The Get Out! Thread - Fuck Whitey - The Something Awful Forums

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > The Get Out! Thread - Fuck Whitey

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

SuperMechagodzilla posted:

It's actually the other way around. The movie is not about about the real-world threat of body-snatching surgery cults. Chris' girlfriend 'merely' has a fetish, but he processes this as her being part of an international conspiracy.

The film literalizes Chris' irrational fantasies about 'becoming white' - that getting a better career, marrying into wealth (and so-on) will compromise his 'essential blackness' and turn him into just another white dude. Chris sincerely believes that 'selling out' in the photography world is as bad as getting Trayvon Martin'd. Of course he's being blinkered and self-important.

The truth is that Chris retreats into conspiracy theory as an alternative to class consciousness. The entire ending of the film is this blue pill/red pill false dichotomy between remaining subordinate to 'the man' (the police car) or perceiving the world as a reptilian vampire conspiracy (the nutty friend's car). Shouldn't the response to his friend's "I told you so!" be that, no, he got it wrong? The women were not hypnotizing men into having depraved sex orgies. What if we choose neither car? What happened to Andre?

The unfortunate thing, in most responses to the film, is that the Chris character is understood in this apolitical, apsychological way. He's just 'the good guy' passively reacting to what's in front of him, even at the end. He's not understood as fighting for anything, even though he inherently is.

To the point: the film does not satirize liberalism. It straightforwardly dramatizes a conflict within liberalism, between 'hip' Obama supporters and 'lame' Obama supporters (aka Hillary supporters). Meanwhile, the working class - i.e. grandma and grandpa - are lying dead at the side of the road.

By Chris "selling out" do u mean that Stephen Root (being an admittedly talentless photographer but wealthy/succesful art dealer) taking him over would suggest that he became a white wealthy talentless guy? Because i dunno, it seems like Chris's work is represented as both essential for his mental well-being as well as his survival, in that sense isnt the point not that Chris fears that he's being assimilated or w/e but that his talent is ignored because of his blackness (like @ the party). The only person who we see connect with Chris's photos in a meaningful way is his friend & the flash of his camera is the trigger for Logan/grandpa

# ¿ Mar 13, 2017 20:45

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 07:49

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

Hell, Stephen Root's character is a literal blind man who denies any racism while using his $$ to get a black guy murked

# ¿ Mar 14, 2017 05:15

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

VROOM VROOM posted:

^ This post is hilarious. Don't get so focused on the subtext that you miss the text, kids.

nothing wrong with admitting u didnt think of somethin

# ¿ Mar 14, 2017 08:38

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

still obsessed with the guy i heard saying the problem with the movie was that "once again scientists are the bad guy"

# ¿ Mar 14, 2017 16:32

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

Wonder if Rod left food for the dog when he picked up Chris at the end.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2017 00:34

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

TBeats posted:

Even if you are right, being obnoxious about it means I won't agree with you anyway.

Hard disagree

# ¿ Mar 18, 2017 12:59

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

Say it ain't so, I will not go - Turn the lights off, carry me home

# ¿ Mar 19, 2017 01:24

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

ThePlague-Daemon posted:

I said he's dismissive, uses strawman arguments, and paints people disagreeing with him as ideological opponents, and his response was to ignore most of what I said, focus on his reinterpretation of one thing I said, and start talking about how people who disagree with him retreat into alternate realities and conspiracy theories because of the unpleasant truths of his ideological leanings.

That's dope

Dude, you have 8 posts in this thread & 4 of them are about SMG. If you think he's purposefully being obtuse and hasn't actually proved anything you said wrong than don't argue with him. Ganbatte

# ¿ Mar 22, 2017 04:17

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

Analytic Engine posted:

Armitage is the name of a character in Neuromancer who is actually a new personality overwritten onto a mentally broken man. When Colonel Corto regains control of his mind he immediately revolts from his captors and attempts a suicide mission that results in a quick death.

cool, whats the relevance besides plot similarities?

e: i mean like, seems like its a clear reference by your description, whats the point of the reference?

# ¿ Mar 22, 2017 19:13

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

Escobarbarian posted:

I usually like SMG's goofy analyses but this one is especially awful

Escobarbarian posted:

SMG takes Death of the Author to a whole new level. He basically decapitated the Author.

Escobarbarian posted:

I don't read that many threads in this forum but this is the first one where I finally get the CD reputation. I usually find SMG's shtick funny and love the Transformers analysis threads, for what it's worth, but this poo poo is just insufferable.

Escobarbarian posted:

it's just weird because this movie is very obviously about a specific thing and SMG etc's reading involves taking so many scenes drastically out of context in various ways based on the vaguest poo poo

Escobarbarian posted:

ok i've gone back to being entertained by the gimmick again, the rian johnson stuff is too funny

please post about the movie!!!!!!

# ¿ Mar 23, 2017 00:23

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

Simplex posted:

If we are talking about African-American culture specifically, then yes skin color is a pretty important component of it. With culture in general, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. Germany and Ireland are both predominantly white countries, but nobody is going to confuse German or Irish cultures, or not see distinct differences because of that. Similarly, African-American culture has very little in common with Congolese culture.

The white people in the film aren't abducting black people so they can have the surgery and go on and live black lives. That would probably be an interesting story, but not really what the concern is with white people co-opting black culture, and it's not what happens in the movie.

To give an example outside of the movie: co-opting of culture for some reason is really popular when discussing music, and a few years back there were a ton of white dudes who really liked to talk about how much they liked hip-hop. Not gangsta rap with its glorification of violence, objectification of women, and all around frivolity. They liked intellectual hip-hop, which is music that is about issues,and is deep and has meaning. The problem if you know the history of the music, is that the original intellectual hip-hop artists are also the original gangster rappers. The gangster rapper and the intellectual hip-hop artist grew up in the same neighborhood, listened to the same music growing up, and are inspired by the same sources. They are two pieces of one whole. And now when you search for the best intellectual hip-hop these are the types of lists you get:
http://www.thisblogrules.com/2014/07/examples-intellectual-hip-hop.html
http://listverse.com/2011/11/29/10-brilliant-examples-of-intellectual-hip-hop/

dude..................................

# ¿ Mar 24, 2017 01:48

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

Unoriginal Name posted:

Deeply ingrained racism? I mean, what else would black people be doing

I don't think that meshes with the logic of the film, I mean the one lady's married to Logan so its not like it would've been out of the ordinary for them to show up as guests at the party & then they could hang out with the ppl @ their party instead of having 2 serve them the whole time.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2017 03:54

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

Ya I'm just repeating whats already been said but there's a million alternatives, they could be "old family friends who are staying over for the weekend" or whatever, they're not trying to make Chris uncomfortable or something they're trying to do the opposite & keep him there (and, as mentioned, Dean's aware that it might make Chris uncomfortable with the "I know how this looks" line).

# ¿ Mar 25, 2017 04:35

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

King Vidiot posted:

But you can apply that to literally every movie, even to documentaries because no matter how hard a doc tries to be totally impartial it's always a reconstructed reality.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2017 05:29

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

DeimosRising posted:

I've realized that people base a Football team's offense's backbone on the quarterback... I have to ask why. I can understand if he can run, block, and throw a 50 yard touchdown pass. But to give most the credit to a quarterback when someone catches a touchdown pass is a little rediculous.

First there are linemen. If linemen can't keep the defense out of the backfield to get the quarterback then he gets his rear end handed to him from about 4 or 5 huge motherfuckers that wanna rip him a new one. Think about that the next time you gently caress with your Center, Guard, and Tackle. They're your only protection in the pocket.

Second is the Fullback. Occasionally you'll get one that can do everything a lineman can do... knock the poo poo out of someone. If he can't stop a blitz from a linebacker, then your quarterback gets a nice facefull of dirt.

And there's the recievers. You have to be one fast motherfucker to burn your opposition when all they wanna do is take your knees out. They have to remember their route, know where the person covering him is, know when the ball will hit him, if he'll get the ball at all, and at the end of course catch the drat ball.

Tight Ends... well, mainly just a slower and bigger wide reciever that can block a little.

I understand a Quarterback has to know the play and know where everyone is at all times, but if the line's doing their thing right he won't get hit, and if the Wide Recievers are smarter than the average 5th grader they'll be where he wants them to be.

Quarterbacks aren't always the best. IT IS A TEAM EFFORT!

lol I've never seen that post, the football forum seems epic

# ¿ Apr 7, 2017 05:40

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

Pigeon guy's posts are funny because they're all
"J'accuse! *10 paragraphs where he clearly misunderstood the point he's trying to refute*

E: now we're all just posting about posting, only a hop skip and a jump away from forming an obsessive incrowd that buys terrible clan tags & doxxes Derek Smart's goddaughter or whatever

Hat Thoughts fucked around with this message at 13:30 on Apr 11, 2017

# ¿ Apr 11, 2017 13:21

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

Lurdiak posted:

I simply feel that his tendency to post gigantic essays on readings of films that are, more often than not, markedly 'off' from either the popular reading of the film or the stated intent of the film-makers tends to derail and dominate conversations about any given piece of work. The fact that he condescends to people who disagree with him and inevitably takes every discussion down to marxism and zizek is also fairly tiresome. I'm not going to state that he absolutely, definitely doesn't actually believe what he posts and that his shtick is simply a personal exercise to see if he can believably subvert the meaning of any given work, but I certainly wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. His takes can feel... clickbaity? Like coming into a thread about a film about race and claiming it's a delusion the main character has about class, or stating Sucker Punch is a feminist film. These are inherently provocative stances, whether they're right or wrong, and I feel that's no accident.

Obviously he puts a lot of work into his posts and is really good at making his case, but that isn't necessarily a good thing if the case he's making is beside the point of what the film's about and that work only serves to eclipse any conversation that isn't either agreeing with or refuting his readings. But I mean just look at what happens to any given film thread, including this one, the minute he comes into it. It inevitably turns into an SMG thread, rather than a thread about the film.

Tldr

# ¿ Apr 11, 2017 18:59

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

Escobarbarian posted:

I believe the apartment is just intended as a normal apartment that someone doing fairly well for themselves in New York City would have. There's plenty of political imagery in this movie but that isn't part of it imo - the idea that the apartment is meant to have some bland white Starbucks drinker style to it and that therefore Chris is a sellout seems completely invented. It's literally just an apartment.

If I was doing well for myself in NY it's not the apartment I'd have.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2017 20:10

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 07:49

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

i am the bird posted:

Whenever I picture myself, I think of an amorphous array of colors and numbers. I would literally never think of my body. That's crazy.

Strong disagree

# ¿ Apr 12, 2017 20:41

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > The Get Out! Thread - Fuck Whitey