Category Archives: Amy Gijsbers van Wijk
Marisol Paper
Hi All.
I just thought it’d be interested to see each other’s papers, so for those interested, I’m posting mine here.
-Amy
Amy Gijsbers van Wijk
Final Paper
04 December 2012
The Anti-Apocalypse and the “Book of Revelation”:
Biblical Ramifications of Gender, Sexuality and Dominance in Jose Rivera’s Marisol
The Bible is often looked to as a source of inspiration: for films (from Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat to Passion of the Christ), for musicals (Jesus Christ Superstar), and best-selling book series (the “Left Behind” series). Many of these pieces are culturally-known, often successful creations that take an idea held within the Bible and create a piece in line with its teachings. These pieces of art are often discussed, though whether or not these works of art are continuing the messages of morality and faith proposed is less often analyzed. Continue reading
Zone One: All Places At Once
Reading Colson Whitehead’s Zone One, I was reminded most of one reading in particular – Rick Mood’s The Albertine Notes. As Colby mentions in her post, I too found myself getting lost amongst the time in Mark Spitz’s world because he so often slips from pre-Last Day to post-Last Day.
What stuck out to me the most was the relationship, if I can call it that, between Mark Spitz and the skels. On one hand, there was this desire to recognize their humanness, and in a sense it is completely unavoidable. There is the fact that he sees skels and automatically associates them with people he “knew;” his desire to leave “Ned the copy boy” alone; his noticing of thongs – all of these things show that, in this knew world ruled by military organization and tactical emotion-quelling, he struggles to reconcile the pre-Last Day with this “new” world.
I did also love the fact that Whitehead doesn’t allow for this novel to become a hack-‘n’-slash, Zombie-hating kind of story, which I feel it easily could have. He instead ties in elements, like Mark Spitz’s emotionalism, that allow for the reader to feel, and notice, moments of connect and disconnect. There is the fact that PTSD becomes PASD, and that all of the sweepers are heavily aware that their jobs are both allowing some closer and completely screwing up their psychological relations to the dead, the Apocalypse, and their place in this new world.
Lastly, the language in Whitehead’s book is so concise and crisp, which I think fits the processing one’s mind would go through in the new world. One would focus and process things in terms of essential-ness: “What is the essential knowledge about what I am doing? What memories? What thoughts?” in a way that one can easily be thrown off track, but also make associations. I found this interpretation (as someone who tends to dislike both violence and zombies in entertainment) much more rewarding than the more violent, kill-em-dead types of entertainment that often utilize military ethics, control, and violence in regards to zombies and the Apocalypse.
New York: The Place Apocalypse Calls Home
Reading Mick Broderick and Robert Jacobs’ Nuke York, New York essay, I found myself both surprised and having moments of, “Oh, that makes so much sense!” Why New York has always been depicted as a city that gets destroyed was something I think I had noticed, but never been consciously aware of – and now I understand why, at least historically.
I find the idea of this fascination, in culture, with discussing/seeing images of NYC’s destruction so bizarre. Why New York was chosen as the main point to transfer On one hand, there is the idea that I can totally understand – Hiroshima/Nagasaki was a horrible, destructive event. Max Page refers to New York as, “regarded as a national and international site for both awe and envy” (Broderick, Conclusion). This made some sense to me. (And the irony of the Manhattan project and then a fascination with Manhattan’s destruction isn’t lost on me either.) I found myself trying to interpret why people may have become so willing to, and interested in, the image of New York City as it is being rendered apocalyptically.
On one hand, if a citizen views the destruction of cities like Hiroshima and Nagasaki, one that, I feel, many Americans weren’t too culturally familiar with, picking a city like New York to use in the 1945 example “Here’s What Could Happen to New York in an Atomic Bombing,” chooses a city that everyone “knows,” with both foreign and familiar elements. It is als pretty tightly populated, so perhaps it makes sense to use it as an example to show things like mileage. However, it’s still curious to me. If I were a New Yorker, I don’t know how kindly I’d take to such populating images of a city’s destruction – watching movies where cities get destroyed, when I’ve been or have lived there, always feel different to me.
Post-9/11 I think that there is more of a direct link between the idea of New York’s destruction and the public or social consciousness. Also, I think that (commercial) filmmakers often set films in New York, and want to pick a place that an audience will have some identity in mind with. “Oh, a famous banker – Wall Street, let’s put it on Wall Street!” And with so many other films choosing New York, as a city where people move to “make their dreams come true,” I am not surprised that setting films where dreams come true is the first choice among lots of people. Also, New York has so many micro-cultures of its own – the line in Broderick’s essay about the destruction of east coast elites and minorities, I think, has a lot of validity for certain people. How true this kind of NYC-hate is in Hollywood, I’m less sure of, and more think that they are just keeping up an already popular kind of image.
Apocalyptic Monster Mash
I was drawn to how the films, like Professor Quinby noted in the essay, differed in their specific messages and the willingness of each film (or director/writer) to deliver a socially pertinent message.
I echo the sentiments that Eric made in his post – I found myself watching clips of Apocalypto before seeing the film as a whole, and struggled to make sense of how it “fit” with me. It is clear to me now that it lies within the film’s means of being unsettled with itself, by which I mean that it kind of splits between being post-apocalyptic and pre-apocalyptic, instead of having any definite message that underlies the piece.
I was largely interested in the gender dynamic and the idea of a futuristic, or urban setting versus the, as Colby worded, “rural,” setting of Apocalypto. In a way, the apocalypse that occurs within Apocalypto happens with such an emphasis on the “natural” – the birth, the wilderness, and of course the on-coming threat of the Spanish invasion that, to me, was a step into modernization and colonialization that can be considered “unnatural.” However, the theme in Apocalypto is split regarding its thematic message.
Then there is 28 Days Later which focuses on this very present, but also futuristic idea of a pandemic. This setting is also tied to this specialization – people being pets, people being prostitutes, and things serving both very specific animalistic and scientific needs. There is also this idea of experimenting – when Major West examines the man to see how long he’ll starve, which is a reiteration of the experimenting on the chimp, or the “natural world.” That obviously leads to a kind of destructive pandemic, which is both the natural – a bodily, biological thing – and also an unnatural.
Then, with Children of Men set in 2027, there is this totally futuristic setting but this problem, of science and nature, of people no longer being able to procreate. There is the attempt to save this one, natural, pregnant woman but it’s also a very unnatural event. This movie to me felt very layered and I still am thinking through aspects of it.
The Banana Man & Signs On Trees
Here were some interesting images I saw when taking a walk/run the other day.
These were outside of a house with the white Christmas-style lights in the cursive word “Peace,” on its front. No markings of it being an actual church or place of worship were visible to me.
I apologize if the files are large; I couldn’t figure out how to make them smaller.
Here is a man I met on the train. I didn’t get a good film of him – some performers don’t like being filmed, so I was kind of nervous.
At the end he said his message was the spread joy, and encourage the childlike sense of play. Then, he began to repeat himself and say he only wanted to spread joy and remind us to play, and enjoy, and not be afraid to be silly or child-like. THEN he said, “…And I am a Christian, I believe in Jesus Christ. And it is Christ’s word that to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, one must be child-like in faith.” So, the last thing I expected, but an attempt at conversion! I can’t remember if he went on much longer after that – his mention of God was short and not super forceful. I don’t think he mentioned being non-believers or going to Hell in any regard. But I thought that was interesting.
Heaven’s Gate: More Likelihood Towards Violence?
Having never heard of Marshall Applewhite or Heaven’s Gate before, I was completely absorbed upon going to the main website. In relation to Strozier’s points about charismatic leadership, and how a group member must maintain absolute conviction in a cause, separate to what that cause logically/rationally is, I was amazed at the convictions of the Heaven’s Gate website writers and/or Marshalle Applewhite’s writing.
Upon watching most of initiation tape of Heaven’s Gate, I noticed the elements of charismatic leadership occurring. The idea of self-confidence that a charismatic leader must have is very evident in watching Applewhite. The tape may not be the same as a real interaction with him may have been, but I found myself listening and thinking, “Maybe you’re on to something here!” because he managed to speak in a way that held absolute confidence, yet was not forceful or dogmatic. In general I think that is the kind of speaking that draws people in the most. It is, “Hello, I am presenting The Truth. You may not believe me, and that is fine, but it is The Truth. If you want it, please listen.”
As “The Charistmatic Leader and Total Conversion” (Essay 4) states, a charismatic leader is most convincing when that leader sticks to social norms, lore, leadership styles, and convictions. What was so interesting to me about the way Heaven’s Gate operated was how openly it addresses that, “There will be people who think that you are an outsider, cult member, etc.” By operating in the language that the cult knew it would be addressed with, I found it was able to subvert that label of abnormality that would otherwise prevent people from accessing it. There is this, indeed, paranoia mentioned (to me) in the writing of the Heaven’s Gate website. The cult went so far as to address that they may commit suicide (which they indeed did – it was as though the note on suicide was meant as a pre-nuptial, “We make an acception in case this happens.”). They even said that because member are ascending to the Next Level of Human, before the UFOs and and people are taken to Heaven, that they will have to revoke society’s rules and regulations. They psychologically convince the reader by mentioning the caveat that members may be arrested, and will feel distinctly different and struggle from abandoning society’s rules — this psychological isolation, and separation from society that would normal cause someone to become anti-social, (and indeed I think increase the likelihood of mental stress, depression, anxiety, and/or suicidal thoughts or tendencies) is all addressed within the mythology of this “religion.” By separating from society one is re-accessing one’s soul, and thus experiencing a level completely separate and within the binary fundamentalist mindset of humanity. One is becoming not “the Other,” but “the Chosen.”
I was also really interested in how this was different than some fundamentalist Christianity. On one hand, Heaven’s Gate operates within the same binary as “believers,” and “non-believers.” But there is a (to me, huge) difference because Christians believe that anyone can be saved, they just must be willing and open their heart. Anyone is fair game. If someone does not mean to be saved, perhaps they are operating under Satan or perhaps they are just lost. Now, it is true that some fundamentalists develop into the violent idea that anyone who is a non-believers is an operator of Satan, while I feel some think that people aren’t being operators in lines with Satan, but under Satan’s control. However, since Heaven’s Gate contains a caste-like system for a human’s capacity and developmental stages in regards to being saved, I feel like the ideas of violence or disregard of non-believers is even higher. A Heaven’s Gate-r (HG, I’ll abbreviate for now) could in theory commit violence upon a non-HG who is at the age of reasoning/self-control because they are not someone with a soul, or someone who is at level to receive a soul and they are operating for Lucifer. Correct me if I am wrong in this line of thinking, or have missed something that states otherwise. I never found anything against violence (except for suicide) or anything stating, like in the Bible, that one should be good to one’s neighbors, even those non-believers. Also, since people can get reincarnated, an HG who commits violence could argue that the person that the HG committed violence on was not at the level for being saved or ready to receive a deposit, and that violence was done as a way of helping that non-HG recognize his/her Luciferian ways.
To me, this element of Heaven’s Gate, with its caste-like separation and levels, made it both much more compelling and much more easily steered towards mass-violence and violent behavior.
Rick Moody’s Albertine Notes
In Rick Moody’s “Albertine Notes,” he uses a variety of literary tropes to create a story where the reader becomes just as lost as those taking Albertine. (Did anyone else notice that? I thought it was a beautiful syntactic move.)
When I began to read this novella, I was struck by the oddity of the title – the name/word “Albertine” isn’t one heard very often. I tried searching for meaning, and I found a few interesting references (through Wikipedia) that seem connected, at least, to the ideas of power, rule, and sex and prostitution:
Albertine Sarrazin, a French female prostitute, and the Statuto Albertino, a law passed by King Charles that gave the King absolute power over the ruled, and the military forces. (There was also this song which I found semi-relevant, with the violent imagery and lyrics about faith.)
These may only be coincidences, but I was struck by the relation to the Statuto Albertino – it reminded me of the belief that fundamentalist Christians may have about God, that God is absolute and controls everything – that every event, thus, is happening as part of God’s will. It also reminded me of Cortez in the novella, who seems to be the ruling dealer of New York City and also who uses the military.
What is interesting about “The Albertine Notes” is the way that time works kairiotically but in a backwards and forwards way at the same time, I feel. There is the constant attempt to reach back to a past that has been obliterated, much like the past that the “born-again” relinquish. Except in Kevin’s world, the past holds a holiness – and, layering on top of that, a conscious person who is sober can look back onto the past and know the future that succeeds it. While on Albertine, the user feels the past event and only that moment, singularly. Realistically, in a present, out-of-time moment that is almost a way of subverting time, not unlike those who adopt a fundamentalist mindset. This is interesting (and super complicated) because it inserts the apocalyptic event into the middle of the timeframe, with everything being measured in reference to that event. However, the future still holds a relative waiting-out for something else to occur, though in this (“Godless”?) apocalypse what that event exactly will be is unsure.
Suburbias Against Satan: The White Upper Crust and Strozierue
I was struck by how Strozier made the connection between the religions evangelism, the violence in Revelation, and that it is largely being practiced by white, upper-class people. This was something that I feel I often treat as an assumption, and, reflecting back on the documentation Lee gave us at the beginning of the semester (showing the breakdown of Christianity and its “sects”), am interested in thinking about further.
Obviously, this essay hits at a time that religion and “the future,” is in the American social consciousness. I couldn’t help but think of Romney, though he identifies as a Mormon and thus uses the Book of Mormon, and also how very apocalyptic-style thought has often been used to back certain candidates. As someone who grew up in the midst of a largely white, Christian community, reading Strozier, I couldn’t help but reflect on all of the people I knew growing up (that I could classify as fitting Strozier’s description) and the class/socioeconomic levels of those involved.
I can’t help but think that there are certain correlations between being white, upper-class, and filled with the binary belief system, paranoia, and rage of the world. There is often a privileged belief system (that sometimes can be categorized separate from fundamentalism, and then it’s just ‘racism’ or ‘prejudice’) that is easily identified as ethnocentrism, and allows a rich, white person to separate him or herself from the disparity that, let’s face it, is often more common among minorities. This reinforces a binary. There is also the paranoia (citing this from personal, viewed experience of people I knew/know) of being “attacked,” or somehow endangered or threatened by any “dangerous” minorities, especially, and if someone lives in a gated community (especially one that is largely non-ethnic) I think this kind of belief system is easily strengthened. Add to this the idea that a person in a gated community such as this probably drives.
Now, while it may seem silly to consider driving as reinforcement of the fundamentalist, ethnocentric belief system, when I was doing research about the Houston MTA, one reason that was discussed (by a Rice professor of Urban Studies I interviewed) related to this idea: Driving creates a self, and other. Public transportation, which was failing to pique interest in Houston, was uninteresting to the upper class (and inherently white, by correlation) because it meant there was no space, or separation, from those of other classes, races, social statuses – i.e., the homeless or drug-addicted. I think that the professor was on to something here, though it was hard to quantify this hypothesis. I do think that, often, all of this suburban lifestyle I tend to associate with fundamentalist Christianity inherently reinforces the belief system because it leads to a lot of separation, a lot of niche communities (the evangelists, the Protestants, etc. – all separated and labelled) and this means that those niches (such as the gay area of Montrose Street, Houston) is easily ignored by those who find it sinful or dangerous (such as Joel Osteen).
The Fundamentalist Appearing
In LaHaye and Jenkin’s Glorious Appearing, I found the fundamentalist mindset quite noticeable and disturbing – even before I read the Strozier, which I finished after reading GA. As Colby mentioned, the ideas outlining fundamentalist mindsets – paranoia, dualistic thinking, and rage – are all very clear in Glorious Appearing.
What struck me most, in addition to the connection between Strozier’s essays and the book, was the way I found certain elements of apocalyptic gender roles manifest itself in Glorious Appearing. Most of the men, despite several having lost wives or loved ones, were single-mindedly focused on Jesus and God in a way that on some levels struck me as homo-erotic. I couldn’t help but think of the thousands of virgin men that would enter New Jerusalem and reflect on the characters in Glorious Appearing, who are mainly male. The few women, and the couple of Naomi and Chang, remain almost wholly devoid of any hints of sexuality, though they do seem to fulfill stereotypical gender roles – Leah, the caring female nurse; Rayford, the rippling, gun-slinging action hero – that I also found in line with the gender roles propagated in The Book of Revelation.
