News Satire Roundup: June 5th

Sunday, June 5 – Trump’s enterprises have been sued 3,500 times.  As John pointed out, TV doesn’t have enough legal drama to cover that.  After adding up every episode of every Law & Order variation, he added other lawyer shows until he ran out, a great way to show how insane that is.  He also looked at Trump University, including tidbits from its skeevy “playbook” and a little on the judge who’s hearing the case, who Trump thinks should recuse himself because he has Mexican heritage (yeah.)  The main story on debt buyers continued the “slimeball” theme.  They buy old debts for pennies on the dollar and rake people over the coals to pay them, even if they’ve passed the statute of limitations, declared bankruptcy, or passed away.  Luckily, John is spectacular; he not only started a debt buying company to prove how disturbingly easy it is, he bought a bunch of debt and had nearly $15,000,000 officially forgiven at the end of the episode.

No Daily Show again this week.  One thing that I want to mention is that I really like how the show has covered bathroom bills and the issue of trans rights over the past couple of months.  I remember when the subject first came up on the show, I was a bit apprehensive; I hadn’t been overly impressed with what little LGBTQ-related stories they’d previously done (or with standup pieces I’d seen from Trevor dealing with LGBTQ people, honestly,) and while this was the first time I’d seen the show and/or Trevor talk about trans stuff in particular, I wasn’t sure how thoughtful the commentary or the jokes would be.

But really, I think they’ve hit it out of the park.  I love that they did an entire episode centered around trans folk, and their continuing coverage of the North Carolina situation, bathroom bills in general, and the Obama administration’s response has been excellent.  Every story they’ve done on this topic, for me, has been funny, informative, hard-hitting, and most importantly, very earnest.  The show is really standing with trans people here, and I’m glad to see that.

A lot of what’s sprung out of this continuing story is crazy and ripe for satire.  North Carolina suing the federal government when the DOJ tells them their law is unconstitutional?  And willing to lose billions of dollars of federal education funding over it?  A man who supports a law to discriminate against people appears on TV comparing himself to Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, and Jesus?  That’s insane, and perfectly ridiculous.

But the show has made serious points as well, both with and without humor.  Trevor has addressed (and ripped to shreds) each of the various hyperbolic, fearmongering arguments against allowing trans people to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity.  “But how’s it supposed to work?!  It’s unnatural!!!”  (Progress is often uncomfortable at first, but it’s still the right thing to do.)  “So any man can say he feels like a woman and go into the bathroom to molest my daughter?!”  (There’s no correlation between being trans and being a pervert, and it’s not like perverts have been sitting on their hands waiting for a legal loophole they can use to their advantage – also, there’s never been a reported case of someone being molested by a trans woman in a public restroom.)  “But it’s absurd; why would anyone think this is something we should be doing?!”  (People once said the same thing about interracial bathrooms, and looking back on it now, you’d call that sort of forced segregation absurd.  Again, progress.)  He’s also brought up trans men – specifically, the fact that no one’s bringing them up in all their panicked, exclusionary rhetoric and the gross double standard therein.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)

I don’t suppose anyone needs me to tell them that this, Maya Angelou’s coming-of-age autobiography, is an exquisite book.  It’s gorgeously written, unflinchingly honest (I think that’s what boggles my mind most about the idea of writing about one’s own life – that nerve it takes to allow oneself to be so naked,) and at time sharply painful to read.  I couldn’t tell you why I never read it before now, but I also don’t think I’ve ever been in a better place in my life to recognize it for the masterpiece it is (some spoilers.)

The book paints Angelou’s life between the ages of three and seventeen, following young Maya from her early childhood in Arkansas to the North and West and back again.  The everpresent ugliness of racism permeates her experiences, as do the struggles of this young girl to discover who she is being forged to become in the crucible of extreme, cruel circumstances.  By degrees, she starts to understand what the world is, the place that people tell her she has in it, and the place she tries to carve out for herself.

Different elements are at play here, all employed tremendously well.  There’s stranger-than-fiction slices of life, like the story of a particularly charismatic worshipper whaling on the preacher in the middle of his sermon.  There’s beautiful character work, like the exploration of Maya’s brother Bailey and how deeply affected he is by the existence of their “Mother Dear.”  There are searing, horrendous passages, like the description of Maya’s rape as an 8-year-old.  There are intellectual ruminations, social commentary, poetic beauty, heartbreaking truths, and fierce individualism.  It’s at once a story containing fathoms and the story of one specific child.

I particularly love the deft exploration of race, including the influence of colorism and the intersectionality of being both Black and a girl.  Angelou covers the terrifying (Momma embodying the caregiver of every Black boy who’s ever had to agonize over his safety in an unkind world when he doesn’t come home at night,) the dehumanizing (the white dentist telling Momma there’s no way he’ll put his hands in Maya’s mouth,) the unifying (everyone crowded into the store to listen to a Joe Louis fight on the radio, needing him to win as a reflection of their own legitimacy as a people,) and the soul-crushing (the speaker at Maya’s graduation talking about the top-of-the-line equipment and new teachers brought in to improve the white school, while the Black school is getting money devoted only to its athletic facilities.)  In both large and small moments, threats of violence and microagressions alike, American race relations work their way into Maya’s life, and it is in that tempest of hatred, fear, and ignorance that she must come of age.

Just superb.  There’s nothing more for me to say, except that I feel fortunate to have read it.

Warnings

Sexual content (including abuse of a child,) violence, language (including racial slurs,) drinking, and strong thematic elements.

Trevor Noah: Pay Back the Funny (2015)

It was a no Last Week Tonight, no Daily Show week, so have a review of another Trevor Noah standup special (thanks, YouTube.)

Filmed in Johannesburg, this special starts out reallysimilar to Noah’s Lost in Translationshow from Comedy Central.  He opens with the same riff on “woohoo,” touches on the same idea of Black people’s fractious history with the police, and tells the same story about his mother and grandmother’s reactions to him getting the Daily Show gig.  At first, I thought it was going to be the same basic show, albeit in slightly different packaging; I like his comment that white people don’t have the problem of going to jail “by mistake,” and I think it’s interesting that, in the anecdote about his mom, his mentions his younger brother being named “head prefect” at school, while in the American-made Lost in Translation, he says his brother’s made “student council.”

After the first 10-15 minutes, though, it’s entirely different, mostly fantastic material.  He has an amusing riff on smartphones, complete with a dramatic reenactment of a woman taking a “candid” selfie.  He discusses South African president Jacob Zuma’s latest scandal and how he’s rebounded from it – I love Noah’s delight at Zuma making fun of the way someone else talks, and his speculation about how Zuma learned to eyeroll is great.  I pretty much always enjoy Noah’s observations about interactions between different cultures, and he has some nice material on accents here, doing a terrific routine on the origins of the South African Indian accent as well as drawing clear distinctions between someone’s accent and their level of intelligence.

Speaking of accents, it turns out Noah’s chief edict from his countrymen before joining The Daily Show was not to lose his.  My favorite part of the special is an extended sequence about The Daily Show’s effect on his life at home and in the States.  He describes himself as “well-known” rather than “famous” and tells the crowd about his experiences being invited to celebrity events.  From the chaotic nightmare of the red carpet, to “rubbing shoulders with” people who have no idea who he is, to desperately trying not to fanboy in front of everyone he’s ever idolized, it’s an excellent picture of what it’s like to have just gotten his first seat at the table.

The other long routine I love is a story about South Africa’s frequent load-shedding (rolling blackouts.)  Returning to South Africa from New York, Noah can’t get past the electric gate for his own house due to a power out, and he muses on the perils of trying to jump his fence before getting swallowed by the soul-crushing exercise of ringing up a government department.  The references here are South-Africa-specific, but trying to call a bureaucracy isn’t.  Between the automated voice, the endless hold music, and the completely-unhelpful live operator who picks up just when Noah has lost all hope of ever speaking to another human again, the anecdote is both totally South African and absolutely universal.

Overall, I think Lost in Translation is still the best I’ve seen so far, but this special is super funny, really personable, and a lot of fun.

Warnings

Language, alcohol references, and thematic elements.

Dear Hollywood Whitewashers: Ewan McGregor (The Impossible)

This is going back a few years now – The Impossible came out in 2012 – but seeing Tom Holland as the new Spider-Man in Captain America:  Civil War, reminded me of this film, where he played the teenage son of the central family in the film about the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Thailand.  Now obviously, Tom Holland isn’t Thai, and neither are the actors playing the rest of the family, including Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor.  However, while it’s fair to acknowledge that the film is specifically about a family of tourists vacationing in Thailand when the tsunami hits, it’s based on the true story of a Spanish family’s experiences.  The film casts white UK actors in the roles, anglicizes the characters’ names, and gives them English accents.

There’s a lot going on here.  The fact that the movie is about a major natural disaster in Asia and doesn’t provide any Asian perspective is a clear issue, and even once the film moved Asian people out of the foreground, focusing instead on tourists, the nationality and complexions of the actual tourist family they were talking about weren’t considered “universal” enough and so we wound up with a white English family instead.  I’ll be looking mainly at the first issue in this post, since that’s the issue Ewan McGregor regrettably tries to discount in this quote: 

“The truth is, it’s a story about this family, this western family, who are on holiday there.  And that story is many, many people’s story.  But to say that it doesn’t tell the Thai people’s stories…  Naomi’s character is saved by a Thai man, and taken to safety in a Thai village where the Thai women dress her.  It’s one of the most moving scenes in the film, really.  In the hospital they’re all Thai nurses and Thai doctors – you see nothing but Thai people saving lives and helping.”

Sigh… I get that actors don’t want to burn any bridges against their studios, and really, when white actors agree to take roles like this, they’re at the very least complicit in what’s going on.  Still, it saddens me when people I like say these sorts of things.  It never, never makes them look anything resembling good.

So, Ewan, I’ll grant you that the story is “many, many people’s story,” in that there were many tourists in Thailand when the tsunami hit.  However, that large number of tourists still pales in comparison to the number of Thai people with their own stories to tell (who probably didn’t get the same priority medical treatment as the injured white tourist.)  It’d be a bit like making a Holocaust film about a Jehovah’s Witness in a concentration camp; yes, some people in concentration camps were Jehovah’s Witnesses there, but the vast majority were not, a fact very widely accepted in Hollywood.  Although, even that story would be preferable to this one, since many films have been made about Jewish people during the Holocaust and so the occasional story about non-Jewish people wouldn’t constitute erasure.  However, there isn’t a wide body of films about the Indian Ocean tsunami that tell the stories of the people principally affected by it, and so, a high-profile movie that tells an outlier story is going to be much more conspicuous.

Because all those Thai people in your movie are serving the white characters’ story.  They’re there for storytelling utility, not as real characters.  None of them have names or fears/struggles of their own that are more than backdrop.  That’s what people mean when they say the film “doesn’t tell the Thai people’s stories,” and to argue otherwise is disingenuous at best.

Top Five Songs: Dessa Rose

As far as Ahrens & Flaherty musicals go, Dessa Rose is a little hit-or-miss for me, but as is usual with this composing duo, when they’re on, they’re reallyon.  Here are my favorite songs from the show.

“Ol’ Banjar” – I feel Dessa Rose puts a bit too shiny a veneer on its story at times, but even though this is an upbeat song, it works for me.  That’s because it’s specifically about clinging to the few good things that make life bearable, and for Kaine, that’s two things:  music and Dessa Rose.  The simple but lovely tune fits it to a tee.

Best line:  “Ain’t no white folks down in Africa, / Ain’t no white folks near or far. / You own yourself / And you own your soul / and the music of ol’ banjar.”

“Something of My Own” – Just like music gives Kaine happiness, Dessa Rose’s unborn child gives her both hope and strength.  Her ode to how her child is already changing her and everything she’ll do on its behalf (especially her vow to “only name him free”) is gorgeous.

Best line:  “I could be as strong as thunder / With his hand in mine. / Tear the very storm asunder. / Make the sun to shine.”

“Twelve Children” – The Act I finale is a stunning showcase for Dessa Rose, introducing her newborn daughter to the stories of all the family she’s lost.  This beautifully-understated song validates Dessa Rose’s lost brothers and sisters, despite the repeated indifference of the white masters.

Best line:  “Some sold away. / Some passed away. / Some run. / Twelve children brought from her body. / All gone but one.”

“Better If I Died” – This is such a great drama!! song, with a strong driving rhythm and fantastic harmonies between Ruth and Dessa Rose.  It’s a fine release for everything that’s been building up between them in the second act.

Best line:  “Nothing more to ruin. / Nothing left to say…” – “Nothing left to take away.”

“Just over the Line” – Full disclosure:  I mostly love this song because the chorus is so blame catchy.  It pulls me in every time.  Plot-wise, I find it fairly incredulous, but ooh!  That music, especially when Nathan sings it; in general, I don’t think the show makes great use of Norm Lewis’s talents, but he’s just wonderful here.

Best line:  “Tuscaloosa, Pickens, Greene. / Counties we ain’t never seen. / But look who’s here! / Just over the line.”