BotM February: HOW TO READ DONALD DUCK by Dorfman and Mattelart

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > BotM February: HOW TO READ DONALD DUCK by Dorfman and Mattelart

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

Welcome goonlings to the Awful Book of the Month!
In this thread, we choose one work of ~~literature~~ absolute crap and read/discuss it over a month. If you have any suggestions of books, choose something that will be appreciated by many people, and has many avenues of discussion. We'd also appreciate if it were a work of ~~literature~~ complete drivel that is easily located from a local library or book shop, as opposed to ordering something second hand off the internet and missing out on a week's worth of reading. Better yet, books available on e-readers.

Resources:

Project Gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.org

- A database of over 17000 books available online. If you can suggest books from here, that'd be the best.

SparkNotes - http://www.sparknotes.com/

- A very helpful Cliffnotes-esque site, but much better, in my opinion. If you happen to come in late and need to catch-up, you can get great character/chapter/plot summaries here.

:siren:

For recommendations on future material, suggestions on how to improve the club, or just a general rant, feel free to PM the moderation team. :siren:

Past Books of the Month

[for BOTM before 2019, refer to archives]

2019:
January: Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
February: BEAR by Marian Engel
March: V. by Thomas Pynchon
April: The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout
May: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
June: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
July: The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
August: Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay
September: Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
October: Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
November: The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
December: Moby Dick by Herman Melville

2020:
January: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
February: WE by Yevgeny Zamyatin
March: The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini by Benvenuto Cellini
April: The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
May: Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Dame Rebecca West
June: The African Queen by C. S. Forester
July: The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
August: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire, by Howard Pyle
September: Strange Hotel, by Eimear McBride
October:Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (怪談)("Ghost Stories"), by Lafcadio Hearn
November: A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears) , by Matthew Hongoltz Hetling
December: Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants by John Drury Clark

2021:

January: The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley

Current: How to Read Donald Duck by Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart

Book available here (free online version):

https://fadingtheaesthetic.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/33788991-how-to-read-donald.pdf

Amazon: (paperback $16: https://www.amazon.com/How-to-Read-Donald-Duck/dp/0745339786/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=how+to+read+donald+duck&qid=1612221862&sr=8-1 )

About the book

quote:

I was in a safe house when I witnessed my book � along with hundreds of other subversive volumes � being consigned to the inquisitorial pyre. One of the reasons I had gone into hiding, besides my fervent participation in the revolutionary government that had just been overthrown, was the hatred the Donald Duck book had elicited among the new authorities of Chile and their rightwing civilian accomplices.

We had received death threats, an irate woman had tried to run me over and neighbours � accompanied by their children � had stoned the house where my wife, Ang�lica, and I lived in Santiago, shouting: �Long live Donald Duck!� It was later discovered that the 5,000 copies of the third printing of the book had been taken from a warehouse by the Chilean navy and cast into the bay of Valpara�so.

What had we done to incur such enmity?

Armand and I had denounced Walt Disney as an agent of American cultural imperialism, incarnated in the life, adventures and misdeeds of Donald Duck, that innocuous icon, then one of the most popular characters in the world. Probing hundreds of Disney comic strips � sold by the million on newsstands in Chile and countless other lands � we had tried to reveal the ideological messages that underlay those supposedly innocent, supposedly apolitical stories.

We wanted Chilean readers to realise they were being fed values that were inimical to a revolution that sought to unshackle them from centuries-old exploitation: competition rather than solidarity, prejudice rather than critical thinking, obedience rather than rebellion, paternalism rather than resistance, money rather than compassion as the standard of worth.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/05/ariel-dorfman-how-we-roasted-donald-duck-disney-agent-of-imperialism-chile-coup

quote:

First published in 1971, How to Read Donald Duck shocked readers by revealing how capitalist ideology operates in our most beloved cartoons. Having survived bonfires, impounding and being dumped into the ocean by the Chilean army, this controversial book is once again back on our shelves.

Written and published during the blossoming of Salvador Allende's revolutionary socialism, the book examines how Disney comics not only reflect capitalist ideology, but are active agents working in this ideology's favour. Focusing on the hapless mice and ducks of Disney, curiously parentless, marginalised and always short of cash, Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart expose how these characters established hegemonic ideas about capital, race, gender and the relationship between developed countries and the Third World.

A devastating indictment of a media giant, a document of twentieth-century political upheaval, and a reminder of the dark undercurrent of pop culture, How to Read Donald Duck is once again available, together with a new introduction by Ariel Dorfman.

quote:

The book's thesis is that Disney comics are not only a reflection of the prevailing ideology at the time (capitalism), but that they are also aware of this, and are active agents in spreading the ideology. To do so, Disney comics use images of the everyday world:

quote:
"Here lies Disney's inventive (product of his era), rejecting the crude and explicit scheme of adventure strips, that came up at the same time. The ideological background is without any doubt the same: but Disney, not showing any open repressive force, is much more dangerous. The division between Bruce Wayne and Batman is the projection of fantasy outside the ordinary world to save it. Disney colonizes the everyday world, at hand of ordinary man and his common problems, with the analgesic of a child's imagination".

� Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart, How to Read Donald Duck, p. 148
This closeness to everyday life is so only in appearance, because the world shown in the comics, according to the thesis, is based on ideological concepts, resulting in a set of natural rules that lead to the acceptance of particular ideas about capital, the developed countries' relationship with the Third World, gender roles, etc.

As an example, the book considers the lack of descendants of the characters.[5] Everybody has an uncle or nephew, everybody is a cousin of someone, but nobody has fathers or sons. This non-parental reality creates horizontal levels in society, where there is no hierarchic order, except the one given by the amount of money and wealth possessed by each, and where there is almost no solidarity among those of the same level, creating a situation where the only thing left is crude competition.[6] Another issue analyzed is the absolute necessity to have a stroke of luck for social mobility (regardless of the effort or intelligence involved),[7] the lack of ability of the native tribes to manage their wealth,[8] and others.

About the Author

quote:

Ariel Dorfman, (born May 6, 1942, Buenos Aires, Argentina), Chilean American author and human rights activist whose plays and novels engage with the vibrant politically engaged Latin American literary tradition of Pablo Neruda and Gabriel Garc�a M�rquez.

Dorfman�s family moved from Argentina to the United States while he was still an infant and then to Chile in 1954. He attended and eventually taught at the University of Chile in Santiago. From 1970 to 1973 Dorfman served as a cultural adviser in the administration of Salvador Allende, Chile�s first socialist president, whom the U.S. government actively opposed. In September 1973 Allende�s democratically elected government was violently overthrown in a military coup that put the dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet in power. Dorfman was forced into exile, living and writing in the United States until the restoration of Chilean democracy began in 1990. In 1985 he began teaching literature and Latin American studies at Duke University.

Dorfman�s play La muerte y la doncella (1990; Death and the Maiden), perhaps his best-known work, was completed in Chile as he observed his country�s painful transition from authoritarianism to democracy. The politically charged play follows Paulina Salas, a former political prisoner in an unnamed Latin American country, whose husband unknowingly brings home the man she believes to have tortured and raped her more than 20 years before. It is a drama rooted in Chile�s particular human rights crisis, yet the lyrical power of Dorfman�s writing made the play a touchstone for exploring similar issues around the world. In 1994 the play was adapted for film by the director Roman Polanski. La muerte y la doncella is one part of Dorfman�s Resistance trilogy, along with the play Reader (1995), adapted from an short story by Dorfman, and the novel Viudas (1981; Widows). Dorfman also published the novels Konfidenz (1994), Terapia (1999; Blake�s Therapy), and The Nanny and the Iceberg (1999).

Pacing

:justpost:

Read as thou wilt is the whole of the law.

Please post after you read!

Please bookmark the thread to encourage discussion.

References and Further Materials

We will also need some Donald Duck to read!

For that, I would suggest people pick up The Life and times of Scrooge McDuck, by Carl Barks and Don Rosa. If you like Ducktales, that's basically the book it all comes from.
If you purchase it legally, it is available on Kindle for around $20 or for upwards of $150 if you want a hard copy, because capitalism: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F1C7SK3/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Dorfman wrote this article about writing How to Read Donald Duck, quoted above:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/05/ariel-dorfman-how-we-roasted-donald-duck-disney-agent-of-imperialism-chile-coup

Suggestions for Future Months

These threads aren't just for discussing the current BOTM; If you have a suggestion for next month's book, please feel free to post it in the thread below also. Generally what we're looking for in a BotM are works that have

1) accessibility -- either easy to read or easy to download a free copy of, ideally both

2) novelty -- something a significant fraction of the forum hasn't already read

3) discussability -- intellectual merit, controversiality, insight -- a book people will be able to talk about.

Final Note:

Thanks, and we hope everyone enjoys the book!

Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 21:00 on Feb 2, 2021

# ? Feb 2, 2021 00:41

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# ? May 3, 2024 09:23

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

quote:

To locate Disney correctly in the capitalist system
would require a detailed analysis of the working
conditions at Disney Productions and Walt Disney
World. Such a study (which would, necessarily,
break through the wall of secrecy behind which
Disney 4 operates), does not yet exist

From the intro -- this actually does exist, it's just suppressed.

quote:

One of the more interesting elements to emerge from Vulture�s oral history of the Disney animated comedy �The Emperor�s New Groove� is the reminder of a nearly 20-year-old Disney documentary that�s never been released and will most likely never break out of the Disney vault. �The Sweatbox� was directed by John-Paul Davidson and Trudie Styler, wife of musician Sting.

https://www.indiewire.com/2021/01/sweatbox-documentary-disney-refuses-release-1234612466/

quote:

In 1997, director Roger Allers asks British singer-songwriter Sting to help write the music to a new Disney animated feature titled Kingdom of the Sun. He is intrigued with the project as is the cast and crew who all voice their love over the epic story, the songs and the quirky tone it is taking. The crew then present what they have finished so far to executive producers Thomas Schumacher and Peter Schneider in the titular sweatbox, the room where they screen their half-finished product. However, the producers are harshly dissatisfied and demand that the film be redone, though they underhandedly admit that they liked the "love song" and the "llama song".

Allers and the crew are taken aback as they feel that all of their hard work has been for nothing. They concoct a new plot, though the animators are concerned over the new direction with many worried that their contribution will not make it into the final film. Mark Dindal takes up the directing duties with the title now slightly changed to Kingdom in the Sun. One of the film's stars, Owen Wilson, is replaced with John Goodman and the Prince and the Pauper-style story with magic elements is replaced with a comical farce. This ends up earning the approval of Schneider and Schumacher, though Sting is slightly miffed at the new changes.

Sting continues to work on the film, though he feels that his role has been reduced somewhat. Nevertheless, his complaints about the film's ending (which went against his conservationist beliefs) actually manages to get through to the higher ups who agree with altering the ending slightly. He later discovers that the title has been changed once again to The Emperor's New Groove. While at first indifferent to the title, he warms up to it once he sees a clip from the almost finished product. The documentary ends with Don Hahn admitting that, despite the hard work and disagreements over the project, he is mostly satisfied with how it turned out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sweatbox

# ? Feb 2, 2021 01:25

Tubgoat: Jun 30, 2013; by sebmojo

This seems like an amazing book, not the absolute crap pitched in the OP.
Unless the absolute crap in question is the Disney comics, in which case, fair.

:ducksiren:

Also OH NO WHY ROMAN POLANSKI?? :ducksiren:

# ? Feb 2, 2021 01:39

Tree Goat: May 24, 2009; argania spinosa

as a bit of expectation-setting for this one, it is (intentionally!) not super dense and deep marxist critique, for better and for worse. for better in that it's pretty approachable and name-drop averse (i had to pull some of my old "super piscou geant"s to remember some of the characters, but i didn't need to brush up on luk�cs or adorno or anything like that); if you're turned off by �i�ek's style of pop culture analysis, for instance, then hopefully this will be a better fit for you. for worse in that the analysis is not particularly groundbreaking or "paradigm shifting" or whatever; think more adbusters, tone and depth-wise.

# ? Feb 2, 2021 02:33

Jordan7hm: Feb 17, 2011; Lipstick Apathy

Seems likely I won�t get to it before the end of the month given it�s shipping from the UK, but I�ve placed an order for a copy of the book and am looking forward to this one.

# ? Feb 2, 2021 16:28

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

Jordan7hm posted:

Seems likely I won�t get to it before the end of the month given it�s shipping from the UK, but I�ve placed an order for a copy of the book and am looking forward to this one.

There is a link to the free online version in the OP, so you could read that in the meanwhile. (Given that the work is explicitly communist, I doubt the authors care much about copyright).

My alternative proposal was going to be that we all read "Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck" if we can't get copies of this, but the Life and Times now sells for $250 per volume it looks like, and that's the reprint. :capitalism:

Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 21:14 on Feb 2, 2021

# ? Feb 2, 2021 21:02

Jordan7hm: Feb 17, 2011; Lipstick Apathy

I have life and times so I may read that again while waiting for it to come. I can do comics on my iPad no issue but too much text just kills my eyes.

# ? Feb 2, 2021 23:09

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Scrooge McDuck is Adam Smith, and Donald Duck is Karl Marx, and uhh... uh... Huey is Trotsky?

In all seriousness, this is so far kind of an interesting artifact of a specific time and place. Like, nobody is going to read this for trenchant commentary of socio-economics but it certainly has a viewpoint.

# ? Feb 4, 2021 15:04

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

There's something to their contention that Disney sees childhood as both the past Eden, and also the future innocence of mankind in an idealized future. I think that some Lacan-follower could make something of that, and Walt's own miserable childhood. There's probably more that could have been plumed from Disney from a psychological criticism than a marxist one.

# ? Feb 6, 2021 19:00

Tubgoat: Jun 30, 2013; by sebmojo

We actually must become as children again to enter the kingdom of Heaven, and that means asking questions, calling out bullshit and not tolerating injustice.

# ? Feb 7, 2021 01:32

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

Just working through the first few pages, the section about Carl Barks on page 12-13 (in the free version above) is quite interesting:

quote:

Over the last twe nty years Barks has become something of a cult figure which has generated a small literary industry, while his original comic books and the lithographs and paintings done since his retirement in 1967 have been eagerly sought after and bought at high prices, much In contrast with his . earlier obscurity and relative poverty. His working conditions u nder Disney make him look like a Donald Duck vis-a-vis Uncle Scrooge as Uncle Walt.

quote:
"A man who never seemed to have time or money for a vacat ion, whose life was continuous a nd seemingly monotonous labor, paid piece-rate at a
level which never permitted him to save, who never had and never sought an adventure, who never traveled abroad and little in the United States (only to the California and Oregon forests), who lived in other words, something of the life of the 'average' U.S. worker (a l ife presumably shared by the parents of many of his readers)-this man wrote ceaselessly about a world of constant leisure, where �work' was defined as consumption, the exotic exploit, and fierce competition too avoid work, to which end weath flowed freely from all quarters of the globe."

When this passage was read to Barks in an interview transcribed In Barrier's Carl Barles and the Art of the Comic Book,13 Barks' response was, with a laugh, "too true to be funny", and concluded, in a typical self-deprecation loyal to the capitalist myth that true talent will always be rewarded, "I just didn't have the ability, so I was where I was"

The introduction to this book reads that Barks quote as resigned self-deprecation, but I find it impossible not to read it as bitterly, bitterly sarcastic. Even though they admit on the prior page that

quote:

There are elements of satire in Barks' work which one seeks in vain in any other corner of the world of Disney, just as Barks has elements of social realism which one seeks In vain in any other corner of the world of comics.

They're already, a mere page later, unwilling to admit that perhaps Barks might not be the pure capitalist stooge that their thesis kinda requires him to be.

# ? Feb 7, 2021 01:48

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

They are heavily doing the litcrit thing where you make any and all quotes to fit your narrative as opposed to what is the most apparent way to read them without spin, but never explaining why the obvious meaning is untrue and you have to look deeper.

�This work demonstrates greedy misers siphoning off the labor of their subordinates! Clearly the bozo who wrote it doesn�t understand what he�s doing!�

E:

quote:

The sound of metal chains whipping against bare flesh hang heavy in the air, like a bird flying into a headwind. The room is damp and sparsely lit. SUPERMECHAGODZILLA�s scarred jowls are illuminated by a desk lamp laying sideways on the floor

SUPERMECHAGODZILA
Which reading is true? Which reading is true? WHICH READING IS TRUE!?

KOOS
[Spits mouthful of blood] The words are used specifically for their literal intention, the events are straightforward so as to be easily understood by an audience of children.

The beating begins again, with a furious vigour, until SUPERMECHAGODZILLA can barely stand. He rests one hand against a dirty wall, sweat marring his 1993 Nebraska Film Festival hypercolor t-shirt.

SUPERMECHAGODZILA
The opposite reading is true� The opposite reading is true. I�ve been to college.

KOOS straightens his posture, his pride and dignity unscathed by the days long assault of a fat, stupid man.

KOOS
Any perceived allusions to facism in A Goofy Movie are a wholesale invention of a misguided viewer.

SUPERMECHAGODZILLA adopts the look of a man who has been defeated. Wearily, he grabs a shotgun that had been resting in the corner, and cocks it loudly.

KOOS
Goofy simply wishes to bond with his son through fishing, a traditional pastime, as he had done with his own father. It is neither parable nor allegory. Neither dog was molested, the material does not support this.

poisonpill fucked around with this message at 14:45 on Feb 7, 2021

# ? Feb 7, 2021 02:08

Tree Goat: May 24, 2009; argania spinosa

poisonpill posted:

They are heavily doing the litcrit thing where you make any and all quotes to fit your narrative as opposed to what is the most apparent way to read them without spin, but never explaining why the obvious meaning is untrue and you have to look deeper.

�This work demonstrates greedy misers siphoning off the labor of their subordinates! Clearly the bozo who wrote it doesn�t understand what he�s doing!�

sure but "Just as the bourgeoisie conceive social problems as a marginal residue of technological problems, so they also believe that by developing the mass culture industries, they will solve the problem of people�s alienation." is "a banger" as they say

i also think that their main central thrusts:

1. disney stuff is weird about families, especially mothers and fathers
2. disney stuff is weird about The Other (especially other countries and civilizations, but also other classes)
3. disney stuff is weird about work

are pretty self-evidently true. like i don't think they are stretching to fit a critical theory thesis, like so many supermechagodzillas; i think the weirdness is there, and explaining it as capitalist imperialist weirdness is the most obvious and straightforward explanation (the only other obvious alternative, as you point out, is some sort of weird freudian/lacanian psychoanalytic thing, and i don't know if that is any less contrived)

# ? Feb 7, 2021 04:38

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

poisonpill posted:

They are heavily doing the litcrit thing where you make any and all quotes to fit your narrative as opposed to what is the most apparent way to read them without spin, but never explaining why the obvious meaning is untrue and you have to look deeper.

�This work demonstrates greedy misers siphoning off the labor of their subordinates! Clearly the bozo who wrote it doesn�t understand what he�s doing!�

The overall quality of the argument seems to be improving now that I'm out of the introduction and into the actual text by the actual authors. The substantive text seems to not so much be trying to *prove* an argument as to *posit* one, which lets it be more lighthearted and playful.

Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 20:55 on Feb 7, 2021

# ? Feb 7, 2021 20:52

Konstantin: Jun 20, 2005; And the Lord said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

The whole issue with family is due to the fact that these are stories for children, and it wouldn't do to have your mom tell you that you can't go on that adventure because it's a school night and you need to be in bed by 10. Parents, by definition, can't be cool, while more distant family members can.

# ? Feb 8, 2021 03:12

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

Or more fundamentally, if there are responsible parents around, they should be solving the problems, not leaving the kids alone to do it. Nd then you have no story.. But uncles can be irresponsible.

# ? Feb 8, 2021 03:25

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

Very interesting thesis statement here on page 73:

quote:

Just as money is an abstract form of the object, so adventure is an abstract form of labor.

If there's an idea that they've upon which I haven't seen elsewhere, it's the way these formulas (adventure stories in general) reduce and break the connection between history and the way things are. Treasure is always gold (or diamonds, silver, etc.), the abstract store of value. The labor and craft that went into the creation of the treasure (cup, idol, coins, it doesn't matter) is basically ignored; the value of the treasure is in the gold, which is the monetary value it can be liquidated for. In a similar way, the seeking out and finding is basically broken from the actual act of labor (working a 9-5, being an artist, whatever). Adventure is a game, going halfway across the world and stealing things from an exoticized culture is a way of killing time. The bad guys also want the treasure and are bad because they're less deserving, because (according to this) they actually need and care about the money.

# ? Feb 8, 2021 06:16

Tree Goat: May 24, 2009; argania spinosa

Tree Goat fucked around with this message at 02:49 on Feb 20, 2021

# ? Feb 10, 2021 06:26

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

poisonpill posted:

Very interesting thesis statement here on page 73:

If there's an idea that they've upon which I haven't seen elsewhere, it's the way these formulas (adventure stories in general) reduce and break the connection between history and the way things are. Treasure is always gold (or diamonds, silver, etc.), the abstract store of value. The labor and craft that went into the creation of the treasure (cup, idol, coins, it doesn't matter) is basically ignored; the value of the treasure is in the gold, which is the monetary value it can be liquidated for. In a similar way, the seeking out and finding is basically broken from the actual act of labor (working a 9-5, being an artist, whatever). Adventure is a game, going halfway across the world and stealing things from an exoticized culture is a way of killing time. The bad guys also want the treasure and are bad because they're less deserving, because (according to this) they actually need and care about the money.

I haven't gotten that far into the text, but yeah, Scrooge's treasure hunting allows him to make his vast wealth without visibly exploiting any living workers. He's just *discovering* it all himself, ex nihilo, like an inventor or artist, free of any explicitly visible sin of exploitation. It lets him be the One Good Billionaire and allows the mythology of the self-made rich man to exist.

Of course in practice this breaks down and he's exploiting Gyro Gearloose and the nephews and Donald left and right. How many worker's comp claims should Launchpad have filed by now? But that's ok, because it's family and friends.

# ? Feb 10, 2021 21:44

Idaholy Roller: May 19, 2009

Massive Kendal Jenner Pepsi ad energy

# ? Feb 19, 2021 19:01

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

Need nominations for next month!

# ? Feb 23, 2021 02:10

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

https://twitter.com/alloy_dr/status/1365213726484418561?s=20

# ? Feb 26, 2021 09:17

Glimpse: Jun 5, 2011

Points for sword-mans instead of swords-man, but minus points for being a how-to book. Treasure Island (now a major motion picture, Disney's Treasure Planet) is the classic pirate adventure that all those pirate cliches come from, so is probably not bad. Wired Love is about the transformative impact of technology and the dawn of on-line dating, probably a bit to discuss there, and Carrier Wave is a self-published horror novel?

The confidence to publish it yourself instead of going through a traditional publisher can only mean good things, I'm sure. Carrier Wave.

# ? Feb 27, 2021 02:47

Xander77: Apr 6, 2009; Fuck it then. For another pit sandwich and some 'tater salad, I'll post a few more.

Treasure Island, of course. We can utilize our recently acquired close-reading skills to form a Marxist interpretation of the plot.

# ? Feb 27, 2021 22:16

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

there's a poll! vote in the poll not here! votes here don't count!

# ? Feb 27, 2021 22:31

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

https://twitter.com/alloy_dr/status/1366723717502533634?s=20

# ? Mar 2, 2021 13:26

Remulak: Jun 8, 2001; I can't count to four.; Yams Fan

Just a note that How to Read... really is a great book. I read it in college and it haunted me over years as I lost my copy and kept thinking about it, knowing that as a silly undergrad I hadn't completely digested it, or really tried. Re-read it about a year ago from a much shittier copy than https://fadingtheaesthetic.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/33788991-how-to-read-donald.pdf, will re-read again.

How lucky was I to have this as assigned reading? How stupid was I to half-rear end it? Christ I wish I could take my entire liberal arts undergrad again.

# ? Mar 2, 2021 18:52

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# ? May 3, 2024 09:23

Tree Goat: May 24, 2009; argania spinosa

System Metternich posted:

Every single one of these loving rules

# ? Mar 13, 2021 12:57

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > BotM February: HOW TO READ DONALD DUCK by Dorfman and Mattelart