We spoke of hegemony and the power of the media two days ago. Already, I've seeing the world differently, but something about Saturday's discourse really kicked my ass, to be blunt. The visual representation of Middle Earth as Europe, maybe? The idea of Hegemony itself, which I had somehow never explored?
I guess this is all hitting me really hard. I feel overwhelmed by sudden realizations everywhere I look.
I tried to read a popcorn fantasy novel to take my mind off of it, and instead, I'm noticing more and more the inherent racism in my contemporary fantasy, the stories that are whispered through our societies- the hidden messages of what is normal and what is not, what is good and what is bad, even subconsciously. Every word I read, every character archetype I encountered- even in this fantastical imaginary world, it mirrored the truths of our own society.
I tried to watch a romantic comedy, cynically aware that I probably wouldn't enjoy it as I had enjoyed such movies in the past. I picked 'Penelope' at random from Netflix.
As I watched, the story was about a girl with a pig's nose and ears. Otherwise everything a person 'should' be (IE, rich, white, kind, intelligent, drop dead gorgeous even with the damn pig's nose,) men would literally run screaming at her 'ghastly' appearance and have to be strong-armed into not alerting the media to the young woman's horrifying deformities. She has been raised in utter seclusion her entire life because of this.
She 'comes out' and it is presented as this WONDERFUL, EMPOWERING THING that this horrifying monster woman can be accepted by mainstream society! Yay women's rights, we are EMPOWERED because even an ugly chick can be seen in public!! WOW!
The curse is eventually lifted, and she can then start a romance with the romantic interest, who was not of the correct social class to marry her and supposedly lift the curse. It is AMAZING because, like, he would have married her EVEN WITH THE PIG NOSE! WOW! What a guy!!
... I am appalled. A fictional talented rich intelligent white good-natured woman is seen as deeply shameful because of one physical flaw, to the point where every victory she encounters is all about overcoming the adversity of her 'hideous appearance'. Everything she does is in spite of being 'ugly'. What the fuck. OBVIOUSLY a woman's primary value is in her appearance, and, if her appearance does not strictly conform to a rigid idea of modern beauty, anything she DOES manage to do is an incredible feat because, oh my god, she's ugly.
You know what?
I probably would have watched that a week ago, shrugged, thought 'cute movie', and never thought about it again.
These messages are so insidious that I haven't even heard them consciously before. The moral of the story is that if you can somehow find it within you to love yourself despite being ugly, maybe you can be pretty. The outwardly stated moral is apparently one of self esteem and 'inner beauty' or something- I don't even know, it's so distressing that I have a bitter taste on my tongue.
The story of who we're supposed to be is fed to us day in and out, it's just incredible. Who would we be if we weren't born into this culture?
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