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haha anyways genshin must be on some wild fucking shit if they think theyre gonna try and drag out their main story for like 2 years. on god having like half a year between main chapters of its already weak spindly little story is like mindboggling decision i do not trust your storytelling skills at all to make any of the hype worth it but i also think thanks to the general playerbases inability to read they will continually feel disappointment at how poor genshins main story content is and how it is purveyed to the reader especially in comparison to the lore which is completely jarring in quality of delivery.
in the archon quest at the end of liyue chapter you get a lore dump from zhongli where he just stands there and gives you like 3 quest prompts about shit that exists for no reason other than idk “they needed to put the plot threads in there asap and they forgot they had an entire world to do it in” and then that mf disappears. forever. literally exiled from the overworld unless you pay like ninety quid to summon him on his banner. not to mention every single other npc you meet will never appear again outside of their instanced quests. it’s such a weird jarring end point that you’re left stranded in and its not only a frustratingly awkward delivery, it honestly just seems pointless. why couldn’t there have been an extended epilogue that involves talking to the npc character FROM inazuma, talking to beidou who is a pirate with an electro vision about idk ... travel and her ELECTRO vision being granted which is a feat she in known for in the lore of liyue folk. it could even be someone from the qixing like ningguang who surely would know about the status of foreign nations or keqing who has an electro vision and would absolutely have something to say about baal’s stance on things and her condescension towards humans. god it could still even be zhongli just space it out, let him invite us to dinner and chat over liyue cuisine and let inazuma come up naturally thgouh paimons huge appetite to eat new things. not only would the pacing be better, the plot threads be put in a way where you dont immediately forget them because they’re being rapidfire talked at you, but it would be a great way to make the character seem like theyre people with lives and not just trying to move the plot along and be on their way.
conversely, the story of arundolyn and rostam, the legends of mondstadt and the ordo favonius, the lion and the wolf, the building hints towards the cataclysm of khaenri’ah and what kind of nation earned the scorn of the gods -- its all slowly fed to you piece by piece linked through artifacts, world lore, in-game books, weapons and sometimes the world itself. you uncover things as you explore and the more thoroughly you explore - the more you discover! it’s rewarding, it feels natural and its some of the most fun you have piecing together stories and building out this strange world like some kinda anime historian and it encourages theorycrafting rather than a concrete set of events and characters being straightforward. its genuinely interesting that theres a whole society and cast of characters from the days of yore who are intimately connected with our current cast and the world we live in but also very much their own interesting characters who hold their own legacies and wills, carving them into the stars for ill or good.
its almost as if the main quest writers and the lore writers are completely separate, work on different floors and they dont ever meet because why ... why on earth would you deliver critical parts of the main story in such a blatantly poor way and make it have none of the nuance and intrigue as the worldbuilding? in a game that is designed for the express purpose of making people sympathetic and invested with characters to spend silly money on them? you think your paper thin story is going to let you do that? no gacha game is allowed to have storytelling subpar to the most average middle of the pack lightnovel and get away with being a gacha game. your story has to have at least a few moments where i am dazzled, daresay fucking delighted, at least a second where i have to stop and say ‘this is cool as hell’ or ‘FUCK ITS HAPPENING’ or else it is well and truly expendably worthless non-product! you have to be a little more ambitious than making some normie shit and try and make the story have a little heart! i dont doubt that they can do it, im sure there are talented writers there since i like a lot of the characterisations but man, let em free you need them no more than ever
the only thing i can think of that explains how watered down the story feels in comparison to lore, is a fear of making people ‘read too much’ in the main quests which honestly doesnt seem to be much of an issue to them. lanternrite wasnt that long but the sheer amount of npc dialogue feels staggering because its all ultimately ... inconsequential. we have no investment into these npcs and theres like 15 odd quests of it, it goes from cool world flavour text to genuinely feels like its taking up space all because they are trying to endear you to the lives of these generic npcs when you’d rather know like even one thing about chongyuns life and daily routine or xinyans performances. being able to see kaeya for one second even was the most fun and even then i was still disappointed cause its like bro? you didnt even let him do anything and it was JUST him? in the world there are so many characters explicitly referenced but never utilised and it makes their complete absence even more noticeable and frankly fucking baffling? not even fate episodes for all of our 12 SRs? actually nevermind, even the character stories are somehow unforgivably generic!
honestly i feel like the best event so far was the unreconciled stars event but by my standards it definitely felt like ‘solid gacha game event story’ with a touch of something more interesting with the inclusion of scaramouche’s lore insight. i was hoping this his how events would be in genshin, i really thought that this was the ‘standard’ but for some reason, its beginning to seem like that event was a bit of an outlier? i would gladly take less events and have them be more like the unreconciled stars event, with character interactions and slowly improving and hashing out who these characters are over never-ending carousel of random events that are mostly fetch-quests or fluff.
idk man its just a strange mess of me enjoying genshins world and theorycrafting, loving playing the game and exploring but feeling like the ball is not bein dropped but violently slammed into the ground by the sheer lack of character content whilst being praised by everyone under the sun for ‘story’ and ‘characters’. m*hoyo do better bitch! you already made such a good roster of characters now fuckin do something with them! stop releasing new characters without bothering with any of the existing ones! i beg of you!
#damn you ren#if i like anything in any capacity i immediately have to criticize it sfhajshfsa ITS JUST HOW IT IS .......#the adding characters to gacha but not even utilising them in story is my LEAST favourite thing a gacha game can do#gacha games are ALREADY on thin ice for the sole reason they are gacha games but man genshin really thinks they can get away with that?#im not somebody who cares too much about spending money on gacha games but genshins system is completely unrewarding even for 'early' gacha#the fact that like half the characters DO NOT EVEN HAVE STORY QUESTS? NOT EVEN LIKE AMBERS SHITTY GLIDING TUTORIAL???????????#u rly think i am going to play 3 years of current genshin for khaenriah chapter? do u think you are fgo!?#i also gate that fgo made the lostbelt release schedule like that because EVERYONE ELSE thinks its cool to copy them#completely misunderstanding that i am here for kinoko nasus wacky adventures and no other gacha game should get funny ideas#its the normies for me that make me feel insane. sir this game is incredibly fucking stingy please dont pretend#i do not care to see people try and defend multimillion dollar corporation m*hoyos gacha practices#esp with the whole zhongli and constellation shit like .... if this game did not have its world it would be dead in the water#renshin impact
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meta post: lili and her gender
let me go on the record to say that i fucking love lilian eyler with my whole heart, like, i typed all this out and im so fucking emotional about her! in the past, i've written things about hello charlotte and how the lgbt representation is... lacking, let's call it, and i've also made a few headcanon posts here and there about lilian's transition and her relationship with gender. so i thought, you know, let's actually write a whole ass thing about it. so here it is.
content warnings: gender dysphoria, suicide attempts, homophobia/transphobia in the original source material
PART 1: ETHERANE'S BAD TAKES so... etherane did not handle lgbt stuff well, like, in the slightest. lili is canonically genderfluid, as seen in one of those little profile things that etherane drew that doesn't actually show up in any of the games. but her genderfluid identity isn't handled well at all in the actual source material. actually, in general, hello charlotte is pretty transphobic. to cite one example, there’s this journal entry in hello charlotte 3 talking about “defective” charlotte vessels, and one of the things that can make a charlotte vessel “defective” is for them to be born amab or intersex. this already has some really bad vibes, but then we remember also that one of the big functions of charlottes is apparently for them to be sexualized (yikes!!!!!) and so we also get this weird kind of like, “trans people aren’t hot” kind of take?
but anyway. when it comes to lilian specifically, she never actually states in canon that she’s genderfluid or otherwise trans, not even in the spinoff visual novel, which, by the way, would have been the perfect place to address her gender identity, and she consistently uses he/him pronouns. we don’t actually get to see any of her thought processes about her gender at all — like at this point, i can’t even say it’s a non-issue because that would imply that they even mentioned her gender in canon. the only time we can potentially extrapolate from canon that lili might not be cis is when anri mentions that charlotte is lili’s self-insert oc. that’s kind of heavy-handed with the whole “charlotte being the female name for charles”, but that’s another matter. the point is, with the lack of any canon basis that lilian’s even vaguely questioned her gender, the reveal that she’s actually genderfluid with like, two pieces of artwork that are detached from the actual game feels very pxrfxrmxtxvxly xnclxsxvx (performatively inclusive) especially considering how.... etherane talked about lilian’s gender in particular within the actual canon material.
after all, the story behind lilian is effectively that, after she was born, her mother was forced to abort her second child, a daughter that she would name scarlett. doing so plunged her into a really deep depression that eventually took on delusional qualities. so ever since lilian was about three years old, her mother has been referring to her exclusively as scarlett, asking her to ‘ be a good girl ’ and similarly raising her as a girl. we can see here that etherane seems to have implied that genderfluidity is something that happens because other people make it so, and isn’t an identity and lived experience. (bad take!) although, albeit unintentionally, i think etherane did lay some groundwork to talk about lilian’s relationship with her gender, specifically with regards to her projection onto her oc, charlotte. in high school, when she’s more active on the internet, we see that she’s going by charlotte and using she/her pronouns. anri, her irl friend, is pretty openly critical of that, but she sort of brushes off anri’s complaints and continues to present as feminine online. now, there’s this fanfic writer who goes by the pseudonym “c”, and lilian very quickly takes an interest in him. the way she talks to c, who doesn’t know her irl, compared anri, who does, is just like flat-out like they’re completely different people.
compare, her with c:
to her with anri:
i also wanted to mention that lili does occasionally act more “femininely” with anri, but it’s never to the extent that she does with c, and in general, affectionate banter is sort of... outright ridiculed in their friendship both ways. see this one exchange:
anri: >:) always up for some roasting lili: right? <3 <3 anri: now you’re the one being gross
unrelated but it fucking kills me that anri was like “ily <3” and lili went “gross” so she went “kys” and lili deadass goes “that’s better” like that’s what anri is referencing when she says “now you’re the one being gross” and im like... please just be healthy friends who don’t wish death on each other???
it’s also worth noting that c doesn’t know that she’s not “actually” a girl, and literally when they meet, she goes like, “it’s you who should be disappointed in me. charlotte turned out to be charles, whoops! i bet you were hoping that i’d be a cute girl.” and that’s... really depressing, like, she ended up really leaning into that cutesy side of her when she was talking to c and now she feels the need to be a lot more... sarcastic and bitter, like how she is with anri, because now c “knows the truth about her”, that she’s “actually been a guy all along”.
in any case, i think the intent that etherane was going for with this was kind of like... “lilian’s actually a repressed cis gay man!” which is . not great. it gives off this really gross vibes where it’s implied that since lili was raised as a girl and is into men, she got “confused” and started going by she/her online because she couldn’t come to terms with her sexuality or whatever. and that’s just such a bad take!!!
not to mention that a really important part of lili’s backstory is... her germaphobia. she has persistent delusions accompanied by visual hallucinations where she sees people as “parasites”, which visually manifests as them rotting or decomposing. because of that, she wears gloves all the time and is repulsed by physical touch. but when she meets c (whose real name is vincent) in person, she pretty much instantly goes for skin-to-skin contact with him, where she takes off her glove and holds his hand. and like, sure, that’s sweet, but that’s really not how mental illness... works. in the slightest. she doesn’t react at all when his hand touches hers, despite the fact that she has literally had panic attacks in canon from touching things without her gloves. and it gives off this implication that mental illness can be cured with romance somehow, and that’s a really bad take!
this feeds into fandom understanding that like, well, if lilian sees vincent as pure and allows him to touch her, then Obviously she’d let him kiss her, they could probably have sex, etc. and like... she’s canonically asexual though! and that brings us to the other implication, that asexuality is somehow... caused by something. like, there’s nothing in canon to state that lilian experiences sexual attraction (or even really romantic attraction, like i know etherane went off in heaven’s gate and did a lot of ship tease, but she never really outright says she’s crushing on anyone), but judging from the way etherane handled lilian’s gender identity, i have a sneaking suspicion that she established lilian’s asexuality with her mental illnesses specifically in mind. lilian’s autistic, germaphobic, has severe ocd, and she’s been sexually assaulted in the past. therefore, she must be asexual! that’s the sort of vibes i get from the game, and im not here for it. similarly to how her genderfluidity was handled, she makes no actual statement in canon that she doesn’t experience sexual attraction. the closest she’s ever come to this is when she says to anri in heaven’s gate that she is just straight up not interested in kissing (to which anri is like, “well what if it were vincent owo??” which. ugh. anyway). it just seems really strange to me to design a character with severe mental health issues with regards to physical touch and then just sort of treat it as a given that she’s asexual. it’s another example of etherane implying that lgbt identities are results of traumatic experiences or symptoms of mental illness and not an identity or lived experience. you can be sex-repulsed and not be asexual, and while i understand that many people do identify as ace due to trauma and other such things, it still feels like really bad rep when taken with the way lilian’s genderfluidity was portrayed.
PART 2: HOW “CHARLES” IS DIFFERENT FROM “LILIAN”
throughout hello charlotte, lilian identifies herself as a passive observer, someone who doesn’t directly interfere in events. this applies mostly to her existence in false realm, where she’s like... a god, and doesn’t want to interfere in the balance of the world. but i believe she also has always seen herself as an observer. in her very first scene, the one where she and anri are watching someone get bullied, she’s the one who tells anri that there’s no point in getting help. because her role is just to observe. to take pictures for anri, to be a good girl, to say yes to everything and to never express her opinions, feelings, thoughts.
and honestly, i think the main reason for that is that she’s dysphoric. whenever she talks about herself, she’s really self-deprecating, especially compared to when she talks about charlotte. i feel like the main reason why lilian detaches herself from the world and refuses to really perceive herself is because she’s fundamentally disgusted with her gender presentation. and like, we can see in the two times that she’s presented femininely (with c and in that one comic) that lili is just so much happier and more bubbly when she’s presenting as feminine. you can literally see her stop dissociating and becoming more present in the moment because she’s just. so much more comfortable in her skin. compare:
these pictures with this one:
it’s funny i was going to say that there is a picture where she’s presenting as masculine and actually smiles like a person, but guess what! she’s texting c! so she’s actually performing femininity!
but the point is, like... when she’s presenting as masculine, especially in the canon pictures rather than etherane’s art, she just doesn’t look... happy. and then we compare that to how much more present she seems when she’s presenting as feminine, and how much more comfortable she seems in being, like, happy! and cute! but there is a downside to this. and that is...
PART 3: DIFFICULTIES IN LILI’S TRANSITION
in my sort of... “main verse” for lili, i have it so that her suicide attempt failed and that she was somehow... saved from drowning. mother passes away and she starts to... soul search a little bit and find a reason to live, and somewhere along the line she starts to transition socially. that means she starts transitioning at a pretty... extremely vulnerable point in her life. in the year between 18-19 years old, she’d be a wreck. she’s growing her hair out, but she feels insecure about it. she starts to wear skirts, but only at home. she buys makeup and never wears it. it’s a long process for her, because it’s one thing to go by she/her online or to claim she’s just a gender-confused gay boy and a completely different thing to come out as a trans woman and to actually see herself as a woman and not some kind of imposter. considering that she was raised as a girl, she would have a large amount of guilt over transitioning, feeling like she’s going to be seen as confused, or that her gender identity is a direct result of her childhood trauma. but she’s not just worried that others will see her that way: she���s worried that she’s going to see herself that way.
and for a long time, she probably does see herself that way. for a long time, scarlett would probably treat her transition as some kind of attempt to personify her unborn sister and comply with perceived expectations rather than an attempt to feel comfortable in her own skin. she’d get nervous that she’s somehow becoming scarlett, because though she’s always thought it would be easier if she’d just been her sister, she’s never really wanted to be scarlett. she’d be scared to wear mid-length skirts, scared to put her hair up in a bun, probably even scared to wear red for a time, all because she’s scared of somehow losing herself and becoming her alter.
because of her caution and concern with identifying as a trans woman and not as the “safer“ gender identity of genderfluidity (where she can say she’s trans but never actually have to “push boundaries” by wearing feminine clothing or using any pronouns besides he/him), it would likely take her a very long time to take the step to medically transition. she’d likely never get any gender affirmation surgeries just because of how invasive the procedure is, but hormones would probably be something she’d look into once she’s much older and has a more stable income.
i mentioned before that before her transition, she uses dissociation and observation as a way to cope with her gender dysphoria. she saw herself as someone who didn’t really participate in the world, was a class ghost, invisible to everyone and a minuscule part of a vast universe. but upon transitioning, she’d feel much more actively self-conscious. once she starts to present in a feminine way, she’d feel like she’s being seen, like she’s actually participating in the world, and that’s both a blessing and a curse.
she’d be much more prone to stammering, especially when saying her name, and would blush far more often. she’d be afraid of saying the wrong thing or messing up somehow. and on top of that, she’d likely feel predatory for talking to others, always wondering if others find her cute or repulsive, always wondering if someone will perceive her and harm her in some way.
she’d very likely also feel really guilty about her own emotional experience. because she’s so used to being a passive observer, a puppet that only does what others want, she would feel like it’s selfish to be just... content. she’s so actively disgusted with herself before she transitions that she’s never allowed herself to be mentally present for a happy moment in her entire life. she always second-guesses, always dismisses positive things as a mere coincidence, and after she transitions, when she starts being more present in her life, she’d feel so guilty for just allowing herself to be happy.
because of that, she has some trouble with presenting as feminine consistently — she’d vary the “level” of her feminine presentation from day-to-day, where she might go full femme one day and another day stick with a beanie and a pair of slacks. she’s much more comfortable with presenting as more traditionally feminine when she’s at home or with trusted friends in a private space, but around 19 years old, she makes a vested effort to remain in public spaces. she’d time herself, saying, “for one hour, i’ll stay in this café while wearing a skirt, and then i can leave,” and she’d gradually increase the amount of time she spends in public spaces. and eventually, eventually she does end up feeling really comfortable with her gender presentation and falls into a more static sense of style. she really likes clothing design, so she ends up wearing a lot more dynamic outfits when she’s more comfortable with herself, and she probably also mildly gets into cosplay.
i also like to think that she reconnects with anri during her young adult years. either it’s like, right after her suicide attempt (i’ve written before that she’d had anri listed as her emergency contact and forgot to change it when she moved), or it’s at some point after she starts transitioning socially. i think it’d be really sweet for them to be friends in a more real way, and the sheer concept of anri teaching lili how to properly apply makeup and to set her hair is just so fucking sweet i might die. they both deserve to have friends so i think this is just a step up from hello charlotte canon.
#long post //#lilian eyler: study.#ive been working on this post for days. im fuckign emotional about her
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“Adam” The Film And It’s Problematic Implications
Okay, so first of all — YES IM LATE TO THE PARTY! Apparently there’s a film called “Adam” that is coming out this summer based on a YA novel written by a white lesbian woman that is supposed to be super groundbreaking for the LGBT+ community. I’ve never heard of the book or the film until recently because of some backlash I saw on twitter. I didn’t wanna join the band wagon without being properly informed so I did my research and I must say that the backlash surrounding this film is completely just and warranted.
The novel written by Ariel Schrag is about a cis, white teenage boy who has bad luck with girls so when he goes to visit his lesbian sister in New York, who is at the moment dating a transman, he decides to pretend to be trans so he can bag himself a hot lesbian. He does this after being mistaken for trans and decides to run with it. He falls hard for the “hot lesbin girl” and in one scene they even have sex where he actually uses his real penis to penetrate her even though she thought it was a strap on. He goes to a Trans Camp where he eventually feels bad about his actions and confesses to the girl. But for some reason she’s not as mad and even says that ‘it’s okay because she imagined him as a real a boy anyway.’ A lot more happens but that’s the summarized version.
Despite the backlash, some movie executives thought that it would be groundbreaking to make this novel into a film and here’s why that’s a huge mistake. How many Hollywood movies have we seen where a White, Cis male has infiltrated the safe spaces of a marginalized community for personal/sexual gain and then eventually learns how these actions are problematic? We’ve seen this same story play out plenty of times on screen but now that LGBT allyship is trendy in Hollywood, the powers that be thought they were doing something groundbreaking and pushing the envelope by making this highly offensive film.
First of all, the fact that the original novel was written by a lesbian just goes to show how education on trans identity is very scarce even in the Queer community and we have to do better in that regard. But how many times do we need to see a white boy using real issues to get laid on screen? This could have easily been a story about an actual transman coming to terms with his identity in life and in romance. But instead lets create a story where trans is essentially a costume. Hell, a story about the main character’s sister would have been more interesting and more authentic to the author’s personal experience. It also proves that just because you identify as being apart of the LGBT+ community, it doesnt necessarily mean you are qualified to tell stories about all of our experiences.
Now besides the highly problematic narrative and offensive nuances, the writer literally tries to romanticize a rape scene. In the book, the main character tells his lesbian girlfriend that he is using a strap on to penetrate her but in fact he uses his real penis. The girlfriend didnt consent to that which is, by definition, RAPE. Make no mistake, when engaging in any sexual activity and one party decides to go a step further without the consent of their partner that is considered rape. Not to mention the horrible implication that trans men arent real men. Or the fact that lesbians can be “fixed” by having sex with a ‘real man’. That’s right! In the book, the girlfriend of the main character ends up getting a cis boyfriend. Does this make her bisexual or has she decided to be completely hetero? We really dont know but the implication is not okay, especially for this to be a YA novel. If you marry that idea with how impressionable young adults can be, smells like a recipe for disaster.
I can’t continue without saying that there are actually straight men who prowl gay bars hoping to connect with a “hot lesbian” to convert her back to liking “real men”. I’ve personally encountered men with this exact mindset so to fantasize this very problematic behavior into a book AND movie just perpetuates the notion that gayness/queerness/trans identity is curable.
I perused through youtube to find a few videos and interviews of the filmmakers talking about the movie amidst the backlash and the director Rhys Ernst is surprisingly one of the directors that works on the critically acclaimed show “Transparent”. As popular as that show is and as talented as Jeffrey Tambor is, the show is still riddled with its own issues by allowing a Cis White man to play a trans person eseentially taking a job away from an actual trans actor. An issue that even Jeffrey Tambor ironically shed light on during his acceptance speech after winning a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in the role.
One would think that in an industry where LGBT+ stories have been scarce for so long that we should rejoice in the small triumphs. On the surface, this film is being paraded around as artistic genius amplifying the voices of the trans community and employing those who belong to the community in front AND BEHIND the camera. We should be applauding this right? WRONG. This story is essentially about the trans community through the lens of a selfish, insecure, sex crazed straight man and we are tired of seeing that portrayed on screen. I looked on IMDB and it says that this film comes out in August and I’m sure it will have a strong marketing campaign that will be wrapped in a beatiful bow of romance, inclusion, and acceptance but don’t be fooled.
We live in a climate where standing up for what’s right is frowned upon. Where people mistake using your voice as another cry for political correctness. You even have people saying this new generation is “too sensitive”. Well I beg to differ. We are not sensitive at all. We just choose to not be as passive as our parents and grandparents were. We have decided to not apologize when we tell you how we want to be treated. And if that’s an issue for you, take it up with God or whatever higher power you choose to believe in. I’d rather be politically correct than completely deaf and oblivious to the experiences of a marginalized people — and that’s what Champ says!
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Munich International Motor Show : Now in eco mode
The International Motor Show in Munich has begun this Tuesday. Instead of models in front of sports cars, the providers are now presenting recycled cars and bicycles. This should underpin the change in the industry - but by far not everyone likes it.
If one last proof was needed that the German auto industry really wants to do everything completely different now, then it is this, well, airy demonstration. In the coming week, the International Motor Show, better known as the IAA[1], begins in Munich. And the Association of German Automobile Manufacturers, the VDA, [2] has invited the reporters to a preview - but not by bus or in an electric car convoy, but by zeppelin.
At a height of 500 meters you will glide gently over Munich and see how what how this probably most important German trade fair has changed. The IAA no longer only takes place in exhibition halls, but also right in the middle of the old town: at Königsplatz, for example, at Odeonsplatz, at Stachus or Marienplatz and also on the A 94 autobahn where people can try out futuristic vehicles.
In the past, the bigger the better
The change of perspective is necessary. Everything used to be clear, the rule of thumb was: the bigger, the better. Business is still running according to these rules - extremely well in fact, following current sales and profit figures. But in times of lightning-fast computers, threatening climate change and overcrowded cities, the managers in Wolfsburg, Munich and Stuttgart are increasingly discussing other things, sometimes with an anxious tone: Which robot car will come from the USA tomorrow? Which new competitor is behind the corner in China? What new forms of transportation are in demand? How green do you have to get? And yes, that too: How desirable are you actually?
When the industry gathered for the last time at the IAA, in autumn 2019, already a lot of certainties for so long in the automotive world had been shaken. And the car people hardly had any answers. This is one of the reasons why the IAA 2019 in Frankfurt turned out to be quite a disaster - which is not an exaggeration - that should not be repeated.
When Chancellor Angela Merkel visited, climate activists grimly climbed some cars and held up posters: "Climate killers". The BMW employees stood around their occupied cars, perplexed. The dented roofs were the smallest problem. The managers simply didn't know how to deal with this situation, for which there is probably no good solution. Halligalli [3] was also outside the gates: demonstrators blocked the driveway with bicycles. Which, by the way, was quite right for the mayor of Frankfurt, Peter Feldmann. The SPD man - after all, actually the host - was not allowed to speak at the opening. His speech was then of course known anyway: "Frankfurt needs more buses and trains, but not more SUVs," it said. And he also thanked the demonstrators - their fight for a better climate is important.
From then on, the disturbed car people only wanted to get away from Frankfurt. Eventually they agreed on Munich. Here, too, urban society does not embrace the auto industry. But it is probably the safest big city in the world, a main argument when looking for a new venue. "Here there are cavalry squadrons and, in case of doubt, a stable police cauldron," said someone from the industry who was involved in the decision-making process some time ago. But that alone is not enough to make the trade fair a success again.
Because the car itself has lost traction. In Frankfurt there were only a good 500,000 visitors. Half as many as a few years earlier. Even in this area of life, providers and consumers have migrated to the Internet. And the avant-garde is somewhere else anyway: Google, Apple and Tesla are leaders in robot functions and electromobility - and what are the Chinese actually building with massive state support? Hardly any of this could be seen in Frankfurt.
The big trade fairs were long regarded as high masses: the car show in Geneva or Paris, the motor show in Detroit - or the IAA in Frankfurt, that was glamor in all its facets. Whoever could went there. The others at least devoured the reports and photos about horsepower cars and the scarcely clothed young women that manufacturers like Ferrari put on hoods, which they thought was creative.
It was the time when car managers secretly hung around the competition's exhibition halls, sometimes more, sometimes less, to see what their colleagues were up to. When they met in the back rooms of the pavilions to make deals and start mergers. When men like the former Daimler boss Dieter Zetsche and the long-time Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn sat on the big stage, talking about cars, marriages and all sorts of other things and the audience wondered whether what took place was more of a cabaret . Ghosn later got into trouble with the Japanese judiciary and at some point fled to Lebanon in an instrument case. Behind the big cars was often also a perfectly staged drama.
The VW family owners made the managers act like gladiators in the Coliseum
In all these years, however, nobody had encouraged the knighting of the car more than Volkswagen. On the eve of the official car show openings, the Wolfsburg always invited people to a large hall, in Frankfurt, in Paris, in Geneva, regardless of the main thing: big. When every brand boss then presented his latest models in front of the big players, the music came off the tape at discotheque volume, when the bosses of Porsche, Audi and Skoda bowed to the powerful, the family owners Wolfgang Porsche and above all Ferdinand Piëch, then this copied Roman Coliseum-style events: Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant.
It was loud on those evenings in the VW Coliseum, very loud. Sometimes the Pet Shop Boys performed, sometimes the French film diva Catherine Deneuve, sometimes rope artists and dancers. Each act was kind of out of place in its own way. But these evenings weren't about the total work of art being convincing. The names were important. The celebrities. And the volume. When the twelve cylinders of the Lamborghini Aventador also cracked to the pounding techno music, to light shows and artificial fog, then you wondered how - for example - Mr Piëch, who was already older at the time, could stand it. Mostly he sat there, stoic, immobile, absent.
As soon as the show was over and the gladiators bowed to him, the emperor stood up and left the stands. Walked slowly down the stairs into the arena. Pretended to be inspecting cars, but the truth was he wanted to speak to the people, and so he did. Often only a few minutes, but that provided a topic of conversation for days. For example, when he said between half sentences that he would like to buy the Fiat subsidiary Alfa Romeo. Just like that, maybe also to drive the then Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne to white heat. Incidentally, the latter took revenge a few years later. When the Germans sank into the diesel scandal and Fiat was accused of having also manipulated diesel engines, the Italian said: "Anyone who compares us with the German company has smoked something illegal."
The "i Vision Circular" should consist of almost 100 percent recycled material
Perhaps the diesel scandal was the beginning of the end of the big trade fairs, in any case it accelerated change. As a result of the crisis, the evitably oversized cars were trimmed down to normal. At the same time, new competitors with new technologies pushed into the industry. Then Piëch and his top managers disappeared from the scene. And the new managers also break the existing professional rules. At the IAA 2019 VW boss Herbert Diess tried out the embrace technique with the demonstrators, he went almost completely out to the people, discussed with an activist of the "Sand im Getriebe"[4] initiative. That was a bit obnoxious on his part, but at least he had tried it.
Nowadays even in Munich, they want to appear more modern here and everything should run more smoothly, the industry hopes. And other content has been agreed. In particular, visitors can see electric cars, such as a stretchable sedan from Audi. And BMW wants to talk about the circular economy in its "Joytopia": How can mobility function in a resource-saving and low-CO₂ manner? The company wants to present the "i Vision Circular", a vision vehicle that consists of almost 100 percent recycled material - and is designed in such a way that it can be easily recycled. VW, in turn, would like to introduce the "New Auto", the robot driven car of the day after tomorrow. "Mobility is a basic human need - and fulfilling it in all its facets is an ever greater challenge for our society, which business and politics have to face," says VDA President Hildegard Müller and is certain that the "new IAA " will show ways how these mobility tasks can be combined:" efficiently, economically, socially and ecologically ".
It should be possible to experience it in the literal sense of the word, which is why the IAA no longer takes place in noisy, stuffy exhibition halls for the most part. But outside in the squares. Because that's where the industry wants to get into conversation with critics, at least in theory - as long as they don't trample on the roofs of cars.
A pleasant approach. The corona epidemic could destroy some of it. The incidence is rising again, now fences have to be put up around the scenes in the city. So this time there is an inside and outside, which will lead to conflicts, especially since a number of initiative-takers have announced protests and rather do not want to debate in the chair, from the anonymous alliance "Smash-IAA"[5], whose posters are hanging all over the city, to the Greens Youth[6]. Many criticize the car industry for promoting its event as a green mobility fair.
The critics are not entirely wrong. Because there are also those in industry who are unfamiliar with the new IAA concept, which wants to unite everything that rolls. We are car manufacturers and should just display our cars nicely instead of having to take buses, trains and car sharing as well, they say behind closed doors. These orthodox do not think much of the fact that bicycles are now also exhibited at the "new IAA", although some car manufacturers now offer them themselves. They can't do much with expert panels on "Smart Cities", instead they complain that the IAA is not international enough, which is probably due to the Corona epidemic. In fact, even VW is not represented with all brands, Peugeot, Opel, Fiat, Volvo, Honda and Toyota completely save themselves the appearance, even expensive super sports cars will not be on display, not even the US company Tesla, which will soon have a plant in Germany opened. The German competition is afraid of the Americans, but they also know that Tesla would attract people, potential customers for everyone.
Or should bigger things be negotiated after all, the transport turnaround, climate protection? It depends on who you ask. The car people are not in agreement. The IAA 2021 is a very exciting large-scale experiment in an industry that is currently having to find itself anew. And which sometimes relies on the tried and tested. On Sunday - after the Zeppelin flight - there is a VW break in the Isarpost[7]. A large hall, there is probably loud music, and of course wine and beer, Corona or not. As always. Because as exciting as everything is right now - it would be more convenient if everything stayed the same.
Source
Thomas Fromm & Max Hägler: Jetzt mal im Öko- Modus, in: Süd-Deutsche Zeitung, 3-09-2021 https://sz.de/1.5400871
[1]die Internationale Automobilausstellung [2] The Verband der Automobilindustrie e. V.(German Association of the Automotive Industry) is a German interest group of the German automobile industry, both automobile manufactures and automobile component suppliers. It is member of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA). The VDA represents carmakers including BMW, Volkswagen, and Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler but also counts foreign suppliers and foreign-owned carmakers like Opel among its members. The group is located in Berlin, Germany. [3] Halli Galli is a crowd awareness game for two to eight players. [4] Sand in the Gears; https://sand-im-getriebe.mobi/ Sand in the gears is an action alliance made up of various climate, transport and globalization-critical groups and was founded in early 2019. It sees itselve as part of the global movement for climate justice. [5] https://smashiaa.noblogs.org/ The International Motor Show (IAA for short) will take place in Munich from September 6 to 12, 2021. In the midst of the climate crisis, the large automobile companies want to celebrate private transport and hide what we all actually know under a green cloak: that they fuel the climate crisis for their profits. We don't want to leave that unchallenged. That is why we call for direct campaigns during the fair! [6] https://gruene-jugend.de/ [7] https://isarpost-eventlocation.de/
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if it's not too much trouble to answer, can I ask what's been the going on with doctor who that's bad? I've seen little bits of it when my parents watch it in the other room but not enough to really get a good sense of it?
heyyy sorry to keep ya waiting on this. i tried to keep this as short as i could, but it’s about five paragraphs long, sorry. it’s not in any way a comprehensive list of problems with the last few seasons, just a quick tour of the moments i shouldve let be my ‘i can’t keep watching after this’ point. i wanted to write it objectively but i got pretty aggro, bc this show that in some part i genuinely adore has been producing unforgivably bigoted content. (it’s kinda a ship of theseus situation, except where the parts of the ship were replaced with worse, shittier, fake-woke parts.) i ask ppl to avoid reblogging this, because i don’t want my words to contribute in any way to online buzz surrounding this show or make anyone want to see it, even if ONLY to hatewatch or criticize.
content warning for misogynoir/antiblackness, racism, bury ur gays, some shit with nazi germany (yeah lol) and just the slightest kiss of antisemitism.
(edit: i seem to be having some problems with the read more cut. it’s there on dash view and when i edit the post, but doesn’t show on some instances of my blog. i can’t fix this but gksfkgls. wanted to at least be overt that i wouldn’t post this kinda long ranty stuff without a cut.)
in the last season where peter capaldi was the doctor, two seasons ago now, he had a new companion, Bill. she was a black lesbian and literally the only reason i started watching doctor who again. i loved her, and i was really glad to see the show moving back towards the more diverse cast of characters that we saw in the late aughts. then the season had a repeated theme of FORCING her to either repress or not feel her emotions. there are two scenes that stand out most to me. in an ep set in like, early 19th century london, she and the doctor are talking to a racist rich white dude who is being super nasty to Bill. the doctor keeps telling her to cool it and not show how angry she is. then HE gets to punch the guy out and knock him to the floor.
this theme of the white man being the only one allowed to get angry was big all season, iirc. then at the end of the season, Bill is turned into a cyberman. they’re usually like. soulless scary automatons, but some characters keep their individuality, which has been explored in a few past seasons, usually leading up to a tragic/heroic death. in Bill’s case, they did this trick with filming where we could see her perspective of herself in some shots–an intensely emotional performance, Bill was completely traumatized and her actress was working her ass off–and in others, just this metal body incapable of expression, scaring people like she was a monster and monotoning these otherwise very emotional statements. it’s an interesting narrative device, but after a whole season of this show putting Bill through all kinds of terrible shit and forcing her not to show her feelings on the matter, it hit me as like. this nauseating exaggeration of how society treats actual black lesbians as monsters and tries to make them bottle up their emotions and especially their justifiable anger. anyway, then Bill died and got to be with her dead girlfriend from her first episode. wow, cool.
idk what made me watch the season after that. i guess i wanted to see the new doctor, and i liked her companions (one was like. a young man with disabling neurological symptoms, tbh even if i’d missed Bill’s season that might have had me back on board). i had plenty of problems with how the season played out, obvs, but nothing was standout horrible to me the way the shit with Bill had been (except maybe the episode that started out like ‘space amazon is a hellhole’ and somehow ended with ‘space amazon was taken advantage of by a broken AI that hurt some people and they didnt fix the infrastructure we explicitly showed harmed their workers but now it’s fine!’ if that sounds weird and heavy handed with an unsatisfying ending, it’s because it was). the new season tho? the OPENING EPISODES OF THE NEW SEASON, THO? it opens with alexa product placement, in an episode about how a fictionalized google was actually run by a black man who had ties to a large number of aliens who had secretly infiltrated our society, altered our dna, and shit like that. so uh, 1. brand war lmao, sellouts etc etc 2. y’all remember those conspiracy theories about jews? and white supremacist beliefs that black people are ruining the world but aren’t smart enough to do it on their own so they must be agents of jewish corruption? HUH. HUH! that’s not even my big problem with the fuckin thing, but it’s FOR SURE a suspicious writing move from a tv show with suuuuch a huge viewership. (and it’s just plain embarrassing for a show with alexa product placement to try to go all scary panopticon tropes specifically @ a google analogue.)
anyway, we run into an old recurring antagonist, the master, a time lord like the doctor. he’s a guy again after having been a woman for a few seasons, and now played by an actor of color. i figure the reasoning at least partly relied on “dude, how fucked up will it be if we force the doctor’s black friend to call a white dude master” but i was immediately afraid it might go to the like…. Righteous White Woman Gets The Better Of Evil Brown Man tropes and oh boy!!!! i tried to be good and give it the benefit of the doubt until i saw something racist but it wasted no time. the doctor got stuck in the past at one point, and met the master, who was currently a military official with the third reich. oh boy. so she asks him why they let him work with them and he explains he’s using a device to psychically disguise himself, they see him as white. (we missed a great chance for him to monologue about how they were willing to bend their morals when they saw how evil he could get or something.) this was awkward enough for me as a viewer, but i wasn’t prepared to go into it, in case there was some tiny shred of nuance somewhere that would make this situation anything but a clusterfuck.
well, the doctor executes a genuinely clever scheme and makes a radio transmission to the brits that she knows won’t reach em, talking about how helpful this officer has been–setting up the master to be falsely outed as a double agent when the nazis intercept it. she tells the master this and then skedaddles, letting him be arrested by his own men. could be a satisfying karmic victory where he presumably gets a military trial and weasels out of his fate, although i don’t like the implications of a white woman punishing a brown man for racism. BUT IT DIDN’T STOP THERE! she disables his psychic filter, causing his men to see his true identity as a man of color–she exposes her oldest frenemy and Basically The Only Time Lord Who’ll Talk To Her to nazi racism when he was ALREADY about to fall into their hands as a prisoner. what could have been a marginally satisfying defeat was instead a kind of emotional horrorshow for me as i had to stop and wonder what kind of hell they’d put him through and why the writers decided that the doctor (who has literally since the show began in like the sixties been set up as an enemy of naziism via allegory and has always been firm in the idea that NOBODY, including literal maneating space monsters, deserves to be treated as less than human) would DO that. IT’S LATER IMPLIED HE ESCAPED FROM A CONCENTRATION CAMP. the narrative DOES NOT allow time for that to sink in before moving on.
i dont have a conclusion 2 this. im just hurt as fuck about it. i hope i gave u the info u were looking for without getting too deep into my personal feelings, but it’s difficult, maybe impossible to be objective about stuff like this.
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I never saw your review/opinion - what did you think about POB's Swan Lake (the live webcast last year with Amandine Albisson, Mathieu Ganio and François Alu)?
Ive received asks about this before, im just gonna copypaste my answers in this ask if you dont mind! its too much to rewrite everything again. Warning: its really long.
(1) YES I DID AND I LOVED IT! This is the best ballet Nureyev has produced, nothing like any of his other works. He kept it quite minimalistic not only with the choreography but also with the sets and costumes. I love the pastel theme in the first act and then the continuation of those colours in the third act but with darker hues like purple and magenta. It’s stunning. As for the dancing, it couldnt get any better. The corps de ballet danced SO WELL, they are all extremely neat and precise and i do not get why people said their technique arent up to standard at all. Highlights of the evening for me was the corps dancing in the first act, especially Gorse, Park, Bourdon and Visocchi as the four leading ladies, and Thibault and Hurel in the Neapolitan dance. They were on a completely other level. I get that there are young dancers with lots of potential in the company but they dont even come close to the artistry, stage presence and musicality of the more expierenced dancers. I was a bit underwhelmed by the pas de trois, (Louvet/O'Neill/Baulac) especially compared by the magic that Thibault and Hurel produced when they were on stage for a criminally short time. It wasnt bad but surrounding all the hype around these three i expected more of them. They werent particularly musical (but i blame the conductor for that, the tempo was too slow and didnt allow them to dance properly) or brought out anything out of the choreography, they just ticked all the technical boxes. It was quite bland if you ask me. If these people are supposed to be next in line to be étoile they have a LOT of work to do. Instead I was more impressed by dancers of the corps, Fanny Gorse and Aubane Philbert in particular were beautiful swans with gorgeous épaulement. Bourdon and Park danced with the authority of Odette and were overcast as Big Swans. Visocchi and Révillion were a dream pairing, Marque and Kirscher moved with stylish grace and looked like they could bend gravity at their will. Joannides was a very lively and vibrant Princess. I also liked Raveau and Colasante in the Spanish dance, they had fleshed out characters and real chemistry together. What an improvement since I last saw them together in Le Palais. Thats all I can think of right now! Yes I know I havent said anything about Ganio/Albisson/Alu, but I didnt quite know what to think of their performance so I’m gonna rewatch it today and see what I can make of it. I was left with mixed feelings and some thoughts that I cant exactly put to words so maybe watching it again will make things more clear for me.
(2) I agree with you on that, I had some doubts about her being chosen for the broadcast, but after rewatching it I have changed my mind. Although I do have some criticism about her performance. The problem with Albisson is that it takes her a very long time to get in character. It was the same with her Juliet and Giselle and now also with her Odette/Odile. When I saw her Juliet she didnt warm up to Ganio until the wedding scene, which is like halfway through the ballet already! Her Giselle performance went like that too, her first act was mediocre at best. This is a problem because ballets like these are about love at first sight, even if it is an artistic choice of her to be distant at first it doesnt make any sense because it clashes with the narrative. Her first act Odette was extremely cold, detached and absent overall, she looked awkward in the pas de deux, as if she didnt want to be there in the first place. It strangely reminded me of the pas de deux in the Firebird where Ivan Tsarevich catches the Firebird and she tries to get away. I did not feel like Odette was falling in love with Siegfried at all, not even gradually. There was zero chemistry between the two. I dont think she even looked him straight in the eye once during the pas de deux. But I must add that she was up to the task technically, aesthetically and musically. Albisson is a very musical dancer who actually listens to the music and follows it accordingly. She doesnt linger in her steps but reacts to any change in the music instantly. It was very nice to watch and the only good thing about her Act II performance. She might have been emotionally stunted at first but, when she does get in character, my god, what a stupendous dancer she is! She finally warmed up in the third act, when a deliciously evil Odile enters the scene, and immediately you know what shes after: Siegfrieds heart. Every moment, every tilt of the head was directed towards him. It resulted in an extremely engaging pas de deux where she finally acknowledges Ganio’s presence, none of which happed just one act before. She went for the stereotypical smirky-face, sharp and jerky movements Odile (which I absolutely hate) but for some reason it worked for her (and it didnt annoy me as it usually does). She was a bewitching Odile with an electrifying gaze piercing right through Siegfried but she used that gaze not only on him but also on the audience, as if she wanted to enchant every single person on stage and in the audience. What a magnificent performance. In the third act there was nothing left of the tepid Odette of Act II, she danced with more abandon and recklesness, completely throwing herself in Siegfrieds arms. It was a fitting reaction to his betrayal.
Some thoughts on Ganio: I have never liked him and everytime I see him dance I am more convinced that I do not like his dancing. So far ive seen his Desire, Romeo and now Siegfried, and there is literally no difference between the three. Zero. I have tried so many times to see what’s so special about him but I just cant. He is an extremely boring dancer who does not know how to portray a character that isnt a cutout cardboard of a princely figure. There is no nuance in his performance, nothing that makes you think the person on stage is an actual person with a motive. He just comes on stage, dances his variation and afterwards I dont even remember he was there. He’s like the male Svetlana Zakharova. Technically and physically gifted but has got nothing more to offer than that.
Thoughts on Alu: “Just because Im not cast as Siegfried doesnt mean I cant be the star of the show” was probably his main thought before he took on this role!!!!! The best Rothbart Ive ever seen! He made it look like he was the main character and siegfried and odette were mere pawns in his masterplan (whatever that was - killing siegfried maybe??) Here was a fleshed out character with a story to tell and motives to his actions, a true dancer-actor to the bone. Im sitting here still in awe of his magnificent jumps in the third act variation. He made Ganio look even more bleak and one dimensional in comparison. And not to mention he almost outdanced Ganio and Albisson with that variation and with the roaring bravos and applause he got afterwards I think many would agree with me.
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On Why Trans Women May Be Offended By the Idea of Not Being Considered “Woman”
In a recent interview with Channel 4 News, Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie offered (and quite inoffensively) that “trans women are trans women”. I mean, what a shit storm this created. As a matter of fact, it created such a shit storm that as we speak, Chimamanda is literally swimming through a river of shit trying to “clarify” her “perspective” on the matter.
In the interview, Chimamanda underlined her point by drawing on the ways in which the social identities we embody (embrace and perform) and those that are simply socially ascribed but are neither embraced nor performed, shape the way we experience the social world. In her own words she states, “so, when people talk about, you know, are trans women, women, my feeling is that trans women are trans women. I think the whole problem of the gender in the world is about our experiences. It’s not about how we wear our hair or whether we have a vagina or penis, it’s about the way the world treats us. And I think if you’ve lived in the world as a man, with the privileges the world accords to men, and then sort of change, switch gender, it’s difficult for me to accept that then we can equate your experience with the experience of a woman who has lived from the beginning in the world as a woman and who has not been accorded those privileges that men are. And so, I think there has to be... And this is not of course to say this is... i’m saying this also with, sort of, a certainty that transgender people... should be allowed to be. I don’t think it’s a good thing to conflate everything into one. I don’t think it’s a good thing to talk about women’s issues being exactly the same as the issues of trans women because I don’t think that’s true. What i’m saying is that gender is not biology, gender is sociology”.
Because I interpret this statement as profound at the least, and intellectual at best, I can’t seem to comprehend the outrage.
Now, I have a couple of questions:
1) Should we not be directing our “attacks” at the interviewer for the way in which she framed the question to Chimamanda? She asks “staying with this issue of feminism, femininity, does it matter how you’ve arrived at being a woman? For example, if you are a trans woman who grew up identifying as a man, who grew up enjoying the privileges of being a man, does that take away from you becoming a woman? Are you any less of a real woman?”
I mean, this was such a leading question and Chimamanda would’ve appeared petty if she told the interviewer that she had no interest in engaging with such a “controversial” question. Nevertheless, Chimamanda responded to the “twisted” question as honestly and clearly critically as she could. Furthermore, with the interviewer suggesting that trans women “grew up identifying as a man” - this is actual grounds for an outrage. I mean, where are the “angry trans women” when you need them?
The entire trans community should be utterly offended by the fact that the interviewer is suggesting here, that psychologically, a trans woman’s gender was somehow initially aligned with their sex assigned at birth. In other words, the interviewer is suggesting that at one point or another a trans woman once identified as a man. However, based on the novelist’s explanation, I gather that she was actually referring to the way in which the socially ascribed identity of male ( whether or not the gender norms associated with this sex is embraced or not) shaped the advantages/privileges that person experienced or lived prior to their transition.
Furthermore, the mere thought that a person “becomes” a woman should’ve been the first indication that this Channel 4 interviewer either does not have an understanding of gender identity politics, lacks awareness of the language associated with gender politics or is simply feigning awareness for the sake of controversy, viewership, subscriptions, likes and shares. At the bare minimum, it is as if she did not do the necessary groundwork. If we insist on getting mad at someone, it should be the Channel 4 interviewer - btw, what is her name?
The trans community ought to be focusing their attention and attacks in the direction of the Channel 4 interviewer (as well). Identity-wise, not only is the interviewer visibly white but she presents as woman and female. As a matter of fact, I strongly believe she should’ve directed such an uneducated question to herself. This is especially because Black women for some time have not been considered “woman” or even “feminine”. I mean, it’s almost as if there is a number of common ground/denominators that women of trans experience and Black women share: the fact that we are invisible and hardly considered woman.
I’d actually like to hear how the Channel 4 interviewer would’ve responded.
I’m not even sure how i’d respond.
Should I even would want to care to respond?
2) Are we not entitled to our perspectives anymore? When did it become so blasphemous to respond with critical statements to controversial questions posed to us? Are we the followers of a cult? Is “dissent” not allowed? Did we miss the part where Chimamanda made every effort to be “politically correct” whilst trying to remain honest about her understandings of gender politics? Have we forgotten that she once declared that she does not consider herself an “authority” on the matter?
We ought to do better. As a matter of fact, we ought to be mad at ourselves for expecting her to think the way we think.
Now, I wish to go into the second segment of my commentary and, based on the responses to Chimamanda’s “alternative” or “different” point of view, a number of people may find this offensive. This is however, not my aim. Rather, my aim is to facilitate critical self-reflection and ultimately the heightening of one’s critical consciousness. Self-reflection is not often an easy process but it is essential in the process of “acknowledging” and “overcoming” or even “embracing” the parts of ourselves that we or others may find “problematic”.
I have a question to ask trans women, and in actuality, this question could be asked to anyone (including myself as I believe all social identities are flexible) who challenge traditional and dominant social identities with our mere existence or our embodied self-identities that do not necessarily fit into the status quo:
1) Why are we so eager to "perform” traditional identities if the self-identities we embrace are not traditional, and at the same time get offended when people ask questions?
For example, identifying as a trans woman yet wanting to perform “traditional” gender norms associated with being woman. This manifests itself in for instance, the "goal” to be a “beautiful, feminine” woman. The “means” by which this goal is achieved is through performances of make-up application, heel-wearing and essentially engaging in what a friend of mine describes as “hyper-femininity”. Before I go on, I probably should ask where I might find other “kinds” of trans women as perhaps my understandings may be clouded by the most visible type of trans women in western media: the undeniably beautiful Janet Mock, Laverne Cox, Caitlyn Jenner, among others.
I’ve always wondered, if we agree that social identities are all socially constructed and are not biologically based, why do we insist on performing established norms if we are so unique? Is it simply because of our innate need to fit in - to identify with a group?
Socially constructed identities - whether embodied or not - are “not biology” as Chimamanda states, they are “sociology”. They are “sociology” because they are socially constructed and serve the function of enabling us to not only make sense of our social world, but also, to enable us to navigate our social world with the use of language and symbols which we attach to various objects and ourselves - the subjects.
Because these labels (and language in general) emerge with meanings attached, they shape how we experience the social world. That is, they shape how we treat (think and act towards) others and they also shape how we are treated. As a matter of fact, it is the outcomes of the interactions of our multiple social identities (race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, etc.), within a given context that form the basis of our unique social experiences.
We also must remember that the multiple identities we embody are configured differently. This is especially when we consider where and when our unique experiences emerge. They are so differently configured to the extent that an identity (your gender) that may be more important to you in any given context may not be as important to me as one of my “other” identities (my sexuality) in the same context. It is this fact alone that makes our experiences “not the same”.
I must say, I ask the question I asked knowing full well that the meanings of social constructs, labels or social categories change over time. I also ask in an effort to refrain from “making assumptions” about persons of trans experience.
See full interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP1C7VXUfZQ
What triggered my thoughts?
I live in a unique social, cultural, political and geographical context that has an emerging trans community fighting for visibility, tolerance and ultimately, understanding.
iMe
[edited]
#trans women#chimamanda ngozi adichie#interview#transgender#gender politics#gender positivity#channel 4#identity politics#politics of identity#chimamandaadichie#chimamanda#intersectionality#intersectional feminism
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Viola Davis: Im pretty fabulous
Her extraordinary performance in the upcoming Fences has seen Viola Davis tipped for an Oscar. But her success has taken a huge amount of self-belief. She tells Alex Clark why it is only through demanding respect that you get the parts you are due
Its the run-up to Christmas and everybody in Los Angeles, which to a Brit feels unseasonably sun-drenched, is bemoaning the chilly weather; as we settle down in the Beverly Hills hotel, Viola Davis draws a warm jacket around her shoulders. Not that shes complaining: throughout our conversation, she is determinedly upbeat, celebratory, optimistic. She radiates a sense of excitement and satisfaction that, at 51, all the hard work is really beginning to pay off.
Five years ago, when Davis was playing the role of the maid Aibileen in The Help, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award, she told me that, as a dark-skinned actress in Hollywood, she had done what it was at my hand to do, even if that didnt give her as much scope for her talents and energies as she would have liked. Ive had to sink my teeth into a role that was probably a fried-chicken dinner and make it into a filet mignon.
Now, with film roles coming out of her ears, the lead in the TV drama How To Get Away with Murder and her own production company, she is opposite Denzel Washington in the film adaptation of August Wilsons Pulitzer prize-winning play Fences. (After our meeting, she begins 2017 by winning a Golden Globe for her performance, saying in her acceptance speech that the film Doesnt scream moneymaker, but it does scream art and it does scream heart.) Surely the role of Rose Maxson is a filet mignon.
She bursts out laughing. This is absolutely a filet mignon a medium-well filet mignon. And Davis clearly relishes every bite: her performance as a wife and mother in 1950s Pittsburgh, struggling at every turn to hold her family together, to absorb the rage and disappointment of her husband Troy and to protect her sons innocence and ambition, is electrifying so involving that it invokes an almost physical response. We watch as Rose is beguiled and charmed by the charismatic, storytelling Troy, unable to chide him for his excesses without dissolving into mirth, and as she seeks to intercede on others behalves to limit the damage his temper and pride cause. It takes almost the whole film, however, for Rose to voice her own feelings and desires.
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That was the role of womanhood in the 50s, says Davis. You were an instrument for everyone elses joy except for your own. The 50s in America had the highest rate of alcoholism and depression. There were whole manuals out there that were being passed out about how to make your husband happy put on make-up when he walks through the door, after a long day of work, dont weigh him down with any of your problems, ask him about his problems, greet him with a smile, make sure the children are fed and theyre clean, his favourite meal is on the table, and nowhere in that manual is anything about her joy, and the centre of her happiness.
She has been here before, and with Washington; they are reprising the roles they played in the 2010 Broadway revival of the play, for which they both won Tony awards; and they are rejoined by Russell Hornsby and Mykelti Williamson as Troys son and brother respectively. Part of Wilsons 10-play Century Cycle, in which the playwright chronicled the experiences of African Americans decade by decade, Fences transition on to the big screen has taken so long because its author, who died in 2005, insisted that its director be black a simple demand revealingly hard to accomplish in Hollywood.
Now, Washington himself directs, and his key artistic choice is apparent the moment the film begins: he has preserved the works theatrical origins, with nearly all the action taking place in a confined domestic space, and dialogue ranging from quick-fire ensemble scenes to extended soliloquies. The effect is disconcerting we rarely see such unfiltered staginess on film but always riveting; there is not an inch of slack, a word wasted.
Davis herself has two show-stopping speeches, in which she first rails at life and at last attempts to make her peace with it. What was different about playing Rose this time around? She replies that she had been sitting with this narrative for so long and never quite got the ending until I did the movie. And I keep saying to myself that the reason I didnt get the end is because she is at a place that probably most of us as human beings never get to, and that is a place of forgiveness and grace. I think that most of us spend a lifetime holding on to the past, even when we feel like were letting go a bit.
Maid in Hollywood: a scene from The Help with Viola Davis as Aibileen Clark, and Bryce Dallas Howard and Ahna O Reilly. Photograph: Dale Robinette/DreamWorks
She holds close to the advice of psychiatrist Irvin D Yalom that one must give up all hope of a better past. Davis herself grew up in extreme poverty; she has spoken powerfully about the series of makeshift dwellings she, her parents and five siblings occupied in Rhode Island, about hunger and lack of sanitation, about her fathers violent abuse of her mother. The letting go seems to take two distinct but related forms: allowing herself to feel good about what she has achieved, and building platforms that will help broaden the possibilities for a new generation of actors, writers and directors of colour.
She cites her delight at seeing Shonda Rhimes, the producer behind Greys Anatomy, Scandal and How To Get Away with Murder, accepting a Norman Lear achievement award in Television last year. She said: I happily accept this award because I deserve it. I LOVE IT. Absolutely love it. Its the waking up and understanding that OK, you may not be the best person out there, but youve put in enough work to understand that you deserve what youve got, that that is what is at the end of hard work. The happily ever after comes after youve done the work. And to literally understand, especially as a woman, that a closed mouth doesnt get fed, youve got to ask for what you want and expect to get it.
I remark that its noticeable how often women play down their successes; how they will even deflect minor compliments on appearance. Why does she think that happens? I think tapping into ones power and ones potential is a very frightening thing, she replies. And for women its a very new thing. It is. I always used to feel that self-deprecation was an answer to humility that people would see me as a humble person the more I put myself down. And people do say that: Oh! I ran into so-and-so and they kept saying, Oh, my work in this really sucked, and they were great! I just thought it was so refreshing that they said that! And I often think to myself, what if someone says, You know what, Im confident, Im really happy about the work I did. I really felt like I gave it my best and it came out great, the same way men do. Why is that not seen as humble?
Motherhood has given me a different telescope to look at life: with husband Julius Tennon. Photograph: Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images
Her increasing ability to feel comfortable with her achievements is linked to an awareness of her emerging position as a figure of influence. The more Im pushed in a position of leadership and I know I have to be the mouthpiece for so many other people who cant speak for themselves, the more confidence Im gaining. And that extends to the way she views her own past and the more she shares her story. She explains: I can hear myself say, Oh yeah, I took the bus five hours just to get to the theatre, then took it five hours back, and Im listening to that, Im being an objective observer, and thinking to myself I did that? Its like looking at an old picture of yourself when you felt like you looked bad, and you go, Wow, I was fabulous! Thats how I feel about my life now that Im looking back at it, and Im like, Im pretty fabulous. I really am. Im pretty fabulous.
Back in 2011, when we talked about Daviss commitment largely via JuVee, the production company she founded with her husband, Julius Tennon to addressing the limited opportunities afforded people of colour by the entertainment industry, she expressed her hope we wouldnt be having the same conversation in five years time. Naturally, because challenging entrenched privilege takes time, we are, but it has shifted ground. Davis herself is scheduled to play the part of Harriet Tubman, who liberated slaves in the Civil War era, and to star in Steve McQueens Widows, a revisiting of Lynda LaPlantes TV series co-scripted by Gone Girls Gillian Flynn. Its not even a role that would be necessarily written for an African American, but not according to him. Hes like: Why not?
Davis brings up The Help, and says that although she loved making the film, she understands the criticisms levelled at it that women of colour were once again placed in the role of maids, and not portrayed as tapping into their anger as much as they could have. Tapping into all the things they could have been other than the maid. Partly, she thinks, that relates to the image of the black maid as a nurturer, a second mother, so that even within the movie, there are certain things that are not going to be explored, if it somehow messes up the memory of what the audience had, that perfect mother. She couldnt be angry. She couldnt be sexualised. Shes gotta stay that image that brings us comfort and joy knowing that we were loved and nothing more than that.
Davis loves the riposte to that one-dimensional figure provided by the character of Annalise Keating, the firecracker law professor, ambitious, potent and flawed, that she plays in How To Get Away with Murder. Its blowing the lid off everything that people say we should be, especially as a dark-skinned woman, that you cant be sexual, you cant be unlikable, you can be angry but with no vulnerability, you cant be damaged, you cant be smart. It blows the lid off all of it. And even if its not executed all the time in ways that people like, it doesnt matter. What matters is that shes out there. Thats it. Shes out there, shes on screen, shes making an impact.
In the 1950s women were an instrument for everyone elses joy except their own: Viola Davis with Denzel Washington in a scene from Fences. Photograph: David Lee/AP
Another fundamental has changed in the past five years; in 2011, she and Tennon adopted a baby, Genesis, who is even as we speak frolicking in a nearby hotel room. When Davis and I are done, her babysitters release the six-year-old to bound along the corridor and leap into her mothers arms, asking whether she can go and buy a swimming costume in the hotel boutique and head for the pool. Her mother observes that in such a luxurious joint, its a purchase that could easily come to a couple of hundred dollars, but concedes that theyll work something out (you imagine somebody might be despatched to Gap).
Davis combines motherhood which she says has changed her utterly, and given her a different telescope through which to see life with work by clever stratagems and good planning; often taking Genesis with her, only making one film a year, having a TV shooting schedule that allows her days off and free weekends. She claims to live by two mantras Im tired, and Im doing the best I can but she doesnt look remotely weary. And things might be about to get a whole lot busier. She was the first African American to win the outstanding lead actress in a drama series Emmy award for her role as Annalise Keating; alongside numerous other awards, she has hitherto been nominated for two Oscars for The Help and Doubt. But now her role as Rose Maxson is being spoken about as a cert for nomination and a very strong contender to win her an Academy Award come February. Has she allowed herself to think about it? She pauses, laughs, parries.
You know what I know about that? Because I dont know if thats going to happen or not. But what I will say about this is, and this is how I keep my perspective, whatever happens, Ive gotta go back to work. The carpets are going to be rolled up, the people are going to stop calling like that, and Ive gotta go back to work. And you cant bring that Oscar on a set, and that Oscar cant do the work for you. You gotta do it. Thats what Ill say.
Fences is released on 10 February
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