Los Angeles. It's not just a very spread-out geographical area in lower California. It's not merely an attitude or an array of styles. It is a language with words and names for things.
(tip: Dan Ireland)
Chloe loves Los Angeles
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"I don't think you go to a play to forget, or to a movie to be distracted. I think life generally is a distraction and that going to a movie is a way to get back, not go away." -- Tom Noonan
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9 Comments
It always amazes me how men think they can capture the essence of femininity with a few exaggerated gestures and tossing their hair.
Please.
It had not occurred to me that the intent of this piece was to capture the essence of femininity. Or that it was "about" drag. I was listening to the language.
I see your point, but then let me ask you this: How would you respond to a white man in blackface with rolling wide eyes and a thick "Eubonics" accent reciting King's "I Have A Dream" speech? Or someone with sidecurls, a Hasidic outfit and a thick pseudo-Yiddish accent reciting one of Isaac Bashevis Singer's stories? That's how I feel when I watch this video.
IMO, the only man to successfully capture the essence of femininity in drag was Dustin Hoffman. Watching this video simply infuriated me with its stereotypes of what men think women are like (particularly "dumb blondes", I suspect).
Well, if we allow that a man may self-identify as a woman, why not allow that a white person may self-identify as a black person?
I respect your objections to drag performances, Lynn, but I would hesitate to compare a satirical comedy monolog about brand-name superficiality, performed as an intentionally bad impersonation of a minor celebrity (he's not trying to "do" Chloe Sevigny at all), to making mockery of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech or an Isaac Bashevis Singer story. If anything, this piece is making fun of ridiculous fashion gender stereotypes ("a wrist hat") and trendy cultural exploitation (Nigerian pork, rather than Himalayan).
How would you respond to a woman dressed up as a man with an affectedly deep, masculine voice, belching, spitting, and scratching her crotch? You'd either laugh (if it was funny), or you'd be indifferent to it. Just like everyone else.
As the brother-in-law of a fully functional adult with mild autism, I take deep offense to the arbitrary rejection of Temple Grandin's name.
Me, too. And I am deeply offended at the rejection of "Lynette" (as in Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme), as well.
What a bizarre little film. Thanks man!
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