Thursday News: Samhain, the male gaze, and Disney can’t save Donald Trump
Samhain was never closing? – So, we’ve always been rooting for Samhain, and for readers it was good news to hear recently that the publisher wasn’t going to have to complete its “wind-down to close” detailed in this letter from Christina Brashear. Understandably, that apparent turnaround frustrated some authors who had books with Samhain (and/or had their rights reverted), and there appears to be more frustration with the advent of a new letter that claims the publisher was never planning to close. You can read the newest letter in its entirety here. Among the claims causing some consternation are that “While it is true that Samhain has undergone some recent changes, it is not liquidating its business or winding up its affairs.” The link above goes to the Absolute Write thread in which all of the recent changes have been discussed, and I’ve also been seeing more authors speaking out on Twitter and blogs. I find the whole thing confusing, especially given this conclusion to “the long goodbye” letter:
Saying goodbye is always hard. I will miss working with all of you. Samhain has been my greatest adventure and I’m bereft at having to give it up. Please accept my thanks for all the trust you’ve invested in Samhain and I hope you understand that this choice to begin the wind-down to close is made to honor that trust. – Absolute Write/Sahmain
Renee Zellweger, Margot Robbie, and Blake Lively Exposed to Hollywood’s Insidious Male Gaze – Jen Yamato’s essay on the persistent and damaging objectification of women in Hollywood, ranging from the obsession with Renee Zellweger’s changing face to Margot Robbie’s bikini-ready body. And yes, women can mimic the male gaze, too, which is why simply hiring more women to write films and articles won’t necessary fix the problem.
In her seminal essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” Laura Mulvey coined the term “male gaze” for the effect that occurs in film when the audience is subjected to the default perspective of a heterosexual man through which women are reduced to objects.
“In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female,” she posited. “The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness.” – The Daily Beast
Trump Defends Star of David Tweet With ‘Frozen’ Book – This is actually a decent, quick explanation of the difference between a Disney product image and an anti-Semitic symbol. In other words, it’s not just the symbol, but also the context and an accumulation of images and connotations. Relevant for writing about difference in general.
Of course, there is a marked difference between putting a star graphic on something and putting a star graphic on something that accompanies a pile of money and the concept of corruption, which can conjure up anti-Semitic tropes. – U.S. News & World Report
About the male gaze, I was angry with a pilot episode of a tv show that used fat women to show just how run-down the hotel was. The fancy hotel had skinny bikini wearing women and then the run-down hotel had overweight women wearing T-shirts etc. It really made me angry.
I can’t decide if it was pure anti-Semitism on Trump’s part to tweet that Star of David tweet, or if it was anti-Semitism combined with obliviousness, too. Ivanka Trump and her husband are Jewish, but that doesn’t absolve Trump of anti-Semitism. Also, a while back, when he spoke to Republican Jewish potential donors, he reiterated stereotypes in saying “I’m a negotiator like you folks.” So his star of David atop a pile of money isn’t an isolated incident.
In any case I think it is dangerous regardless of his motives, just as his rhetoric against Latinos, women, Muslims, the disabled, immigrants, and others has been.
@Janine: I don’t know if it’s oblivious, especially given his doubling down after the call-outs, but I definitely would argue that it’s lazy racism, and I think that’s worse, precisely because he should know better.
@RebeccaA: And the thing is, you know that the sexism is so deeply ingrained that the decision to create those images was probably made without conscious consideration of the implications.
I remember after seeing the first Thor movie, how my daughter and I both immediately commented that it was our first experience of seeing a film with a “female gaze”.
It was an amazingly relaxing experience, rather like suddenly realizing that people have been punching you all your life by suddenly NOT being punched.
But now I’m not sure I’m comfortable with being the one doing the punching. :-(
Who can forget Trump tweeting out an image of him with a taco bowl saying I love the Mexicans (or something like that) on Cinco de Mayo? I’ll stop there as my thoughts on him and his campaign can get a bit long-winded. My point is that he is always speaking in stereotypes and doubles down on them and spouts out conspiracy theories and rhetoric without facts.
The problem with Trump’s tweet is not with whether or not the star is a star of David and whether of not that is anti-Semitic. The problem is that the image came from a white supremacist website, and that it’s not the first time Trump has retweeted things from white supremacist websites. So far, he hasn’t picked anything too obviously racist. But, In order to use images or retweet stuff, you have to see it. Which means Trump or people in his campaign follow the websites. If he were someone else — Obama, say — there might be a reasonable argument that he’s keeping tabs on vile groups. But, with Trump, no one thinks it.
In short, it’s the fact that Trump follows white supremacist websites that’s the problem.
@SAO: I think there’s more than one problem with it.
@Janet: Yeah. The only reason I wonder about obliviousness in the case of his anti-Semitism is that he seems close with Jared Kushner. But maybe Kushner sees his true colors and just doesn’t care. It’s not out of the realm of possibility.
I’ve also heard it argued that Trump doesn’t believe half the things he says but says them to earn votes. I disagree with that view, but I think that whether he means what he says or not, the consequences of his saying it are damaging and scary, esp. when you consider the way he incites the people who listen to him or come to his rallies.