District Nine Review: I'm Outside the Target Demographic

'Lo Peoples,

D-efffin'-9!

First off, thanks so much to Jack Womack and Tobias Buckell for their kind permission to include their District Nine observations in this entry for a balanced perspective. See their links and commentary below.

So now I shall launch into my rant. Buckell and Womack are far more generous with their praise than I can be. A quote from the Lemurian sums up my overall movie grade: "20% great ideas 80% upsetting."

Images hurt. Maybe there aren't any cries of pain from viewers, at first. Some viewers don't even realize when they've been sliced. The wounds catch up with them later in the recesses of their subconscious when the infection sets in and goes to rot. It's not good.

So I present to you my beef against D9, or District Nine.

Propaganda is a powerful medium. Combined with the movie industry, it is a near-innocuous delivery system. It is often used in service of racist, homophobic, and bigoted agendas. 300. Enough said. Or maybe not enough said, because year after year I see the same tired tropes being dusted off by nonBlack directors and film creatives and being foisted upon an unsuspecting public in the name of Entertainment. May I ask to whom is Blackface funny? Not me.

Earlier this summer, my brother, the Lemurian, and I saw the preview for District Nine. We saw the aliens. Cool. The image of a big ship floating over a city. It suggested that we might see an intelligent response to Spielberg's Close Encounters. We were hooked. Opening weekend we transported ourselves to a Regal Cinema and an evening show. Unlike Harry Potter which we had also just seen, District Nine, didn't seem to merit a larger screen in the theatre's eyes. The Lemurian and I have a habit of preferring dark horse movies so that didn't daunt us. Perhaps it should have been a warning.

D9. D9. D9.

We'd seen images from the preview of dark-skinned peoples complaining about the aliens. Just a few second sound bytes to set the mood. We knew Blomkamp would go to some touchy spaces, but we gave the movie the benefit of the doubt, and continued to watch. Segregated aliens being equated with the historically Black Africans who suffered and endured Apartheid made for a metaphor that the Lemurian and I could identify with. "Prawn" doesn't have the quite the same sting as the "N-word" "Kaffir" but, hey, we were still on the same bus with Blomkamp at that point. The Nigerians traded cat food for alien weapons. We merely raised an eyebrow. Quirky. But still within the realm of possibility.

Then, we got knocked off the bus.

D9. D9. D9. D9. D9. D9.

The Nigerians also prostituted their scantily clad women to the aliens. Interspecies sex does not offend me, but I won't speak for the Lemurian. Exploitation of women does outrage us and in, particular, the exploitation of Black women. The Khoi woman, Sara Baartman's remains had only been returned to her homeland since 2002. I am referring to the Hottentot Venus. She was used as a prostitute and displayed as a sexual oddity. Now seven years later, a scifi movie implies that Nigerian women bonk aliens, because naturally, no nonBlack woman would. Nor did I see any nonBlack women in the movie except in respectable, mostly clothed appearances.

Upon viewing the Nigerian prostitutes and smugglers in D9, I cringed in my seat while the Lemurian went into his "I'm-gonna-have-to-disembowel -somebody" mode.

Next, the Nigerian priestess incites the crippled leader of the Nigerians to feast upon "Prawn" parts to increase his strength. As someone who practices a traditional African religion, I am fuming. Here we go again with the "Hoodoo-Voodoo" stereotype. I realize that "Muti" maimings and killings exist, but in this context, the image is reprehensible. It results in the idea that a Nigerian, read Black man or Black woman, equals a prostituting, weapons trafficking, witch doctor, evil cannibal. Most viewers would not even question Blomkamp. Doesn't everybody know this is just how those Nigerians are? Yeah right.

I could barely contain myself when the audience cheered upon the group of Nigerians' deaths. The majority of the audience is not African descended. To them, these images are just colorful accents to a powerful story. I and the Lemurian are off the bus and are left completely aware we are solidly outside the target demographic. Upon genetic testing, I'll bet you my ancestry is probably Nigerian.
Try substituting another ethnicity in place of the Nigerians and the impact is still troubling. Movies slip past most people's internal censors and go straight to the subconscious. This is defamation of an an entire ethnic group.

D9. D9. D9. D9. D9. D9. D9. D9. D9. D9. D9. D9. D9. D9. D9. D9. D9.

Now lest a reader think I am merely whining, I have included feedback from two other science fiction writers who also saw the movie.


First we shall hear from veteran author and publicist Jack Womack:
Link: www.facebook.com/people/Jack-Womack/589998540

"Tangh-i, 'OK, saw it yesterday with Carrie, old pal/former girlfriend/current 'Aunt' in our ext.family. Her initial reaction: 'That was the weirdest damn version of ET I've ever seen.'

"Clearly (on a serious note, now) some *considerable* racial weirdness underlying (and overlying) this film, some of which is clearly just plain black/white, some of which I suspect may be particularly black/SouthAfrican white -- some of which is obviously conscious, and some of which I suspect is unconscious (or, more accurately, subconscious.) I'm going to be all over the place here, but let me write down things as they come to mind.

"So first let us consider, were this an actual situation, what would be the likelihood that Nigerians (or any other group) would be allowed to set up camp, live, etc., within a clearly demarcated township/concentration camp zone? Not so much, I don't believe; as I recall the townships (which Dist 9 is clearly patterned on) were secured under apartheid though I honestly don't know to what degree. But in Dist 9, it would appear to me that by the start the area is pretty much supposed to be off-limits to people, and policed from without accordingly.

"Therefore what would and should naturally develop, if the aliens are so close to humans in behavioral patterns as they would appear to be within the context of the script, would be over the course of twenty years, especially in such clearly intolerable circumstances, the development of criminal groups *within the ranks of the aliens themselves* a la the way sonderkommandos were selected within the German camps, the way the criminal elements ruled the political prisoners in the gulags etc. etc. etc. I could in that case see outside elements (conceivably Nigerian, but most likely South African locals, whether black, People of Color, or white/Afrikaaner) serving as the conduits through which an under-the-table market for cat food, cow's heads, etc. are thereby provided, through the fences etc., to the aliens in exchange for......what?

"Well, some sort of McGuffin -- within the film you wouldn't need to have anything but the sketchiest idea. Unless the government/MultiNational United itself has deliberately chosen this route i.e. to provide the bad element to be on hand that keeps the rest in control – but it seems to me the MNU is perfectly capable of keeping everybody miserable, when it wants.

"And this calls to mind another fine question: clearly, the aliens are able to reproduce -- the little guy (who was my favorite character, actually, and the smartest....) being clear evidence of that -- if a hooker market developed, why would it not develop among the aliens themselves??? Leaving aside the entire typical question of interspecies intercourse, which this would clearly be in this case and pace Kirk/Spock slash, we know would be not that popular. So why would A) we first hear about Nigerian hookers? (Heavens, Those People will screw anything....) For that matter, where the hell were the female aliens?

"Now, another point. Considering that that the SA government may or may not be black-majority or Afrikaaner-majority ( that's never really made clear, is it? If the latter, then we could be dealing with an alternative history, but that's left hanging, for better or worse.) "Now, the more I’m thinking about it, the more I *suspect* that the dramatic parallel was intended to be that the (white) MNU was just as brutal and relentless and bloody when it came to dismantling the hero for his parts, to gain power, as the (black) Nigerian gangsters. But it’s taken me considerable dwelling on the movie for this to become clearer to me.

"Now the eternal question raised by the Critics: can't you have seriously f*kd up evil black characters in a movie? Of course you can. (Forest Whitaker as Amin; and in Devil Wears A Blue Dress, it's really hard to beat Don Cheadle as Mouse, just to think of a couple off the top of my head; those are also fairly complicated characters, as well.) The central character, here, could have been made a government rep, as opposed to an MNU rep (or is he a government rep? I'm not clear) in which case he could have been black and his nefarious father-in-law could have been black etc. -- it's not as if the contemporary SA government hasn't done some f*d up things and their AIDS policies are beyond horrible.

[A Tangh-i Note: Blackwater and Xe refers to a known private security contractor.]

"Here’s something I was unclear on: the MNU, like Blackwater/Xe/You name it clearly has Caucasoids in charge, though blacks are working as same. And, the MNU is clearly not the government, but operates with full government backing. What is the makeup of the government? Is it ever made clear if it is as today (i.e. African-led) or as an alternative world slightly adjusted Afrikaaner-with Africans working not in the top positions? "Leaving aside any present-day cultural actualities in Africa, whether SA or Nigeria (Muti, etc.) the basic takeaway for the viewer, as it plays, seems to me:

"1) Aliens: good, but troubled, and bad only in response to their treatment 2) Whites: some good, some bad, some very bad 3) Blacks: mostly bad (hookers, black marketers, weapons dealers, gangsters, cannibals), one noncommittal (the press secretary), one mercenary doing his job but not in charge, one good guy seen very briefly as the one who has found out the hero was in the right, has exposed the genetics program of MNU, and is under arrest/awaiting trial for having done so. "The sheer spectacle of the film, the pacing, the fine performance of the lead are all superb -- but there was considerable room for improvement. Considerable."

Thank you, Mr. Womack. And now we shall hear from the Nebula award nominee, Mr. Buckell. By the way, Mr. Buckell does have an excellent review of D9 that he composed after we had this email conversation. Go to http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/2009/08/18/district-9-what-she-said/


Tobias Buckell:
Link: www.tobiasbuckell.com

"Hey Jarla, I don't have a review yet. I'm of two minds about the movie. 1) I'm happy to see SF at least *trying* something in this direction, and for 30 million, which could mean more movies get made 2) Major stumble on the Nigerians. I think the director was trying to show an apartheid world, but kept forgetting to focus on white/black human interactions because he was hammering the alien/human interaction as being the stand in metaphor. As a result, he made some big mistakes. And I wonder what prompted the Nigerians characterization.

"As a result, many white people are going to praise the movie as being an amazing look at race relations, as they're only focusing on the standing metaphor, others who are more inclued will ask 'what about the actual black people in the movie?'

"(Of course, as an SF writer I think the aliens=black people metaphor is a troubling one b/c it contributes to total othering, and due to more bad characterization, other than the nice alien and kid, the other aliens don't really make any sense or have their culture explained, so if you take the metaphor at face value, it actually crumbles the movie).

"Part of the director's mistake was his desire to portray humans with a total misanthropic brush, not a single human in the pic is a nice person, but I think as part of his simplistic characterization he did wrong.

"So I view it as an action-filled half step forward/half step back, ultimately going nowhere, but that might prompt some people to do better, and maybe we'll get more of a focus on the idea that 20 mil SF movies can be made instead of 100-200 mil."

Thank you again, Mr. Buckell.

I have also heard reportings from other movie goers that the demonization of the Nigerians springs from actual socio-ethnic conflicts in South Africa. These D9 aliens may be actually modelled upon refugees from neighboring Zimbabwe. It may be indeed actuality, but it is difficult not to suspect another agenda, because the Nigerians spend more onscreen time than any other Black ethnic group. The Nigerians are also specifically named. There is no "friendly" Nigerian in the cast to soften the perception. Nor is the Zimbabwean = alien connection made explicit.

I've also heard praises of the white protagonist's antiheroic characterization as a darkly humorous truth. I have no beef with the person of Wikus van de Merwe.

I'm also more sympathetic to the inclusion of a "magical alien" in the being of the "Prawn" Christopher Johnson. Imagine if Christopher weren't so forgiving? Enough to keep one awake at night.

In closing, the segregated and exploited alien trope in D9 was its highlight. That's why the issues I brought up hurt so much. There is a Black character who tells the truth about the MNU's treatment of the aliens who ends up jailed which might have been added to provide balance, but I'm sorry, the evil Nigerian trope overpowered any other contrast. It hits viewers on the primal level whereas the MNU's crimes seem reasonable. It might as well say: This is what arises from military-industrial complexes. Doesn't everyone know that? But hey, Blacks eating body parts is even worse.

The reason I take umbrage about the Nigerians' depiction in D9 is because a group is clearly being targeted, not an individual character as in the Whittaker and Cheadle performances. This is where the film veers into Racism and Bigotry. I'm not insisting that Blacks can't be villains. It is the context in which the villain operates. Idi Amin is a known historical figure. Making a movie about Amin is not presenting a "slant" that will result in all Ugandans being judged accordingly. Evil Nigerians in Fiction are problematic because after the fantastic elements are removed what's left is pure prejudice.


Peace,

Her Tangh-i-ness

Disclosure: We actually paid money to go see this movie. GRRRRRRR.

Book Review: Magazine Beach

August 21, 2009
Magazine Beach by Lewis Gannett
Harper Prism
©1996



Some books encourage the growth of new neurons. You need them to hold together the plot and compute its theme inside your head. In Magazine Beach, Ian Fleming's suspenseful hi-jinks meet Nevil Shute's technologically-produced disaster and proceed to get busy. It is unfortunate that in 1996, the public imagination had been siezed by various medical and legal thrillers, failing planes, and a former Vice-President's executive orders, that an unlikely eco-terrorist group's impact upon Antartica's ice shelf had not registered. Pity.

My father taught me to appreciate antagonists. Without them, nothing plot-worthy happens. Slotsky with his relentless pursuit of intel, noseless face, 'dorph addiction, and foot fetish more than fits the bill. The man proved as hard to pin down as a subatomic particle. First he was there, then he wasn't. Slotsky had the final laugh in the end.

I also enjoyed the infamous ménage à trois of Antarctic expert Earnest Trefethen, his chemically persuasive wife, Helen Scarf, and billionairess Martha Cliffcloud.

Here are some highlights from the darkly comic narrative:

• A crash course in ice-shelf geomorphology.
• The wonder drug Amphendorph.
• An ambulance tank.
• A home laser defense-system being used as a glorified insect zapper.
• A sexually-frustrated male twin impersonates his own sister and later gives in to his attraction to the man he assumes to be his rival for her affections.
• A plucky old lady by the name of Arugula dies in her sleep after sharing in the adventure of her life.
• The supercool combo of a gay "it" boy, his hetero galpal, and her thigh-high boots earn a cult following.
• Former upstanding members of the "establishment" revert to their radical bent.
• In a cosmic irony, the hero, a self-confessed catastrophist, finds that his photo triggers the final set of nuclear-explosions the survivors intended to prevent. At least, with the exception of Arugula, the rest of the hip, young cast got laid before the end.
• The Earth is the only character left standing...er...orbiting.

Some of my favorite quotes:

"I'm a kind of a fraud. Taking credit for geophysical cycles that predate human history by millions of years."
"Who'd believe a bunny sets off doomsday?"
"Nightmare, Toby thought. He realized he was shirtless. Then he realized he wasn't wearing any underwear."
"The Boston Sunday Globe: Nukes in Antartica seek "Beast" "Two Faces": Overpopulation, High Technology? Cambridge Dinner party provides clues."

Peace,

Her Tangh-i-ness

Disclosure: She received a free review copy direct from the author. It's autographed so she is keeping it.

Book Review: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

August 17, 2009
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
By N. K. Jemisin
©2010, Orbit Hachette Book Group



First off, once the Nahadoth Nightlord T-shirt and action figure line becomes available—I must be notified immediately! Can we say sizzling, long-haired, uber-Badboy? Shall we say this is the same kind of insane attraction that an legendary, fanged Transylvanian possesses? Yum.

Don't ask how I have come into possession of The Ten Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin. Suffice it to say, I won't betray my fellow pro-Enefadeh. The Itempan Arameri have their scriveners recording every word I say. I'll keep typing as fast as I can.

Yeine Darr Arameri, the protagonist, comes across as a solid everywoman despite her fantastical surroundings. The novel remains in her point of view. Her trouble is most of the novel's cast seeks her death for one reason or another. Yeine balances being a reader surrogate during charged exchanges with the afore-mentioned Nahadoth, being the kind of heroine who transforms from awkward barbarian to a force for justice in a vicious, amoral world, and being comfortably herself.

I fell in love with the book almost from the moment I saw the author photo on the back. People of color have an ancient tradition of fabulous story-telling. I, for one, demand more volumes to choose from and The Ten Thousand Kingdoms has earned a permanent spot on my bookshelf. The brooding cover art also promised a delicious, female-centered darkness. 398 pages later, I wasn't disappointed. Cross-pollination between genres is welcome. Romance readers and fans of Shonen-Ai may also find this book to their liking. I appreciated so much the inclusion of alternative sexualities. Think on this, an incestuous triangle between two gods and their deceased sister-goddess lies at the heart of the conflict. This is the kind of book that derives its intense eroticism, not from gratuituous prose, but from the understated image of its aftermath: a broken bed. Read into that whatever you will.

Peace,

Her Tangh-i-ness

Disclosure: I received a free advance copy of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.

Steven Barnes is my Sensei

August 15, 2009
Steven Barnes is my Sensei



This entry will launch my series on Writing Mentors. I will rant and rave about other stuff naturally, but this topic makes an excellent start.

First, let me define the word Sensei.

Keep in mind that I have never been on a mat, never taken a stance, never sparred with a bokken, never drawn a bow, nor have I trained in any dojo of any kind. I am far more likely to sit on my generous butt watching a martial art flick. Yet, the same discipline needed in martial art connects to writing. I equate Sensei with a high level of discipline. Her Tangh-i-ness will get there. Baby steps. Baby steps.

The Japanese word, Sensei, is commonly known to refer to a judo or karate teacher, it can also respectfully refer to a teacher or a mentor. It so happens that Steven Barnes actually practices several forms of martial art along with writing his screenplays, teleplays, short stories, and novels. He has New York Times Bestseller status and Hugo and Nebula awards to his street cred. So I'm sure ya'll understand why someone like him would find a place on my wall of honor.

I have displayed there a time-worn collage of writers both living and dead. Steven Barnes shares the same plane at the top as Samuel Delany and Mark Twain. Octavia Butler inhabits the center (for those who must know).

Mind you, Steven Barnes never directly answers to this title: Sensei. It's just something I chose to call him. I've a bad habit. If I like a person, they get a nickname. Which is how they're stuck being addressed when I talk to them. Steven Barnes didn't ask for this. It's all me. What can I say? Her Tangh-i-ness has issues. My father was not thrilled with my being an artist instead of following in his footsteps and applying myself to science. So I got into into my head that I needed a literary Father-Figure of some kind. I thought I'd pin that dubious distinction on Steven Barnes. He, wisely, avoids that responsibility.

I'd started emailing Steven Barnes when I had to make a tough decision. In 2001, Octavia Butler was at Clarion West. That year, Sensei would teach at Clarion East. I was rabid about the Aubry Knight books. So I hoped when I was in the Seattle area I could actually meet their author. Didn't happen. I went off to Clarion West and studied with Ms. Butler. Steven Barnes wowed Clarion East. That could have been the end of the story.

But, I emailed Sensei, post-Clarion, whenever I read a book of his that really sent me into orbit or to ask his blessing for an idea from his books that I wanted to explore in my own writing. Steven Barnes always graciously responded. I'm not gonna to tell you what he said either. Nyah.

In 2003, I was accepted into the Mojo Conjure Stories anthology. Steven Barnes' name appeared in the same volume. I emailed again. We had a nice chat. In 2006, Octavia Butler passed and I signed up for Steven Barnes' Lifewrite newsletter. Every few days, I'd get free teachings straight from Sensei without having to fly to the West Coast. Sweeeeet.

2008, I eventually invested in the Lifewriting for Writers program. I absorbed it for a whole year before taking him up on his offer of a short story or outline analysis. In May 2009, I spoke with Steven Barnes on the phone for the first time in nine years of emails. I felt like I'd won the the literary lottery. I was talking to my hero!

I adore Steven Barnes unconditionally. He did, however, say I could share with ya'll some of his words of wisdom. I am presently searching through my collection to see what gem from Sensei that I will pull out to feature here. In the meantime, you could always go straight for the source. Type with me, http://www.lifewrite.com.

The best teachers know the student really doesn't need them. It's all about the hand, the arrow, the bokken, the shinai and the target. Her Tangh-i-ness will get over herself.

Peace.

Jarla Tangh is in the House!

Her Tangh-i-ness is here on Blogger to show love for those who think outside the box, y'all.

This means she's here to make friends and build up her fanbase only.

She read constantly as a youngster and was misunderstood because she spoke the King's English near always and used SAT words in normal conversation. For your information, her verbal was 780, but alas, her Math sucked the big one at 540. Poor little dread-locked girl.

Her Tangh-i-ness is a Clarion West 2001 Graduate. She owes her pseudonym to a vocalist friend who gave her the first name, a faery godmother of an editor, who told her using just one name is pretentious, and the surname from the Turkey City Lexicon. She considers herself African Descended rather than African American, but will still answer to Black and Colored. She is one of those people who thinks Disney should release Song of the South. Forget that damn The Princess and the Frog! Likewise, Huckleberry Finn needs to stay on bookshelves, so kids can remember what life used to be like. Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, performed a service to humanity given the prevailing anti-Negro sentiment in his day.

Her Tangh-i-ness is a writer of homoerotic male-male romance, science fiction, fantasy, and horror featuring people of color as the protagonists.

Publications:

Afro-Future Females: Black Writers Chart Science Fiction's Newest New-Wave Trajectory, 2008

Essay "A Close Encounter with my Pseudonym" Publisher Ohio State University Press

Editor Marleen S. Barr

Mojo Conjure Stories, 2003

Short Story "The Skinned" Publisher Warner Aspect

Editor Nalo Hopkinson

Current Projects:

The Nether Concern- a dark urban fantasy series set in 1915 Boston with a gay Black hero

World Jumping- a multi-world urban fantasy series set in Boston with a straight Black heroine

The Society for the Protection of Engineered Creatures- an alternate-world sci-fi series with an African descended, intersexed, albino hero.

The Caldlond Demon series- a multi-generational fantasy set in an alternate Ancient Britain.

Thank you all for reading, buying, and recommending the above-mentioned. Now for some thanks in Yoruba.

Modupe Pupa Pupa.

Ashe.