Worthwhile Reads

When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like This?

Regarding Avatar and District 9:
“These are movies about white guilt. Our main white characters realize that they are complicit in a system which is destroying aliens, AKA people of color – their cultures, their habitats, and their populations. The whites realize this when they begin to assimilate into the “alien” cultures and see things from a new perspective. To purge their overwhelming sense of guilt, they switch sides, become “race traitors,” and fight against their old comrades. But then they go beyond assimilation and become leaders of the people they once oppressed. This is the essence of the white guilt fantasy, laid bare. It’s not just a wish to be absolved of the crimes whites have committed against people of color; it’s not just a wish to join the side of moral justice in battle. It’s a wish to lead people of color from the inside rather than from the (oppressive, white) outside.”

Posted Dec 23, 12:21 PM

Peek-a-boo, I See You

“[M]any others have pointed out the fact that a significant part of the appeal of the Japanese pleasure industry lies in its capacity to transport the spectators or participants, male as well as female, into an imaginary space that escapes the severe everyday constraints imposed by work and social and familial responsibility.”

“In this context, hentai purposefully exists within a space where narrative fantasy and psychoanalytic phantasy can meet; where sexuality and sexed bodies are commodified, meant to sensually and sexually arouse and yet remain unposessed and unattainable.”

Am I the only one who finds this stuff fascinating?

Posted Nov 2, 09:02 AM

Film industry starts landmark piracy case

“Australians who share pirated movies online could have their internet connections cancelled [sic] under a legal claim that got underway in a Sydney court today.”

When will these people learn… I’m not going to pay $30 for a DVD that I watch once, especially when I’m forced to sit through an anti piracy message! I’ve given up renting them because they’re always scratched and there’s nothing worse than getting half way through a riveting film and being unable to see the end.

Set up a web site, charge a few dollars for a high quality download and you’ll make millions of dollars. Some people will share it, true. That’s an unfortunate cost of your business. But most people want just convenience and you seem intent on making watching a movie a real pain in the ass.

Posted Oct 6, 05:30 PM

In the Realm of the Senses

We’ve just watched the 1976 film “In the Realm of the Senses,” an explicit film about Sada Abe and her relationship with Kichizo Ishida. Well worth watching, although it’s understandably controversial. If you’re easily offended or have a weak stomach, give this one a miss.

Posted Sep 19, 08:24 PM

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