Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Miracle Whips
Well, as I'm sure you all know, Fiddy has a new movie out creatively given the same title as his breakout album. (The Boondocks has had some brilliant comics about 50, but aaron mcGruder plays his archive close to the vest). Now after the critical establishment prostrated themselves before "8 Mile" and its fictionalized creation myth, what are these same critics to do when faced with the same movie only this time, it's curtis, not marshall, and the movie is even worse? This critic clearly hates the movie, but does not feel at liberty to pan it. http://avclub.com/content/node/42500
Discussions about Fiddy are never really about Fiddy, he acts metanymically for rap at large because he displays no uniqueness. He stands in for rather than out from his genre. He is literally a stereotype, and a wildly successful one at that. In one version of this theory, he plays the part and plays the game to perfection. In another, he is all that is bland and exploitative about rap.
I would be remiss if I past over the difficult racial tension that hangs this post. I know this is awkward territory. And trust me, I feel uncomfortable. Why do I bludgeon a conspicuously wealthy black man with accusations of cultural vapidity, when there are some many other talentless hacks, media whores, and legitamately evil happenings in the world? Good question. But in the post-9/11 era, we are supposed to say what we think and not waffle in moral relativism. (Or when I abandoned moral relativism does that mean the Republicans win?)
Ultimatley Snoop (darling of white hipsters everywhere) said it best: The game is to be sold, not to be told. http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,347711,00.html And Fiddy, being Fiddy, took that literally. His new video game "50 cent: Bulletproof" is out in stores. http://www.50centbulletproof.com/us/home
Discussions about Fiddy are never really about Fiddy, he acts metanymically for rap at large because he displays no uniqueness. He stands in for rather than out from his genre. He is literally a stereotype, and a wildly successful one at that. In one version of this theory, he plays the part and plays the game to perfection. In another, he is all that is bland and exploitative about rap.
I would be remiss if I past over the difficult racial tension that hangs this post. I know this is awkward territory. And trust me, I feel uncomfortable. Why do I bludgeon a conspicuously wealthy black man with accusations of cultural vapidity, when there are some many other talentless hacks, media whores, and legitamately evil happenings in the world? Good question. But in the post-9/11 era, we are supposed to say what we think and not waffle in moral relativism. (Or when I abandoned moral relativism does that mean the Republicans win?)
Ultimatley Snoop (darling of white hipsters everywhere) said it best: The game is to be sold, not to be told. http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,347711,00.html And Fiddy, being Fiddy, took that literally. His new video game "50 cent: Bulletproof" is out in stores. http://www.50centbulletproof.com/us/home
# posted by 8yearoldsdude @ 11:57 AM 
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What is "close to the vest" a reference to? (I'm not the only one who wants to know.)
For those of you who do not slavishly follow 8yearoldsdude's links, here are the two most relevant parts of the review: "Sure, it belongs to the oft-frivolous subgenre of thinly fictionalized pop-star biopics peddling larger-than-life creation myths, but it's nevertheless a serious movie from serious artists about serious issues such as crime, poverty, drugs, and the breakdown of the nuclear family."
[translation: I am not dissing life in the ghetto.]
"His super-thug persona has made him rich and famous, but his unwillingness to expose himself emotionally in his first starring vehicle ultimately proves fatal."
[translation: I do feel comfortable dissing the rich and famous.]
I find it amusing that Nathan Rubin, who has probably never lived in a ghetto or sold crack but has also probably never rolled in a Lexus SUV, is in this middle ground where he feels uncomfortable criticizing the part of 50 that is worse off than he is but feels free to rip into the 25 that is better off. The other funny thing is that Nathan really wanted 50 Cent to be emotional. Maybe this is just his euphemism for "50 Cent is a piss-poor actor," but I suspect he wanted 50 to display feelings so he could sympathize with those, because everyone has feelings, right? Isn't the reason hardship makes people backpedal not really that they're sympathetic to hardship but that we live in an ad hominem culture and they're just forestalling an inevitable attack, and then race is the ultimate, unequallable, overshadowing hardship? So basically sympathy has become defensive.
Who's being exploited in the scenario where 50 Cent "is all that is bland and exploitative about rap"? (This is a sincere question---because if it's the audience/fans/people who pay the money, then don't the two scenarios boil down to the same thing?)
For those of you who do not slavishly follow 8yearoldsdude's links, here are the two most relevant parts of the review: "Sure, it belongs to the oft-frivolous subgenre of thinly fictionalized pop-star biopics peddling larger-than-life creation myths, but it's nevertheless a serious movie from serious artists about serious issues such as crime, poverty, drugs, and the breakdown of the nuclear family."
[translation: I am not dissing life in the ghetto.]
"His super-thug persona has made him rich and famous, but his unwillingness to expose himself emotionally in his first starring vehicle ultimately proves fatal."
[translation: I do feel comfortable dissing the rich and famous.]
I find it amusing that Nathan Rubin, who has probably never lived in a ghetto or sold crack but has also probably never rolled in a Lexus SUV, is in this middle ground where he feels uncomfortable criticizing the part of 50 that is worse off than he is but feels free to rip into the 25 that is better off. The other funny thing is that Nathan really wanted 50 Cent to be emotional. Maybe this is just his euphemism for "50 Cent is a piss-poor actor," but I suspect he wanted 50 to display feelings so he could sympathize with those, because everyone has feelings, right? Isn't the reason hardship makes people backpedal not really that they're sympathetic to hardship but that we live in an ad hominem culture and they're just forestalling an inevitable attack, and then race is the ultimate, unequallable, overshadowing hardship? So basically sympathy has become defensive.
Who's being exploited in the scenario where 50 Cent "is all that is bland and exploitative about rap"? (This is a sincere question---because if it's the audience/fans/people who pay the money, then don't the two scenarios boil down to the same thing?)
I mean metonymically.
In my defence:
1. the word is derived from the roots "meta-" and "-onym"
2. There are lots of typos in this blog.
3. I'm a scientist. I haven't written that word since it was a test question in 9th grade.
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In my defence:
1. the word is derived from the roots "meta-" and "-onym"
2. There are lots of typos in this blog.
3. I'm a scientist. I haven't written that word since it was a test question in 9th grade.
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