#tw anti MENA

[menalez]

hey mena! if you're still keeping hetfem receipts this should definitely be added (tw lesbophobia and all while in a patronizing way at that)

"We can't control that; it's innate. Some of you, upon grappling with this fact, immediately jump straight to the incel way of doing things and begin slinging the aforementioned colorful monikers (ahem, sexualized anti-woman slurs aforementioned in this blog post) for only being attracted to men instead of you." https://www.tumblr.com/stillarandom-radfem/722250253431095297/this-post-is-going-to-cause-controversy-here-on

yikes that line is especially bad

[felucians]

watching the newest captain america which is our FIRST movie with Sam Wilson as Captain America, be titled with a very loud antisemetic dogwhistle (New World Order / like who greenlighted that?) and have a Jewish man cast as the villain.

And have a zionist Israeli superhero who in the comics doesn't see arab people and children as real people and is actively named after a massacre committed that Israel has been OFFICIALLY NAMED indirectly responsible for (Sabra / see Sabra and Shantila massacre in Lebanon, with majority Lebanese and Palestinian victims. Occurred in late 1982). This massacre happened during my parents lifetime, even if the character was kept, a name change should happen as a bare minimum.

For a movie that I had hoped would strive for leaps in representation after the groundwork of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier series did in addressing racism and setting up plotlines and plotpoints to take the next captain america series into several directions - the one this movie is going in is incredibly disappointing.

The message of criticism to Israel and it's corrupt government will be lost, along with anti-arab and antisemetic sentiments taking the forefront. This movie seems to be a cluster of anti-MENA/anti-SWANA motives, which is absolutely horrific considering yesterday was one of the dates of the year with the highest anti-MENA/anti-SWANA and islamophobic sentiments, alongside growing islamophobia in the western world with ISIS at the forefront of everyone's memories - as in the UK especially with the recent uncovering of Canadian forces grooming and smuggling young girls like Shamima Begum out of the country and into supremacist groups.

I can almost guarantee this movie will cement anti-MENA/anti-SWANA sentiments in the Western world and media, with repercussions to our diasporas. We can only hope they have the conscience to fix some of the highlighted problems receiving backlash or that they have enough Jewish and Arab people on the team that this movie won't be regurgitated propaganda.

(The only reason I'm even considering seeing the movie on my family's already paid for disney+ is because I want Anthony Mackie's first protagonist movie to be successful so he can continue to be positive representation within marvel and I don't wish for this movie to be his last as an active protagonist).

[horriblyunprepared]

So, I personally don’t like the term “islamophobia” because a) it makes the issue primarily about the religion of Islam rather than Arab/SWANA/Asian people and b) it gives racists an out.

And I’ve heard people talk about how much they hate Islam because they think it’s a bad religion or their “against organized religion”

But really the problem is that these people hate not just Muslims but people that are Arab/SWANA/Asian

When people in North America talk about Asians and anti-Asian racism, they’re typically ONLY talking about East Asian people, which I guess is fine

But what I’m saying is that we really need a way to talk about the experiences of and Arab/SWANA people without equating our very varied identities to Islam

I know that, according to the US gov, SWANA people are considered white, but the fact of the matter is that we aren’t treated as white, we experience RACISM not on the grounds of religion but on the grounds of appearance and culture.

Calling us white makes it really difficult for us to talk about our experiences of racism and excludes us from diversity initiatives and other initiatives that are meant to be corrective of racial injustice.

Using the word “islamophobia” racializes the religion of Islam, which can be practiced by anyone regardless of race. People use islamophobia to talk about racism against Arab/SWANA people, which I feel is inaccurate for that reason and because people tend not to use it where it actually does apply when East Asian Muslims are involved, because East Asian Muslims may not fit the stereotypical “Muslim” appearance which is...just Arab/SWANA people...

[victimhood]

My TOG cast and crew movie reviews

Ok so watching TOG revived the part of me that LOVES indie-ish/European Arthouse films and I blitzed through a bunch with more to come! Idk who this review serves but I just had to explode in writing or...the feelings would go nowhere.

Love and Basketball

My movie rating: 4 / 5

Favourite parts: the conflict between a tomboy sports loving protagonist and a conventional homemaking mother. To sound cliched, this is the sort of thing only a woman filmmaker can bring out in her films. There’s so much nuance and tension expressed in all the individual women in the film and where that lies in the enforced dichotomy of woman/not a woman--thereby highlighting that IT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN A DICHOTOMY all of these are in the broad spectrum of womanly behaviors bc they come from women!!! The ending where a husband supports his wife in HER basketball game? LOVE THAT. Music choices are also A++ in this film.

The film also provides some insight into respectability politics--here we have an NBA player who wants his son to do something more conventionally “respectable”. I am not American nor am I Black so someone with more insight would be able to speak to this better, but even so as an audience I could feel it!

TOG cast rating: none, bc it’s the director!! This is Gina Prince-Bythewood’s breakout film but you can palpably feel that she poured her heart and perhaps some of her life experiences in this film!

Martin Eden

My movie rating: 3.5 / 5

Don’t understand the movie, slightly put off by the Nietzschean individualist philosophy. Doubly so after I read that the author of the book (Jack London) is a socialist?? (FTR so am I so like...I’ve had enough of white male indivudalism!!) Stuff like that always reminds me of (500) Days of Summer which is anti-manic pixie dream girl and yet is beloved by aspiring MPDG-philes. Here is a quote from the author himself: London wrote, "One of my motifs, in this book, was an attack on individualism (in the person of the hero). I must have bungled it, for not a single reviewer has discovered it."

Though I have not read the book, I hope the movie is a little more pronounced, in the unraveling of the eponymous protagonist. Luca gives an impressive show of his Acting Range as the protagonist moves through life and goes through a whole bunch of political beliefs in reaction to the situation around him.

I love movies that show the impoverished side of Europe though. The movie does a good job of showing the class conflict within society--at the end of the day, the Martin Eden that has risen through the social ladder is a self-despising man. The bread mopping scene is great, and truly, there is no love for Luca Martinelli like the camera’s love for Luca Martinelli. I love Luca’s bad teeth in this too. Dental health is possibly one of the most obvious, yet most unremarked markers of social class. Nice detail.

TOG cast rating: 5/5 Luca really carries this film on his broaaaaad shoulders. Thank you Luca. Thank you Pietro, for making a movie that lingers so lovingly on Luca’s face, inspiring many a writer to pen horny paeans to the Roman nose and the Byzantine eyes. I even saw one about the lop of hair over the eyes. Yes….watching Luca is a very physiological experience.

They Call Me Jeeg (Lo Chiamavano Jeeg Robot)

My movie rating: 4 / 5

Ok this movie is quite male-gazey in the conventional action movie way. Moments where the damsel is in distress are filmed in a somewhat titillating manner. That aside, the damsel in distress does get a moment of glory, though it shortly precedes her death. The hero of the film I also found not too groundbreaking. He starts out as a thief but is given superpowers, and he’s mostly a sad loser who watches too much porn in his free time, though the damsel’s belief in him helps turn him around to the greater good. The story moves at a quick pace and with twists and turns at each corner which help the enjoyability rating.

Really, the standout of this movie is the villain. Fabio (Lo Zingaro) is fantastically deranged, in a style that surpasses the Joker. The only thing I truly have to say about this movie is that the moment where Lo Zingaro barges in on the hero and the camera POV switches from third person to first person and the hero is on the verge of fainting but all he sees is Lo Zingaro saying “Ciao”.........reader, I am speaking from the afterlife. Again, truly, there is no love for Luca Marinelli like the camera’s love for Luca Marinelli. My heart stopped when I saw Fabio’s face in such a tender, loving proximity...and yet...he is deranged...he wants to kill you….TAKE ME NOW FABIO I AM YOURS *lovelorn Victorian sigh*

Perhaps I might issue a CW that there is a trans character in the film. The character doesn’t appear for too long, and I think the portrayal is mostly neutral to borderline negative for playing to stereotypes. The damsel in distress’s story carries a huge TW for sexual abuse and incest.

TOG cast rating: 5/5 just for that 1st person POV scene alone--that was life changing. I did not expect to be greeted so intimately by a completely deranged motherfucker. I want it as my phone wallpaper.

A Bigger Splash

My movie rating: 4.5 / 5

I loooooooved Bigger Splash so much?? But this is because I love Tilda Swinton and I love Ralph Fiennes. While watching this, I don’t know why, but I just kept thinking, aaaaand this guy is also Voldemort (Fiennes). I love the implausibility and yet here we are.

Matthias is so boyfriend-shaped in this movie, I wanted to snuggle up against him and have him care for me. He’s a wonderful boyfriend, and Ralph Fiennes’s character truly, is the Most Annoying Mansplainer type ever, like, you’ve probably met that type, who thinks he’s slick and loves the sound of his own voice and I 100% related when Matthias’s character just...has had enough of Ralph Fiennes’s character. But oopsie, the rest is a spoiler.

THE SOUNDTRACK IS AWESOME also it’s got St Vincent covering the Rolling Stones and St Vincent is the lesbian guitar hero of your dreams, please give St Vincent more love.

TOG cast rating: 5 / 5 Matthias is butt naked in the opening scenes of the movie, and then he appears full frontal nude later on. But mostly he just looks so snuggly like a big boyfriend hoodie.

Rabat

My movie rating: 4 / 5

Wow ok I LOVED THIS ONE A LOT. Idk what I was expecting, but it was a beautiful, beautiful ride. It’s a perfect expression of the “roadtrip story” form. It’s got the adventure, the hijinks, the conflict and the “transformative growth” that comes out of the conflict. It’s about the MENA immigrant experience in Europe, and though from a different community as someone who’s had the immigrant experience myself I loved the part where they talk about people back home thinking they’re rich for having moved abroad. Yet--in many white-dominated countries, non-white immigrants live under an incredibly bulletproof glass ceiling and moving “upward” in society is a pipe dream. I loved when the main character Nadir mentions his dad’s taxi being a reliable source of income for the past 15 years. I think it’s such a warm and human film played by very warm and human characters, and [mild spoiler] I CACKLED SO MUCH at how Nadir “resolves” the question of marriage--I can’t go into too much detail bc the movie builds up to this but I LAUGHED SO MUCH. It’s the blend of total inappropriateness delivered in the most sincere package played to perfection.

TOG cast rating: 3/5 criminally underused Marwan bc he is not the main character. Marwan is a womanizing, alcohol-loving Tunisian friend in this story who buys a...bootleg? Hugo Boss suit for 200 Euros and then rips it up to form shorts bc the weather is too hot. The story implies he has a more complex backstory re: his relationship to his father as well as having impregnated a girl and escaping paternal responsibility for that but doesn’t give us much more. At one point, one character remarks that he would do “horrible” things (implying sexual interest) to Marwan’s character and ALAS I MUST AGREE.

...AAAAAND we’ll have more to come!! I promised a friend to watch Beale Street together so it’s gonna take a while for that to happen thx covid.

[nerdyqueerandjewish]

hi hi, forgive the seeming lack of context for this ask,but i oddly trust you?? Last week my grandfather was buried, and we listened to some recordings he made detailing his experiencing his life as an Egyptian Jew. I wanted to tell you this because one of the things about which he was clearly most upset was the fact that after Israel was formed, he was forced out of his home (Cairo). I wondered if you knew anything I could read about this, or about fellow jews in similar situations. Thank you x

hi - sorry same anon - i didn't have room to say but my grandfather, grandmother & their siblings were heavily in trouble bc they were socialists Jews, and bc my grandmother's father was an outspoken anti-Nazi activist. In the forties they were imprisoned, and after that, my great aunt was abused in custody for a year before she escaped to france. Their judaism was important to them, and even though they lost their faith, they held tight to their culture and named their children 'jewish'.

Thank you for your message, and maybe some followers of mine have more specific information recommendations as history isn’t a huge strength of mine or have similar family histories that they would be willing to talk about

I was aware that there were expulsions of jews throughout MENA, but I didn’t know the timeline of when they were or the specifics. I did find this overview of Jewish history in Egypt from Jewish virtual library which gives a broad overview that might be helpful and I also found this personal peice from someone who was born in Egypt, jailed, and deported for being Jewish during the Six Day War, Our Passports Were Stamped “Exit With No Return”. (Tw: shoah, pogroms, tourture, sexual abuse). While the six day war is in 1967 and Israel was created in 1948, he does write about the escalation of antisemitism and xenophobia leading up to that point which I found insightful.

It sounds like your family has shown a lot of strength throughout the generations. Be gentle with yourself, because it sounds like all this learning would be an intense experience. May your grandfather’s memory be a blessing