The Pop Culture World In 2010

Am.nd. P.lm.r and W.ll.m Sh.tt.r.ly...

Separated at Birth?

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It's my birthday month and I've been trying to spend it in the mellow, but then white people just have to prostrate themselves and shove a camera right up their backsides so the world can see their true ickiness.

The same way I lost all respect for Emma Bull (though in truth she said somethings herself) is the way I'm now, Neil Gaiman - really? This is who you're attracted to and love? This is whose love will undoubtedly have an affect on your future works? This is who you like?

This racist, ablist, attention whoreslut (and yes, I said it, ATTENTION SLUT - As in someone attention promiscuous, having no regard, discretion or discrimination when it comes to how she receives attention; slovenly and of loose character as long as there is some form of attention (fawning or diatribes) being paid to her. A person who lacks the ability or chooses not to exercise a power of discernment to order their affairs with no regard to the cares, concerns or emotions of others.)

Wow, Neil Gaiman - that's what you find attractive? And yeah, I am focusing on Gaiman as a writer of works I have adored. Never listened to P.lm.r and hardly ever likely to now. My shock is all about what her behavior says about the people in her life - y'know, like when people look at a person and go 'Wow, her mother taught her NO manners'.

Then again I suppose manners and 'edgy' pop-stardom don't go hand in hand?

And for the record, no, I don't think someone can be a really nice and sweet person who just somehow becomes an enormous jerkwad online. Because the little old ladies who made sandwhiches and lemonade for lynchings - they claimed to be nice and sweet too - unless it had to do with black people, who in their eyes weren't really people. And the sweet, frat boys who see nothing wrong with raping drunk or drugged girls? Aren't really salt of the earth. And the upstanding community pillar who molests small children? Not really a role model.

You can't be nice and sweet and dehumanizing at the same time.

It doesn't work that way.

ETA: PS - Jim Butcher. Keep keeping your mouth shut and being all private. Thank you, sincerely!

ETA2: Comment made wherein I admit slut's a jerky word to use.

They Never Said Math Is Hard

Mattel has successfully won their case against MGA, the producers of the BRATZ dolls.

Now I'll be the first to admit I loathed the Bratz dolls. But something Digital Femme said made me pause just now. I loathed the Bratz dolls because I NOTICED THEM.

I've long since passed the age of playing with Barbies. I'm used to passing by and not noticing all the Pink and Blonde fluffiness of Barbie. If I hear news (Barbie's break up with Ken, for example) it's usually because it was something that hit an actual news cycle (possibly on a slow day).

On the other hand I was always noticing Bratz. The dolls, the clothes, the accessories, the infant versions, the pets. I even watched the darn Bratz movie. And all because there were three extra reasons FOR me to notice.

I noticed Sasha, Yasmin & Jade.

I noticed that it was a Latina, an African Descended American and an Asian American who had super sexualized lips and eyes. I fretted that there were FINALLY dolls in the mainstream for every little girl; and yet was the implication that all girls were hootchies?

Bratz made themselves relevant to me and I hadn't even realized that. They made themselves so relevant that when I first caught sight of the My Scene Barbie - my first thought was Mattel was copying Bratz. And I hadn't realized I've been waiting to hear how it failed - because I didn't believe that anyone but blonde and blue eyed Barbie would get attention (accessories, blah blah & stuff).

And for all my grr about stereotypes, I've just realized that Mattel has never released a movie like Bratz. Yeah yeah, it was the wrong thing to say that fashion accessorizing is a superpower. But have you noticed Barbie's movies? They're always animation, either cgi or traditional. Blonde Barbie is always the star with various friends (mostly white) circling around her while she gets the prince, conquers evil or risks her heart.

In the Bratz movie? I saw 4 real girls dealing with a real life issue of friendship drift. 4 real girls. Sure they had slim bodies, but those were real bodies. It was possible for any little girl to imagine herself as one of those 4 real girls. Moreover I saw 4 real families. Divorced parents. Mom and Dad and Grandma. Mom and Dad (with ideas about being the model minority). Single working Mom.

It's horribly true you don't appreciate some things until they're gone. I didn't take the time to really think about just what I'd seen in that movie. And DF's words made me really think about why I noticed the brand in the first place.

There's a reason MGA Entertainment was kicking Mattel's pastel butt! And it's sad and frightening to realize that by ligitgating their competition into closing - there's no impetus for Mattel now to look at what worked with MGA and capitalize on it. How soon before it's back to the Queen of Pink in her pink castle mansion with the pink convertible and her ever ready himbo while all her friends circle three steps or more behind with a big ass 'FRIEND OF BARBIE' stamped on their foreheads?

PS: Guess I know what I'm getting my little sister for the holidays. Wonder if they had a comic book version? There's bound to be something similar I can grab before Mattel steps on it too, right? Either way, I'll definitely be shopping for something Not!Pink.