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we wear the mask
Oct. 30th, 2008 03:32 pmTo see the panels themselves, go here.
You know what? The more I think about the Brown Bomber in Justice League of American #26, the more... irked I feel.
It's a white guy. Who says the words "Black Power". And turns into a black guy. Which may or may not actually have been mocking a former character idea from the 70s, but that is totally beside the point.
It gives new literal meaning to 'We wear the mask' and passing and double concsiousness. And dammit. It's just... ugh. The way it was done wasn't... it didn't leave me going 'oh they obviously know what things they are playing with and are mocking mockishness yadda'. It left me going 'jesus fuck, don't they fucking know history and culture?'
Usurping a black person's identity is what it is. And I can't help but apply it to black people's identity in general. And the whole thing is just fucked up.
I just wish Vixen's reaction would have been more... disdainful and dismissive than it was. So that it condemned the idea that white people do not/should not control whether black people are seen or have a purpose.
It didn't explicitly do that, but it's honestly a way to interpret it. It was probably far less offensive than I'm making it, but it leads me down this path. And I still think it was a stupid and dangerous and offensive character idea anyway.
In an African Philosophy class I took, we talked about words. Like the N word is okay for people who are black to say, but very much NOT OKAY for someone else to say. The black person saying it takes away its power... sort of. Though it still depends on the connotation. And my thoughts are too murky to really explain it, argh.
So when Brown Bomber was all "affirmative action hire"? I'm like 'wtf!' as Vixen is both black AND a woman. It's all kinds of 'you just fill a quota, honey, even though hey, I fill that quota too, BUT I CAN PASS AS WHITE AND AM A MAN'. klasdjfl;jskdf That is not relating. That is acting like you've gained power over people and you DESERVE that power just because society has told you you're supposed to. Fuck that.
I can't help reading too much into it either, dammit. I was an African-American Studies major for chrissakes. It was my PURPOSE to look at underlying meanings in literature and history and philosophy.
Argh. I just feel irked.
And also, there's a Non-fandom-multi-fandom friending meme.
You know what? The more I think about the Brown Bomber in Justice League of American #26, the more... irked I feel.
It's a white guy. Who says the words "Black Power". And turns into a black guy. Which may or may not actually have been mocking a former character idea from the 70s, but that is totally beside the point.
It gives new literal meaning to 'We wear the mask' and passing and double concsiousness. And dammit. It's just... ugh. The way it was done wasn't... it didn't leave me going 'oh they obviously know what things they are playing with and are mocking mockishness yadda'. It left me going 'jesus fuck, don't they fucking know history and culture?'
Usurping a black person's identity is what it is. And I can't help but apply it to black people's identity in general. And the whole thing is just fucked up.
I just wish Vixen's reaction would have been more... disdainful and dismissive than it was. So that it condemned the idea that white people do not/should not control whether black people are seen or have a purpose.
It didn't explicitly do that, but it's honestly a way to interpret it. It was probably far less offensive than I'm making it, but it leads me down this path. And I still think it was a stupid and dangerous and offensive character idea anyway.
In an African Philosophy class I took, we talked about words. Like the N word is okay for people who are black to say, but very much NOT OKAY for someone else to say. The black person saying it takes away its power... sort of. Though it still depends on the connotation. And my thoughts are too murky to really explain it, argh.
So when Brown Bomber was all "affirmative action hire"? I'm like 'wtf!' as Vixen is both black AND a woman. It's all kinds of 'you just fill a quota, honey, even though hey, I fill that quota too, BUT I CAN PASS AS WHITE AND AM A MAN'. klasdjfl;jskdf That is not relating. That is acting like you've gained power over people and you DESERVE that power just because society has told you you're supposed to. Fuck that.
I can't help reading too much into it either, dammit. I was an African-American Studies major for chrissakes. It was my PURPOSE to look at underlying meanings in literature and history and philosophy.
Argh. I just feel irked.
And also, there's a Non-fandom-multi-fandom friending meme.
