Entries Tagged 'Media' ↓

“Images of Black women that are in fact ‘national, racial, and historical hallucinations’ have been ingrained into the collective conscience of the United states since slavery. Black women have been depicted either naked, generally in an ethnographic context, or as laborers, usually domestic, their social status playing a crucial role in the development of visual identity. With rare exceptions, representations of the Black woman in art and photography have followed these prescribed lines.”—Kimberly Wallace-Sanders, Skin Deep, Spirit Strong: The Black Female Body in American Culture (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003), p. 182.

“I ‘members when they put me on the auction block. They pulled my dress down over my back to my waist, to show I ain’t gashed and slashed up. That’s to show you ain’t a mean nigger.”—Lu Perkins, quoted by James Mellon, ed., Bullwhip Days: The Slaves Remember: An Oral History (New York: Avon Books, 1988), p. 292.

In his 1985 book on the Atlanta child murders, The Evidence of Things Not Seen, writer James Baldwin (1924-1987) spoke of the “ancestral, daily, historical truth of Black life in this country,” then paused to note that, in the context of the African-American experience, the words “ancestral and daily are synonyms.” That is, they have the same meaning.

What Baldwin, right, meant by that is what Black people state when they, speaking of the same conditions, inelegantly say, “Samo, samo.” In other words, same old thing, nothing’s different in any meaningful way. “You try and get ahead and they change the rules.” Whatever Black people do, white supremacy merely adapts. Or, as I often urge, “Why would they change what works?”

It is utterly fascinating to see how frustrating these contentions remain to many white people. Their notion of history is heroic; a series of climaxes that they, like chiseled, blood-spattered action heroes, have wrangled. (Baldwin, right, of course, knew this, and in the aforementioned quote added that “historical does not refer to that spotless mirror in which the bulk of White North Americans imagine they see their faces,” but the actual, true history that Black people have borne.)

Of course, when it comes to action-packed heroics, nothing tops this past November’s election and inauguration, right, of the current president. It was an achievement which moved many white people to quickly declare the age of Obama “post-racial.” A greater number said, more generously, but no less absurdly, that, in the wake of seating a Black president, “America had changed forever.” Pundit after pundit, in kind, asserted America’s “maturity” with this act.

Doesn’t having white people write their own absolution preserve white supremacy as a system? All of this, to me, had the quality of, after a home invasion and robbery, agreeing to let the thief fill out one’s insurance claim and police report. At the very least, one can agree that having the people who have victimized you quantify your mistreatment invokes a sizable conflict of interest.

Though all of the above is deeply relevant, none of this was on my mind Tuesday night, when, while watching American Idol, I saw an Old Navy commercial, titled “Mid-Town Flash,” below, in which a white actor, with one brisk move, strips off a Black female mannequin’s dress, leaving the figure, above, save for modesty bars, completely naked, smiling, and being curiously observed by her fellow mannequins, or “supermodelquins,” as the group are called in the corporation’s series of ads.

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One year ago today, we published our very first post on MEDIA ASSASSIN.

Today, 528 later, I just want to warmly and richly thank all of you—whether you’ve read, subscribed to, commented on, blogrolled, linked to, trackbacked, forwarded, retweeted, or otherwise supported MEDIA ASSASSIN—for being part of this singular, amazing experience. We could not have done it without you.

I’m not clear on the cause of this optical effect, but talk about subliminal messaging.

That is, was it just me, or, when you look at this completely unretouched video still of Amy Goodman, above, host of news show Democracy Now, from yesterday’s broadcast, does she have a halo encircling her head?

What’s way cooler? Is it this February 2009 cover for MAD magazine, above, titled, “Obama: The First 100 Minutes,” revealing a hyperperplexed new president in a classic “What? ME WORRY!!!!” pose, sucking down nicotine sticks by the bushel, gurgling Pepto-Bismol, and grabbing his cranium for even a moment’s sweet relief?

Or is it this dry March 2009 Vanity Fair cover, right, pushing forward a dignified, confident, fossilized, stuffy Obama, complete with bland taupe background, shot in a style that seems as dated as Obama’s presidency is fresh?

As even the fastest walk-run past a newsstand reveals, everybody’s sticking Obama on their covers, even if they have absolutely no reason to do so. I can hardly wait to see Expert Bowler Today, Black Mother Magazine, and Stutterers Digest get in on the action.

And speaking of getting in on the action, how mega-lame is it for Vanity Fair to front a front by using the exact, same, leftover shot they ran back during the American Express RED Africa, 20-person multiple cover back in July 2007? And how come The Huffington Post, raving over the cover, didn’t notice this? Tih-zired.

Mad: 2. Vanity Fair: You get nuh-ting!.

Also, he should be thankful that Muntader al-Zaidi, 28, the Iraqi journalist who, yesterday, one at a time, threw both of his shoes at President Bush, but missed, above, though fairly accurate, doesn’t exactly have a killer right arm, or pitch for Baghdad’s Salam baseball team.

According to The New York Times, al-Zaidi,

a correspondent for Al Baghdadia, an independent Iraqi television station, stood up about 12 feet from Mr. Bush and shouted in Arabic: “This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!” He then threw a shoe at Mr. Bush, who ducked and narrowly avoided it.

As stunned security agents and guards, officials and journalists watched, Mr. Zaidi then threw his other shoe, shouting in Arabic, “This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!” That shoe also narrowly missed Mr. Bush as Prime Minister Maliki stuck a hand in front of the president’s face to help shield him.

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In case you missed one of the over 700 newspaper front pages, in 66 countries, commemorating the Obama victory—for example, Tel Aviv, Israel’s Maariv, above—now you can go to the Newseum’s web site and collect the whole set.

Take a look at some of the best American ones, below, after the jump. It’s interesting: When you check out a whole bunch, and see the designs, you can kind of detect which papers were inspired (e.g., the Hartford Courant, of all places), and which were just phoning it in. Also, actually, I think Will Smith was right, on Oprah, today: The Chicago Sun-Times did a cool cover, but, man, the Philly Daily News kinda came wit’ it.

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With McCain-Palin now lying at the bottom of the ocean, and the ship’s rats swimming away from the wreck, the truth is now coming out about what a fistful Sarah Palin was to deal with.

According to The Huffington Post,

Now that the 2008 election is over, reporters are spilling all the juciest, and previously off the record, gossip from the campaign trail. Much of it is about the infighting between Palin and McCain’s staff, as Newsweek‘s treasure trove of post-election gossip reveals.

However, perhaps one of the most astounding and previously unknown tidbits about Sarah Palin has to do with her already dubious grasp of geography. According to Fox News Chief Political Correspondent Carl Cameron, there was great concern within the McCain campaign that Palin lacked “a degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, a heartbeat away from the presidency,” in part because she didn’t know which countries were in NAFTA, and she “didn’t understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a series, a country just in itself.”

It gets worse, and I’m not even going to spoil it for you. Watch the clip, and hear about her tantrums and infighting, then read about her other clothing sprees, the boner-rific way she once greeted McCain staff, and why she was silent during McCain’s concession speech. 2012 awaits, bay-bee!

Obama describes a nasty clog in his campaign. Photo by Jae C. Hong

TO: Joe Wurzelbacher, above, the Cincinnati, OH-based plumbing contractor that John McCain and Barack Obama mentioned by name 26 times during their debate last night (five times as many Joe Biden!)

Dear Joe:

I believe you have really great business sense. However, if you immediately follow my Seven Tips for Plumbing the Depths of Success, you are going to truly G-off….

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The Huffington Post’s Michael Seitzman wrote about last night’s debate, but by avoiding its specific proposals or content, and, instead, focusing on the manner by which it was conducted, he created something near poetry.

When is the last time we had a leader that we wanted to emulate? Continue reading →

I finally bit the bullet and got a Twitter account. So, until I run the feed directly through MEDIA ASSASSIN and/or my Facebook page, please slip on over here, at http://twitter.com/harryallen, for 140-character bursts of staggering genius.