On: I've Got Something to Say
7:42 PM
Images via mandronia
As I am having, what is quite possibly, one of the worst days of this month, I felt compelled to do what brings me peace in times of trouble: write. So, here is a post on the top 5 things I have had circling my mind for the past day or two.
1. As I enter my 25th year of life on Earth (praise God, praise God), I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that I cannot be who others want me to be.
It's played.
2. "Euphoria" on HBO, as much as I've tried to enjoy it, is simply not good and narratively empty.
Gif via mingrose
Gif via mingrose
Nate is one of the most fleshed out and intriguing characters on this show, and it is he who continues to pull me back in, weekly. He is also markedly the most...let's say dangerous one in case you didn't notice the heavy-handed "American Psycho" parallel in episode 2.
Rue is...boring-ish to me? Her storylines don't hold me, which is ironic considering she is the protagonist.
Jules...I don't really feel any extreme way about her, but she is the most realistically written girl.
Rue and Jules' friendship is not a goal, it is actually very unhealthy and parasitic - which is realistic of some high school engagements.
Rue's mother being Black and yet wholly inactive and passively engaged in her daughter's life outside of her sobriety (if that) makes no sense, culturally.
Yes, even as a single mother if not especially so.
Maddy is not a Manny Santos, she's a Darcy Edwards. All she and Manuella have in common are being canonically popular, 'well-dressed' Latinas who are punished for being hypersexual.
Cassie...is the girl with big breasts who is hypersexualized - we all know a Cassie.
She is not interesting in real life or onscreen.
Kat is a duck, and the embodiment of this exact quote:
“Male fantasies, male fantasies, is everything run by male fantasies? Up on a pedestal or down on your knees, it's all a male fantasy: that you're strong enough to take what they dish out, or else too weak to do anything about it. Even pretending you aren't catering to male fantasies is a male fantasy: pretending you're unseen, pretending you have a life of your own, that you can wash your feet and comb your hair unconscious of the ever-present watcher peering through the keyhole, peering through the keyhole in your own head, if nowhere else. You are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur.”
― The Robber Bride
McKay is a waste of Algee Smith's talent, simply because he is not being properly utilized as the token Black guy. All in due time, I suppose, but it shouldn't take this much time ENSEMBLE SHOW.
Gia is an absolute waste of Storm Reid's talent, but she carries emotional scenes like a pro.
Lexie...is just there for decoration.
Fez is a bad guy, period. I don't care that he was ready to shoot his connect, he sells drugs to teenagers - that is inherently a Bad Thing To Do™. He does look like a ginger Mac Miller, though, so I suppose that helps.
People are more willing to accept bad people when they're not traditionally or overtly hideous.
I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think the little kid who is a drug dealer/tattooist is meant to be comic relief, and I ain't laughing.
If I am missing any characters or deep themes, it is because this show does more telling than showing and a lot of times it is quite forgettable.
Though I am enjoying this, yes, forced second season, it has made me aware of the fact that the Black female characters are...kind of markedly villainous? Where there is the outright villainy of Perry and Mary Louise Wright, I have noticed that:
- Season 1 Bonnie was made out to be a villain for being the second wife to Madeline's ex-husband, now in Season 2 she is villainizing herself for rightfully protecting her friend from domestic abuse and is not being cared for at all.
Yeah, her husband is kind of a dolt and her other friends have things going on in their lives, but who is there to hug and protect Bonnie? Sometimes it feels like the response to her chaos is an afterthought.
- The detective. Sure, she's a pest, but it's her job?
- Bonnie's mother is the most glaring example of this for me, and the way her plot has played out, thus far, has made me mad. Whose choice was it to veer from the source material and make her the abusive parent rather than Bonnie's father? What would have changed had Bonnie sat there, brimming with guilt and grief, over the near-vegetative body of her white father. Explaining to him how his abuse of her mother had realized in her marriage to a passive and safe white man, how seeing Perry pound on his wife in an uncontrollable rage evoked the image of her father doing the same to her mother.
It would have changed a lot, actually. And made more sense because, you know, two abusive white guys.
But no, they'd rather Bonnie's dad be the passive white guy in Cliff Huxtable sweaters who hid in bathrooms à la Ebony in "The Players Club" whilst his neo-hoodoo wife went on abusive rampages about her home.
Okay.
Living your life and catering your life to the eyes of others has never seemed like a smart idea, but with the rise of social media, it's idiotic. You cannot please everyone - it is literally impossible. There is no such thing as The Best Perfect Person, so living your life to do/be so is a waste of time.
But I'm also very private and tend to not believe in things if they are shoved down my throat, so what do I really know?
Goodness, I miss Mr. Rogers.
It's time to accept some people are sociopaths and devoid of empathy.
It is also time to accept there are some people not worth yours or mine own empathy.
It takes nothing to be kind - if you are incapable of being so, move from around me, I don't want nor care to be near you.
- I am not talking to non-Black people about race, specifically about being Black, anymore.
It's 2019, at this point you're trolling or you're looking for an argument - two thing for which I do not have time for. Google is far too free and upon that search engine exist far too many resources that may be found to assuage any of your guilt(s), fact check your rhetoric or rock your world. I don't have to, and I won't, engage in these conversations.
I choose happiness.
- Pandering politicians continue to be annoying.
Thank you, inept individual, for continuing to 'Other' me and my big ol' BUH-LACK experience. I'm sure the fried chicken and mac and cheese lunch with a civil rights movement leader helped alter someone's view of you.
- Start asking white public figures about what they are doing to combat racism in America.
I know Serena Williams and Viola Davis and Denzel Washington are tired.
I hear Scarlett Johansson has a lot to say, though.
- "The Boondocks" episode about Nancy Pelosi is going to be FLAMES
- Public apologies are for the weak
Stand up in your ignorance and bigotry, please - you said what you said and you meant it.
But who am I kidding, most of the time the apologies are for white people who would excuse a racist act via a well-timed photo op.
- Wealthy people are sick
Money really does make people feel invincible.
From Jeffrey Epstein to Ed Buck to Ethan Crouch to Lori Laughlin to Jeff Bezos - money is both literally and figuratively, so dirty.
- Naomi Campbell's plane routine gives me even more anxiety about flying
- Pineapple will always belong on pizza AND burgers
- People who sit on social media and start talking like it are...really sad
- Stan culture is most toxic online
- Like the Black girls with the to' up wigs and weaves, and the Black guy in chino shorts and a colorful Polo, I wonder if there are distinct markers of other people of color who exclusively hang out with white people
- Popeyes is quite expensive
- Fruits from Aldi's is top tier
- I like to shop when I'm sad, so I am partially convinced I may be the real life Rebecca Bloomwood sans crushing debt and an insanely rich husband
- People who lie to get out of events...depending on the event itself, just say 'no' with your chest, bruv
- Ovie Soko on Love Island UK is obscenely handsome, but he's Nigerian which automatically means there is a dark twist in there, somewhere.
- The hate received by non-white characters/individuals in fandom is rooted in racism, pure and simple.
The loudest outcry comes from people who only hate them simply because they cannot self-insert into the fantasy - a rich irony considering non-white people have been able and even instructed to do so for years and years.
- Interracial couples are not just made Black and white individuals
Dear Hollywood,
You're boring me.
- Darkskinned Black women need more representation. Period.
I think that's pretty much it with this non post. I am disappointed at the gaps in my posting, but I'm a human, not a machine or a dancing monkey - I cannot force creativity.
Hopefully I will get back on the wagon, but for now I thank you for bearing with my word vomit.
Gia is an absolute waste of Storm Reid's talent, but she carries emotional scenes like a pro.
Lexie...is just there for decoration.
Fez is a bad guy, period. I don't care that he was ready to shoot his connect, he sells drugs to teenagers - that is inherently a Bad Thing To Do™. He does look like a ginger Mac Miller, though, so I suppose that helps.
People are more willing to accept bad people when they're not traditionally or overtly hideous.
I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think the little kid who is a drug dealer/tattooist is meant to be comic relief, and I ain't laughing.
If I am missing any characters or deep themes, it is because this show does more telling than showing and a lot of times it is quite forgettable.
3. "Big Little Lies" has a Black problem
Gifs via sseureki
- Season 1 Bonnie was made out to be a villain for being the second wife to Madeline's ex-husband, now in Season 2 she is villainizing herself for rightfully protecting her friend from domestic abuse and is not being cared for at all.
Yeah, her husband is kind of a dolt and her other friends have things going on in their lives, but who is there to hug and protect Bonnie? Sometimes it feels like the response to her chaos is an afterthought.
- The detective. Sure, she's a pest, but it's her job?
- Bonnie's mother is the most glaring example of this for me, and the way her plot has played out, thus far, has made me mad. Whose choice was it to veer from the source material and make her the abusive parent rather than Bonnie's father? What would have changed had Bonnie sat there, brimming with guilt and grief, over the near-vegetative body of her white father. Explaining to him how his abuse of her mother had realized in her marriage to a passive and safe white man, how seeing Perry pound on his wife in an uncontrollable rage evoked the image of her father doing the same to her mother.
It would have changed a lot, actually. And made more sense because, you know, two abusive white guys.
But no, they'd rather Bonnie's dad be the passive white guy in Cliff Huxtable sweaters who hid in bathrooms à la Ebony in "The Players Club" whilst his neo-hoodoo wife went on abusive rampages about her home.
Okay.
4. Making your relationship or your life a brand is a very bad idea.
Gifs via spearsdaily
But I'm also very private and tend to not believe in things if they are shoved down my throat, so what do I really know?
5. It takes nothing to be empathetic
Gifs via greek-arete
Goodness, I miss Mr. Rogers.
It's time to accept some people are sociopaths and devoid of empathy.
It is also time to accept there are some people not worth yours or mine own empathy.
It takes nothing to be kind - if you are incapable of being so, move from around me, I don't want nor care to be near you.
Bonus:
It's 2019, at this point you're trolling or you're looking for an argument - two thing for which I do not have time for. Google is far too free and upon that search engine exist far too many resources that may be found to assuage any of your guilt(s), fact check your rhetoric or rock your world. I don't have to, and I won't, engage in these conversations.
I choose happiness.
- Pandering politicians continue to be annoying.
Thank you, inept individual, for continuing to 'Other' me and my big ol' BUH-LACK experience. I'm sure the fried chicken and mac and cheese lunch with a civil rights movement leader helped alter someone's view of you.
- Start asking white public figures about what they are doing to combat racism in America.
I know Serena Williams and Viola Davis and Denzel Washington are tired.
I hear Scarlett Johansson has a lot to say, though.
- "The Boondocks" episode about Nancy Pelosi is going to be FLAMES
- Public apologies are for the weak
Stand up in your ignorance and bigotry, please - you said what you said and you meant it.
But who am I kidding, most of the time the apologies are for white people who would excuse a racist act via a well-timed photo op.
- Wealthy people are sick
Money really does make people feel invincible.
From Jeffrey Epstein to Ed Buck to Ethan Crouch to Lori Laughlin to Jeff Bezos - money is both literally and figuratively, so dirty.
- Naomi Campbell's plane routine gives me even more anxiety about flying
- Pineapple will always belong on pizza AND burgers
- People who sit on social media and start talking like it are...really sad
- Stan culture is most toxic online
- Like the Black girls with the to' up wigs and weaves, and the Black guy in chino shorts and a colorful Polo, I wonder if there are distinct markers of other people of color who exclusively hang out with white people
- Popeyes is quite expensive
- Fruits from Aldi's is top tier
- I like to shop when I'm sad, so I am partially convinced I may be the real life Rebecca Bloomwood sans crushing debt and an insanely rich husband
- People who lie to get out of events...depending on the event itself, just say 'no' with your chest, bruv
- Ovie Soko on Love Island UK is obscenely handsome, but he's Nigerian which automatically means there is a dark twist in there, somewhere.
- The hate received by non-white characters/individuals in fandom is rooted in racism, pure and simple.
The loudest outcry comes from people who only hate them simply because they cannot self-insert into the fantasy - a rich irony considering non-white people have been able and even instructed to do so for years and years.
- Interracial couples are not just made Black and white individuals
Dear Hollywood,
You're boring me.
- Darkskinned Black women need more representation. Period.
AAAAAND FIN!
I think that's pretty much it with this non post. I am disappointed at the gaps in my posting, but I'm a human, not a machine or a dancing monkey - I cannot force creativity.
Hopefully I will get back on the wagon, but for now I thank you for bearing with my word vomit.
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