There *Are* Arab Superheroes!

...and they've been saving the world since 2005! Who knew?

See AK Comics Official Website and Wikipedia for details.

Or check out this Washington Post article.

This one is good, too: 9/11 and the Birth of the "Muslim Action Hero."

There is also a comprehensive list of Middle East superheroes on Wikipedia (That new X-Men character Dust looks interesting...).

The thing I like about AK Comics is that their superheroes are created by Arabs for Arabs, and their stories are centered in their world dealing with their issues from their perspective. However, I'm really glad that Marvel and DC have added characters of their own. It gives American kids (and other comic book readers [grin]) an opportunity to see images of Arabs that are *not* terrorists.

Using archetypes to fight stereotypes. Brilliant!

Iron Man and the Hollywood Arab Stereotype

Okay, at the risk of incriminating myself, I went out to the movies last night... (Instead of working on my homework? Gasp!)

;-)

It was all in the name of *research*! Yeah, that's it!

;-)

Anyway, I saw "Iron Man."

A portion of the movie takes place in Afghanistan. I made it a point to pay attention to the images they presented of the Arab characters as this is something we have been examining in my comparative literature course this semester. This, of course, distracted me from the purely visceral pleasure of watching a comic book hero movie; I hope you appreciate my sacrifice. ;-)

So, with my graduate hat on ...

I noticed that the filmmakers attempted to be even-handed about it. The bad guys are not introduced as Afghanis but under the title of their resistance movement (The Nine Rings, or something of that nature). However, the first and most prominent image we see--and in larger numbers--is the stereotypical terrorist figures: Arab men with weapons fighting from desert caves and willing to do anything they must, including torture, to get what they want. We are presented with some images of the "innocent" Afghanis--the helpless refugees torn from their homes--but this is done by the bad guys, their own people. And it takes an "American" hero to come in and save them. If they had left it at these polar opposites, I would be more critical; however, they also included an "intellectual Arab", a doctor, an educated man, who helps our hero and even lays down his life for the cause. But even this could fall under some criticism, because, after helping our hero, there seems to be nothing left for him to do but die.

Robert Downey, Jr.'s character does have an interesting arc-- he starts out as a heartless weapons dealer but then has a sudden change of heart when he discovers that his own weapons are being sold to the "enemy." But his moments of reflection are neither loud enough nor pointed enough. And the ultimate "enemy" (caution: spoiler alert) turns out to be an American, but an American *businessman* NOT the government. I must applaud the filmmakers for attempting something of a mildly subversive theme, but ultimately this is an action movie and not too many people are going to be thinking that deeply about it.

What I found most disturbing is how the audience (mostly young people) laughed every time the Arab bad guys were killed.

For the comic book genre of films, this is one of the better ones, and you can just sit back and enjoy it. We do like our heroes: The American maverick with ingenuity out to save the world from evil and injustice. But I got to thinking... Wouldn't it be a refreshing change to see an Arab maverick with ingenuity save the world? That would be a different movie indeed.

Growing Up

My son is playing an extra in his high school musical, The Sound of Music. It's really kind of fun to see his interest grow in this area. I tried earlier this year to get him to watch the movie version and it didn't hold his interest; but put it on stage with a bunch of his friends and suddenly musicals are cool.

Also cool was his sudden catapult into a speaking role. One of the other students in the cast called in sick. He told me that the director rushed backstage, thrust a script into his hands and said, "You're the butler tonight!" He really had to think on his feet then. What made it especially nice is that my parents were down to see the show, so we got to see more of him on stage than originally planned. He did a fine job, displaying much grace under pressure.

Another highlight of the show for me was that a former student of mine (when I was teaching in the STAR program for Gavilan) was playing the lead, Captain Von Trapp. When I first met this boy, he was an outsider with awkward social skills and little confidence in his abilities. We took him under our wing and by the end of three weeks he was interacting freely with the other students and performing confidently on stage. And today he was up there on stage more confident and talented than ever. I couldn't be more proud than if I were his mother.

My son tells me that the students are talking excitedly about next year. They want to do musicals like Sweeney Todd or The Producers. I hope they're not too disappointed. It's a pity, but I don't think many parents would approve of those productions. Isn't it more important that these kids are excited about learning? Shouldn't we be thrilled that they are discovering a kind of theatre that resonates deeply in them, that speaks to their senses of humor and catharsis?

A Rose by Any Other Name

A pancake breakfast with good friends and a good two hours of reading a good book in the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden: Contentment!

I had only ever driven past this place at night, and then only received the impression that there was some kind of park on the other side of the iron fence. The roses are not yet in bloom, making it more a thorn garden than a rose garden for now, but it is still beautiful and well worth the visit. A perfect reading spot!

Marlene watches from the wall...

This is such a cool song. I heard it for (I think) the first time today, although it was released in 1985. How did I miss this? I wondered. Oh, because it was released in *London* and not in the US.

According to the chatter on the internet, this song may or may not be about Marlene Dietrich. But that is exactly who I thought of while hearing this.

Yeah. She watches me, too, Suzanne. She watches me, too.



Marlene on the Wall
~Suzanne Vega

Even if I am in love with you
All this to say, what's it to you
Observe the blood, the rose tattoo
Of the fingerprints on me from you

Other evidence has shown
That you and I are still alone
We skirt around the danger zone
And don't talk about it later

Marlene watches from the wall
Her mocking smile says it all
As she records the rise and fall
Of every soldier passing
But the only soldier now is me
I'm fighting things I cannot see
I think it's called my destiny
That I am changing
Marlene on the wall

Well, I walk to your house in the afternoon
By the butcher shop with the sawdust strewn
"Don't give away the goods too soon"
Is what she might have told me

And I tried so hard to resist
When you held me in your handsome fist
And reminded me of the night we kissed
And of why I should be leaving

Marlene watches from the wall
Her mocking smile says it all
As she records the rise and fall
Of every man who's been here
But the only one here now is me
I'm fighting things I cannot see
I think it's called my destiny
That I am changing, changing, changing, changing, changing

"If my life wasn't funny, it would just be true."

~Carrie Fisher, Wishful Drinking
Berkeley Rep, 8pm

Cinequest: The Call of Cthulhu

"In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."

"That is not dead which can eternal lie,

And with strange aeons even death may die."

Based on H.P. Lovecraft's classic horror story and filmed as a silent picture as if the film were made when the story was written in 1927, The Call of Cthulhu is a work of creative genius. What makes it unique is the work itself: they just don't make film narratives like this anymore. Heck, they don't make book narratives like this anymore.

The plot moves forward with slow deliberation, as layer after layer of mystery is peeled away by a succession of characters, each of whom has his own story to tell. First is the Nephew, who is relating his tale to a man he has hired to destroy the research papers he has inherited from his Grand-Uncle. The narrative then turns to the Grand-Uncle's tale, who in turn relates the narratives of a young Boston man plagued by strange dreams, a Professor of Anthropology, a Police Inspector, and finally the Second Mate of a Norwegian ship. The narrative then returns to the Nephew who concludes by urging once again that the papers be destroyed.

What I found fascinating about this approach is that while most of our modern tale-telling retains a somewhat equal level of complexity--flashback, flash forward, reverse narratives, and so on--we, the audience, experience the events as they are happening. There is rarely a sense that someone is relating something that has already happened. Even when characters catch up to one another, we expect them to paraphrase or relate their adventures off screen: There is no need for us to witness it again for we have already seen it. There is a Show-and-Tell quality to old-style film making that is absent from the newer Show-Don't-Tell philosophy. And in response to this rapid, visual-based storytelling in film, books have also sped up their narratives and shifted to more image-based (rather than language-based) plots.

Another thing I found clever about their using the silent film format to tell this story is that we never hear anyone pronounce the nearly unpronounceable word "Cthulhu." I made it a point to listen to others' pronunciation when buying my ticket at the Box Office: we all mangled it. But perhaps that is a blessing. Perhaps pronouncing the name aright would summon the alien-beast-god from the pit.

Finally, I would like to close with a quote from Lovecraft's story, which was also used in the movie. It puts a finger, I think, on the horror we humans feel for too much enlightenment. I don't know if I entirely agree with it, but it certainly illuminates the tension we see between those who are pushing forward for scientific discovery and those who are recoiling from it.

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think,

is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

[...] some day the piecing together of disassociated knowledge will

open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein,

that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light

into the peace and safety of a new dark age."

~H.P. Lovecraft

Director Andrew Leman Producer Sean Branney, Andrew Leman Executive Producer Sean Branney, Andrew Leman Co-Producer Chris Lackey Writer Sean Branney Cinematographer David Robertson Editor David Robertson Cast Matt Foyer, David Mersault, Patrick O'Day Film Info 47min