It’s a thin line between self-loathing and pride
I begin this blog post with two pieces of information, which will seem unrelated. Please bear with me.
1. Yesterday, over at the Hyphen Magazine blog, there was this really interesting entry about the stage revival of Joy Luck Club. Interesting not because I’m a big Amy Tan fan, but more about the personal story that Neela, the post’s author, shares about being 15 and naively loving the movie because any representation – no matter how simplistic and self-loathing the material – was better than no representation. It brought back memories of purchasing Sex Packets by Digital Underground (on cassette!) when I was I guess 10 or 11, and actually feeling kind of proud when the guy in the skit was telling the packet dealer, “give me the Chinese girl man.” It was like, I never heard anybody say anything about Chinese people – except Chuck Norris, who had me actively hating the Chinese villains – and so I was like, “Cool! Digital Underground likes Chinese people! That’s probably because they’re from California…”
2. The Boston Red Sox victory parade was held yesterday as well. A bunch of people at work headed down there, as did my mom. Exciting times, I mean we haven’t had a major sports championship parade in Boston since, man, like, almost three years now! I can barely remember 2005 when the Patriots had the thing, then in 2004 the Patriots and the Red Sox won, and if I stretch, I can vaguely recall 2002 when the Patriots won the Super Bowl. Imagine, for some toddlers, this is their very first Boston team championship! But the one thing that has struck me as really bizarre for several years is the songs the Red Sox have chosen to affiliate themselves with.
The two I’m thinking of are “Dirty Water” by the Standells and “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond. The former is about how Boston is home to “muggers and thieves” and how women have to “be in by 12 o’clock.” The latter is about a couple in love that basically grows up together (but the song was used as a sing-along in the movie “Beautiful Girls,” which took place somewhere in rural Massachusetts – the connection to New England is weak, I know). The Standells were a California band from the 19060s, using a 12 bar song structure most closely associated with the Delta blues. Neil Diamond is from Brooklyn. Are these really the best songs the Boston Red Sox could find to represent themselves?
November 17th, 2007 at 1:19 AM
Yo man I remember when the patriots won that first superbowl….. I believe you had tears in your eyes!! hmmmm good times.
diddly diddly diddly D!!!!!!!!
November 19th, 2007 at 1:23 PM
yeah, it seems so long ago because they’ve made it almost like a disappointment if they don’t win the superbowl every year.
April 19th, 2008 at 9:57 PM
Sex Packets!! DuuurrrrrrEEEUUUrrrrrrduuurrrrrEEEUUh!! I had that cd and I used to love it.
As far as self-loathing goes, I think every American of colour goes through a phase like that as a matter of cultural principle. I’m just not sure when it’s supposed to end. *eyeroll*
Stereotypes are inconvenient.