redheaded--princess

[redheaded--princess]

The Grief Monster

Grief is a feeling that truly overtakes one’s entire mind and body. It eats away at someone, ultimately turning them into a monster. This phenomenon is highlighted in Chesya Burke’s short story entitled Please, Momma. It characterizes grief as an ugly, all encompassing, parasitic monster which manifests itself in the mother of two twin girls, one of whom we later find out has passed away, and is the cause for the parasite infesting their mother. The parasite makes the mother do horrible things to her living daughter, causing violence and harm towards her.

This presentation of grief in the form of a monster allows for the audience to see grief as something separate from the person who is feeling it. It shows that grief can become us, but it is not us, and we will be able to return to who we are without harboring the intense anger that comes with grief. In this story, not only has the girls mother already lost their father, but her daughters were twins, meaning that they were sharing the same face, and ultimately the same soul. It is common in scenarios of dealing with death and grief, that those who remain that remind us of those who have passed can face the brunt of a lot of anger. This is not because we are angry at the person for being alive, but more so angry that the person they remind us of is gone. It can be hard to look at the face of someone who is not still living.

It is important that the story also showcased the “exorcism” of the grief monster, as it showed that those who are grieving are able to not only separate themselves from that grief, but are able to see brighter days. The mother was so overcome by the spirit of the Onirara that she could not realize her actions and words were harming her only remaining daughter. She was faced with the choice of losing both of her daughters due to her inability to let go, or completely letting her deceased daughter rest, and putting her love and light into her living daughter. I think this is a common dilemma parents of deceased children face when they still have living children on earth with them. How does one continue to be a parent, when one of their children is no longer here? How does one manage the grief for one child dying, while also providing love and comfort to the living child/ren? By showing that the monster of grief can be detached shows that all of this is still possible for grieving mothers, and further that they can rely on their living children for support, love and light just as much as their living children are relying on them for comfort.

[redheaded--princess]

Ruinous Blood Addiction

Ganja and Hess serves as a vampiristic love story about sacrifice, and how much one will give up in the face of addiction. After being stabbed by his mentally unstable assistant who then proceeds to kill himself, Dr. Hess discovers his attraction to drinking others' blood. It is interesting how the use of blood sucking and the concept of vampirism is likened to concepts of addiction. Once Hess gets his first taste of blood, he is hooked. We can see Hess slowly descent into madness, by way of getting his fix. 

Additionally, we see Hess pass his own addiction onto his assistant’s estranged wife, Ganja. The entire nature of their relationship is very interesting, as Ganja was able to disconnect herself from her ex husband almost instantly. She engaged in sexual endeavors with Hess prior to finding out that her husband had been killed, which makes one wonder if Hess himself is the drug for Ganja. Her ability to essentially forget about her husband so she could engage in encounters with her husband’s boss makes one question her own morality, as well as the nature of their previous relationship. All of this becomes even more confusing when Ganja decides to let Hess turn her into a vampire like him, establishing an almost Bonnie and Clyde-esque relationship between the two of them.

The first point of confusion that comes with Ganja’s ultimate sacrifice is her lack of fear in regards to Hess. She has just found her husband’s body in Hess’s basement freezer, and instead of leaving his home, calling the cops, expressing intense fear, she asks him to make her what he is. She wants to join him on his journey of killing and blood sucking. In the context of addiction, this may represent the initial draw. She sees this as something so intense, and is intrigued by the fact that someone could be so drawn to something so wrong. With the added layers of the passion and lust she feels towards Hess, it is understandable why she would want to be able to connect with him on this level. She is down to fully devote herself to him, and create a team in which they will lure people in.

Their first and only hit showcases entirely the dynamic of their relationship post Ganja’s sacrifice, and highlights the ferocity of their love and addiction. With their first and only kill, roles were assigned to each in the union. Hess would be the one to lure the young man in, Ganja would be the one to make him vulnerable, and together they would feast on his blood. Having the shared experience of murder is what makes their love so fiery, and their attachment virtually unbreakable. It is almost shocking that Hess would be the one who could no longer commit to their lifestyle, as he is the one who not only converted Ganja, but made her comfortable in her new being. After his disillusionment and death, Ganja is left to clean up the mess Hess has put her through.

[redheaded--princess]

Horrors in the Home

For some, understanding why Eve’s Bayou is classified as a horror film might be difficult. I mean, there are aspects of mysticism in Aunt Mozelle, who is a psychic with clairvoyant abilities, able to tell those in the town the answers to their unanswerable questions, but this isn’t all entirely “horrifying”. However, the true horror in Eve’s Bayou might just be the most common and understandable horror of all, that being the horror within the household, what happens behind closed doors, the things no one talks about out loud. It might be the relatability of this horror that makes it hard to recognize, as it is so ingrained in everyday life, in our childhoods, it has become a part of what makes family family, our secrets and our shame.

This movie centers around the family of Louis Batiste, who was descended from a slave woman named Eve who married and had children with her slave master. Louis, who is well respected by all in the town due to him being the family doctor for that town, engages in his life in a philandering manner. In the first scene we are introduced to Louis, he is sensually dancing with a woman who not only is not his wife, but also married to another man in the town. After this night of dancing, Louis and this woman, Matty Mereaux are caught having sex by his youngest daughter Eve. This first act we see of Louis Batiste peels back the curtain of hospitality and the deception that he is a true family man, as he finds himself making his way through all the women in town.  

In presenting Louis with this introduction, we begin to understand the true nature of who he is, and can better understand his relationship with those within his home, specifically with his daughter Cisely. Cisely, who is the oldest at 14 years old has a strong fondness of her father, which at first glance one would attribute to a daddy-daughter loving relationship. However, as the film goes on we can see that this love goes beyond a parental relationship, and Cisely and developed a crush on her father, making her jealous of the women he cheats with, including Matty Mereaux, and even her own mother whom her father is married to. We see Cisely positioning herself within her father’s life as if she is the one he is in love with, through her dancing with him, waiting up every night for him to come home, surprising him at work, and even going to the hair salon to get a “grown-up” hairstyle that mirrors that of her mother. 

While it is easy to blame Cisely, and call her a “silly little girl”, it is important to acknowledge the ways in which Louis plays into this fantasy, ultimately showing Cisely that her having this crush is okay. As we notice in the film, Louis shows extreme favoritism when it comes to his daughters, always only ever dancing with Cisely and creating sharp distinctions between who she is as a woman and who her younger sister Eve is as a woman. He does this by allowing Cisely to stay up late for him, and including her in secretive conversations that would be considered “grown-folks” business. In doing this, he is showing that he does not see Cisely and Eve both equally as his daughters, but sees Cisely in an elevated position, something more intimate than that of a child.

We see all of this boil over on the night when Cisely comes in to sit on her fathers lap and kisses him. While we find out later that Cisely didn’t tell Eve the truth, and that she was the one who advanced the kiss with her father, it is evident that the slap that her father gave her afterwards truly opened her eyes to what was going on in their situation. Cisely clearly felt as though her feelings for her father were reciprocated, both through his actions and his language. There is no reason she would be feeling these feelings so strongly if her father never played into them, feeding into her fantasy and giving her reason to cling onto this hope that they could have something romantic. With the slap, Cisely was brought back to reality, and was able to see that despite her father’s perceived advances toward her, he did not want their relationship to be carried out this way. But there is no way she would have known this, especially from his actions, and for this it was ultimately his responsibility to act in a fatherly manner, and not allow for her to create this fantasy. Even though Louis reacted when Cisely kissed him, it is evident that his interactions with her had not been appropriate, and he was not ensuring that she was safe in her own home. For this, he is the only one to blame.

[redheaded--princess]

Familial Monsters Hiding Under the Bed

The graphic novel The Keeper by Tananarive Due and Stephen Barnes perfectly captures the ways in which family trauma proliferates and is passed down through generations, ultimately illustrating the power needed in ending it. This story tells of a girl named Aisha who finds herself with no family after the tragic death of both of her parents and her grandma Lucille who became her caretaker. As a result of this influx of death around her, Aisha begins to become haunted by a presence which appears to be inhabiting her grandmother’s body, which remained in her room for a few days after her death. This keeper was employed by her grandma as a means of continuing to protect Aisha in her passing, but proved to cause more harm than any good, ultimately forcing Aisha to decide for herself to take these matters into her own hands, for her sake and that of those around her.

The concept of the keeper as a whole reveals many layers to the ways in which families operate and the proliferation of family trauma as a means of creating familial bonds. The power of the keeper was enlisted by Aisha’s father as a part of his dying wish after experiencing intense racial trauma which ultimately took his life. In introducing the keeper to Lucille and her sister Lydia during such a traumatic moment in their lives, we can see the direct connection between the keeper’s presence and familial trauma. For Lucille, this being will always be related to that experience, and within its power that trauma will be held. Despite it being intended to be used for protection, all of the pain that exists within its being will ultimately be unleashed through its actions. As it continues to accumulate bodies, it inherently collects their trauma, turning from a protector to the true evil, causing mayhem and destruction in its path. It is ultimately up to Aisha to stop the keeper, and break the generational curses that kept her ancestors and those before bound to lives they didn’t deserve.

While the keeper exists as a physical being, its metaphorical meaning is clear, that it directly represents generational trauma being passed down. The concept of generational curses is one that unfortunately plagues Black families all too often. The proliferation of pain that is able to exist due to the inability to recognize it is exactly what the keeper is intended to bring light to. When visiting her great aunt Lydia before her grandmother’s passing, we experience a moment in which Lucille says that it’ll protect her [Aisha], to which Lydia says she could have sworn Lucille got rid of it. In this we can see a slight understanding of the dangers of the keeper, but the use of it as a crutch for protection, because it is what she saw growing up as a means of protection. This moment perfectly explains the ways in which generational curses extend down familial lines, as we find comfort in the things we are used to, even if these things are ultimately causing harm to us and those around us. Lucille experienced the keeper as her protection in a time when she needed it most, it is no surprise that she would enlist on the same protection she found in her childhood to protect her granddaughter, even if it means being ignorant to the violence that will ensue. With Aisha being the one to ultimately end the keeper, especially after almost succumbing to it, we see her strength in breaking the curses that have haunted her family. It is hard to stray from what one is used to, and takes true power to choose to want something different, to get out of old patterns, and to stand up to beliefs that have become ingrained within you. Through Aisha, we see that this is possible.

[redheaded--princess]

Virality in a World of Exploitation

Jordan Peele’s much awaited third film was something different than what viewers typically expect from Peele, but nonetheless delivered the same thought provoking social analysis he is known for. Peele’s film NOPE, which was marketed as a sci-fi alien-esque film, delivered a commentary that many have a hard time with truly understanding and grappling with. This entire film ultimately centers around the concept of spectacle, and we see this most specifically through the character Jupiter “Jupe”, who despite seeming to play a supporting role, provides much of the context for the true meaning of the film. 

We meet Jupe at a young age, with him playing a character on a 90’s style sitcom show called “Gordy’s Home”. This show, centering around an all white family, with one Asian child as well as one chimpanzee follows the format of many family sitcom shows of its era, a white family with a child of color character who is typically used as comedic relief. With “Gordy’s Home”, an extra level of these almost exploitative practices are employed, as not only is a child of color used for comedic relief, but a wild animal too. With this practice and feelings of exploitation, it is only right that an explosion of some sort would be to follow, which is what ensued when the titular character Gordy, who was also the chimpanzee, snapped on set and went out on a murderous spree, killing most of his cast mates.

With this rampage, we see the first instance of true “spectacle” that happens in the film, as this event was something that was ultimately exacerbated and known for the rest of time as the “Gordy’s Home Incident”. We see Jupe’s understanding of this event through his “Gordy’s Home” secret museum room in his office, which houses memorabilia including his castmates bloody shoe that was retrieved from the incident. Through the flashback scene to Jupe’s perspective of the incident, we can truly see how this event impacted him. He felt he had a special connection with Gordy, both being the fact that both of them were the “odd balls” in the family (Jupe being a person of color and Gordy being a wild animal) as well as the fact that prior to Gordy getting killed after his rampage, he was extending his hand for a fist bump with Jupe, seemingly intending to spare him from the massacre. With Jupe’s skewed understanding of spectacle that is developed through his time on Gordy’s home, we can truly understand why he feels he has such a strong connection with Jean Jacket, a connection that is ultimately falsely understood.

Jupe’s use of Jean Jacket as a means of bringing onlookers to his amusement park is the epitome of the understanding of spectacle in modern media. The concept of exploiting things we don’t fully understand, simply for monetary gain is something we see throughout modern media. This greatly aligns with modern concepts of virality and exploitation. I think of this when it comes to children who become viral in today’s TikTok world. Think of the “Corn Kid” from tiktok, who became an overnight sensation due to his catchphrase “IT’S CORN”. While I do not know the effects this virality has had on him, it is evident that major corporations chose to capitalize on this and utilize him and his talents for their own personal gain. In a Yahoo! Article, it is stated that the corn kid’s starting rate is $200, which I personally feel is a slap in the face. His video went insanely viral with millions of views, clicks and hundreds of millions of people hearing his voice through TikTok/Instagram sounds that have been made. This person, who is not only a child, but a child of color, has been featured on morning news shows as well as in commercials for companies such as Chipotle, all of whom are ultimately capitalizing off of his success for their own personal gain, further proving how spectacle leads to exploitation particularly of underrepresented people, and can lead to detrimental effects. While I have no knowledge of any bad things happening to the Corn Kid post fame, I can only hope that he does not face scrutiny or find issues with virality being so young.

[redheaded--princess]

At the End of the Day We’re All Human

Most people tend to know WEB Du Bois for his civil rights work and writings relating to advocacy against unjust treatment of Black people within America. However, he also has produced works of the horror genre, many of which touch on Black issues and the Black experience in America. His work The Comet, does just this, in perfectly illustrating the true nature of race relations in America, and the ways in which it exists based on made up social rules based in zero face which were implemented into law and have been carried out for centuries to work to keep Black Americans as the minority.

The Comet details the day of someone known as “the messenger”, who is sent to the basement of his workplace to retrieve files. Right from the start of the story we see instances of racial power imbalances in play. The fact that we are solely introduced to this character as “the messenger” instead of his real name, serves as a tool to illustrate how often Black people in America are stripped of their identity. In not attaching a name to this character, Du Bois highlights the way in which White Americans do not care to get to know their Black counterparts and solely see them as people who are meant to serve them. Additionally, in sending “the messenger” to the basement, we see a reinforcement of racist practices, as the only Black person in the building is sent to do the jobs no one else wants to do, the jobs deemed beneath them and only meant for a lowly person to do. It is ironic, however, that this obvious instance of blatant racism is what ends up saving “the messenger”, as the comet they have all been anticipating strikes while he is in the basement, wiping out all of his White coworkers and leaving him to fend for himself.

In the wake of destruction, “the messenger” finds another survivor who happens to be a white woman. At the start of their interaction, we as the reader can sense both of their apprehension in embarking on their quest to find her father together. Each with their own preconceived notions of the other, the Black man fearful of the power the white woman might possess, the white woman fearful from the stories she’s heard of what men “like him” do to women “like her”. However, in the face of death and despair, we see these racial walls be let down, and the understanding from both sides that regardless of skin color, they are both one in the same in the grand scheme of things. I mean, both of them just survived what seems to be a mass apocalypse, issues of race should be the least of their issues. There is a line in the story where the narrator explains the woman’s thoughts by saying that “he did not look like men how she had pictured men; but he acted like one and she was content” (Du Bois, 1920). This line alone truly illustrates both the sick beauty of the situation, the realization that the things she had been told about men like him were not true, and her understanding of how a man is and should act extended beyond race, beyond that of White men, but to all men.

This moment of understanding does not last long, however, as when the white woman finds her father, immediately the racialized ideas of Black and White return and it seems as though everything goes back to “normal”. The “messenger” is immediately met with racial slurs and hostility from the girl's father, insinuating he must have done something harmful to her, simply because he is Black. In this instance we see that the moments shared between the two will only ever exist within the context of the apocalypse, in a world where they are the only two people left on earth.

[redheaded--princess]

Ghetto Dogs?

For many people, our pets are considered to be a part of our family. We are able to bond with them on emotional levels, in ways that might seem impossible to happen across two very different species. Despite this miraculous ability to create such strong bonds, there has always been one important barrier that has made true bonding difficult, that being the inability to communicate verbally. Many people have dreamed about the possibility of talking to their dog, being able to know their dog’s thoughts through their ability to verbally articulate them, and ultimately being able to further deepen their relationship with their pets. Nisi Shawl’s short story, entitled Black Betty delves deeper into the ways race might impact this possibility.

The story centers around a dog named Betty, who was raised by a Black family for her early years, and then given to a white family when a death in the family results in her original pack to sell the house, leaving her with it. Her new white family decides to invest in technology that would allow for Betty to speak to humans, and with this, the family discovers that Betty is not exactly like they expected. Betty, who obviously has no understanding of race/color, speaks with African American Vernacular English, or as her new owners like to call it “ghetto”. In finding this out, her White family is met with disdain, as they suddenly see her as “less than”. Betty explains that she has no understanding of color, and that she only picked up on what was being spoken around her during her youth. She believes that her owners assumed that because her coat was white, that she was inherently a “white” dog. This assumption in itself is absurd, as Betty speaking the ways she does is a direct reflection of her upbringing and has very little to do with her being a certain race. This would have resulted differently depending on how she was raised. But with this discovery, it is interesting to analyze the ways in which “white passing privilege” permeates its way even into the lives of our furry friends.

Betty was able to unknowingly “trick” her new pack into believing that she was like them, based solely on the way she looked. If she had never received the voice box allowing her the opportunity to speak, her owners would have lived their whole lives assuming she was White like them. However, with the voice box, Betty is now shown that who she truly is, is someone that is not deemed in the same category as her owners. We hear her alpha leader speak with disdain upon realizing Betty speaks the way she does, claiming that the old owners left them a ghetto dog. These connotations reinforce negative stereotypes surrounding AAVE, and disregard its existence as a recognized version of American English. In assuming that people who speak using it are ghetto (which has connotations of being uneducated, and just all around bad), one is delegitimizing a fundamental part of African American culture. It is even more absurd to realize that a family is able to shift their internalized anti-Blackness to extend to an animal of a completely different species.

[redheaded--princess]

Time is Ticking on Beauty

Womanhood, particularly feminine beauty through the male gaze is something almost all women grapple with throughout their lives. Feeling as though one is only beautiful if a man is courting her, and further feeling as though she only has so much time before her beauty runs out. We are shown at a young age that our youth holds the greatest amount of our desirability, and once we reach our middle to late 30s and into our 40s, we should expect to be left for someone who is more youthful, and therefore more beautiful. The short story Greedy Choke Puppy, takes this unfortunate social construct and transforms it through the lens of folktale, with the character Jacky and her grandmother. We see throughout the story that Jacky struggles with comparing herself to her peers, as well as feeling as though her time is running out. She complains that she is thirty two and still single, despite her friend Carmen being pregnant. We also see her with a potential love interest being Terry, but she eventually leaves him as he is not ready for the strong commitment that Jacky feels she should be seeing at this point in her life, which is marriage.

Through the tales of Jacky’s grandmother, we learn about the Lagahoo, and the soucouyant, who is a blood sucking witch who feasts on the souls of children in order to remain young. Jacky and her family have fell victim to this curse, and we can see through internalized monologues that way in which Jacky’s soucouyant mind is influencing her actions as she says “when the boys stop making sweet eye at you so much, and start watching after a next younger thing” (Hopkin, 2000, pg. 104). Through this we come to terms with Jacky’s true insecurities, as she is scared that the men around her will no longer see her as an object of their affection because she has “grown out” of the age in which men choose to court women.

The soucouyant takes over Jacky’s body, causing her to act in jealousy by taking the soul fo Carmen’s baby for herself. Not only is Jacky jealous of Carmen for having someone who wishes to create a life with her, but she is jealous of the fact that Carmen has a newborn child, someone who she can raise and make her own. Jacky had the ability to choose any child whose soul she wanted to take,  but chose Carmen because she could not look past her own bitterness and wanted to make everyone stoop to her level of sadness.

This story ultimately serves as a cautionary tale for those who hold beauty at such a high level. Throughout all cultures, and all facets of the earth, women are constantly scrutinized for their looks, with their sole expectation being that of birthing children. These societal constructs that have been placed on us since childhood begin to warp our adult brains into believing certain falsities to be true, specifically being that women have a “biological clock” for beauty and motherhood, and if they exceed their time limit, men will move on to someone with more time to give. This story chooses to emphasize the importance of taking life slow, appreciating every moment and not getting caught up in traditional beliefs about how womanhood, marriage and motherhood should look.

[redheaded--princess]

My Daughters Mother

The concept of motherhood is something every woman faces throughout their life. Whether it be through understanding their relationship with their mother, creating families and becoming mothers themselves, or watching the ways in which mother child relationships, particularly mother daughter relationships play out in society. It goes without saying, most women who are mothers hope to create a life for their children that is exponentially different than the life they were given, and oftentimes use their children, specifically daughters, as replications of themselves, as a way to show their younger self that it can get better and it does get better. The short story Like Daughter by Tananarive Due takes this dynamic a step further, by suggesting the possibility of a mother daughter relationship in which the daughter is a carbon copy and straight up clone of the mother. Throughout the story, which is told from the perspective of Paige, a character who we can assume to have gotten it “easy” in life, in comparison to her counterpart Denise, who lived a life full of trauma and suffering.

There is an important point in the story where Denise tells Paige “In my next life, I’m coming back you for sure”. In my opinion, this line is the most pivotal part of the story, as it truly delves into the reasons behind why Denise chose to follow through with the scientific procedure, despite the widespread disapproval of it. She lived her life in such close proximity to someone who should be considered her equal, but was somehow getting everything she ever wanted but never received in her life. She knew that for her, there was little turning back from all the damage that had been done to her, but she knew that if she could recreate herself, then there might be a chance that younger her could have it better, and never have to experience the hardships she faced. This is why it is so important to Denise for Paige to take Neecy with her after Sean leaves her. Denise needed Sean to help ensure that Neecy did not turn out the way she did, and without him she knows she cannot trust herself to raise a child. How can she create a better life for someone, when her life is the only one she knows? She needs Paige, someone she looks up to and admires to care for her child because she knows that with Paige’s life experience, Neecy will end up more like Paige than her own mother, which is all she has ever wanted.

This story came at a time in my life where I’ve been pondering upon my own relationship with my mother, as well as whether or not I wish to continue my family lineage with children of my own, and I think it is very valuable in understanding that our children are not us. Despite the fact that parents see so much of themselves in their children, they must be given their own experiences, their own predispositions to live their life and experience pain and happiness and excitement and defeat and all the experiences that come with living in the world we inhabit. In treating your child as if they are the younger version of you, it is only limiting them.

[redheaded--princess]

Robot Friend

The short story Spider the Artist written by Nnedi Okafor tells of the ways in which technological robots interact with humans, and the connections that occur between the two species. This story uses instances of domestic violence as a catalyst for friendship between a human and a machine, one that is intended for harm. In the story, the wife finds herself isolated in the back of her house to play her music and to evade the heavy hand of her husband. Living in an oil village, she finds herself coming in close contact with the pipeline that runs through the backyards of all the houses in the village, the pipeline that is guarded by killer robots whose only intent is to viciously murder anyone who dares to set foot on or near the pipeline. This particular night, she is approached by one, nicknamed “spider” due to its eight legs. Despite the knowledge of their brutality, she remains calm and unfearful, treating the spider more so with curiosity than with disdain. Despite the fact that others would want her to feel fear within herself, she sees the robot outside of the preconceived notions that surround it, and sees it through an individualistic lens.

Through the connection the main character develops with this dangerous “spider”, we can truly see the ways in which our interactions with technology and our conceptions of good and evil are both intertwined and constantly changing. Throughout the story, it is emphasized that these robots are brutal and are instructed to kill, that being the reasoning for the fear they instill within the community. The main character however, uses the robot as an escape from her abusive household. She explains that she doesn’t care about the risk involved with getting close to the pipeline and creating a friendship with the robot, her husband was beating her, basically her life was already terrible, what worse could happen?

This point further dives into the concept of the other, as one can be a terrible person, case in point being her husband, and still believe one is better than another group because they are seen as lower. These classifications are what allow in our modern society for White Americans to get treated drastically differently than their believed to be “inferior” counterparts, even when carrying out heinous acts.

This story also expands upon our relationships with technology and the ways in which they are becoming more knowledgeable and ultimately sentient beings. This spider is able to create a meaningful connection with the main character, through his ability to properly understand her, assess her emotions through body language, and develop interests in things, as the main character explains that she plays its favorite song “No Woman No Cry.” While I think this is intended to show humanity within those who are seen as dangerous, it also raises a concerning question about the rapidly advancing technology we see within our world. We are often faced with the question of “will the robots replace humans in the near future?” and with stories like this we are confronted with the scary truth that we are slowly creating beings that could possibly destroy us.

[redheaded--princess]

The Land of Endless Peace

My Earthseed community would work to combat issues of capitalism and mental illness. We as a collective are seeking shelter from the mental hardships that negatively affect our lives due to the inescapable prevalence of money and wealth within our current society, as lack of income and increased mental illness tend to go hand in hand.

Earthseed Verse 9: Drowning People => Drowning people sometimes die fighting their rescuers (fighting oneself, we are the only ones who can truly rescue ourselves from our own suffering, we end up fighting ourselves because we are our biggest critics and our biggest enemy)

Earthseed Verse 21: What a Living World will Demand => There is no end to what a living world will demand of you (life in and of itself will constantly expect things from us, and this understanding is vital to staying true to yourself and not letting it consume you)

Earthseed Verse 23: A Phoenix => In order to rise from its own ashes A phoenix First Must Burn (we must face our hardest times to become the strongest we can be)

Our community would be created in a secluded area away from civilization, preferably somewhere tropical with beaches, as the healing power of water is one that is infinite. We will use the Earth to heal us, and ensure that we are away from all possible interruptions or distractions that will lead us astray from our own healing.

Our community is limited to those who struggle with financial wellbeing, those who do not have the liberty of not looking at price tags or not having to ration paychecks every time they are received. Those that are wealthy, particularly those who come from wealth and long lineages of it are not welcome to our community. They will not understand.

While this can be difficult, our community will not follow a standardized leadership model, but rather everyone serves as their own personal leader. No one will be set “in charge” there will just be a list of rules agreed upon by all within the community and everyone will be expected to follow these rules. Of course, these rules will be very small and very hard to break, therefore not causing anyone to feel as though they are being restricted in any way. While our community is a community, it is important for everyone within it to truly focus on their own internal and personal healing as well.

Our community will utilize mood monitors, to help everyone within the community be conscious of the way they are feeling and to further help them with addressing and confronting their feelings. Much like mood rings, these devices will resemble that of watches, and be worn on the wrist at all time. Technology within the mood monitor will track heart rates and internal processes to assess what the wearer might be feeling in the moment. Once stark changes in mood are observed, the wearer will be notified of how they are feeling internally and then given suggestions for ways to address and combat these feelings based on their own personal inputs.

Our community will survive through check ins. In the adolescence of our community, these check ins will be more frequent (every day/every other day) but as the community becomes more established and grows with new members/families, these check ins will be more spaced out to once a week and possibly, after a substantial amount of time and sure signs of stability, once a month. However, there will be no break longer than a month between check ins to ensure that nothing goes awry without others in the community’s knowledge.

In building a better future, our Earthseed community will never mass produce anything, as this will encourage capitalistic ideas and tendencies to arise. Instead, each person will be encouraged at a young age to delve into every type of artisanal craft that there is until they find their niche and then be encouraged to have that be their contribution to the communal market. Additionally, no one person will be solely responsible for anything, therefore ensuring that no one feels too much pressure to continue to do something if they no longer enjoy it. Everyone in the community is encouraged to try different things and constantly expand their interests. Additionally, education will be done on a family to family basis, as parents will be responsible for teaching their children basic things, such as reading, writing, basic math and science. With this basic knowledge, new forms of knowledge can then be developed by the children or by the families.

[redheaded--princess]

The Space Traders: A Deep(ish) Dive

The short film The Space Traders, which was developed by Reggie Hudlin from a short story by Derrick Bell uses a cautionary tale to truly showcase the status of race relations within our current America. Set in an American society much like ours, The Space Traders tells of Aliens from a foreign planet coming to Earth demanding that all Black people are taken on a spaceship to another foreign planet. Through the negotiations for the ethicality of this agreement, both Bell and Hudlin shine a light on many issues plaguing not only the Black community, but America as a whole. The first, and most prominent of these being the ways in which Black people are viewed by their White counterparts. Throughout the film, we hear justifications for the abduction from White people as well as counter arguments for the abduction from other White people. Those in favor of this ultimate kidnapping see it as a way to “free up resources”. The politicians see it as a way to reduce welfare, increase housing and end hunger, as with a large portion of the population sent to a different planet, more necessities will be “available”. This shows how White people, particularly White politicians and those in positions of power view Black people as disposable. We are not “necessary” therefore we can be “given away” without a second thought. The flip side of this argument is brought upon by those who work in the service industry. Some of the White people in the film feel fear with the removal of Black people from earth, as their businesses would lose large percentages of their customers, causing them to fail and go bankrupt. Through this, we can see the concept of Interest Convergence Theory, as the White people are only interested in joining the movement against the deportation because this shift will ultimately be harmful to their business. They are only seeing Black people as assets to their business and find concern with the issue only due to what Black people provide them. There is no inherently solidarity with the cause, only support through avenues of business. This translates into our modern world, as it is known that Black Americans are some of the top consumers, therefore making the power of the Black dollar immense.

Beyond the race relations between Black people and White people, we also see conflicts within the Black community in regards to this abduction. This film showcases greatly the concept of respectability politics, particularly through the main character who is the only Black politician among a room of White people. Despite all his peers pushing for this exiling, he tries to convince them to “spare” Black people by pointing out that he has stuck with Republican ideals for the entirety of his political career, therefore assuming that he must be able to appeal to White people because he has worked hard to exist as close in proximity to them as he can. This tactic fails, as White people do not care how hard one works to “seem White”, to them a Black person will always be Black.

Finally, we see instances of Biological Racism, primarily through the indication that those who will be taken on the spaceship must have more than a certain percentage of melanin in them, basically those who are lighter than a paper bag will be able to stay on Earth and those who are darker must board the spaceship to an unknown land. This further plays into Whiteness proximities, as those who are lighter have greater advantages than those who are of darker skin because they are seen as closer to Whiteness. We see the main character's wife fall victim to this as she engages in skin bleaching practices in order to make herself be light enough to stay on Earth and not have to join the others.

[redheaded--princess]

(my mom sold my childhood house and now my childhoods officially over)

funeral-phoebe bridgers/ladybird (2017)/seven-taylor swift/haunting of hill house (2018)/class of 2013- mitski/the virgin suicides (1999)/innocent-taylor swift/eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (2004)

[redheaded--princess]

dark / blue film shots for headers

pls like or reblog if u use <33

[redheaded--princess]

Requiem for a Dream (2000) dir. Darren Aronofsky

[redheaded--princess]

J Dilla, your producer’s favourite producer

[redheaded--princess]

my bitch so perfect 💙