Charles Martin's Blog, page 24
December 22, 2014
December 21, 2014
Studio Ghibli vs. Disney
Celebrating Studio Ghibli
Through December 28
Oklahoma City Museum of Art Noble Theater
415 Couch Drive
http://www.okcmoa.com/see/films/www.okcmoa.com
The Oklahoma City Museum of Art Noble Theater is celebrating this weekend and next by showing nine of the studio’s most acclaimed movies. Founded in 1985 in Tokyo, Japan, Studio Ghibli is known for a string of masterpieces such as Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and Princes Mononoke. As Disney emerged as the standard for family-friendly entertainment, Studio Ghibli garnered international praise by producing movies that transcended animation and entertained adults and children alike.
Studio Ghibli is often compared to The Walt Disney Company because Disney is the only other animation studio that has such clout and can wield such influence in the animation world. But both studios are more different than they were ever alike. One could argue that, unlike Walt Disney, Studio Ghibli’s head, Hayao Miyazaki, continues to shape his creation versus the corporate machine that Disney has become, but Walt and Hayao were always two very different people.
To Disney’s credit, he did develop the industry and the technology that Miyazaki would later use, but Miyazaki was the one that rebelled against the traditional animation studio format and wanted to build more artistic and personal projects. Walt was the ultimate showman, with grand plans to build whole Disney Worlds for people to escape into. Hayao has always been more focused on the art and, even in retirement, he continues doing little animated shorts for the Studio Ghibli Museum.
Though some might believe that it is the classic East-meets-West where the American animation scene is all big business and the Japanese Anime scene is all zen and reflective about their animation, that would be incorrect. Studio Ghibli is an anomaly among most animation studios even in their native country and Hayao Miyazaki is disappointed in the “Otaku”, the name given to the hard-core Anime fans in Japan.
Miyazaki has worked his whole life to separate himself from the typical studio, not chasing trends, fads, or building franchises to gather the most market share. So when he looks at the current landscape of Japanese Animation and see it filled with hard-core fans being catered to, being given all the sex, violence, and reused gimmicks and tropes to sell not only the animation, but the toys and other products, Miyazaki declares that Anime suffers, is failing, because of the Otaku. (Reference Source – http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/01/30/ghiblis-hayao-miyazaki-says-the-anime-industrys-problem-is-that-its-full-of-anime-fans/
Walt and Hayao do share a commonality; they both feel that animation is for the masses, that you need to reach out to the real everyday people. How Disney and Studio Ghibli approach reaching real people is vastly different. In the US, Disney has helped solidify the idea that animation is only for families and children, where, in Japan, Studio Ghibli has shown that animation can become a complex piece of work that can engage adults and children alike at different levels. And this is why Studio Ghibli has to be explained in the context or even in contrast of Disney, because Western Animation has so been greatly influenced and even controlled by Disney. It’s become the shorthand or even the language that Americans understand animation. It’s very correct to say that Studio Ghibli is the Disney of Japan, to help explain Ghibli’s influence and reach, but it’s also a huge misnomer because the two are so very different.
That is ultimately why Studio Ghibli is so important, not to just animation, but to filmmaking and creative storytelling as a whole, Studio Ghibli is a unique voice and that voice has never cracked and has never wavered since it was founded almost thirty years ago.
December 19, 2014
two fighting rabbits by Bombs Away Art
A brand new shirt based on an upcoming graphic novella by Dorshak Bloch. Only $22 as part of an in-store special at Planet Dorshak (3003A Paseo in Oklahoma City), or buy online for $24 (before shipping/handling) at our STORENVY!
Whoever is running @OfficialTaser deserves a raise.
Like most Americans, a large portion of my tweets are inspired by dumb things I say that I am certain are funny, but my friends and family fail to properly acknowledge these nuggets of comedy gold as anything less than brilliant. So, I send my hilarity into the Interwebs in hopes that the online hordes will confirm my genius. Also, like most Americans, there is often alcohol involved, as it was with my loving jab at Taser International, maker of non-lethal self-defense products. I suggested that their new ad campaign should be Taser: The Gentleman’s Lead Pipe. I will leave it to the aforementioned hordes to rule on my under vs. over-appreciated brilliance, but this morning I realized I was bested by the response from Taser’s official Twitter account:
I was being a troll. They saw that I was being a troll, but responded with a humorous and benign reference to President Theodore Roosevelt’s famous “Big Stick” ideology. If I’d been looking to get into a flame-war, which I wasn’t, they’d have peacefully disarmed me. Anyone following would have just giggled at how dumb I looked flopping on the ground while urinating myself.
For all you big corporations, this is how you win at Twitter.
In contrast, a big retailer who shall remain nameless, got pulled into a Twitter brawl with the organizers of the Deluxe Winter Market, inciting massive blowback after incorrectly guessing that Deluxe did not have deep Oklahoma roots. Rather than seeing Deluxe as champions of locally crafted art, this retailer imagined Deluxe as snotty out-of-towners ranting about the company’s ties to a controversial Oklahoma politician whose name rhymes with failin’. The result was gruesome as Deluxe followers rallied to pile onto the retailer, that now just looked like a tone-deaf bully. The social media massacre was punctuated with an official apology via Twitter and phone from a company executive. This is how you lose at Twitter.
And, just to be clear, I have no problem with Taser. In an unofficial poll, nine out of ten respondents would prefer to see cases of questionable tazings resulting in hilarious gifs versus questionable shootings resulting in tragic funerals and heart-breaking community meltdowns. In a secondary poll, nine out of nine respondents agreed that the tenth guy was a bit of a nutjob and really wished he’d stop talking about 9-11 conspiracies so much.
December 18, 2014
It’s Perfectly Natural: Masturbation and Sex Education in Schools
Sometimes you don’t realize how liberal you are until someone slaps you in the face with it. I got a good handful not long ago when I announced to a fellow parent that I taught my eight-year-old daughter about masturbation. As I recounted telling my daughter that exploring her vagina is normal, a small crowd materialized around us and I found myself the odd-woman out. Apparently, I was evil for sharing this information and needed to be eradicated from a group I didn’t know I belonged to until I was no longer a part of it.
I like to think I’m raising sexually aware children, especially since I live in the heart of Oklahoma, ranked fourth in teen pregnancies for the nation. But, after the barrage of negative commentary I received, I wondered if I was going too far in preparing my kids for the sexually-charged world we live in. The Mayo Clinic takes the approach that parents should calmly and simply (sans giggling) teach children the proper names of their body parts and when and where it’s appropriate to touch themselves. This made much more sense to me than teaching my daughter that her vagina is a hoo-hoo or my son’s penis is a wee-wee. And the American Academy of Pediatrics agrees parents should teach their children the proper names of their genitals so they feel comfortable discussing their bodies but also because we don’t call elbows hoo-hoos so it’s illogical to call a vagina one. Why do parents still fall back on those cutesy names?
Because it’s hard as hell talking about it.
Keeping solid eye contact with your toddler when he points out the hail damage on your ass is about as easy as being straight-up honest regarding human bodily functions. However much we like to pretty it up, sex is a body function. Which makes it even more perplexing when people flock together to prevent educators from teaching fundamental sexual functions in schools.
Before Common Core was shut down in Oklahoma, there were websites built up around its supposedly malevolent sexual education agenda, much like what still abounds in states such as Florida. Educational materials such as Robie Harris’ book It’s Perfectly Natural were portrayed as liberal tools to teach elementary students about depraved sex acts. I’ve read the book and while it depicts cartoon characters demonstrating acts like masturbation, it’s nothing but informative and factual. Do I believe that particular book should be widely taught in schools?
No. I don’t.
The book is not delicate in how it handles information but can be an excellent source for parents, especially parents comfortable with sexuality and talking about it. It even goes into the dangers of Internet predators and how to identify them as well as how to properly use condoms (pinch the tip!).
The fact is only 22 states require schools to teach sex education and Oklahoma is not one of them. That’s beyond sad. It’s reprehensible.
It’s no wonder schools avoid raising the education bar when they get the piss knocked out of them for trying. Take, for example, Clark County School District, a Las Vegas district and the fifth largest in the nation. As reported by The Washington Times, the school recently considered (note—not passed) plans to teach elementary school students about masturbation and homosexuality and were immediately demonized by parents and politicians alike.
“Masturbation should be done in a private place,” one parent, Ronald Withaeger, said at a community meeting. “That’s kindergarten through third grade. You’ve got to be kidding me. There’s no need to know that at that age.”
Wait. No need for children to know about their bodies or, as described by the school district’s proposed text, no need to teach children about showing everyone “respect regardless of who they are attracted to?” Hmm. I smell “narrow moralistic views” as stated by Avert, a site dedicated to HIV and AIDS prevention through sex education in schools. Avert suggests sex education must go beyond simply handing students informational brochures and calling it a day. Sex education must give children life skills to help them negotiate their sexual lives and this includes resisting peer-pressure, recognizing when they need an adult’s help, and challenging prejudices they witness around them.
I don’t think anyone longs for student walkouts like the one held at Norman High School on November 24th after little was done by the school district to help three female students bullied when they alleged rape. As long as humans walk this tiny planet, there will be sexual violence and the need to call it out when it rears its ugly face. Some, like the American Life League, argue that sex education perpetuates teen pregnancy, the spread of STDs, and abortion by “taking away the parents’ responsibilities of teaching their child about human sexuality.” On one point, I agree with them.
Parents should teach their children about human sexuality. “Should” is operative. But to say sex education in schools is taking those responsibilities away is asinine. Parents choose to withhold information from their kids, perhaps out of embarrassment or lack of knowledge themselves. Or maybe they really, deep down, believe lack of education will equate to no sexual activity.
I think I spot a few hundred thousand teen moms motioning to their hoo-hoos and laughing in the distance.
As glamourous as MTV may present teenage parenting to be, even former Teen Mom star Maci Bookout wishes she would’ve had better sex education in school. She told Cosmopolitan, “I wish I could have known that I could just go to the health department by myself and get birth control for free.” And who can say teaching her about masturbation in elementary school wouldn’t have prevented her early pregnancy?
Abstinence, while a noble ambition, isn’t reality. Masturbation is and it’s something most children already do naturally by the age of six, as the University of Michigan Health System points out. We should teach them, whether in the home or at schools, that they shouldn’t be ashamed of their bodies or sexuality.
A child who can freely speak with her parents about sex is a child more likely to avoid sexual activity, according to a 2010 poll by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Multiple studies, including the Guttmacher Institute, show abstinence-only education is not as effective as abstinence-plus education, which focuses on the proper use of contraceptives and the emotional and physical risks of sex. Abstinence-only education is like placing a huge ass marshmallow in front of a three-year-old and saying, “Now, don’t eat it!”
In our household, we know the marshmallow exists, waiting to entice our kids when they get older. The marshmallow is a fun, fluffy delight of sugary goodness. And we want them to eat it and enjoy it, but we don’t want them to get sick and die from it either.
Sex is fun. And sex alone can be just as fun, even after the right person comes along. We shouldn’t lose sight of that in teaching our kids about human sexuality. I’m not, and if it means being on the outskirts of the parenting world, so be it. At least my child knows the glories of the vagina. So, hoo-hoo and wee-wee on that!
December 15, 2014
December 12, 2014
December 11, 2014
White Like Radiohead or Jesus, or How to Disappear in Plain Sight
That there
That’s not me
I go where I please
I walk through walls…
The lyrics are from and while I’m not the first essayist to wonder over the meaning of the song,[1] I am likely the first to apply their observations to race and class. I intend to write about Ferguson without writing about Ferguson, because there have already been tens of thousands of words[2] dedicated to that ongoing, revelatory moment in America’s racial biography.[3]
Instead, I’m more curious about how a group that should be a distinct and redemptive minority can disappear so completely into the whitebread hegemony such that they no longer shape discourse in a moral direction, but are instead shaped by political discourse from the Right or Left. (In fairness to the political Left, they tend to adhere more closely to a moral narrative, if morals are understood as systemic as opposed to just merely personal.)
You will have to forgive me for some broad generalities in this one. What I am about to say does not apply to all white Christians in the United States, but the problem is systemic as evidenced by a tweet from a Southern Baptist pastor here in Oklahoma from a moderately large church in response to the grand jury’s decision and the subsequent protests:
A man who uses force to steal what is not his is now honored by those who use force to steal what is not theirs. #justice #ferguson #irony
First things first: that’s not irony. The looters were not trying to “honor” Michael Brown. They were actually looting. They could have been a combination of criminals, angry citizens, anarchists, and opportunists, but they are clearly not the point. To focus only on the looting is to ignore the pleas of the peaceful protesters who were trying to do a couple things, including protest the death of yet another unarmed, young, black man at the hands of yet another police officer in circumstances that can at best be called troubling. Second, Michael Brown was not shot for stealing cigars. I’m weary of this story line. Even if he did steal cigars, or a television, or a bottle of booze, or medicine for a child, no one should get shot for stealing. That seems a reasonable axiom.
I don’t know if this pastor represents the mainstream of white American Christians. He only has 750 followers, but I have spent enough time online and watching television news to know that his views are not terribly unusual. In fact, he is committing the same sin as many of his peers; he is finding tangential narratives that allow him to ignore the larger narrative. In short, he is not speaking truth to power–the task of the pastor or prophet–rather, he is speaking propaganda to his followers to buttress the standard narrative of the conservative, white majority within American Christendom, and worse, within American political communities of reference.
The problem with being a white pastor and trying to address this issue within the authority of the pulpit is that he seems not to understand that he really does get to “go where he pleases” to the point where he “walks through walls.” I, too, am a 50ish white male. I get to go pretty much wherever I want. I can walk into any building in this city and no one will question my presence, barring federally-restricted, military, or penal facilities. This is part of the definition of white privilege–the ability to be above suspicion based on racial stereotypes, even extending into minority communities who would tend to give me a pass as well.
To be a white, male, middle-aged Christian in America is to hold one of the most invisible positions possible within our culture. Add a conservative political ideology to that demographic descriptor and the person is simultaneously a caricature and cliche while still maintaining his status as a real person with real influence. While I don’t dispute Oklahoma author Ralph Ellison’s metaphor of black males as invisible men, he means the metaphor differently than I, obviously. This is the beauty of a versatile metaphor. Ellison’s man would remain invisible until he was discovered to be someplace he did not belong. I would be hard pressed to find someone to tell me that I am where I don’t belong.
The cost of remaining invisible, from within the white narrative, is that I must either agree with the standard narrative, both cultural and political, or I must remain silent. Once my thoughts are known, I am forced to one of the available categories within the hegemony’s taxonomy of beliefs. For example, until students or acquaintances know that I am a skeptic, I am treated as part of the hegemony. As soon as I out myself as a skeptic, I am relegated to the category of “atheist,” which is the only category of non-theism with which my Okie neighbors are familiar. This does not change my racial privilege, but it does alter some of the other advantages, both professional and personal, I would enjoy were I to remain silent.
So we arrive at the metaphor of disappearing in plain sight, which is what the white church has largely managed to do in the U.S. They have agreed with the hegemonic narrative across so many different political and cultural divides that the word “evangelical” is now synonymous with political conservatism in the minds of all but a few casual observers of the nexus of religion and culture. The Tea Party, as has often been noted, is overwhelmingly Christian. More serious observers, myself included, know there is a difference, but moments like this test my commitment to maintaining the distinctions.
In assenting to the politically conservative narrative, they cease to be the church and become the hegemony. It’s transformation away from the Gospel and toward a gospel of racial superiority and political conservatism. The result is the transformation of the church into a racial and political organism with no ability to actually transform the parent culture. The Constantinian irony of conquest by conferring acceptance and subsequent preferential status is playing out yet again, and it’s doing so at the expense of the “Samaritans” in our midst.
[1] See “Everyday Apocalypse” by David Dark, a fantastic collection of essays.
[2] Some of the best writing has been by Ta-Nehisi Coates for “The Atlantic.” http://www.theatlantic.com/ta-nehisi-coates/
[3] I had the bulk of this written before the Eric Garner murder, so I’m not addressing that here, except to note that it makes everything so much worse. It would be difficult to exceed Jon Stewart’s response to Garner. If you haven’t seen it, stop what you’re doing and watch it.
