Superbowl commercials are signs of the times, pt. 1

February 8, 2010 · Leave a Comment

I was watching the Superbowl with a racial melange of people when this commercial came on:

The few black folks in the room all paused, and, mostly in confusion wondered if we had heard what we thought we just heard. Thanks to the future and the ability to rewind television, we watched it another 3 or 4 times and learned the baby was saying “milka what,” in response to the comment about someone (presumably her) being a “milkaholic”. We couldn’t get over the fact that “milka what” sounded strangely similar to “nucca what” which is a variation (if you will) of “nigga what”.

While I was discussing the commercial with a friend of mine, she pointed out that when black culture becomes widely accessible through media, lines about (in)appropriate usage and re-appropriation can become blurry. She cited the popularity of the saying “talk to the hand” in the 90s, as well as the use of “daps” and “pounds” to greet others as examples of black culture becoming absorbed by mainstream and popular culture. We talked about the fact that black culture can sometimes be such a part of mainstream culture that it is disconnected from its source and is recognized only as an ambiguous association within a popular culture built upon associations. That is, a particular saying, intonation, or movement that is derived from black culture can seem only vaguely familiar to non-black people, in the sense that they have ingested it in various forms through mass media but perhaps never experienced it within its original context (black spaces). (This can also be true for black people who experience ‘blackness’ as-we-know-it through media). Furthermore, once adopted by media, an expression that once existed within black communities begins to be reshaped, reimagined and given some kind of ‘new’ meaning through the process of being constantly reproduced.

Take, for example, the usage of “milka what” in this commercial. It is the intonation of the phrase, in addition to the body movement (the way she comes in from the side of the screen with a cocked head***) and the fact that “milka what” actually sounds like “nucca what” that makes it a play on something black. Whether that something is black culture “itself” or the representation of it within mass media is a little unclear (cue Art vs Reality). It could in fact be a play on mass media’s portrayal of black-person-with-attitude saying “nigga what,” which would make the commercial a reference to itself (an irony not uncommon in media within the last few years). Or it could be a reference to the use of “nigga what” that actually occurs within black communities. (Although these two things are not necessarily opposed).

It is not uncommon for black culture to be used and referenced in mainstream white culture as a source of entertainment. The auto-tune Bud Light commercial was a hip-hop reference (although auto-tune existed before T-Pain, he is its most accessible representative in our chronically short-term collective memory.) And references to things that were at some point black are not, per se, always problematic. But when is the line crossed?

Perhaps with a baby embodying half the gamut of white media’s black stereotypes and referencing an expression with the n-word in it? Entertainment that relies on racial (mis)conceptions/(mis)understandings/stereotypes cannot exist without a serious commitment to education and anti-racism (READ chappelle show, and the boondocks). Thus, this commercial, while in humor (or something?), is inappropriate because it depends on potentially problematic understandings of how “race” is performed for its appeal and plays on a word that has an extremely violent racial history.

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***I realize she’s a baby, and therefore, someone was probably holding her in order for this movement to be achieved. so the question of how much her body movement was choreographed doesn’t necessarily have a clear answer. however, the fact that the commercial as-is made it to TV let’s us know the end product was, at the least, satisfactory.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: Culture? · Race

Love, Difference and Disability in Avatar

January 18, 2010 · 3 Comments

Thoughts on James Cameron’s Avatar:

1. Identification based on race and (believe it or not) disability

It was a very welcomed change that the protagonist of Avatar, Jake Sully, was not an able-bodied person (when in human form). It is very rare to see characters with [physical] disabilities in movies at all, much less the main character. Furthermore, it is rare, and difficult, for people to accept it when disabled, including ‘impaired’ (ie deaf) individuals are assholes in movies. Able-bodied viewers are troubled by this because A) they expect people with physical, sensory, or otherwise limiting impairments to be quieter, or more amiable, or somehow “act their part” and B) they are put in the uncomfortable position of possibly disliking the disabled character, which they would rather not do. In Avatar, the viewer is positioned to identify with Sully, even though, for the majority of the film, he’s an asshole. He doesn’t listen to Dr. Augustine which is how he ends up lost, nor does he listen to Neytiri upon meeting. The whole time he’s in Pandora he has ulterior motives, which take the bench to his romance but are always present and acknowledged by him. We cut him slack because Neytiri sees something special about him, but the fact is he’s not too great of a guy, based on what we’ve seen so far.

Yet he is portrayed favorably throughout. Keep reading →

→ 3 CommentsCategories: Culture? · Film · Race
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White Rapper Quota Has Been Reached

January 17, 2010 · 2 Comments

I started this post June 30, 2009 and for some reason never finished it nor published it. So here it is. As it was. From the vault.

OK so, I was in the club a couple of weeks ago (first mistake), and I heard this song.

The thing is, this song by The Lonely Island is a joke (i guess?), but as far as I’m concerned Asher Roth is as much of a joke as them and he’s not supposed to be (I don’t think?). Keep reading →

→ 2 CommentsCategories: Culture? · Music

If You See The Vulture Coming

January 16, 2010 · Leave a Comment

New Gil Scott-Heron.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: Great to look at · Music · Some Creative Energy

Riot Grrrls in the Libraries (and Jazz at the Lincoln Center)

January 12, 2010 · Leave a Comment

bikini kill

Kathleen Hanna, one of the founding members of bands Bikini Kill and (more recently) Le Tigre, has made a sizable donation to New York University. According to an internal announcement from NYU’s library system, Keep reading →

→ Leave a CommentCategories: Culture? · Education · Music

Totally OT: my deejay stuff.

December 29, 2009 · 3 Comments

so much for that whole blogger anonymity thing i was going for a while back. so long, potentially intriguing mystique.

when you have a minute, and if your heart, eye, and ear so fancy, crawl over to my lil’ dj website. shout me a holler, listen to music, check back for updates, come out for events, ooh even friend me on myspace!

> > > > dj jalen < < < <

i promise i’ll get back to the business of writing real blogs about adult things like Politics and Society really really soon

sincerely

→ 3 CommentsCategories: Music · Totally OT
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PT: Ski featuring Mos Def – Taxi

December 6, 2009 · 2 Comments

not to be confused with potty-trained. or part-time. or pupil teacher. it’s popped tape.

a lot of product shots in this video, you’d almost think krk and technics put up some sponsorship $. glad dame is comfortable enough with his dad belly to wear my little sister’s tee.

→ 2 CommentsCategories: Popped Tape · Some Creative Energy

How Easy It Is For Me to Not Enjoy Chris Brown Anymore

December 6, 2009 · 4 Comments

I’ve been spending time in cars lately. Coincidentally a lot of that time has been in the state of Virginia, Chris Brown’s home state, which means, well, a lot of Chris Brown. I didn’t make a deliberate decision when Chris Brown beat Rihanna up to not enjoy his music anymore (some of my friends would stop dancing at parties when he was played), but last night I realized that well.. i just don’t. Keep reading →

→ 4 CommentsCategories: Culture? · Music

1977

December 1, 2009 · 4 Comments

Gwen Fontaine and Huey Newton (m. 1974 – 1983)

→ 4 CommentsCategories: Great to look at

Popped Tape? : Kev Brown

November 23, 2009 · Leave a Comment

it’s not really fair to call this little segment popped tape since it’s not always music i’m playing out. it’s just as often stuff that i come across and think is interesting.

… like this video for kev brown’s “another random joint”. it’s beautifully shot and something about the deliverance is just charming. photographed by Apex and edited by Roddy Rod.

by way of filthy speaker addict.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: Great to look at · Popped Tape