2002-01-12 - 9:57 p.m.
Vero and I went to the Chicano! show at the SA Museum of Art (the collection of Cheech Marin). Some of the paintings were amazing and wonderful and terrifying and intense. And SAMA chose the gang-style/lowrider paintings to use on the posters and promo materials.... which is fine, I guess, but it sure as hell plays to stereotypes and there was so much richness to choose from. Also, we were minding our own business checking out the paintings and this guy came up to us and asked, "Can I get the female perspective on this painting?" He pointed to a painting of a young woman, her little sister, and her mom sitting in a room, with a man standing outside the window talking to the young woman. We just looked at him and so he said, "You know, like the idea that women represent the domestic space and men are the outer force ... blah blah blah." We politely demurred and got out of the conversation ... but afterward I got a little pissed off. That's such a sexist and outdated view. And "the female perspective"? I can provide one female's perspective, but I can't speak for half the human species!
Then we went to see the Royal Tenenbaums which was too long and only somewhat funny. When Hollywood tries to do eccentric it hardly ever comes off. Plus there was a huge audience and, as I usually do, I reacted badly. There's something about being in a large crowd of people who are stepping on my feet, sitting near me when I want to be alone with my girl, etc. that just gets to me. If I weren't so ignorant I'd have known this was a new and popular movie and I'd've refused to go!
Then we came home and watched my new favorite show, Trading Spaces. Though I'm still waiting for a show with a lesbian couple. I heard that there is a "gay TV channel" being planned by Showtime and MTV. Comfortable as the gay ghetto is, I'd much prefer to see diversity in the regular media. Also, I read these survey results on gays and lesbians which stated that "we" identify more with our orientation than we do with ethnic or racial groups ... and then I noticed that the respondents were 88% white. The percentage of nonwhite folks responding just about matched the percentage of folks who ID with their ethnic groups over their sexual orientation. Also, on a discussion list I'm on, someone said that "we" have a gay culture similar to the cultures of "minority" ethnic groups. Bullshit.
Just some thoughts.
Opal
