Fantasy, Reality and Revision #244
By Hank Silverberg
With the writer's and actor's strike I wrote about last week now in full swing, it's likely we won't be seeing too many blockbuster movies in the near future. So, it's ironic that three of them are now out and creating a big buzz that, like everything else these days, ends up in the political realm.
I have only seen one of them. I am not a movie critic, but "Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny" was entertaining enough. I just left the theater feeling that I had seen it all before. It is definitely time to retire Dr. Jones, though considering the subject of this movie, I don't think a gold watch would be appropriate. If you go see it, you might want to brush up on "The Butterfly Effect."
The other two movies are different. I haven't seen "Oppenheimer" yet, though I intend to. The subject matter is gripping, and you need to be in the right mood to take it all in. What would the world be like today without the atomic bomb?
That takes us to "Barbie," and we are not talking about remodeling pink dreamhouses.
Politics and Barbie?
There's been lots of hype about the new "Barbie" movie this week. I have no intention in seeing it. Some people may find it funny and entertaining, but there are others who actually think it's political. That has me laughing and annoyed at the same time.
Forget all the talk about whether Barbie is "woke" and feminist propaganda with too many references to sex, as some conservative Christian groups are saying. Or whether the movie actually has a conservative theme that promotes family values. It includes a mother and daughter reconciliation and the ultimate acceptance of a patriarchal society as some conservative pundits have noted. Does it really matter?
She's a plastic doll.
The controversy that caught my eye, though, is over a map that this fictional character drew in crayon.
Apparently, the "Barbie Land" map includes a nine-dash line in Asia that the real-life regime in Beijing uses as its border in the South China Sea. It's a border that is contested by several nations, including Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, and not recognized by the United States or the United Nations.
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| (Barbie's crayon map. Courtesy of Warner Bros.) |
Some Republicans say it was drawn this way in the movie so it would pass the Chinese censors. That would allow the movie to be shown in China and make lots of money. Hollywood, they say, is pandering to the People's Republic of China.
Mind you, this map is drawn in crayon by what people are now calling a "formerly plastic anthropomorphic doll."
GOP declares war on ... Barbie - POLITICO
All this led to this statement from Warner Brothers Film Group;
“The map in Barbie Land is a child-like crayon drawing. The doodles depict Barbie’s make-believe journey from Barbie Land to the ‘real world.’ It was not intended to make any type of statement.”
But the map also got the movie banned in Vietnam!
It's not enough to make me go see the movie, but by golly, you gotta wonder what Ken would think about all this.
Revisionist History
One of the first things a totalitarian regime tries to do is to erase from the history books anything that might conflict with their narrative or their view of the world. Hitler created the Aryan race and placed its impact at key points in ancient history to fit the Nazi narrative of superiority. Stalin did it with an economic system. Mao did it too.
Students in totalitarian states were taught only what those in control wanted them to be taught.
But you can't help but wonder what the Board of Education in Florida was thinking when they tried, in their new curriculum, to sanitize four hundred years of chattel slavery in the Americas.
Last week the Board approved a new curriculum that, among other things, highlights "how slaves developed skills, which in some instances could be applied to their personal benefits."
And that "some Black people also owned slaves." Was it an attempt to soften the racial element of pre-Civil War American slavery?
And when high school students learn about the 1920 Ocoee, Florida massacre they will also be told that it included acts of violence perpetrated against and BY African Americans. It implies, though it does not specifically say, that the massacre which was touched off by Black resistance to Jim Crow voting rules, was somehow justified.
(The 1920 incident began after a prominent Black landowner tried to vote and was turned away by White poll workers.)
It's not that these facts are wrong. Some Black people did own slaves, and some slaves did learn how to be carpenters and blacksmiths while in slavery. But to include these as an effort to soften the brutality and inhumane conditions for millions of enslaved peoples over 400 years, creates a diversion into a different narrative about race.
The narrative implies that slavery was not all bad, and somehow good, for those enslaved only because of their race.
The Board's decision is based on the "Stop Woke Act" passed in Florida last year. It says discussion of race must be taught in an "objective manner" and should not be "used to indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view."
So, with this concept, they seem to be saying that there are two sides to slavery, one that it's good and the other that it's bad. Really?? That's not history, that's politics gone amok. It's the equivalent to the old claim about the Italian fascist Mussolini who "made the trains run on time."
The policy on teaching about race and the mandate to not even mention anything to do with the LGBTQ+ community may also explain why the number of teacher vacancies in Florida is at an all- time high. With the school year rapidly approaching, the state is short 5,294 teachers. That's double the shortfall at this stage in 2019 during the pandemic when the state was short 2,219 teachers.
All this only pertains to Florida right now. But you can be sure there are other states that are looking at how this pans out.
Of Note
I noticed, with very little interest this week that the
The good thing about this for those of us who are not football fans, is that those of us in the Mid- Atlantic region don't have to hear about all the nonsense and scandal that has surrounded the football team the last decade or so. And that is great news.
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
All the talk about the Barbie movie has also produced this week's dumbest quote. It comes from Ginger Gaetz, the wife of Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz. The Congressman is currently under investigation for allegedly having sex with a minor. After the couple saw Barbie in a private showing, Ginger said the movie:
"neglects to address any notion of faith or family and tries to normalize the idea that men and women can't collaborate positively."
Good grief, lady. It's Barbie. Millions of young girls have made Barbie into whatever they wanted her to be. And millions more have made her into a woman they don't want to be. Don't put any of that conservative nonsense on an icon with limitless possibilities.
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