Category Archives: critical theory

Apocalypto

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Apocalypto is the story of a young Mayan tribesman, Jaguar Paw, whose village is destroyed and the villagers killed or taken captive by a party of fierce raiders led by the intimidating Zero Wolf and taunted by the cruel, menacing Middle Eye. Because of a recent plague and drought we discover that the men will be sacrificed to appease the gods, and the women will be sold to slavery.

As in all of Mel Gibson’s movies there are many inaccuracies or distortions. For instance, mass human sacrifice was more a feature of Aztec culture, and was only practiced by some Mayans that neighbored the Aztecs. The first Spaniards arrived long after the Mayan civilization had collapsed. There is no evidence to support mass graves, or even widespread slavery.

The movie also ignores Mayan achievements, focusing on imagined depravities instead of their mastery of mathematics, agriculture, astronomy, literature and art. However, the film is a fable of the collapse of a society. Many of the reasons for their collapse correspond to what Jared Diamond writes about in his book, Collapse. Diamond devotes several chapters to the Mayan case study, citing drought, possibly lasting 200 years, as a factor.

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Historical inaccuracies aside, Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto is gorgeously made. The costumes, the hair styles, the tattoos and piercings were all copied from Mayan artifacts. Although, elements from various historical periods and geographic locations were conflated into one Mayan aesthetic. The Classical Period, for instance, lasted almost 700 years. So I imagine it would be like mixing George Washington’s wig and breeches, with Kennedy’s pinstripe suit and Lincoln’s top hat to represent an American aesthetic. Still, for someone not well-versed in Mayan culture, it was pure, enjoyable eye candy.

The use of the Mayan language is an inspired layer of realism, with most of the cast actual Mayans. Several of the leads weren’t Mayan, but the exclusive casting of an all Native American cast lends an aura of credibility to the film.

From a narrative standpoint, the story moved briskly, with lots of action. Jaguar paw’s escape is one of the highlights of the film as he begins to hunt his pursuers in his own element, the jungle. But if you’re sensitive to graphic violence, this may be a movie you might avoid.

Knowing Mel Gibson’s evangelical Christian bias, the arrival of the Spaniards probably represents the salvation of a sick, heathen society. The allegory of a decaying society, rotting away from within, is reinforced several times throughout the film. A shaman tells of the story of a never-satisfied man. A girl, afflicted with disease, prophesizes destruction of the captors.

All of these commentaries within the story are warnings of the possible decay that we may be facing, contributing to our own collapse. Intended or not, we are warned of the false embrace of religion that arises out of fear, whether it be sacrifice to one priest in a headdress or another bearing a crucifix.

The Fourth: A Few Thoughts on Being American

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4

soldier down

For the 6th year in a row, I’ve spent the Fourth of July, America’s Independence Day, outside the US. As you can imagine, it’s uneventful outside the 50 states. I almost forgot about it today until someone at work reminded me. I immediately went into an impromptu, semi-sarcastic, quasi-nostalgic, rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner”. As usual I forgot a few lines and mangled some others, and even slipped in a little “O Canada” in there just for fun. It wasn’t pretty, but I did my patriotic duty.

Picnics, Fireworks and Perfect Weather
The Fourth is one of the best holidays in the US. It’s never been about patriotism for most of the people I know. It’s a day off work to get out and have a barbecue, drink some beer and hang out with friends and family somewhere outdoors. At night, there’s fireworks. I don’t remember a rainy Fourth of July, ever. The weather has always been perfect. And everyone is chilled out, happy to be relaxing with people they like.

Some of my July Fourth memories include:
• Climbing Cucamonga Peak that overlooks the Los Angeles basin and watching over 50 fireworks shows going off simultaneously, like tiny distant supernovas.
• Hanging out with friends at a Eugene Emeralds game (a minor league baseball team). I think there were a dozen home runs during that game. And then lying on the outfield watching the fireworks.
• Looking forward to my allergies magically disappearing. My theory is that all the fireworks burns off the pollen in the air.
• Picnics, picnics everywhere. On beaches, along rivers, in backyards, in the forest. And always some live music.

Views of America
For every year I’ve spent away from the US, I’ve grown to appreciate a little more of some of the good things about America, and being American. This has been no easy task mind you. I’ve spent most of my life critical about my country. Still am, actually. But being away, in the rest of the world, I’ve developed a wider perspective. Okay it’s not really the whole rest of the world. It’s some parts of Western Europe, East Asia and Southeast Asia. And these are some of my observations of the good things about America.

America is More Evolved in Terms of Race Relations
For all the terrible racism that exists in the US, it’s a lot worse elsewhere. America has evolved to the point where if you have racist views, you are roundly criticized if you voice them. A popular sports radio personality, for example, was recently fired because he said some ignorant things on air. Elsewhere, people just shrug their shoulders and wonder what’s the big deal. In the US, there’s heated debate and discussion at the very least.

I experienced more racist comments directed at me on the streets of England in two years than I have in all my life in the US. It was unbelievable. In fact, what would be considered highly offensive racist and sexist comments in the US, are casually spoken on TV, by politicians, and in the newspapers. There was virtually no awareness of or debate about the institutional barriers to opportunities for women or people of color. This was remarkable especially in academia.

American Cultural Influence Extends Beyond Starbucks
People outside the US separate the US government and the American people. The government is roundly ridiculed, but the culture and people are admired. Rap, movies, TV shows, books, academic journals, dance, basketball, the anti-smoking movement. I hadn’t realized the extent of the spread of American culture beyond the platitudes of fast food and malls. It’s genuinely admired by most people I’ve talked to on the street.

America Accepts Everyone
I took for granted that almost anyone can come to the US and get citizenship eventually. This is just not the case elsewhere. Most countries make it very very difficult to impossible to naturalize.

America is the Most Diverse Country on Earth
It’s no contest. Growing up in California especially, the most diverse State in the Union, I was surrounded by people from all corners of the world. Even in the middle parts of the country, it’s a myth that there are only white people there. It’s just not true.

The US is the European Union Evolved
I find it increasingly useful to think of the US as a continent, rather than a country. Geographically and population-wise, it’s comparable to Europe. Just like you wouldn’t generalize Scots and Greeks, French and Germans, or even Catalonians and Basque within Spain, you wouldn’t generalize between New Yorkers and Californians, or even Los Angelenos and San Franciscans within California. Heck, there are huge cultural differences even between cities separated by a highway.

There are Few Places Freer
Liberties have been badly eroded in the US over the past decade by the Bush Administration and by increasing corporatization of the mass media. But the press is largely unfettered. And joining the political process is much easier than in France, where all the political elites graduate from one university, or in Japan, where the one party system rotates power among a handful of families.

America is far from perfect. However, most of the destructive, negative tendencies are magnified because of it’s continental size. The same destructive, negative tendencies exist in most countries but on a smaller, less-scrutinized scale. That continental size could contribute to a powerful positive global influence. Let’s hope that happens during the next presidency.

In the meantime, I close with THE best version of the “Star-Spangled Banner”. Formerly, it was Marvin Gaye, singing a transcendent version back in the 70’s. Now, it’s this version, of his daughter Nona Gaye harmonizing with him on that version.

Disney Sea

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2

gourds of tin

It’s my dirty little secret. I enjoy going to Disney Sea and Disneyland. I might even love it. And since living in Japan I’ve been there quite a few times. I blame T. She did it to me.

Even though I grew up in Southern California, I think I’d only been to Disneyland maybe 4 times before coming to Tokyo. Mostly, my family wasn’t very rich and both my parents worked their asses off so they didn’t have much time to take us to Anaheim, a good hour drive away. Later, as a cynical teenager, I felt that Disneyland was just a terrible commercialized abomination and a waste of resources, the circus that kept the masses in la-la-land. I’m still of this opinion actually. So why do I go there then?

minnie

First, I’ve got to tell you about Las Vegas. The first time I went to Las Vegas I was just driving through with my friend Tracy on our way to hike and camp in the Grand Canyon. It was just a one night stay, a necessary inconvenience on the way to the real destination.

The one night we stayed there we had a blast. Each casino hotel was so over-the-top that it was just mind-blowing. There were scale-model replicas of the Pyramids and the Eiffel Tower, an indoor Venetian canal with gondolas, an artificial lake with a dazzling water show, mesmerizing lights everywhere. In short, I developed a respect for the detail, artistry, and awe-inspiring magnificence of the Las Vegas experience. And I was fascinated by the post-modern pastiche of the architecture, the strange mix of global visitors, and the hard-working Oz-like machinations behind the glittery veneer.

mickey's smile

It’s like any world wonder. A lot of resources went into building something that wasn’t necessary. But damn, it’s pretty spectacular to behold. In fact, in a lot of ways, it’s better than the Pyramids, or the Great Wall, or any of the temples of Angkor Wat. It’s better because those things were built for the ruling elite, for priests and kings, to protect their riches and intimidate the masses into submission.

Las Vegas, on the other hand, is for the people. Anyone can go there and enjoy it. You don’t need to be a sacrificial virgin or a power-hungry priest or conscripted soldier to enter. You can go there and spend all your money. Or you can go there and get free drinks while you play the slots. It’s your choice.

And Disneyland is a lot like that. Actually, the last time I went to the original Disneyland, I went with my friends Kevin and Shamron. We were all 18 and it was the first time that we didn’t go with our parents, as adults, more or less. We had a great time, riding the psychadelic kiddie rides and making cheesy poses with Goofy and Minnie.

Tokyo Disneyland is almost an exact replica of the original. Even the Pirates of the Caribbean has the same outdated robots doing the same repetitive mechanical movements. It’s so outdated it’s retro and cool.

Disney Sea, on the other hand, is an original. First of all, you can buy beer and wine. I always tell people Vegas is Disneyland for adults. But actually, Disney Sea is the real Disneyland for adults. There are fewer children running around, and many more couples. If you go after 6pm, the tickets are half off and there are virtually no kids. It’s terribly romantic. From where we live, it’s a half hour by subway and train.

T and I went last week to celebrate her birthday. We went on a Thursday and we didn’t have to wait for any of the rides. The newest scary ride, the Tower of Terror, was pretty gut-wrenching. I wanted to go again.

After going on all the big attractions we decided to go to the shows that we never had visited before. In the American Waterfront area we attended the Big Band Beat show which was a jazz concert with a tight big band, and fantastic singers and dancers. After the performance, T and I just looked at each other and said, “Wow!”.

Other things you can do there:

  • Get drinks at the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge in the cruise ship, and listen to a ragtime pianist.
  • Check out the AquaSphere that’s at the entrance. I can stare at this globe of the world for hours. It’s hilarious to see people line up to take a photo from the front.

the world at night

  • Watch the fire and water show that’s on the lake. This is really cool.
  • Visit the Planetarium that’s in the castle. I love turning the hand cranks to make the planets revolve around the sun. When I win the lottery, I’m building one of these in my mansion and throw parties for all my geek astronomy friends.

planetarium

In short, things like Vegas and the Disney theme parks are indeed wasteful capitalist monstrosities.  And do be sure to take up arms when the revolution happens.  In the meantime, go ahead and visit and marvel at the detailed artifice of imagined aesthetics.

For more pictures, click here.

Soccer or Football?

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4

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(I’ve updated this post for the World Cup 2010. Click on this sentence to read it.)

Since the Euro 2008 Football Championship is coming up, I’m going to continue with the sports theme and write about the use of the words ‘soccer’ and ‘football’.

While living in the UK, I learned that British people hate the use of ‘soccer’ to describe their favorite sport. As a culturally sensitive person, I dutifully referred to the sport as ‘football’ and referred to America’s most popular sport as ‘American football’. I was cool with that. I’m in their country; I’ll follow their customs.

Just like I gave in to the use of ‘lifts’ instead of ‘elevators’, ‘trainers’ instead of ‘sneakers’, and ‘trousers’ instead of ‘pants’. Now that I’m back in an American English environment, I’ve slowly resorted back to my native dialect. Still, I find myself using ‘mobile’ instead of ‘cell phone’; it just sounds cooler. And I’ve given in to the near universal use of ‘toilet’ instead of ‘restroom’. It’s a distasteful word to American ears, but just about every country outside of the US use some form of it.

What surprised me was the anger and bitterness towards the American use of the word ‘soccer’ instead of ‘football’. It is somehow the symbol of American imperialism. And this attitude extended to some of my other European and South American friends too.

Puzzled by the vitriol, I did a little research. So I’m going to give you a little history lesson and dispel some myths about what we call that sport with a bunch of people running around kicking a ball into the opposing team’s net.

Myth 1: Soccer is an American term.

The word originated in England back in the mid 19th century. Soccer was the original shorthand expression to refer to the sport. It was shortened from association football. At the time, there were many kinds of football, so it needed to be distinguished from all the other forms. American football and rugby are some of the other forms of football that also arose from those earlier sports.

Myth 2: The US is the only country that calls it soccer.

I was surprised to find that in Ireland, they also refer to the sport as soccer, and view the use of the word with anti-British-imperialist pride. Other countries that call it soccer include Australia, Canada (including Quebec where it’s called le soccer), New Zealand, Japan (called sacca), most Pacific Islands, and South Africa, where the next World Cup will be held.

Myth 3: Americans want the rest of the world to call it soccer too, as part of an insidious imperialist plot.

I assure you, I don’t know one American who really gives a damn what anyone calls it. The widespread use of ‘football’ stems from past British colonialism. Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries tried to replace the English word with native words (balompie and ludopedio, respectively). But were unsuccessful against the onslaught of British hegemony.

Myth 4: Well, okay a few countries say ‘soccer’. But the rest of the world calls it ‘football’.

Not so. While many countries use variations of the word football, like fussball, futbol, le foot, there are many many countries who use totally different words in their own language. Here in East Asia, the Koreans call it ‘chook-gu’, and in China it’s ‘zuqiu’. In Arabic, it’s ‘kurat al-qadam’.

Even among the Euro 2008 participants, there are many other words for the sport. Football powerhouse Italy, for instance, calls it ‘calcio’, which means kick. The Czechs call it ‘kopana’, which also means kick. The Croatians call it ‘nogomet’, which means leg sweep. The Greeks call it ‘podosfero’. In Polish, it’s ‘pika nozna’.

Myth 4: Fine. But the sport came from England so it should be called whatever they want.

Games involving kicking a ball has been found in nearly all cultures throughout human history. The earliest recorded sport using a ball and feet control date from the 3rd century BC in China, and it was called ‘cuju’. Maybe we should be calling the sport ‘cuju’, instead of the insidious British imperial term.

So there you have it. I realize that the US is the top dog in the world, wreaking imperialist havoc, so it’s fashionable to bash all things American. But there are many forms of football, and association football, or soccer, is just one of them. The pattern seems to be that where other forms of football are popular, that sport has taken on that term. Thus, what looks to me like rugby is called football in Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. And what’s football to me, looks like ebbing imperial influence in Great Britain.

The Invisible Neighbor

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I’ve used quite a few different textbooks to study Japanese and what’s worked best for me has been the popular Japanese for Busy People. The revised third edition is a huge improvement over the previous edition. It’s easy for self-teaching, clearly written, and builds the language, grounded in every day use. It’s well illustrated and well-designed. I use the kana version which has the exercises written in Japanese. Because of how much I like using the book, I was taken aback by something that I realized: this book is nationalistic propaganda. And I’ll tell you why.

The first chapter helps you introduce yourself and lists several countries and nationalities. I found it odd that Korea and Koreans weren’t listed. I thought that perhaps they were just focusing on English speakers. But they also list German, Chinese and Thai. Perhaps the glossary and supplemental tables in the back would list it, but no. Although, Egyptian and Indonesian are added to this list. At this point I realized this was just a straight up snub. How could Japan’s nearest neighbors not be included in the list of nationalities, nor their country listed? Out of curiosity, I checked other Japanese language textbooks at a bookstore and they all list Korea and Koreans in their chapters on self-introduction. This is a clear case of politics trumping education and common sense.

There is also a map of Japan in the front inside jacket and I found it bizarre that on the map was “Take Is.” Take Island, or Takeshima, is the Japanese name of contested islets called Dokto in Korea.

takeshima?

The dispute is of course more than about this set of rocks, it’s the economic zone of rich fishing and possibly oil and gas around the islets. In any case, South Korea has controlled them since the republic was formed in 1945. And a Korean state probably had claims to them since the Yi Dynasty.

It’s odd to see it on a map of Japanese territories because none of the other islands that Japan has disputes with are on the map. Not the 56 Kuril Islands that Russia controls, nor the uninhabited Senkaku Islands that Japan controls but both China and Taiwan claim. Dokto’s area, at 0.186 km2, is tiny in comparison to these substantially larger archipelagos, and would hardly constitute a pin prick on the map above. What’s more odd is that actual Japanese islands that are much larger and, well, significant, are also not named on the map. We see just their silhouettes. The only conclusion is that the writers of AJALT, the book’s “non-profit” writers just want to send a big middle finger to its western neighbor and make it disappear, except for Dokto. I find it terribly pathetic and petty. And worst of all, it’s academically dishonest.