Dance Dance Revolution, henceforth referred to as DDR, is quite the strange book (anthology?). Now, we've discussed weirder stuff before (tbt Dura), but compared to everything else we've read up until this point, DDR is a different beast.
The main feature of the book is the unique language: Desert Creole, a combination of English, Korean, Spanish, Latin, and a smattering of other languages. Interestingly, as noted in the Foreword, "civilian accents morph so quickly that their accents betray who they talked to that day rather than their cultural roots". This sets the stage for what will presumably be a collection of poems that discuss this fascinating world, so unlike our own.
Already, from our reading of the first poems, the St. Petersburg Hotel series, I see how important language will be throughout this book. Another interesting bit that I would like to note is how the difficulty in understanding Desert Creole forces me to reread parts of the poems over and over again. Yet when I read things over a second time, sometimes I get a different impression than I did the first time. This rapidly morphing and evolving meaning is unsurprisingly parallel to the rapidly changing Desert Creole. Pretty cool.
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
On Everything Before Us
I had the pleasure of viewing Everything Before Us for the second time in this class, having seen it over the summer with friends. Though my feelings for the movie weren't as strong (it's hard to really be involved in a romance-drama when you know what's coming), I still definitely enjoyed the movie even on the second watch.
What we discussed in class, and what I find is an incredibly interesting question, is why Asian-Americans were casted for all four lead roles and what effect this has on the viewer. For me, personally, I felt that this was a commentary, even a push back against the Asian "robot" stereotype that is frequently explored. Rather than one-dimensional robots that simply pump emotionless work out, as Asians are frequently portrayed in other media, Everything Before Us attempts to paint Asians in the exact opposite light--as overly emotional (saccharine, as Mr. Khactu says) creatures. To complete the role reversal, the white characters are the robots in this story (ha, get it, Robot Stories). Henry, Ben's best friend, is the one obsessed with maintaining a high EI score and seems to view everything through the lens of how it will affect one's EI score.
My response to the second part of the question is that it forces the viewer to rethink things. Oftentimes, especially in the movie industry, where racial stereotypes run amuck, it's easy just to see characters and pigeonhole them into their respective roles. By breaking these molds, Everything Before Us gets the viewer to do a double take and really focus in on the details of the movie.
What we discussed in class, and what I find is an incredibly interesting question, is why Asian-Americans were casted for all four lead roles and what effect this has on the viewer. For me, personally, I felt that this was a commentary, even a push back against the Asian "robot" stereotype that is frequently explored. Rather than one-dimensional robots that simply pump emotionless work out, as Asians are frequently portrayed in other media, Everything Before Us attempts to paint Asians in the exact opposite light--as overly emotional (saccharine, as Mr. Khactu says) creatures. To complete the role reversal, the white characters are the robots in this story (ha, get it, Robot Stories). Henry, Ben's best friend, is the one obsessed with maintaining a high EI score and seems to view everything through the lens of how it will affect one's EI score.
My response to the second part of the question is that it forces the viewer to rethink things. Oftentimes, especially in the movie industry, where racial stereotypes run amuck, it's easy just to see characters and pigeonhole them into their respective roles. By breaking these molds, Everything Before Us gets the viewer to do a double take and really focus in on the details of the movie.
On Betrayal
The last major theme of OSAF that I would like to cover is betrayal. Betrayal runs rampant throughout the entire story, though the most shocking instance occurs at the end (spoilers).
From the very beginning, Fan's departure from B-Mor is seen as betrayal by some. She abandons her duty, abandons the fish that are the very pride of B-Mor and its reason for existence. At the same time, B-Mor betrays Reg by giving him away to the Charter villages, to the experimenters who see him as nothing more than a guinea pig. We move on through Quig's tragic past and his ultimately turning Fan over to Vik, not to mention the creepy Circus Family and Fan's supposed near betrayal of Quig. And finally, we run into the ultimate betrayal, where Bo Liwei, Fan's blood relative, uses her as nothing more than an instrument to be used for his own success.
Why is betrayal so prevalent in this story? As I have mentioned in my previous few posts, I again hypothesize that this is a product of the society of OSAF and its shift toward the ultimate pursuit of material success. The scariest prospect is that our society today is seemingly veering toward a future like this as we push ourselves harder and harder to succeed with each generation. I suppose that this is one of the greatest strengths of OSAF: its ability to be just relatable enough to the real world to see obvious parallels, yet unrealistic enough to appreciate it as a piece of fiction.
From the very beginning, Fan's departure from B-Mor is seen as betrayal by some. She abandons her duty, abandons the fish that are the very pride of B-Mor and its reason for existence. At the same time, B-Mor betrays Reg by giving him away to the Charter villages, to the experimenters who see him as nothing more than a guinea pig. We move on through Quig's tragic past and his ultimately turning Fan over to Vik, not to mention the creepy Circus Family and Fan's supposed near betrayal of Quig. And finally, we run into the ultimate betrayal, where Bo Liwei, Fan's blood relative, uses her as nothing more than an instrument to be used for his own success.
Why is betrayal so prevalent in this story? As I have mentioned in my previous few posts, I again hypothesize that this is a product of the society of OSAF and its shift toward the ultimate pursuit of material success. The scariest prospect is that our society today is seemingly veering toward a future like this as we push ourselves harder and harder to succeed with each generation. I suppose that this is one of the greatest strengths of OSAF: its ability to be just relatable enough to the real world to see obvious parallels, yet unrealistic enough to appreciate it as a piece of fiction.
On Strange Characters
Today is the day I round off my blog I suppose, given that our winter class has officially concluded as of today. Given that I'm 5 (6?) blog posts behind at the moment, expect lots of content.
In this post I address the issue of strange characters in OSAF. It's incredibly odd how many of them there are--Quig, Miss Cathy, the Circus Family, Vik, Oliver, Betty, the creepy-eyed girls. Even Fan herself is very strange (never speaks yet has a magnetic personality, manages to stay physically fit while pregnant for how long?). What's even stranger to me is why all of these characters manage to be so strange in a supposed utopia (or at the very least, a society farther into the future than we are).
Quite a few of these characters are successful men and women in Charter villages, and are therefore citizens of the highest class. Our description of those in the Charter villages tells us that they are the best of the best, those who rise to the top of the facilities and those who have been groomed toward perfection from an early age. Yet, these are the same characters who are so shockingly strange. And not just by our standards--any man who would be okay with his wife having an affair would be an outlier in any generation.
My hunch is that this unrelenting pressure to succeed in the Charters in every conceivable way leads to a few loose screws. Thoughts?
In this post I address the issue of strange characters in OSAF. It's incredibly odd how many of them there are--Quig, Miss Cathy, the Circus Family, Vik, Oliver, Betty, the creepy-eyed girls. Even Fan herself is very strange (never speaks yet has a magnetic personality, manages to stay physically fit while pregnant for how long?). What's even stranger to me is why all of these characters manage to be so strange in a supposed utopia (or at the very least, a society farther into the future than we are).
Quite a few of these characters are successful men and women in Charter villages, and are therefore citizens of the highest class. Our description of those in the Charter villages tells us that they are the best of the best, those who rise to the top of the facilities and those who have been groomed toward perfection from an early age. Yet, these are the same characters who are so shockingly strange. And not just by our standards--any man who would be okay with his wife having an affair would be an outlier in any generation.
My hunch is that this unrelenting pressure to succeed in the Charters in every conceivable way leads to a few loose screws. Thoughts?
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