for black liberation was the passage of civil rights laws, which were achieved entirely through peaceful protest (lie). The most significant thing to happen for Afro-Americans in the last 400 years was the abolition of slavery. Hard as life is, we are not slaves. That means something. Abolition was achieved through uprising, rioting in northern cities, escape, ultimately fighting in a war against the slave states. We gained our biggest achievement through violence. And the kids fighting cops in the streets know this. So that was uplifting to see: their miseducation did not work.<br />
<br />
Saw <i>Dear White People. </i>Good movie, glad it was made. Felt weird to me that one of two black movies to come out this year (the other, as far as I know, being <i>Annie</i>) was about blacks in the Ivy League. Something most black people can't relate to. It felt foreign to me in some ways, and I have enough college degrees to make wallpaper. I'd just spent two months watching black first graders get antagonized, ignored, and generally feared by their white teachers. Those kids have been given up on. They will be lucky to get anywhere near college, though they'll have ample opportunity to go to prison or get Darren Wilson-ed. So racism in the Ivy league is a very small part of the black struggle. They should make a sequel called <i>Dear White People: Stop Fucking Shooting Us </i>and I think they'll reach a bigger audience.<br />
<br />
I read at Mellow Pages Library in NYC, did a house reading in Philly, and read at the World Fantasy Convention in Washington DC. It was a good time where I got to reconnect with old friends in all three cities. World Fantasy was weird to me this year, because it was so white. No effort at diversity paneling, And, yes, it's nice to party and drink and hang out with fantasy nerds. I did all that. But this is the place where people meet agents, where deals go down, and it's a prestige club for the few who can afford to go. Coincidentally, or not, because we live in a world with more than one type of person, there was a big gossipy kerfluffle at the con regarding a blogger of color who had pissed people off. So there were conversations going on about racism in the "SFF community," which is not, and has never been, a community. These conversations were not in any type of public forum, where it would've been most useful.<br />
<br />
However, a woman of color won Best Novel at the awards. Well deserved. And to nobody's credit but hers, because she wrote the best book. So even while writers of color are being excluded, they are still pushing the genre forward.<br />
<br />
Really makes me wish WFC had some kind of student discount like AWP. Or . . . something. When I'm in a monochromatic space, I feel like an ethnographer. No matter how nice people are, I don't feel entirely comfortable or a part of the space. That whole week was hard for me personally, despite being surrounded by friends. Minus the literary heroes of mine who were at Toronto, I didn't have as much fun at WFC as I did in 2012.<br />
<br />
Best advice was from a lady at the art show. Not a writer, just a fan. She correctly pointed out that George R.R. Martin was writing for forty years before he got all this money thanks to a TV show. Before that, he was scrabbling just like any writer who shows up to cons like this. Perseverance is a huge part of it.<br />
<br />
December--I saw the BIRTHDAY MASSACRE!!!!! So good! Such a good show! This is the band that drew me back to goth music and OH MY GOD THEY WERE GOOD!!!1111 SQUEEEEE!<br />
<br />
I worked on a novella called "Queens of the Emerald Palace." It is almost done, and feels like some of my best work. Protested. Did yoga.<br />
<br />
Needless to say, I wished I'd done in-depth blogs about some of these events. But there's something to be said for living in the moment and leaving the reflection for later. I'm excited for more adventures. Happy New Year!<br />Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-30839824083856099822014-07-08T21:37:00.004-07:002014-07-08T21:37:30.983-07:00I'm Going to NASFIC in Detroit!And here is my schedule!<br />
<br />
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<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_53bcc687c69b26202079582">
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"> Gender Roles in Genre Fiction <br /> <br /> Fri 6pm<br /> <br />
An examination of how gender is represented in SF and fantasy,
particularly the roles assigned to women. Which works explore questions
of gender? Does the genre as a whole tend towards conservative,
examined, or transgressive representations of gender?<br /> <br /> Afro-Futurism and Music <br /> <span class="text_exposed_show"><br /> Sat 11am<br /> <br />
Afrofuturist musicians such as Sun Ra, Janelle Monet, and Deltron 3030
tell stories of detailed future worlds over the course of years of
songs. Panelists will play & discuss awesome modern Afrofuturist
music and will also discuss how Afrofuturism has developed as a musical
expression.<br /> <br /> New Voices: Written SF/F/H<br /> <br /> Sat 1pm<br /> <br /> Our panelists share their thoughts on the writers, trends, and best works of 21st century written SF/F/H.<br /> <br /> Elwin Cotman/Patty Templeton reading!!!<br /> <br /> Sat 3pm<br /> <br /> Afro-Futurism and Literature<br /> <br /> Sat 4pm<br /> <br />
First coined by Mark Dery in 1993, the term Afrofuturism is applied to a
cultural and literary movement of the black diaspora which uses
technology, science, and science fiction to explore the black
experience. Our panelists discuss trends and themes in Afrofuturism, and
recommend their favorite works.</span></span></div>
</div>
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<span class="UFIBlingBoxTimeline"><span data-reactid=".8"></span></span><span class="UIActionLinks UIActionLinks_bottom" data-ft="{"tn":"=","type":20}"><span><span data-reactid=".9"></span></span></span>Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-47542423972095997852014-03-09T16:19:00.003-07:002014-03-09T16:19:16.944-07:00New Blackgate postI'm still on that Leiji Matsumoto. It's been fun.<br />
<br />
http://www.blackgate.com/2014/02/26/leiji-matsumoto-bushido-manhood-and-womanhood-pt-2/Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-3931860501657921222014-03-09T16:08:00.001-07:002014-03-09T16:08:15.338-07:00Chapter 112: In Which I Discuss Ethnic WritingSo, I recently went to AWP. It's a hella fun time. The usual debauchery occurred. Can't go into all the cool readings I went to and cool people I met. I noticed that fatigue had set in for a lot of folks by Friday. And on Saturday, everybody was just done. Ready to go home and sleep it off. I . . . ended up going to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Guess I wasn't done yet. Over the course of the week, I made some new friends, all the while running into an ungodly number of old friends.<br />
<br />
People complain about AWP being an overpriced shill for MFA programs. I'm sure at some point I'm going to hit the same wall I did with anime conventions and get bored. But, I don't know, I don't overthink things. There is nothing that could not be fun about spending a weekend with 14,000 like-minded people. It's why we have cons. It's why we have sporting events. It's why we have Burning Man.<br />
<br />
Highlights:<br />
-Seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time from the airplane. Wow.<br />
-Pre-registering. Got my badge in under five minutes. No more onsite reg for me. Anywhere. Ever.<br />
-The Cave Canem/Copper Press reading. One thing that kept occurring was people telling me how cool it was that I went to poetry readings, me being a fiction writer and all. My reaction: "I didn't know we were at war." Anyway, this reading was on a high floor in a swanky hotel where you could see the Seattle skyline. If nobody read a word of poetry, that would have been enough for me. All the readers were good (and erotic). But the cool part was the audience was also good. So much screaming, "amen"-ing, and general poetry slam style affirmations, giving the energy back to the performers.<br />
-"The Poetics of Hiphop." Cool panel, out of many cool panels. The readers, all serous academics, read essays that were both thoughtful and personal about the significance of hiphop. Even the lights mysteriously shutting off couldn't stop them. It made me want to do a "Poetics of Metal" panel. Always nice to be reminded of how the discourse has changed. Hiphop is being acknowledged for the world-changing cultural force it is.<br />
-Ursula le Guin. Sherman Alexie. Caught these two legends at their respective readings. The Alexie one was particularly cool for the good vibes, and all the talk about writing community, and how this was the biggest AWP ever. Gave me the warm fuzzies. (The readings were great, too.)<br />
-Saw a panel about teaching genre fiction in the workshop. I forbid genre in my creative writing class (forbid!), but it got me thinking about doing the opposite.<br />
-More poetry! This is what gets you thinking about language. Read poetry! Watch poetry!<br />
-Small presses. I've been a small press author since the day I was published. It hasn't always been awesome. Doesn't change the fact that, as traditional publishing becomes more profit-driven and insufferable, the small press is kicking ass all over the place. AWP is a space where the indies get to show their stuff.<br />
-My friends are awesome. I met up with so many folks who are bestselling authors, or innovative professors, or teach slam poetry to kids, or write radical poetry, or run their own presses. I remember right after a panel on DIY touring, commiserating with a friend of mine about how we could have done that panel. Because we organize tours. I'm very fortunate to know so many exceptional people. I make no bones that AWP puts me in a competitive headspace. I see what others are doing and want to match it.<br />
-The most interesting panel appears to be one I missed. AWP is the epitome of a back-scratching safe space, but apparently Lucy Corin broke the social contract. Here's a write-up I found online:<br />
http://naomijwilliams.wordpress.com/2014/02/28/magic-and-the-intellect-a-remarkable-occurrence-at-awp-2014/<br />
Basically, Corin trolled the audience hardcore. It's social experiment kind of stuff, and it worked when that lady had the outburst. I don't think I would have liked to have been at that panel. I don't like feeling uncomfortable. I certainly wouldn't have read a piece like the "dead baby" piece (which, btw, sounds like it would work just as well on the page). My stuff is often confrontational on the page, but when I step in front of an audience there is such an automatic desire to be loved. It's cool somebody did an honest-to-Odin cringe piece at AWP.<br />
-Which leads me to another highlight. Using a litany of dead baby jokes to represent the ways in which fathers traumatize their children is over-the-top, grotesque, highly metaphorical. In other words, it is the epitome of fabulist writing, a term I had no grasp on until that weekend. I attended "Weird Girls (Fabulous Ladies of Fabulist Fiction)." It was a panel of women who write "weird" stuff. The earth's rotation slows down, dudes break into homes to steal knick-knacks, grieving girls start hoarding lemons, that sort of thing. The best speaker was Amelia Gray, who said (among other things) that she dislikes the term "quirky," as it reads as dismissive. The work isn't quirky, to her--it is serious. There seemed to be a general consensus that they use "weird" elements to look at everyday life in a new way. Take something like the laws of physics, or human behavior, and just make it a little off. Notably, no outright fantasy elements like dragons, elves, or unicorns. The genre is based on finding new ways to express the impossible, outside of our old mythologies. It was pretty eye-opening.<br />
-A nice treat was chancing by the opening of "Winter is Coming," a gallery exhibition based on <i>A Song of Ice and Fire. </i>Entirely unconnected to AWP, just another cool thing. To get in the spirit, I drank like King Robert.<br />
-Seeing the Zulu Parade.<br />
<br />
Lowlights:<br />
-I didn't do a reading :( Maybe next year.<br />
-Getting stuck for a few hours in Houston during a freezing rainstorm. Only to go to New Orleans for MORE RAIN!<br />
-Anything having to do with Greyhound.<br />
-Being reminded how insular the writing scene can be. This s not really a bad thing, just an observation. The same people keep showing up. Everybody knows everybody.<br />
<br />
One thing I noticed about the "Weird Girls" was, in a diversity-minded conference, it was monochromatic. It got me thinking about the major voices in fabulism/slipstream/whatever you call it. Lucy Corin. Amelia Gray. Alissa Nutting. Karen Russell. Theodora Goss. Karen Joy Fowler. Kelly Link. The godfather might be George Saunders, and the grandfather might be Marquez, and the crazy uncle might be Kafka, but the modern-day practitioners are overwhelmingly white women. The fact that I've never heard of a black woman being published in this genre might have to do with the usual prejudices as far as who gets published. Still, I wonder if this popular genre is the white female's approach to fantasy.<br />
<br />
I don't see this as any sort of problem. It is simply worth looking at genre movements from an ethnic perspective. Black people have an ethnic form of spec-lit in Afro-futurism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-futurist I've never identified as an Afro-futurist, because I don't write about the future. Afro-pastist, maybe? But Afro-futurism cannot be separated from the black experience, the same as magical realism has its roots in Latin American culture. What we call high fantasy is literally a <i>white male fantasy </i>of conquering the world and being worshiped. All this stuff about chosen ones and kings and battles fits squarely into the colonial narrative. These speculative genres come from a distinct cultural place, and I would say the experience of being a middle-class white woman in the western world is the driving force in this new literature. A highly literate genre, based around the domestic, focused on humor and metaphor, feminist, and in rebellion against norms of publishing (uplifting stories instead of dour) and social behavior (a middle-class woman writing about dead babies and the apocalypse).<br />
<br />
I like a lot of the aforementioned authors. I don't know if I could write a "fabulist" story, i.e. one where somebody turns into a refrigerator as a metaphor. I want to write about actual dragons, not metaphorical dragons. I just don't think I could do it. I am too attached to the narrative of the adventure story. But Gray can write a story where a 40-year-old woman becomes distressed when everybody suddenly finds her unlikable, treating the usual sexism like a physical aberration. It is humorous and poignant, yet fantastical in an unexpected way.<br />
<br />
It's cool to watch what might be the emergence of a new ethnic literature. Especially since this form of fantasy is way more exciting than the typical Warhammer 20K stuff. If this is the white female version of fantasy, the question arises: how can people of color engage with this white genre? Is there room for black women? Is there room for women born with less privilege? And will fabulism become just as stagnant as high fantasy as it becomes the norm?Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-65920442939820213502014-01-30T21:27:00.000-08:002014-01-30T21:27:31.832-08:00My "Books & Booze" interviewEnjoy!<br />
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http://www.books-booze.com/Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-31638724221234696612014-01-24T20:15:00.002-08:002014-01-24T20:15:19.727-08:00Chapter 111: In Which I Discuss being a Gypsy<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">http://politicalblindspot.com/stop-and-frisk-of-african-american-teen/<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The Philadelphia police department
castrates a young black man. The "peace officer" who may have
irreversibly ruined this child's life will most likely get a slap on the wrist.
I'm from Pittsburgh. The filth who smothered Johnny Gammage to death almost twenty
years ago are still on the force, quite content with themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">And people wonder why the death of a cop
is cause for celebration in the hood. It seems I can't log onto Facebook
without another article about these scum brutalizing or killing another
innocent person. It's recently come out that more Americans have been killed by
police since 9/11 than by the "enemy" in our various foreign wars.
Yeah. Obviously al Qaeda are the ones we should be fighting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I read a good article recently about
reclaiming Martin Luther King Day. The author discusses how the government
likes to paint Dr. King as this peacenik who wanted cooperation among all the
races. No. Dr. King was all about the black. He was fighting a system of
apartheid in which black men were routinely murdered, black women were
routinely raped, and so much as looking at a white woman could land a black man
in jail for life. The reverend doctor taught our people to put their bodies on
the line, to make the necessary sacrifices, and in turn<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>ended apartheid in the United
States.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>I can see how the
less educated might confuse him with Mandela, since the two men did the exact
same thing. King was a crusader for black people. The government will tell
you otherwise, but maybe we shouldn't buy into it, since they most likely killed
him after their attempts to scare him and police his sexuality didn't work. I'm
getting to be of a mind that MLK Day should not be a holiday. The same
government that hounded and oppressed this hero are not worthy of saying his
name, let alone giving false platitudes in the form of a day off. If blacks
want to celebrate his legacy, we should be able to do so any day, every day, in
whatever way we choose. The state’s feelings on it are absolutely worthless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I bring this up because we're sliding
back. Part of what Dr. King stopped was castration, a huge tool of white
terror. Killing someone is one thing--I can't imagine the sickness it takes to
castrate a man. But this was done all the time, well documented in the South,
less documented but just as prevalent in the Western U.S. Let's see. Racist
vigilantes gunning down black children. Complicit police forces castrating
black children. This is starting to look like 1890. Though it's not necessarily
a black/white thing. Cops have been killing white people lately, too. The poor
are considered a race, and our overseers are more desperate than ever to keep
us in check. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">And, well, we have a black president. Who
authorized government surveillance on civilians the likes of which this nation
has never seen. Personally, I like my dystopias in books. The noose is
tightening. When reading about what happened to Darrin Manning, I find myself
shocked by my ability to absorb this info and go about my daily life. It makes
me question my own humanity. How can I even think about anything else? And does
my apathy play into the hands of the oppressors (answer: yes it does).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Gypsy Life</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHKXFXXUe-A<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I've been feeling me some Lady Gaga
lately. I'm not a big pop music fan, and when she first came out with
"Pokerface" I was like "WTF is this crap?" But I downloaded
her new album and I'm feeling it. You see, she writes about being a gypsy. And
traveling all the time and wanting something permanent but you can't stop
rambling. It's like she's SPEAKING to me, man. She also did a Christmas special
with the Muppets. Respect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Also, the music is slammin'. If I'm ever
at a club and they play "Aura" or "Artpop," I will start
doing lascivious things on the dancefloor. That's a promise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I've come to the conclusion I'm kind of a
gypsy. This is not how I anticipated my life being as I inched toward 30. But
it occurred to me over the holiday as I got off a plane in Philly, then took a
bus west to spend time with family in Pittsburgh. I caught up with friends, but
didn't spend a lot of time with them. I mostly just wrote stories in bars and
cafes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Oh, and gentrification is happening
everywhere. Anybody who tells you it's limited to any one city has blinders on.
People are getting priced out of Lawrenceville because of UPMC buying up all
the property. And East Liberty? Good god. They might as well just hang up a big
"Whites Only" sign as soon as you enter the neighborhood. I never
thought to see it in my blue-collar home, but here it is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">After New Years, I went back to Philly,
where I spent about a week crashing on couches. I did a reading with Alex Smith
at A Space. Last August, I had a lovely reading there, and they were
enthusiastic about having me back. I was recently involved in a relationship
with someone in Philadelphia, and went there a lot last year. Never thought
Philly would be one of my homes, especially growing up on the other side of the
state. Now I feel right at home there. The reading: Alex brought the trippy
afrofuturism. Seeing as it was the day after Zora Neale Hurston's birthday, I
read a chapter of "Assistant," which I feel is kind of folkloric. Real
chill, real nice. Also real cold. That weather was Mother Nature telling
humanity to kiss her ass. I went sledding in Clark Park and got so much water
in my shoes I thought I would get frostbite. Besides sledding and freezing, I
watched<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Vampire Diaries </i>on Netflix<i>.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>Kelly Link gushed over the
CW show in an interview (and not in an ironic way), so I had to check it out.
She was right. It's a damn addiction. Far better writing than that bullshit<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>True Blood<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>turned into. And it<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>is</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>relieving to see a quality drama that’s
not about middle-aged men. Enough of that shit. <i>Vampire Diaries</i> does have something to say about adolescence, particularly
girlhood, in no way marred by the standard 30-year-old high schoolers who
populate these shows. Those 30-year-olds are sexy. Give me more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Then to New York, which involved more
couchcore. Stayed with a super cool Pittsburgh friend who studies philosophy.
She explained the meaning of life to me. I was supposed to do a reading at
Singularity & Co., but that fell through, so I caught up with old friends.
Damn, I love New York City. Just when it seems I'm having the most fun, I have
to go back to the real world. I know my relationship with the city is that of a
“gosh, it’s so big and diverse” fantasy space. Living in that rat race would
probably be disappointing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The NYC writing scene is interesting to me in that you would think
a city that big would have a variety of writers at every event. No, you see the
same people everywhere. The same goes for the fantasy convention scene, or the lit
festival scene. I have learned that, while the number of writers in this world
is incalculable, the people who turn it into a social thing is a limited group.
All the readings, workshops, panels, parties, are a ritual we go through, whether
through desire or compulsion. I love the social aspect because I like being
social, but recognize it as something for select people who feel comfortable
within in it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I now know for certain that I have to read
Chip Delany. I have seen the master read, but never sat down with any of his
books. Alex Smith explained to me why his writing is so great. <i>Dhalgren </i>sounded
especially intriguing.<i> </i>When I was in NYC, I chanced upon a
collection of essays and interviews. In one interview, the first question is
where he thinks humanity will be in the future. He proceeds to rip them a new
one for the foolishness of asking a science fiction author such a question. He
calls them frivolous and says they're wasting his time. Good lord, it's
awesome.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Speaking of frivolous: I attended an 80s
fantasy movie trivia night at Freddy's Bar. The friend I was staying with had
an interest in bar trivia, and got me intrigued, so when I saw the event notice
online, I was there. Did I win? Of course I won. How would Elwin Cotman not win
such a contest? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I got there an hour late, but these nice
folks visiting from Tennessee let me join their team. The host, who was dressed
as Jareth the Goblin King (natch), had a nice variety of questions, albeit some
that nobody would have ever known. There were questions from<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Princess Bride</i>,<span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><i>Dark Crystal</i>,<span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><i>Labyrinth</i>,<span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><i>Willow</i>,<span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><i>Black Cauldron</i>,<span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><i>The Secret of NIMH</i>,<span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><i>Last Unicorn</i>,<span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><i>Legend</i>,<span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><i>Neverending Story</i>,<span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span>and
a<i> Worst Witch<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>question
for good measure. Not too shabby. No<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Ladyhawke<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>or<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Dragonslayer</i>, but, y'know, you
can only ask so many. Luckily, I had just watched<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Neverending Story,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>so stuff like Bastion's full name
was fresh in my head. There's a few I missed that I'm still kicking myself
over. Fezzick was wearing a HOLOCAUST CLOAK. I knew it! Ugh. And the teddy bear
was named LANCELOT. How do you forget that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">There was a bullshit moment during the
costume contest when some dude who was doing an (admittedly impressive) Elliot/ET
costume with his girlfriend made some dumbass comment about how he couldn't
find any Mexicans to stand it the basket, so he had to use her instead. This is
a) racist, b) makes no sense, c) not funny, d) also kind of sexist, and e)
really fucking racist. The crowd booed him sufficiently for me to still feel
comfortable in the space, and there was some upset from the crowd when he won.
The host disavowed the comment, which is nice, but his ass should have been
disqualified. And, again, I have to question my tolerance for racism, as I
didn't pelt him with fruit or something like that. That killed my buzz. It
sucks I can't even go to a stupid trivia contest without that oppressive
bullshit popping up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The contest ended up in a tie between my
team and another one. Long story short, I had to engage with this dude in a
karaoke contest as the tiebreaker. He did the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Neverending
Story<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>theme. Pretty good. But
in choosing that one, he left me "Magic Dance," which was a mistake.
My team won and I got a little trophy. It was glorious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I hit up some bars, and went to a poetry
reading in Chinatown. I paid a visit to Singularity & Co. and talked with
the fellow manning the story about language styles in science fiction/fantasy. He
hooked me up with some of the books from the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series.
Hopefully one day I'll actually read at their spot. I organize readings around
my travels. If I'm going to be in a city for any reason, I see if I can get a
little something going. Who knows when I'll next be in NYC? After three days, I
hauled my luggage and traveled back to Philly. Passing through. Trains. Planes.
Buses. Couches. No permanence. This was especially on my mind because so many of
the friends I stayed with own property, have long-term partners, or have lived
in one place for over a decade. They are stable people, with all the comforts
therein.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">My good friend Patty Templeton recently
posted on her blog about how she is quitting her job to couchsurf for a year
and focus on writing. Depending on the goodwill of friends so you don't have to
worry about bills and whatnot. Forget the stigma against couchsurfing: having
friends who will put you up for a year so you can pursue your dreams is about
as wonderful as it gets. Those are friends who straight up <i>love </i>you, who want you in their house, who treasure your company. I've
been doing the same thing, albeit in a different way. I haven't worked a "real"
job in almost four years. I am currently in the academy, which is the modern-day
patronage system. They pay to perform perfunctory educational tasks on the
merit of the art I do, and will, produce. However, there is a sacrifice.
Teaching/taking classes takes time away from other interests, and I see the appeal
to dropping all pretense of respectability and just finding a spot where I can
lay, obligation-free, to work on my writing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Writing--that's what this whole nomadic lifestyle has been about.
Finding the time and space to be an artist; supporting myself as well as I
could while living the writing life. I had a full-time job back in 2010, but
the adventure was elsewhere. And the funny part is, I can't say whether it's
worked out. I was very productive when I worked full time. I set aside my space
to write, used it to the fullest, had an interesting job that kept my mind going
(social work), and used my weekends to host readings and do promotion. Plus, I
had income to fall back on. Since then, I have slowed my output, due to school
and tour planning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Am I a better writer? Definitely. Am I
also a less productive one? Definitely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I turn thirty on February 18th. How I
lasted this long, what with all the close calls, sketchy scenarios, all the
cops and neighborhood watch trying to castrate my ass, I'll never know. I live
in Louisiana during the school year. There are nice people here, but I don't
know many of them well. I am not a fixture in their community. My close friends
are scattered across the world. I always envisioned having a weeklong 30<sup>th</sup>
birthday celebration surrounded by friends, traveling out of town, holding a
reading with my favorite local writers. That's something I could have had, if I
had stayed in one place. But I'm looking at spending my birthday in the company
of strangers. I considered flying off to one of my other haunts, but I think
there's something that will be spiritually satisfying from accepting where I am
physically. The desire to constantly be elsewhere is toxic in its own way, and
I often fall prey to this. So I will do something for my thirtieth. It just
won't be extravagant. And I’ll be at AWP this year, so maybe that can count as
the party.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In other news, I've been reading<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Blood Meridian.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>Somebody needs to adapt this into
a five hour long most depressing movie ever. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-89883733082366725592014-01-07T18:59:00.001-08:002014-01-07T18:59:20.761-08:00End of the year round-up<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy New Year! Here's a list of the pieces I published in 2013.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Futuristic Myth: The Space Opera of Leiji Matsumoto" in <i>Black Gate</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The Beautiful Nightmare of Time Masters" in <i>Black Gate</i> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Bravery, Duplicity, and sheer Dumb Luck: Larry Elmore's <i>Snarfquest"</i> in <i>Black Gate</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The Ins and Outs of DIY Touring" in <i>Black Gate</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The Piper's Christmas Gift" in <i>Quail Bell</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">"Grit and Social Dynamics in 'Smoke Ghost'" in <i>Weird Fiction Review</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">"Salem Scheherazade" in <i>The Southwestern Review</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">"The Colonial Nightmare in 'Sandkings'" in <i>Weird Fiction Review</i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Aaaaand...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Hard Times Blues. </i>Looking forward to another productive year.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-52564469409092681632013-11-22T18:15:00.000-08:002013-11-22T18:15:24.862-08:00If you're looking for me, you can find me...in Quail Bell: <a href="http://www.quailbellmagazine.com/2/post/2013/11/short-story-the-pipers-christmas-gift.html">http://www.quailbellmagazine.com/2/post/2013/11/short-story-the-pipers-christmas-gift.html</a><br />
(NEW FICTION!!!)<br />
<br />
Black Gate: <a href="http://www.blackgate.com/2013/11/15/the-beautiful-nightmare-of-the-time-masters/">http://www.blackgate.com/2013/11/15/the-beautiful-nightmare-of-the-time-masters/</a><br />
(OLD ESSAY!!! but still good)<br />
<br />
and<br />
<br />
Weird Fiction Review: <a href="http://weirdfictionreview.com/2013/11/101-weird-writers-31-fritz-leiber/">http://weirdfictionreview.com/2013/11/101-weird-writers-31-fritz-leiber/</a><br />
(NEW ESSAY!!!)<br />
<br />
Yup. I'm feeling pretty accomplished.Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-56806776326929510512013-10-27T12:32:00.003-07:002013-10-27T12:32:49.897-07:00Chapter 110: In Which I Discuss Linguistic Warfare<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4IjTUxZORE">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4IjTUxZORE</a><br />
<br />
I like this video. It addresses the list of criticisms aimed at the Millennial generation, who have, in no time at all, become vilified in every corner of media. The most salient point is that the problems Millennials face were bequeathed to them by baby boomers. This is true. The kids who just got out of college did not cause the mortgage crisis, or global warming, or anything else that is going to make living on this planet over the next 50 years a dismal proposition. My favorite dig in there was how Millenials get disrespected, despite being on the front line of <i>two </i>decade-long wars. It's true, and it's a sad fact.<br />
<br />
It is telling (and, I'm sure, intentional) that all of the actors in the video are white, and performing stereotypes of the white middle class. Because that's who all this talk about the "trophy generation" is aimed at. The critics aren't addressing youth of color, because they already have a system in place to demean black and brown youth. We are at an interesting moment in which, for the first time in recent memory, a large group of people born into privilege are now facing crushing poverty. And the language used to put them in their place is the exact same used on communities of color.<br />
<br />
On this boomer vs. Millennial thing: my father is a baby boomer. He doesn't run banks. He doesn't start wars. He doesn't foreclose houses. He would often say the selfishness of baby boomers ended up ruining this country, but I had a hard time associating his faults with the sadism of a corporate heir like George W. Bush. It just doesn't add up. And I don't hear my dad talking about how entitled I am, because he does not profit from doing so.<br />
<br />
And that's the crux of this hate thrown at white, middle-class Millenials. Lazy. Entitled. Whiny. This is the same language that has been used to put down communities of color for centuries. Blacks were characterized as "shiftless," although America's fortunes were built on our labor. The same stereotype is applied to the siesta-loving Latinos, a propaganda campaign made murderously physical by the criminalizing of black and brown bodies. The Millenials are being insulted with the <i>exact same word choice</i>. And it serves the same purpose: to make the victimized feel that they are at fault.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Just make that guy white, replace his watermelon with an iPad, and you have the textbook insult lobbed at Generation Y.<br />
<br />
This has nothing to do with iPads, or the internet, or how many trophies somebody got when they were a kid. It has everything to do with attacking the working-class.<br />
<br />
You know who else is "entitled"? Welfare queens. This myth of black women using their government handouts to buy cable TV and nice clothes. A CEO who costs his workers their jobs by outsourcing feels he needs another yacht, but I guess that's not entitlement. I guess it's not entitlement when Halliburton decides they need more oil wells, as if they don't already have plenty. According to the corporate media, you have poor black women who keep popping out babies in order to buy themselves a new car.<br />
<br />
This is, of course, bullshit. The CIA shipped drugs into the country, then created a decades-long War on Drugs to get black men in jail. This started after Vietnam to make sure all those well-trained army veterans, who could have joined organizations like the Panthers, ended up as addicts and convicts. As a result, we have four or five black generations raised solely by women. Instead of being applauded for their single motherhood, they get demeaned for having to take government money. It helps to kill their self-esteem, but also helps in controlling the white working-class, who now view their problems as a result of niggers using up taxes. The stereotype of the "welfare queen" is as much a weapon against the working-class as the drugs are.<br />
<br />
I don't want to write another blog piece telling people how they need to check their privilege, because white kids are hearing enough of that from the corporate media. But they do need to know their history. What they're hearing now is old news to people of color. This linguistic warfare is being used on the latest group to get screwed by the system. The hope is that young adults will decide, "Hey, I am at fault," and fall in line with a world of low pay, no healthcare, no pension, no social security, and record corporate profits. I know plenty of young people, myself included, working their butts off in unfulfilling, low-paying jobs. That's the point. To get them working without question, and certainly without demanding benefits, for fear they will lose their job to the next down-and-out person.<br />
<br />
Here's an anecdote: hardly anybody I consider a close friend graduated college. They rode trains, dumpster dived, lived in punk houses, rejected the birth-school-work-death road. You could not tell them they weren't happy. You couldn't tell them their lives didn't matter. They don't measure self-worth by money. Young people nowadays need to be taught the same values.<br />
<br />
Everything about anti-Millenial rhetoric is couched in capitalist terms. The Millenials are criticized as failed economic units. They work low-paying, part-time jobs, which means they don't pay as much in tax. They have kids later in life, which means they're not making new consumers. They rent, which means houses aren't being sold. Plenty of people who are born poor find themselves in these same situations. What has changed is there is now a large group of white people who have found their privilege shrinking, and the system cannot afford to see them radicalized. Hence, they are told it's their fault for getting worthless degrees. "You knew that degree in the Humanities wouldn't get you anywhere. You should have gone into computer software and engineering." Never mind that not everybody can get a job in our nation's few growth industries. Or that the banks were happy to help with those "useless" degrees when they were dishing out loans.<br />
<br />
Education is a wonderful thing. It is also an entirely different thing from college, so I'll leave the "should you go to college" argument for some other time. A degree in the Arts, or any other low-paying field, is only worthless if you look at everything through a capitalist lens. If college is meant solely to churn out workers, then, yes, these degrees are useless and shouldn't be offered. If you look at it through the lens of personal betterment, there is much to be gained from such a degree.<br />
<br />
For instance, I work at the University of Louisiana. A lot of people come here to learn engineering and get jobs with the oil companies. Petroleum offers guaranteed profit even in a low-level position. I know a guy who is making $100,000 a year doing nothing but data analysis. The people who work the rigs make mad money, and they are considered as low on the totem pole as you can get. Solution to this generational crisis? We should all work for Big Oil!<br />
<br />
No. First of all, there's not enough jobs even in well-paying industries. Second, working for energy companies is to be complicit in murder and ecological destruction. There is a lot of blood on that money. Some people can set that aside, and others can't. There are all sorts of industries--the drug trade, law, politics--where you can make cash by compromising your ethics. Having ethics, I feel, is a more valuable judge of character. Ethics existed before capitalism. And living an ethical life should be celebrated.<br />
<br />
My fear for anybody growing up in this recession is that the hardship will make them think money is the end-all, be-all. There is worth in being an artist. There is worth in being a writer. There is worth in being a journalist. I don't know if anyone reads this blog, but if you are, and you've been hearing criticism about your entitlement: you are more than an economic unit. You are more than a dollar sign. And everything being said about you is nothing more than a traditional tactic of the state.<br />
<br />
Seriously, think about a situation where every adult around you encourages you to go to college as the way to a better life, then calls you stupid for taking out loans. It couldn't be that they have some way to profit from your debt and poverty. Nobody has to go to college, of course. But I don't hear of high schools having a lot of "trade school fairs." And even if you learn a trade like plumbing or computer software, good luck joining any industry, with organized labor gutted like it is.<br />
<br />
<span style="text-align: center;">Again, every term used on Millenials has been applied to communities of color: inferiority, laziness, idiocy ("Well, you have two college degrees, but not getting it in a growth field makes you dumb!"). And speaking of college: the US college system has been privatized and corporatized, and we're seeing budget cuts in all disciplines that aren't big money. Soon, college will be nothing more than job training. One of the best things to come from Millenials is the rise of online courses, which a) give degrees without the debt, and b) are causing the death of the traditional academy, which needs to die. Academics are learning the lesson that black schoolchildren learned long ago: those who run this country do not want an educated populace. The academy has been permanently poisoned, but online education is very exciting.</span><br />
<br />
Anybody who argues that class warfare isn't in full swing is, quite frankly, an enemy of the poor. The Republicans just shut down the federal government, giving government workers a furlough, all so they can <i>deny poor people health care. </i>Think about that. Comic book villain levels of evil from these bland, pasty bureaucrats. All this coupled with the call to cut food stamps, and its evident they're trying to put the poor in their place.<br />
<br />
I feel the pain of my generation because of the lack of jobs. Life was always going to be a struggle in a system built on concentrating wealth. And nobody is exempt. In Oakland/Emeryville, I see the tech yuppies buying condos, and I hope they're saving up, because every last one of their jobs can be sent to India.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: start;">
It's a scam, and the corporate media is hoping that young people will be so busy crying in remorse over how many trophies they got that they won't realize where their problems actually came from. For the love of Odin, do not internalize that. A black woman is not automatically a slut. A black man is not automatically a thug. A white Millenial is not a failed unit.</div>
<br />
Here's where the video fails. The correct response is not sarcasm. It's anger. They should be angry that they were good enough to fight George Bush's wars, but not good enough to have economic security or respect. "Millenials don't try to change anything. All they do is whine on the internet." Bullshit propaganda. Occupy Wall Street was a prime example of the revolutionary force in this country's youth. One that made an effort to avoid the white supremacy of previous social movements. Another example: the young overwhelmingly turned out for Obama in 2008. He--surprise surprise--turned out to be an awful technocrat whose invasions of privacy would make Dick Cheney smile in his bunker. But Obama ran as a progressive. He got into office on lies about ending war and closing Guantanamo. The potentiality for social upheaval is there in every kid who cast a ballot for him.<br />
<br />
In fact, there's something exciting about so many Americans contributing so little to capitalism. The system has unwittingly created a generation of oogles.<br />
<br />
Here's how this story is going to go. The Millenials will toughen up. They'll struggle, and scrape, and provide an example for all those in a tough spot. They will take practical jobs in nursing, retail, and the service industry. Here and there, somebody will invent something that makes a lot of money, and that money will stay in his family for generations. Otherwise, Millenials will overcome the privilege they were born into, learn to live with less, and embody that can-do American spirit. History books will applaud them. Meanwhile, the gap between rich and poor will grow more severe. This is not a failure of capitalism. This is the point. What we are looking at is the apex of the system, where you have the extremely wealthy, and everybody else is a serf. What nobody addresses is a) how disgusting it is to have a system predicated on 99% of society starving, and b) that white people are now employing against their own children the language they've used to demean communities of color for 400 years.<br />
<br />
The state already knows how it is going to frame this narrative, and the kids today can follow along. Or: take a page from Athens. When the young anarchist was murdered, his friends did not post snarky videos on the internet. They set Athens on fire. Take a page from Cairo. They overthrew a dictator.<br />
<br />
The most devastating result of America's downfall would be if the current generation embraces the propaganda used against them, wrapping their sense of worth around money. Or they can realize they are being targeted, and act accordingly.Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-38707122109153054622013-10-16T09:51:00.001-07:002013-10-16T09:51:40.456-07:00Omaha Lit FestJust a reminder that this weekend I'll be a panelist at the Omaha Lit Fest in Omaha, Nebraska. I'll be shooting the breeze on writing with several other brave, experimental authors. And I'm not the only fantasy writer! Excited! I'm a big fan of Alyssa Nutting in particular, so it'll be cool to do a panel with her.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://omahalitfest.com/">http://omahalitfest.com/</a>Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-32150591097595058782013-09-28T02:06:00.003-07:002013-09-28T02:06:48.575-07:00Story Genesis--The Revelation of JohnSometimes, the key to a story is finding the proper format for it. That was certainly the case with "The Revelation of John."<br />
<br />
Four of the stories that went into <i>Jack Daniels Sessions </i>and <i>Hard Times Blues </i>were started in 2007-2008, during my graduate studies at the University of Maryland. At the time, I was reading a lot about Jim Crow, and had ideas for a number of segregation-era stories. I would publish them all together in a book called <i>Elwin Cotman's Most Depressing Book Ever. </i>I was thinking about how fantasy could be applied to my political interests, and also reading Charles de Lint. As de Lint culls from different mythologies, I wanted to do the same. The Bible seemed ripe for some riffing.<br />
<br />
I don't know how it hit me to combine the Flood with the Book of Revelations. As a Bible reader, I've always found the New Testament pretty boring, with the exception of Revelations (aka the founding text of all things metal). I wanted to explore the idea of apocalypse. I wanted to speak to this infuriating oppression that happened around the Flood. It seemed appropriate to look at the Old South through Christian mythology, as it is so important to black culture. I first learned about the flood from references made during Hurricane Katrina (though never made in the corporate media). After all, 1927 was the first time the levees broke. The subject took hold of me and, King James Bible at my side, I wrote "The Revelation of John" as a prose piece with Biblical language.<br />
<br />
It got excoriated at workshop. The prose was hyperbolic and purple. The line between fantasy and reality was confusing. I'd long ago learned not to catch feelings over what people say in workshops. Whatever critique you feel lacks merit, you disregard. I agreed that it looked strange as a straight piece of prose. The best advice came from the professor, which was to make the apocalypse more localized, more Mississippi. I worked on it a little longer before putting it on the shelf.<br />
<br />
Flash forward to 2011. I was doing the Interdisciplinary Writers Lab, and wanted to work on an experimental piece for the anthology. So I dusted off "Revelation." The performance aspects of the story were developed while studying under Brenda Wong Aoki. I saw where I could rework it in order to make it richer.<br />
<br />
I read <i>Rising Tide</i>, which has a plethora of info about the sociopolitical climate in the Delta leading up to the Flood, and of the abuse toward black people that took place during and afterward. Everybody should read it. The Flood of 1927 was a major event in US history, especially regarding the Northern Migration. After the savagery visited on them, it made perfect sense for black people to be like "fuck y'all niggas, I'm outta here" and move to Chicago.<br />
<br />
I learned more about Mississippi folklore and worked that into the piece. More importantly, I gained a better understanding of the Book of Revelations. It's a screed. A political work, written by a political prisoner. The symbols of lambs and dragons are jabs at Rome, using the then-new concept of Christian eschatology. Pretty much everything in there is representative of something else. I worked symbolism into "Revelation of John." I included more historical elements. After four years, it was almost like writing an entirely new piece.<br />
<br />
"Revelation of John" did not go into the IWL anthology. As documented in a previous blog entry, I could not find a space in which to type the story when I was on 2011 tour, and ended up submitting "Pulp" instead. But I performed "Revelation" for the IWL shindig at the end of the workshop. I found myself in the strange situation of having a piece that worked better as performance than prose.<br />
<br />
Last semester at Mills. Last MFA workshop. I submitted "Revelation," only this time it was formatted like the Bible. Well, not exactly. The language of the Bible can get really repetitive ("And...", "And...", "And...") which doesn't fit my style. So I used it as a jumping-off point to write a sort of prose poem. "Revelation" was my return to poetry.<br />
<br />
The response from this latest workshop: "So, all the biblical references. I don't get it. Maybe you should include footnotes."<br />
<br />
I wonder if John of Patmos had the same problem. And if he just told people to Google it.<br />
<br />
The biblical formatting was a relatively late element in the story's evolution, but one that changed it completely, and for the better. Now I'm thinking of other old pieces that might find their way if I change them to another genre. Using the Bible format was inspired by a Bible as Lit course I took at Mills, where I was reminded that much of the book <i>is </i>poetry. The Song of Songs and the Psalms, for example, are straight verse.<br />
<br />
So I got inspiration from workshops and lit classes. I did most of my research at Mills, and wrote most of the story at Mills. Could it be that all of this schooling has actually <i>helped </i>my writing? Naaah. Probably not.<br />
<br />
What I thought might be an inaccessible story got a lot of positive reactions when I was on tour. I'm glad, as it's subject matter I feel people should know about. "The Revelation of John" is probably, pound for pound, the densest story I've ever written. No footnotes included.Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-41600111133266719392013-09-24T07:35:00.001-07:002013-09-24T07:35:25.577-07:00Chapter 109: In Which I Write Essays About Anime<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
So, I haven't updated lately. That's because I've been working pretty hard, even though we live in a post-employment economy. Instead of jobs, we have internships; instead of employees, we have contractors and adjuncts. People in the service sector can't even afford food and rent. But at least they get food stamps! Oh, wait. The millionaires in DC are cutting food stamps? Let them eat cake, I guess. This country is going down the tubes so fast it's silly, and frankly, all the "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" bullshit isn't going to fix it. In two years, ain't nobody going to be questioning what Occupy Wall Street's message is.</div>
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In the midst of this apocalypse, I write essays about anime. I'm writing one right now about how the writing of different continuities helped Leiji Matsumoto redefine Bushido after the Second World War. Below is the linguistics essay I wrote recently that inspired me on this particular scholarly path. I took out the works cited, as I'm sure the reformatting on blogspot will make it look awful. If you are at all interested in linguistics, or space opera comics, I think you'll enjoy the paper.</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Only
a Woman’s Pride!”:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Language
and Gender in <i>Space Pirate Captain
Harlock</i><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Gender is an
intrinsic part of Japanese communication, both verbal and written. The language
is known for its sentence–final particles (SFPs) that express the speaker’s
attitude toward the information and the person receiving it. These particles
are arranged along gendered lines—those for women indicate indirectness,
humility, and indecisiveness, while men’s articles are assertive and blunt. Particles
are one way in which language is gendered in Japanese society; honorifics and
vocal pitch also work into the complex set of rituals used by speaker/author to
acknowledge the presence and status of the audience/reader. This is called <i>keigo</i>:<i> </i>a system of verbal choices used to honor the “other” in
conversation. The Japanese call this cultural value <i>aite no mi ni naru</i>, or “take the other’s perspective” (Inoue &
Wessell 76). Women are predominantly expected to show this deference in common
speech. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The
arts, particularly the 19<sup>th</sup> century novel, were instrumental in the
development of Japan’s gendered language. According to Mayako Inoue, the late
Meiji Era (1880-1910) “occasioned a shift in political climate toward a more
reactionary position, skeptical of rapid Westernization, and people sought a ‘return’
to Japanese tradition, including imperial absolutism and Confucianism” (Inoue 396),
which in turn led to “advocate[ing] the traditional virtues and values of ideal
womanhood, such as obedience to father, husband, and, later, eldest male child.
Far from primordial, this ideology derived from the Confucianism espoused by
the ex-samurai class and from the imported Western cult of domesticity.” In the
drive to create a Japanese literature to match that of Europe, linguists needed
a uniform speech for female characters, formed around the concept of the
obedient woman. Thus began not only the ascendance of a uniform language, but gendered
speech distinctions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> This linguistic movement extended to the world of <i>manga</i>, one of Japan’s most enduring
cultural exports. The Japanese tradition of sequential art enabled post-World
War II artists to make strong statements on their nation’s changing identity. Famous
<i>mangaka </i>of that generation include Osamu
Tezuka, Keiji Nakazawa, and Leiji Matsumoto, the creator of <i>Space Pirate Captain Harlock</i>,<i> Galaxy Express 999</i>, and co-creator of
the television series<i> Space Battleship
Yamato</i>. Matsumoto’s sprawling, epic, yet often whimsical space operas deal
with issues of honor, duty, and coming-of-age. Born in 1938, Matsumoto grew up
under the American occupation. As a response to Japan’s demilitarization and the
increased Western presence, Matsumoto’s heroes typify <i>bushidō</i>, the samurai code. In his essay “Heroic Honor: Chikamatsu
and the Samurai Ideal,” C. Andrew Gerstle describes the post-feudal discourse
on <i>bushido </i>as “concerned principally
with duty, responsibility, and loyalty . . . Another influential . . . is that
of Ito Jinsai and his followers who . . . placed emphasis overall on individual
morality rather than on the individual’s relationship to the state, or the role
of the state in controlling individuals” (Gerstle 310). Also, “By the end of
the seventeenth century, terms such as <i>haji</i>
(shame), <i>na</i> (name or reputation), and
<i>toku</i> (virtue) were central to the
samurai-led discussion on the concept of honor . . . The samurai myth remained
heroic at its core: fearless readiness to die for honor” (314). These ideals,
particularly those of death before dishonor, individual morality, and honor
before institutional loyalty, are embodied in Matsumoto’s most famous creation:
space pirate Captain Phantom F. Harlock the 99<sup>th</sup>. The futuristic
pirate is portrayed time and again as an iconoclast among humankind that has
grown lazy and complacent, or who advocate surrender. In the 1982 film <i>Arcadia of My Youth</i>, the parallels
between Earth and the postwar occupation of Japan are made explicit, and
Harlock refers to himself as a samurai.<i> </i>Like
his contemporary Yukio Mishima, Matsumoto advocates traditional warrior values
in order to reclaim Japanese identity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Matsumoto’s
work takes place in what fans have affectionately deemed “The Leijiverse,” a
realm of colonized planets in which his characters have adventures. Among the
qualities that define the Leijiverse, I have found two of particular interest:
the multiple continuities that eschew linear narrative, but whose recurring archetypal
characters reflect the language of myth; and elements of European folklore,
from medieval imagery to whimsical story structure. Since the late 1970s, a
majority of Matsumoto’s work has been adapted for the screen, with comics such
as <i>Galaxy Express 999</i>,<i> Space Pirate Captain Harlock</i>,<i> </i>and <i>Queen
Millennia </i>being turned into anime series only a year after their serial
runs began. Adaptation has always been a key element in the proliferation of
Matsumoto’s work and themes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The
first TV adaptation to gain widespread popularity was Shigeyuki Hayashi’s 1978
version of <i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Uchū Kaizoku Kyaputen
Hārokku</span></i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">.</span></span><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">The series revolves
around an invasion of Earth by an alien race called the Mazone. Harlock and the
crew of his space battleship, <i>The Arcadia</i>, are the only humans putting
up a fight against the well-armed and crafty extraterrestrials. What is immediately
noticeable is that the Mazone are predominantly female, and their conflict with
Harlock is often put in gendered terms. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The name Mazone itself,
derivate from Amazon, evokes both the feminine and the Western heroic stories
that inform Matsumoto’s work.<b> </b><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The nature of
manhood is a major theme in <i>Captain Harlock</i>. For instance, in episode 3,
Harlock entreats the young scientist Tadashi Daiba to join his crew. “If you’re
a man,” he says, “you’ll do what you have to before you leave” (“A Woman Who
Burns like Paper”). After giving Daiba a tour of <i>The Arcadia</i>, Harlock
tells him, “You may not be impressed, but if you are a true man, come aboard <i>Arcadia</i>.”
In Matsumoto’s universe, manhood is associated with individuality and duty,
even if all around you have given up. The gender dynamics of the show arise in
that Harlock, the ultimate masculine character, is thwarting a matriarchal
society. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Before examining how
gendered speech works in adapting Matsumoto’s themes for television, it is
necessary to establish what masculinity and femininity represent in the
Leijiverse. I have found that Matsumoto’s male and female characters follow two
different western motifs, respectively: the epic and the fairy tale. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Harlock
is unique among anime characters in that he is distinctly European: his
squinted eyes and chiseled features contrast with the round eyes and smooth
features of others around him; he is both tall and realistically proportioned,
unlike most of his crew, who are <i>chibi </i>caricatures.
His two costumes are a skull-and-crossbones pirate outfit and an astronaut
suit, and he wears spurs that jangle when he walks. Thus, Harlock represents
several Western mythic archetypes. This is made most explicit in Matsumoto’s
1998 adaptation of <i>Das Rheingold</i>, in
which Harlock takes the role of Siegfried. Masculinity is associated not only
with the samurai code of honor, but with Western ideals of chivalry (knights)
and individuality (pirates/cowboys). While the Mazone are an ever present
threat, the true enemy in <i>Space Pirate
Captain Harlock</i> is apathy. In this dystopian future, humans have lost all
initiative. The leaders of Earth’s government are buffoons more concerned with
playing golf and going to the horse races than staving off the impending alien
invasion. Matsumoto’s heroes are active, and defy the urge to tie themselves to
institutions. Masculinity in the series is characterized by decisiveness, individuality,
and engagement with problems. As Matsumoto was writing during the Space Race,
it seems only natural that outer space is the last frontier for his heroes to
exercise their manly code.<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Women,
however, come from the fairy tale mold. They are often mysterious, magical, and
some form of royalty (Princess Starsha, Queen Emeraldas, Queen Prometheum, Queen
Millennia, Queen Lafresia). Matsumoto has a unique female character design: women,
no matter the race, are tall, sylph-like, long-haired, and almost entirely
identical to each other. The elfin design contributes to the idea of females as
otherworldly. Besides fighting as fiercely as the warriors their name evokes,
the Mazone take the forms of sirens, fairies, and other fairy tale tropes in
order to inveigle Harlock’s crew. It is implied that the Mazone infiltrated
Earth thousands of years ago, and were the witches and sorceresses whom humans
based their legends on. I have narrowed Matsumoto’s representations of women to
five categories: the Mysterious Woman, the Evil Queen, the Girl At Home/Damsel
in Distress, the Grandmother, and the Force of Nature. These characters
invariably serve as guides, muses, and enemies for the male heroes. The
Mysterious Woman can be friend or foe. For instance, Emeraldas (who appears in the
series as an early incarnation called “Emeralda”) is as mysterious as the
Mazone agents, but she helps Captain Harlock. What defines Matsumoto’s Evil Queens
is that they start out with good intentions, but become corrupted. Queen Lafresia
in <i>Captain Harlock </i>is a prime example
of this: she wants nothing more than to save her people by giving them a home
on Earth, but becomes increasingly cruel and callous in her efforts to win. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I
believe the reason Matsumoto chose fairy tale tropes for his females is
because, in fairy tales, women are inherently magical. Mundane characteristics
such as beauty, decency, and royal birth take on fantastic properties. While
Matsumoto has created iconic females, his universe is male-centric. Females are
predominantly supporting characters for the young boys who headline his <i>bildungsroman </i>stories. As such, the
feminine, and feminine language, must be evaluated through its subordination to
the male. The male represents individuality and steadfast commitment. In
following his code, a man encounters beauty and glory, as represented by the
angelic women who aid him. However, there is an inherent danger in the
feminine, a threat to the rigid code of <i>bushidō</i>.
The Mazone represent this, as well as representing the conflict in trying to
live by a code. The Evil Queen trope from fairy tales is an analogy for moral
corruption; Snow White, or any heroine, could grow up to become the
apple-poisoning stepmother. Queen Lafresia is the series’ most interesting
character in that she tries to live honorably and fails. Men like Captain Harlock
cannot compromise their ethics because they are meant to be infallible heroes.
Thus, women like Lafresia serve to show the other side of the coin. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">In
this essay, I will examine gendered language in <i>Space Pirate Captain Harlock</i>, and how it translates Matsumoto’s
themes about manhood and <i>bushidō</i>. I will
analyze dialogue in episodes that focus on the conflict between the sexes, fairy
tale tropes, and challenges to honor. These are episode 3, “A Woman Who Burns
Like Paper,” episode 15, “Tragic Love! The Northern Pole Aurora,” episode 26,
“A Long Way Away Voyage,” and episode 30, “My Friend, My Youth.” <span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">As Japanese
linguistics is highly gendered, a look at how the anime employs such language
can shed light on how dialogue enforces the themes of an adaptation.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Elements of Japanese
Linguistics<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Language
in Japan is predicated on levels of politeness. As women are expected to be
gentle, feminized speech contains markers of “softness,” following the system
of <i>keigo</i> honorifics. In <i>The Japan Times</i>, Jenny Uechi describes <i>keigo </i>thusly:</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: #FBFBFB; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></span><span style="background: #FBFBFB; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“ ‘Sonkeigo’ (honorific language to elevate someone),
‘kenjogo’ (humble language to lower yourself), ‘teineigo’ (polite language
ending in ‘desu’ or ‘masu’), ‘teichogo’ (a form of humble language that doesn’t
require the speaker to be on the receiving end of an action), and ‘bikago’
(beautifying language, when ‘o’ or ‘go’ is put in front of a noun)” (Uechi).</span><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> </span></b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">All Japanese
phrases must end with a particle that indicates the speaker’s feelings toward
the expression (Smith 60). T</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">he –<i>masu </i>suffix is attached to the ends of verbs to make the sentence
polite, while <i>-desu</i> is the polite
form of the Japanese copular verb <i>da </i>(to
be). In relation to beautifying language, the prefix <i>o-</i> is attached to nouns and verb stems to indicate respect for the
subject or action. Some SFPs are considered masculine in that they show
aggression or emphatic assertion (<i>zo</i>,
<i>kai</i>, <i>ze</i>, <i>na</i>) while others are
considered feminine because they “soften” the expression, indicating humility (<i>ne</i>, <i>kashira</i>,
<i>wa, wa yo, wa ne, ne no, no yo, no ne</i>),
while others are gender neutral (Jref.com). As Miyako Inoue states, the
gendering of particles is not an ancestral part of Japanese language, but comes
from the early 20<sup>th</sup> century move to establish both an ideal Japanese
woman and a uniform linguistics. The sources from which the Japanese linguist movement
created these particles that would define their national communication seem, at
times, arbitrary. For instance: “Schoolgirls were reported to use a set of
distinctive final particles, including <i>teyo</i>,
<i>dawa</i>, and <i>noyo</i>, many of which are the essential linguistic features identified
today as women’s language” (Inoue 406). Besides using schoolgirl slang to
create a feminine language, Japanese linguists feminized regional particles
that were considered vulgar slang at the time, then normalized the morphology
through domestic novels such as those written by Natsume Soseki (405).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Regarding
masculine speech, a recent study by Cindi Sturtz Sreetharan found that
“Japanese men are reported to use polite forms of verbs less frequently than women
do, and to use more verb endings that are assertive, blunt, and more direct than
those women use . . . [T]hey use a smaller and less emotionally charged lexicon
. . . [and] they interrupt and take
control of the conversational topic more frequently than women do” (Sreetharan
84). The notion of assertive speech is relevant to my research is that the TV series
focuses on two different leaders, both of whom are perpetually giving directives
to subordinates. According to a 1992 study by Janet Smith, Japanese directives
are divided into three categories: imperatives (worded as orders), requests,
and desideratives (worded as indirect desires). Imperatives are naturally the
least polite form of directives (Smith 66), but within those parameters, there
are varying levels of politeness determined by the SFD that is used. They run
the gamut from the most direct, the <i>–ro</i>
particle, to the least direct, which is the use of “please” through -<i>te ne yo </i>(64-65). Imperatives are
certainly not unique to men, but less polite speech is associated with the
masculine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> In lieu of the themes in the TV series, I am looking for
language that equates manhood with individuality, associates femininity with
danger, uncertainty, or wonder, and language that differentiates active from
passive. I will examine specific episodes of <i>Space Pirate Captain Harlock </i>looking for:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Use of the <i>desu/masu</i> forms to indicate politeness. Inversely, use of the <i>da </i>form to indicate aloofness and
impoliteness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Feminine and masculine SFPs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Kenjogu,
</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">or
humble language used to denigrate the speaker.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Honorifics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Use of directives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">In
exploring which characters adopt the masculine and feminine linguistic forms,
and under what contexts, I will analyze how language contributes to the themes
of following <i>bushidō</i>, its relation to
manhood, and the complications of pursuing an honorable life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Space
Pirate Captain Harlock<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">In
analyzing the language of <i>Space Pirate
Captain Harlock</i>, it is important to note that the dialogue is not Leiji
Matsumoto’s. It is an adaptation and should be regarded as such. To learn more
of the ethics espoused in the 1977 manga, I read an online translation by a
group called Gantz Waiting Room, published on mangapark.com. The anime and
manga follow the same storyline: the discovery of the Mazone threat, the murder
of Tadashi Daiba’s father, Daiba’s persecution by the Earth government and his
choice to join <i>The Arcadia</i>, then the
war against the Mazone. Whole panels are reproduced from comic to show. Similar
or identical lines of dialogue indicate that the themes espoused on the show
are the same ones from Matsumoto’s serial. For example, the equation of manhood
with honor is in the frontispiece: “When all seas disappeared, mankind believed
the world had come to an end. Men pitied themselves, without even thinking of
the infinite space lying overhead . . . Only a handful of men, believing in
humanity’s brilliant future, had enough courage to go and explore the ‘sea
above’” (Matsumoto 3). In both texts, Harlock challenges Daiba to join the
Arcadia if he would be a man. In both, the Earth government is portrayed as
weak and apathetic, and this disgusts the protagonists. It is clear from
comparing the two that the <i>anime</i> is
loyal to the themes and storyline of the <i>manga</i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A
Woman Who Burns like Paper</span></i><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">
<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> The third episode of <i>Space
Pirate Captain Harlock </i>is essentially the beginning of the story, as it
follows where the <i>manga</i> begins. The
association of manhood with comradeship appears as soon as the theme song. The
last stanza says: “<i>Tomo yo</i> (
my friend) . . . <i>Inochi wa sutete ore wa ikiru</i>
(I will throw away my life and live)<span class="apple-converted-space">” (“A
Woman Who Burned Like Paper”). The SFP <i>yo
</i>is used for emphasis, and is primarily associated with the male, as the “soft”
or feminine form is <i>wa</i>. The phrase
roughly translates as “O friend,” emphasizing a great friendship between two
male comrades. <i>Ore</i> is the masculine
form of the first-person pronoun (the feminine form is <i>watashi</i>). Through choice of pronouns and particles, the idea of
living by a personal code is tied in with the masculine before the episode even
starts. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> The world of the TV show exists in
the ruins of great civilizations. The remains of the Statue of Liberty and the
Parthenon are shown in a desert. This visually enforces the theme of
civilization gone stagnant. The audience is introduced to Dr. Daiba, whose
language is aggressively masculine in how blunt and short his speech patterns are.
When the leaders of Earth will not listen to them, he calls them “<i>Bakayarou!</i>”, or “fools!” He is equally
blunt in communicating with his son Tadashi, using “<i>itte kure</i>,” the least polite request form (Smith 65). This is
juxtaposed against the Prime Minister of Earth and his manservant. When Dr.
Daiba barges into the minister’s bedroom, the servant entreats him to leave
using the “soft” -<i>itte kudasai</i>
particle. While hiding under his bedsheets, the Prime Minister tries to calm
Daiba by referring to him as “Daiba-<i>kun</i>,”
-<i>kun </i>being an affectionate suffix
primarily used by women. He also asks questions using the <i>ne </i>particle, indicating uncertainty. The meaning is clear: Dr.
Daiba is a man of honor, as indicated by his manly speech and virtuous actions,
and the feminized bureaucrats will be nothing but obstructions. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Dr. Daiba father is not a fighter, but
through his responsibility and initiative embodies <i>bushid</i></span></span><i style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">ō</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">. His strong masculine language builds
the connection between manhood and <i>bushid</i></span></span><i style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">ō<span class="apple-converted-space">
</span></span></i><span class="apple-converted-space" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">ethics. Ironically,
another character who speaks with the informal, and thus the masculine, is
Queen Lafresia, who uses the SFP “<i>no da</i>”
in telling her assassin to kill Dr. Daiba. The copula <i>da</i> implies an aloofness and directness. In this world, women are
hard, while men can be incredibly soft, with no loyalty or honor. This
linguistic choice ascribes mystery to the feminine: who are these calm women,
portrayed in silhouette, who so blithely make choices about life and death?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The young Tadashi Daiba meets Harlock
after the Mazone murders his father. Harlock is the archetypal assertive male,
giving imperatives to Daiba while asking no questions. His language is gender
neutral and emotionally moderate. Within the same episode, Tadashi meets Miime,
who is both mysterious (she is an alien with no mouth) and the series’ most
feminine character. She wears a long dress, has a soft voice, is demure and
subservient to Harlock. In Japanese, women are expected to have both higher
pitched voices and spend a longer time enunciating words than men. The voice
actress does this when she says, “Watashi wa Miime,” drawing out the words.
Miime is as feminine as Harlock is masculine. In this episode, Hayashi tie in
the notion of manhood with responsibility and duty, and gives an air of mystery
to both good and evil female characters. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Tragic Love<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">There are two women on <i>The Arcadia</i>, and both are very feminine
in their expression. The navigator Kei Yuki ends every question with the
inquisitive <i>ne</i>, refers to Tadashi as
“Daiba-<i>kun</i>,” and frequently softens
her sentences with the <i>desu/masu </i>form.
She enunciates all of her verbs (“<i>Mashita</i>!”),
whereas Harlock will say the abbreviated “<i>yosh!</i>”
instead of “<i>yoshi!</i>” for “okay!” Both
Harlock and first mate Yattaran use abbreviated words, and Daiba is prone to
muttering and sighing to show emotion. Meanwhile, Kei and Miime are constantly
acknowledging the “other” in the conversation. These feminized verbal affects
indicate comradeship, which is part of <i>bushid</i></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">ō<span class="apple-converted-space">,
</span></span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">and stands in
contrast to the Mazone, the corrupted women who hardly acknowledge one another
in speech. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">In this episode, Miime shows herself to
be as brave as Harlock, introducing herself to the villain as “the woman who
has dedicated her life to Harlock,” before defeating her in what could only be
described as a magic battle. <span class="apple-converted-space">Through these
very feminine heroes, the showrunners indicate that it is possible for women to
follow <i>bushid</i></span><i>ō</i><span class="apple-converted-space">, as
well. Feminized language aids the images, such as Miime speaking her quiet dedication
to Harlock while following him into a blizzard in her long dress.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The use of English words marks Harlock
as an idealized hero. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">In “Tragic Love!”, Harlock speaks
more English than any other character. This includes “screen,” “curtain,”
“blizzard,” “engine,” “local” (as in “localized blizzard”), “percent,”
“bullet,” and “pulsar cannon.” These words are used functionally, in order to
give instructions or convey information to subordinates. They are not only
English terms, but terms reflecting technology. Considering how little dialogue
Harlock has, giving him a significant amount of English was a very deliberate
linguistic choice. <i>Captain Harlock</i>
was made at a time when space travel was seen as the pinnacle, if not outright
goal, of modern technology. With America at the forefront of aeronautics, the
English language held a great deal of cultural capital in the field. Even the
nominal techs in the crew of <i>The</i> <i>Arcadia </i>do not use English as frequently
as the title character. This serves a two-fold purpose: emphasizing Harlock’s
connection to the West and the European mythic hero, and showing his mastery of
technology. Matsumoto’s stories aggrandize engineers to mythic levels; for
example, Harlock’s friend, Tochiro Oyama, designed and built the space
battleship <i>Arcadia </i>by himself.
Harlock’s use of English associates him with the mythic grandeur of space and
technology, increasing his cache as a <i>bushidō</i>
hero.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">On
the inverse, Harlock is also the least verbose character, and this emphasizes
the Matsumoto worldview on how a hero should act. Harlock is taciturn and
monosyllabic, doing much of his communication through sounds. In “Tragic Love,”
Harlock uses gasps to express surprise, whereas other characters say “<i>Nani </i>[what]”; he says “Hmm” as an
affirmation, whereas others give a declarative “<i>Hai</i> [yes].” Harlock gives orders in simple affirmatives such as “<i>Yosh</i> [alright]”, giving the impression
of one always in charge of the situation. He does not have to talk much to get
others to obey, and usually speaks in order to move the plot forward. In
deemphasizing the protagonist’s dialogue, Hayashi emphasizes him as a man of
action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The
repeated use of Harlock’s name emphasizes his stature as a mythic hero. Harlock
is assigned specialness by the fact that characters always address him
directly. For instance, when Harlock goes into the blizzard to face the Mazone,
Miime says, “Harlock, let’s return. Hurry . . . Harlock! . . . No, you musn’t
go, Harlock . . . Even you [Harlock] might not be able to beat her . . .
Harlock, you musn’t go. Harlock!” Of the six utterances of his name, five are
used to get his attention. Naturally, throughout the scene Harlock is ignoring
Miime, excited to face whatever foe is causing the blizzard. The implication is
that Harlock follows his own initiative, which echoes back to Matsumoto’s
themes of independence and individuality. The act of naming Harlock also
ensures that he is center of attention, from allies <i>and</i> enemies; all the supporting characters are prone to beginning
or ending any sentence directed at him with “Harlock.” This speaks to the <i>bushidō</i> concept of <i>na</i>, meaning name and reputation. The name is important because it
is associated with honor, and Harlock will not compromise his reputation by
running from an enemy. This presents Harlock as an epic hero in the mold of
Beowulf or Odysseus, whom are lionized through name repetition in their
respective epics. Harlock is also referred to a “<i>kyaputen</i>,” the Japanese pronunciation of “captain.” This stresses
the character’s role as a pirate, and thus a rebel against the system. No other
authority figure on the show has an English honorific, underlining the Western
influence of the character. At the end of “Tragic Love,” the name works as a
mantra, casting Harlock in messianic terms. There is a scene in which Harlock’s
goddaughter, Mayu, is praying in a church. She hears the sounds of <i>The Arcadia </i>and runs outside, happy to
see he is still alive. Meanwhile, a men’s choir sings a cappela over the
soundtrack, their words translated as: “<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">I wander amongst distant stars. People call me: Captain
Harlock! Captain Harlock!<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>I
hoist my flag in this sea of no tomorrow. I live freely. The bird is singing.
Under my flag, under my flag, I live in freedom.” The words “God” and/or
“Jesus” are not mentioned in this scene, but the name “Captain Harlock” is, and
the implication is clear. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The
characters’ speech also reflects Matsumoto’s gender dynamics, being that women
analyze while men act. Colloquial or unadorned speech is distinctive of other
male characters, such as first mate Yattaran, who will use slang such as “<i>yare yare </i>[oh my]” to express
exasperation. The audience avatar character, Tadashi Daiba, exists almost
purely to give exposition, and expresses rage through profanity. This stands in
contrast to the ethereal Miime. When the crew sees an aurora over the North
Pole, Miime states: “Auroras were commonly seen on my planet. Particularly
around the time the plant life made its rebellion, there were many auroras
beautifully shining.” To which Yattaran replies, “Eh.” The adverb “beautifully”
is an element of translation, developed from an adverbial clause around <i>utsukushii</i>, meaning “beautiful.” Miime
engages with adverbial clauses while the men of the crew<i> </i>use unadorned language. <span class="apple-converted-space"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Female
characters often use repetitive word phrasing. This is used to evoke feelings
of antiquity and mystery, which reflects the Matsumoto trope of the fantastical
female. In “Tragic Love,” Harlock encounters a Mazone who lives in a
European-style palace in the North Pole. She appears to be made of ice, has
unexplained powers, and her character design calls to mind Hans Christian
Andersen’s Snow Queen. The ice witch tells Harlock, “I have been waiting a
long, long time for you to come here.” In a later scene, she says, “Day after
day [<i>itsumo itsumo</i>], afternoon and
night, all I’ve thought about is killing you.” Again, Hayashi ascribes
verbosity to the feminine. In Matsumoto’s fairy tale world, women are highly
powered to the point that they seem either magical or dangerous, good witch or
bad witch. Hayashi employs dialogue to make this particular character seem
ancient. The language works in tandem with the visual fairy tale elements, such
as her castle, and the way she imprisons Harlock in an ice coffin reminiscent
of “Snow White.” Also, as men like Harlock are not allowed to emote, Miime uses
repetition to establish concern over the witch: “She is powerful. Dreadfully
powerful.” Repetition puts the acknowledgment of fear where it belongs in
Matsumoto’s universe: the female. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">All
of the women are more prone to description, in line with traditional views of
gender. Kei describes a bird as a “poor little creature.” Queen Lafresia is the series’ most eloquent
character. In Episode 41, “Duel! The Queen vs. Harlock,” she tells Harlock: “To
the despondent, travel-worn citizens, and to all my the demoralized soldiers, I
said: ‘Look, that shining blue planet is Earth . . . The lifeblood of us, the
almighty Mazone.’” Adjectives speak to a need to explain and clarify. This is
important in that Lafresia is trying to reconcile her compromised ethics with
her royal duties. Harlock’s worldview holds no such complications. As a man, he
reacts to situations through action. The Mazone, a race of women, are longterm
planners. Hayashi phrases the dialogue to represent that women reflect while
men act. However, this does not prevent women from action. At the end of
“Tragic Love,” to explain how she overcame the witch, Miime says, “When she’s
fighting for her life, even a woman becomes a strong warrior.” <span class="apple-converted-space">This is <i>kenjoku</i>,
self-denigration by the speaker. Miime, the very embodiment of <i>keigo </i>principles, is showing how <i>bushid</i></span><i>ō<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i><span class="apple-converted-space">exists in the traditionally feminine. Also, her
understatement serves to point out the fact that she has goddess-like powers,
connecting her with the mystique of the feminine. She could just as easily be
speaking about the Mazone, who fight fiercely. Through the content and morphology
of the dialogue, Miime enforces the inscrutability of women.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A Long Way Away Voyage</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Episode
26 deals primarily with the internecine conflicts in the Mazone ranks, and is
where Hayashi uses female characters to show the ways in which <i>bushid</i></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">ō<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">can be compromised. The Mazone
leadership is arguing over what to do about the civilians, who are tired from constantly
fighting Harlock, and desire peace. Some advocate letting them go; others want
to use the civilians as shields. All of them are facing conflicts with their
moral compass that affects them on a deep level, making them more than cartoon
villains. In this scene, the all-female characters are predominantly using the
impolite <i>da </i>verb form. They give
imperatives with gender neutral terms like <i>koto</i>
(used to emphasize an order without being overtly impolite). </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Even
the directives are neutral on the politeness scale, such as “<i>Cleo no okunasai</i>! [Retrieve it, Cleo!],”
but lean more toward the masculine in their informality. <span class="apple-converted-space">This is in contrast to the <i>masu/desu</i>-inflected speech of Kei and Miime. It is also in contrast
to the kindly <i>Arcadia </i>doctor, Zero, a
male who communicates with female crew members using the <i>ne </i>particle. In other words, the Mazone talk at each other, while
the crew of <i>The Arcadia </i>talks with
each other. A room full of women speaking so impolitely to one another in
anomalous in Japanese culture, demonstrating their problematic <i>bushid</i></span><i>ō<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i><span class="apple-converted-space">through a linguistic schism.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Much work is done in this episode to set
up Lafresia as Harlock’s double, and Hayashi does so through honorifics. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">It
is telling that Harlock gets the more modern moniker, whereas his enemy Queen
Lafresia is always called “<i>Joou</i> <i>Lafresia</i>.” Her name connects her to the
fairy tale just as his connects to the epic. The structure of Lafresia’s name
is semi-Westernized, and in pronunciation the <i>o </i>in<i> joou </i>is emphasized.
This in turn stresses her role as “queen,” which has a fairy tale context.
Japanese honorifics such as -<i>san</i>, -<i>sensei</i>, or -<i>hime </i>are attached as suffixes to the end of names. Japan was ruled
by empresses, not queens, and under Japanese honorifics she would be titled <i>Lafresia-tennō</i>. Thus, linguistically,
Lafresia is a European monarch. The continued utterance of “<i>Joou Lafresia</i>” works in tandem with her
representation: a coldly beautiful woman in dark colors who spies on <i>The</i> <i>Arcadia
</i>through a crystal globe, similar to the magic mirror from the Disney
version of “Snow White.” In this anime, a romanticized pirate/cowboy is
fighting an Evil Queen. This is one more way in which Hayashi ties the series
back to Matsumoto’s fairy tale elements. The other character in the series that
gets a Westernized name is, of course, Captain Harlock. This sets up the female
antagonist as a magical character, symbolic of the dangers men face when they
enter the unknown. It is also sets up the difference between the two leaders.
The pirate moniker “captain” indicates that Harlock is a rebel, while the title
“queen” connects Lafresia to institutions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">As
mentioned earlier in the paper, Meiji Era <i>bushidō
</i>privileged individual honor over institutional loyalty. Harlock’s crewmates
either refer to him by his name or as “<i>kyaputen.</i>”<i> </i>This is a very casual way to speak with
a commanding officer. The Mazone refer to their queen as “Joou Lafresia-sama,”
the addition of the honorific <i>–sama</i>,
meaning “lady,” adding more reverence to her title. This large level of <i>sonkeigo</i> works in tandem with the
visuals of Mazone generals pledging their undying loyalty to Lafresia, a scene
reminiscent of Nazi propaganda films. This scene of identical women swearing loyalty
is intercut with a scene of Lafresia crying in her swimming pool. She has just
murdered her friend Tesius, who sided with the civilians, and is telling
herself that she can cry, as long as afterwards she is utterly merciless in
order to defeat Harlock. With this linguistic touch, Hayashi characterizes the
Mazone society. They are so built on maintaining order that they have developed
a cult of personality around their monarchy. This desire to live up to the
institution compromises the honor of both Lafresia and her subjects. Underneath
the honorifics, they are fractured, disloyal to one another, the opposite of <i>The Arcadia</i>. As stated, Matsumoto
employs his fallible female characters to explore the failure to follow <i>bushidō</i>. Lafresia wants to do right by
her people, but the stress of the situation breaks her. The Mazone are not
wrong because they are women, or because they are warrior women. They are wrong
because, time and again, they compromise their ethics. Ironically, these women
who use “rough” masculine language are cast in the same dishonorable light as
the feminized men who run Earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">There
is one trait of feminized speech the Mazone maintain in this episode, and that
is verbosity. Lafresia explains her actions through monologue. When Cleo is
sent to bomb Tesius and the other defectors, Tesius tells her to tell Lafresia,
“No matter how you forge it, steel without pliancy is quite brittle. The same
can be said of a heart without mercy.” Men in the Leijiverse are not capable of
such eloquence, as their manliness requires they be taciturn. Through women,
who make the hard decisions, Hayashi can elaborate on the situation in an
eloquent way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">My
Friend, My Youth</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The
flashback episode “My Friend, My Youth” has several themes related to <i>bushidō</i>. It contains the most obvious
comparisons between Harlock and Western archetypes, because in his past he was
a cowboy on a desert planet. In order to emphasize this, Harlock orders
“whiskey” at the saloon, while the other cowboys still order <i>sake</i>. This is the episode that
introduces Harlock’s deceased friend Tochiro Oyama and his lover Emeraldas, and
through them explores different aspects of <i>bushidō</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Tochiro
gets in a bar fight with cowboys at the saloon. It is the point where they
question his manhood that he attacks them, reinforcing the importance of manliness.<i> </i>The cowboys beat him to a pulp, showing
that he is no warrior like Harlock. It is during this point that Tochiro meets
Emeraldas. The female space pirate, while a fighter, is entirely feminine in
her language. She introduces herself as, “<i>Watashi
wa Emeralda, des</i>,” using the female first-person pronoun <i>watashi </i>and a short form of <i>desu</i>. When she apologizes she says, “<i>Gomenasai</i>,” <i>–nasai</i> being a polite particle. In her speech, Emeraldas is every
bit the ideal Japanese woman whom the linguists conceived of in the Meiji Era.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">While
her language is obedient, Emeraldas is not. She is wealthier than Harlock and
Tochiro at that point in time, and tries to hire them for a job. She is more
experienced than them and tracks them to their secret hideout. At one point,
she rescues the heroes. The beautiful woman does become attracted to Harlock,
but to the squat, bespectacled Tochiro, and only after she sees that he is an
engineering genius. Through her language, Hayashi emphasizes how superficial gendered
speech is. Emeraldas addresses others with respect and still maintains both
control and independence. In her 1992 study of Japanese professional women in
leadership positions, Janet Smith wrote, “They routinely cited the ease with
which they were accepted by male (and female) subordinates as long as they were
gentle, open, and considerate, when, in their own words, they stressed
solidarity over authority” (Smith 63). If feminized language constitutes a show
of solidarity in powerful women, then Emeraldas is practicing her own form of <i>bushidō</i> by respecting her comrades. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Throughout
the episode, Harlock refers to Tochiro five times as “<i>tomo yo</i>,” meaning “O [male] friend.” This speaks to the value of
loyalty. Tochiro is not a physically intimidating person, but he demonstrates
the same courage as Harlock when they escape a cowboy posse, or break out of
the prison camp. Just as Emeraldas is an atypical samurai, Tochiro is atypical.
Harlock’s mantra of loyalty, “<i>tomo yo</i>,”
puts them on the same level, as warriors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Conclusion</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span class="apple-converted-space">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">There
is a point in “A Long Way Away Journey” in which Lafresia commands Harlock to stop
fighting her, and mocks his pride. Harlock replies, “The pride you speak of is
merely a woman’s pride. A man’s pride is not the same thing.” At first this
seems like a case of 1970s sexism. On closer examination, Harlock is simply
throwing her taunt back at her. The ideal samurai is invoking <i>haji</i>, casting shame on an enemy who has
lost her honor. The Leijiverse is a man’s world. One need not look farther than
the narrator: the omniscient voice is that of a man speaking of traditional
male values. Matsumoto’s choice to combine epic and fairy tale characters
demonstrate his symbolism. As shown by gendered speech in <i>Space Pirate Captain Harlock</i>, to be a man is to be stable,
unwavering in honor and ethics. To be a woman is to be inherently strange and
changeable. It is the female that metaphorically represents the sublimity that
men encounter when they follow their dreams. However, for the actual female
characters in the Leijiverse, all have the opportunity to follow <i>bushidō </i>in their own way. Matsumoto’s
redefinition of the samurai ideal shows why his work is still relevant after five
decades.</span></div>
Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-89274156013052256742013-09-14T21:27:00.001-07:002013-09-14T21:27:07.970-07:00Blackgate postBlackgate Magazine is one of my favorite online journals about fantasy. Pretty cool to write about my recent tour for them. Shoutout to the Beelen Street punks.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blackgate.com/2013/09/14/the-ins-and-outs-of-diy-touring/">http://www.blackgate.com/2013/09/14/the-ins-and-outs-of-diy-touring/</a>Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6033696171940794415.post-61843763006248374562013-08-13T07:25:00.003-07:002013-08-13T07:25:56.296-07:00UpdateJust popping in to say that blog updates are going to be pretty sporadic for the next two weeks. I'm on a marathon tour, doing a reading every day. It;s fun, and exciting, but also doesn't leave much time for blogging. So I'll report back when all is said and done, with an update here and there. In other words, same as usual. Cheers.Elwin Cotmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336312072248614039noreply@blogger.com0