Other good/great movies from 2011: Haywire, The Adventures of Tintin, You’re Next(technically), Midnight in Paris, Oslo August 31st, Kill List, Drive, Bellflower, The Guard, Alps, Into the Abyss, Margin Call, Take This Waltz.
I don’t think it’s a question of the definition of the word “ghetto”. Jamie Foxx originally announced – accidentally or I guess maybe as a kind of protest – that “Straight Outta Compton” won for best score (https://youtu.be/dDamNU0hqoc?t=43) before correcting himself. A lot of people I’m sure were surprised it didn’t win that award, then Tarantino unrelatedly blurts (as he does) “that ghetto” in his speech. Racism in the awards season was already on everyone’s minds and it just sounded bad.
Probably the worst thing that could come out of this controversy is white people taking the opportunity to lecture black people on the meaning of the word, which is pretty close to how I was going to originally respond.
I agree that white privilege is a thing that exists and I think about my own and how it relates to my life quite a bit. That said, I wish the accepted term for the concept was a bit less obnoxious-sounding than white privilege so that more people would be willing to get on board rather than dismiss the notion as discriminatory, which I don’t think it is.
White advantage?
I agree “white privilege” doesn’t work because it too easily conjures up images of rich people on a yacht being fed grapes. People immediately reject that. “My life isn’t privileged!”
I have to say, I never saw Carol as being predatory. I think you guys are not considering the fact that no one thought that a relationship between two people of the same gender was possible at the time, not even gay people. Hell, I remember in the early 90’s when I first came out. You don’t know who is a viable option and who isn’t. You have to speak in code, in a way that’s clear to someone in the know that you’re interested in something beyond friendship, while at the same time having some plausible deniability. So leaving the gloves leads to a thank you lunch, lleads to come to my place. There really isn’t any other option. They can’t just casually date and see where it goes from there.
One is that I totally agree with a poster above who suggests that white privilege be renamed white advantage. Of course, some people will never want to confront and acknowledge the reality of it, no matter what it is called.
Another observation is that — let’s be frank, here — huge numbers of Americans (not just Jamie Foxx) are undereducated, don’t read (beyond Twitter and Facebook), and most damningly, are intellectually lazy. So that fact that so many Americans had no idea/had forgotten that the word “ghetto” was first used in this country to describe the urban neighborhoods where the swarthy immigrants lived is typical in this day and age.
Please talk about the ending of 45 Years on the podcast! I would love to hear all of your ideas about it (including those of David’s wife). I saw it last weekend and can’t stop thinking about it.
Isn’t “context” an issue anymore when using language? I mean, just because the word could be offensive if used in a different context, it doesn’t mean it’s aways offensive. All it took was Jamie Foxx highlighting a word from a speech, taking it out of its context and making a pause… What did that attitude even mean? Was that offensive? No. Could it have been? Yes, if he had said something completely different. I don’t know, maybe it’s my european point-of-view but these kinds of controversies sound really ridiculous when seen from here, but I suppose they are now part of american entertainment.
Other good/great movies from 2011: Haywire, The Adventures of Tintin, You’re Next(technically), Midnight in Paris, Oslo August 31st, Kill List, Drive, Bellflower, The Guard, Alps, Into the Abyss, Margin Call, Take This Waltz.
I don’t think it’s a question of the definition of the word “ghetto”. Jamie Foxx originally announced – accidentally or I guess maybe as a kind of protest – that “Straight Outta Compton” won for best score (https://youtu.be/dDamNU0hqoc?t=43) before correcting himself. A lot of people I’m sure were surprised it didn’t win that award, then Tarantino unrelatedly blurts (as he does) “that ghetto” in his speech. Racism in the awards season was already on everyone’s minds and it just sounded bad.
Probably the worst thing that could come out of this controversy is white people taking the opportunity to lecture black people on the meaning of the word, which is pretty close to how I was going to originally respond.
I would take 500 hours of David Bax describing the lines at comic-con before another lecture on White Privilege
I agree that white privilege is a thing that exists and I think about my own and how it relates to my life quite a bit. That said, I wish the accepted term for the concept was a bit less obnoxious-sounding than white privilege so that more people would be willing to get on board rather than dismiss the notion as discriminatory, which I don’t think it is.
White advantage?
I agree “white privilege” doesn’t work because it too easily conjures up images of rich people on a yacht being fed grapes. People immediately reject that. “My life isn’t privileged!”
I have to say, I never saw Carol as being predatory. I think you guys are not considering the fact that no one thought that a relationship between two people of the same gender was possible at the time, not even gay people. Hell, I remember in the early 90’s when I first came out. You don’t know who is a viable option and who isn’t. You have to speak in code, in a way that’s clear to someone in the know that you’re interested in something beyond friendship, while at the same time having some plausible deniability. So leaving the gloves leads to a thank you lunch, lleads to come to my place. There really isn’t any other option. They can’t just casually date and see where it goes from there.
2 points:
One is that I totally agree with a poster above who suggests that white privilege be renamed white advantage. Of course, some people will never want to confront and acknowledge the reality of it, no matter what it is called.
Another observation is that — let’s be frank, here — huge numbers of Americans (not just Jamie Foxx) are undereducated, don’t read (beyond Twitter and Facebook), and most damningly, are intellectually lazy. So that fact that so many Americans had no idea/had forgotten that the word “ghetto” was first used in this country to describe the urban neighborhoods where the swarthy immigrants lived is typical in this day and age.
Please talk about the ending of 45 Years on the podcast! I would love to hear all of your ideas about it (including those of David’s wife). I saw it last weekend and can’t stop thinking about it.
Isn’t “context” an issue anymore when using language? I mean, just because the word could be offensive if used in a different context, it doesn’t mean it’s aways offensive. All it took was Jamie Foxx highlighting a word from a speech, taking it out of its context and making a pause… What did that attitude even mean? Was that offensive? No. Could it have been? Yes, if he had said something completely different. I don’t know, maybe it’s my european point-of-view but these kinds of controversies sound really ridiculous when seen from here, but I suppose they are now part of american entertainment.