Hola a todos!
Okay, so DJ Arzach and I (DJ Ruby Red) have completed our first show! We were late, we were confused, and it was awesome! As it was our introductory show, we hope this is a jumping off point to better shows to come.
Last night we talked about two artists and a specific title from each. The first was "Shortcomings" by Adrian Tomine.
In this story, there is an Asian-American couple who are going through the break up process, and the woman brings up her insecurity that her boyfriend is really attracted to white women. Poorly on the air, I was attempting to explain how I could identify with this character. I have been in a relationship where I have actively thought "god, he is much more attracted to white girls than to me!". Yes, in many circumstances this is unfounded, and I am not trying to discredit the power of personal preference, that love knows no boundaries, or that people of a certain race should only date within their own race or category. What I did hope to express, but feel I failed in doing, was expressing that despite these idea the ideal image of beauty in our society is a white woman and I could understand why the character was asking her boyfriend the questions she asked. Okay...maybe you do not agree with me...look at a magazine cover, go to a movie, or turn on the television! Most of the girls featured in these types of media are white, and to say that this does not have any affect (or is it effect...I don't know!) on peoples thinking is not possible! Maybe you are/feel you are not affected by these things, and love who you love. I don't know. It is also true that there is more diversity in print and commercial media than ever before, but to me, that does not change the predominance of this ideal. The only thing I can write with absolute certainty is that in being a woman of color there have been times where I feel I do not measure up to a white girl: not skinny enough, hair not straight enough, too big, too fat, etc. So, yeah...maybe DJ Arzach can write about this if he wants.
On a final note: beauty standards and ideals harm everyone: black, white, brown, purple, male, female...so I would like to end this on that note.
The second author we talked about was Osamu Tezuka: Godfather of Manga. (DJ Arzach) Ok I am going to take over on this one. On the air I gave a minor introduction of Tezuka, I don't want to say the exact same thing I did on air because you can just go listen to it if you want to know, plus we will probably do more on him for another show. Any who's, we talked about the very interesting character of Blackjack, after Astro Boy, Tezuka's second most recognizable character. Tezuka created him in 1973 as a way of dealing with social commentary about the workings of the hierarchies of the Japaneses hospital system and other problems found through out the country. Blackjack is a surgical Robin Hood if you will, he is available to all who call on him. With a reputation of an asshole who cares of no one but himself and charges outlandish prices for operations, he is anything but, he tries to show humility to those who deserve it, usually rich and powerful men who think they can do what they will because of the power and influence they have, or trying to prove wrong the heads of hospitals who's fat heads have ballooned up from being so high up in their position. Then on the other side of the spectrum he helps out the poor and meek anyway he can, he does have a soft heart after all, he is a doctor who saves lives and no matter what he has to do. That is the other device that Tezuka gives Blackjack, this almost superhuman penchant of doing the impossible in his surgeries. In one tale after a horrendous accident a young boy is trapped under a pile of iron pipes and the only conceivable way of moving the boy is to cut him into pieces, then to go right in and reattach them. And he is able too, all for the payment of a mere pinwheel. Many of his patients refer to Blackjack as a God of sorts, and it is true. He does what is necessary to save lives, he believes that every human, no matter who you are, is worth saving.
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