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Does anyone else see the resemblance?
That could have been because despite our small island of queer in the theatre, we were surrounded by a sea of breeders who seemed to be laughing at, instead of with, Bruno. The things we laughed at were different. I laughed at the miming of the blow job out of familiarity, they laughed at what Bruno was wearing. Granted, some of those outfits were outrageous, but many of the pieces were designer pieces, as indicated by Casey. I feel like the audience would have laughed at my image on screen just easily-- not that I wear designer, like Casey, but that I have a flamboyant air about me.
But Bruno breaks so many taboos and makes fun of so many different groups, the public's reaction to the film has been more nuanced than the gay/straight divide. For instance, one prominent gay activist called on Sacha Baron Cohen to explicitly state his support for gay rights. One San Fransisco Chronicle film critic found the comedy in the film tantamount to "gay blackface." Casey, T, and I disagreed.
I've heard some straight people feel confused by the film. A coworker of mine said she would have reacted as did the TV talk show audience to the apparent child abuse of baby OJ, whom Bruno adopted and dressed in a GAYBY t-shirt. I think she missed the idea that Bruno was embodying the sick consumer/celebrity culture of the US.
I've read and heard some intellectual film critics bash the film for using cheap methods, especially shock value, to draw crowds. Certainly the shock factor does do the foot work for getting people into the theatre, but I think there is something more profound in Bruno. It is derived from Cohen's sense of humor that uses outlandish characters to poke fun at bigotry. But in Bruno, he was able to call out the insanity of American celebrity culture, homophobia, machismo and religious zealotry all at once. As someone who is completely disgusted with all of the above, I say bravo.
Casey and I made it to the Jazz and Ribs festival this weekend. You might ask yourself, why would two gay white vegetarians choose to go to a Jazz and Ribs festival. The answer lies in the jazz more than the ribs. Casey is a jazz enthusiast, and we even found a band playing more complex stuff than the regular jam band that is the Columbus norm. The ribs part of the festival only reinforced my vegetarianism. The belches of smoke billowing from the pork covered grills made me ill, but I must admit, I probably would have bought a barbecue covered tofu steak :)
The cool thing for me at the jazz fest was seeing the diverse groups intermingle in leisure. There were many working class people (from places like my home town) mixing with inner city professionals and poor people. Every minority group was found there too. It wouldn't have been Columbus if someone hadn't yelled "fags!" at us, but other than that there seemed to be harmony. Of course, few people were actually intermingling with people different themselves, but at least they were enjoying music together in the same space.
The space itself was interesting. I had only been to the westernmost part of the Arena district once for Red, White, and Boom. It's sort of a liminal space that is flanked by undeveloped land and downtown. It is aesthetically pleasing, but as a new development, it feels fabricated and mall-like. Perhaps in ten years it will feel more authentic, but as a business improvement district, it will likely remain sterile.
So, contrary to the note of my previous post, here is another rant. Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Case and I were enjoying dinner together at Easton this evening. I opted for Chipotle because I'll eat it any chance I get. Casey needed something coffee-esque, so he got Potbelly, where he got a mocha shake. We sat at a picnic table outside, each consuming our respective fast food.
The picnic table was situated next to a parking lot, where cars would screech by at top speed, upsetting the pleasantness of the moment. Sitting there, with these noisy cars for whom this place, Easton, was made, stuffing our faces with cheap food lacking nutritional value and loaded with calories and chemicals, our asses getting fatter by the second and likely forming the free radicals in our organs that will later become cancer, it dawned on me. All of these unhealthy and destructive systems, our car nation and suburbanization, the food-like substances system, and the miserly health care (or should I say sick care) industry are weaved together into a quilt of doom. This quilt is not one that you would receive from your bored grandmother, or one that Vera Bradley would shred to create an ugly purse. This quilt is used to strangle you and carry your remains.
It really started with the cars, didn't it? Well the marriage of the car and the suburb. All of those war vets coming home for WWII needed a place to live, the old government story goes. So the Fed began insuring loans for people to buy houses. But they only guaranteed them for white people... and instead of doing something logical, like encouraging homeownership or renters to dwell in the inner city, where they had traditionally, the government only insured home loans in the suburbs. The result was a nation of cookie cutter houses spread so far apart that the car industry made a windfall providing every single last homeowner with a car or two. To get all of these people into the city with their cars in an efficient way, we had to bulldoze vibrant urban neighborhoods, most of them belonging to African Americans, to make way for highways. And to feed all of these people quickly, we had to create the fast food industry, which was the catalyst for the disgusting food system we are stricken with today. (Note that most everything you buy at the supermarket is produced a la fast food, even the vegetable produce, which means that your spinach might be contaminated with e. coli... so eat organic!!)
Now, no one is walking to work anymore because there is nowhere to walk, and it's too far away. We are slaves to the vehicles. And because the quality of our food is sacrificed to speed and quantity, we are getting sick on a massive scale. (Go see Food, Inc... I won't even visit how angry I was after watching that film, except to say that if any corporation can be called nefarious, it's Monsanto.) So we are getting fatter and we are getting sick because of this lifestyle.
Enter the HMO to make another windfall on our fat asses. Most civilized countries realized a long time ago that a single payer system is the only way to provide health care to everyone in an efficient and humane way. And health care is a right!!! It is also a responsibility, but it is a fundamental right.
But in the US, where profits are always put before people, the government left the responsibility of our health as a nation in the hands of these HMOs. Like any for profit company, the goal is to cut costs. That means, denying you coverage and benefits that you paid for; that is, if you can afford the outrageous costs in the first place.
It is absolutely no wonder that we are fat, sick and broke. The system on a macro level seems almost designed to keep us that way. Very few people have the means to escape the slavery that is the automobile and fast food. And no one goes unaffected by our pitiful health care system. Fortunately, Obama has begun to address health care... let's hope he succeeds. In the mean time, eat smart, ditch the car, and move into the city, where you are often forced to walk. It's a happier place :)
As many of posts begin, so does this one. It has been a long time since I've written. I've been super busy so far this summer with two jobs, so that is my excuse.
A dear friend of mine, SW, pointed out to me the last time I saw her that my blogging amounts to ranting. And she's right. The main things that inspire me to write/blog are things that piss me off. And living in conservative Ohio gives me plenty of inspiration. For me, this blog serves as a healthy outlet for me to express deep seated rage and emotion that I feel toward the system in which we live.
But I am trying to imagine what my audience (whoever and however few people that may encompass) must think. Perhaps it's not that interesting or maybe depressing to read someone bitch and complain constantly. Perhaps I should broaden my style to include topics that can be profound but not so anger-ridden.
Conclusion: I'll work on it.
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