Interesting Links for 01-09-2019

[andrewducker]

On Morris Dancing and blackface (and traditions and the societies they inhabit)

(tags:racism history dancing performance uk )

Joker Review: Joaquin Phoenix Changes Superhero Movies Forever

(tags:movies DC comics batman )

Comments

[rmc28]

Welp, the trailer for Joker has actively repelled me, and that review rather confirms me in the opinion.

[andrewducker]

It didn't repel me, but it didn't engender any interest from me.
The whole point of The Joker is that his brain isn't comprehensible to the likes of others. Humanising him seems to me to be utterly missing the point.

[dewline]

Yeah, this is one Joker I think I'll be skipping.

[andrewducker]

I don't feel the need myself.

(Also true for most of the other DC movies)

Morris Dancing

[danieldwilliam]

I found Andrew Rilston's notion that it's not what wearing blackface meant *then* that ought to inform our decision to adopt it or not, but what it means now that is important interesting. Also, that it is less important whether you intend to cause offence than whether you actually do.

I've got a *lot* of sympathy for the view that we shouldn't offend people or make them feel scared. I also don't hold the view that we need to preserve artifacts of our past as perfect simulcra.

But how one manages the transition from "X used to mean Y, which was fine, but now means Z, which is less okay" I don't know.

I also still remain intrigued by the number and status of non-white peope in British Isles in historical periods.