the writing nib

Category: uncategorized

  • Bridgerton: I have opinions

    Bridgerton: I have opinions

    Spoilers warning!

    The Gossip Girl reboot no one asked for is finally here! I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to watch it, I resisted it when it came out, but it turns out I’m a basic bitch who will watch anything on Netflix, the McDonald’s of streaming services, as long as it’s trending on Twitter. I can’t lie, I am happy that I did because Bridgerton has given me something to write about, of course in addition to the pleasure of seeing Lady Whistledown in action. For those who don’t care enough to watch the show, Lady Whistledown is a 19th-century version of Gossip Girl voiced by Julie Andrews (perhaps you should care about that); she’s the show’s one and only source into the scandalous lives of London’s elite.

    Like Lady Whistledown, I have things to say even though no one asked. I do enjoy overanalyzing things so this is my moment, I guess (also, I’m unemployed meaning I have a lot of free time).

    Maybe I should start with some comments on the casting. I personally love that the cast isn’t entirely white, even though the story is about the lives of London’s elite in the 1810s-1820s, but where are the black women? Where are the black women, Netflix? So many YouTubers and writers have brought this up and yet the same thing happens again and again.

    Lady Danbury played by Adjoah Andoh

    The entire show has only one woman on the darker end of the spectrum, Lady Danbury (who we stan, by the way). Even though the character of Lady Danbury is absolutely fantastic, she plays into the Black Lady Therapist trope. We’re not told anything about Lady Danbury, but we’re shown numerous times that she exists to make Simon’s life easier. We don’t know anything about her life, her family or how she got her title. Everything she does in this season is directly connected to Simon; meetings with Mrs. Bridgerton to scheme so that Simon and Daphne could end up together, giving Simon words of advice, kicking everyone out of the ball so that Simon and Daphne can spend the night, the list goes on. On top of all that, even the other black women (Madam Delacroix and Marina) have somewhat unfavorable/undesirable characters in comparison to everyone else. Marina’s portrayal as the angry black girl reminds me of Vanessa from the original Gossip Girl. Take that as you will.

    I would love to see more darker-skinned black women in the main cast in the following seasons because the colorism is not cute, Netflix. There’s an obvious pattern in Netflix-backed shows, and I think Bridgerton could be an opportunity to begin to end it. It would be refreshing to see a young darker-skinned black woman (who isn’t a prostitute) being courted, getting expensive dresses at Madam Delacroix’s shop, and having enough character depth (that doesn’t play into stereotypes) to make her memorable.

    Now let’s talk about Simon. This is the tweet that pushed me to watch the show.

    https://twitter.com/DanielleDASH/status/1344452735060627456?s=20

    He really needs therapy, and not from Lady Danbury: I’m sure she has a life of her own to live. This man clearly has issues, which we all understand given the nature of his relationship (or lack of) with his father. The way he chooses to fix things by making a ridiculous revenge vow at his father’s deathbed and acting like he doesn’t care about the woman he loves was sad to watch. He is Chuck Bass himself; toxic just like his marriage to Daphne. Alexa play “Ruin My Life” by Zara Larsson. One thing I liked about their marriage was their honeymoon, which could easily count as a Netflix special for Ariana Grande’s positions album. They’re quite something. I’m sure some kid somewhere is working on a video compilation for a fake 34+35 or nasty music video to put on YouTube. I cannot wait to see it.

    Daphne’s opposite is Sienna. Born without a title meaning she has to do all kinds of things to make ends meet; be both an opera singer and a sex worker. She even ends things with the man she loves because she respects herself enough not to be treated like anything short of a queen. Sienna and Anthony show us that if you’re going to love someone as you claim then you should love them however they are, and not try to change them so that they’re more presentable for you.

    I also just want to say that I love Eloise and I wish I had a voice like hers. I’ve read the tweets calling her annoying and “a one-note character”. They have some truth in them. In a society like the one in Bridgerton, a young feminist character like her is very realistic and relevant. And, as we all know, a lot of the issues women had back then are still faced by hundreds of millions of women today, so we need characters like her to show us how much progress we’ve actually made since the 1800s, or not.

    Penelope (left) and Eloise (right)

    Lastly, I’m not sure if I should be promoting this show. I’m not getting paid to do that. But, if it means you’ll stay home then please go watch it and anything else you find interesting on Netflix or wherever.

  • AfRiCa iSn’T wHaT yOu tHInK iT Is

    At 4:30 am (May 17) I was on Twitter, as usual, trying to delay sleep at all cost (yes, I have issues). I then have a random thought about Nas Daily, so I decide to check if he’s still doing his travel the world project. If you don’t know who Nas Daily is; his real name is Nusseir, he’s a vlogger who’s been traveling around the world for a while now and he makes daily 1-minute videos on his travels, last I checked. He might be doing something else now, but I really don’t care so I didn’t bother to look it up.

    There’s this video he did titled Be Careful in Africa! and basically, he documents some good things about the African cities he’s been to; Cape Town, Kigali, Nairobi, Casablanca, Lagos. He points out the good of Africa; nature, growing economies, there’s even a shot of a fancy car thrown in there and I don’t really get why. His whole point is that the Africa we see on international media isn’t accurate because there are clean roads in Kigali, so duh, Africa isn’t a sh*thole. I think I’ve always had a problem with these kinds of videos (not just his) because they oversimplify the issues that have and continue to challenge almost every country on the continent, since the end of colonialism.

    When talking about Cape Town he shows a clip of a white man next to a van and then an aerial shot of some residential area in the city while saying, “these houses go for $2 million USD each, this is one of the most expensive real estate on the continent!”. Now, this is problematic, even though it is a fact. To put this out there as something we Africans should be proud of and something that non-Africans should find nicely surprising is not a good look. South Africa is the most unequal country in the world. Not even a lifetime ago, the country was deeply segregated. The white minority controlled most of the wealth and their government implemented strict discrimination laws against the black natives and other non-white groups. I’m sure even Nusseir’s life overlaps with South African apartheid. Cape Town is what it is today, expensive and highly modernized in comparison to almost every other African city, because of apartheid. To single it out as “this is the Africa they don’t show you” is just weak. Unemployment rates in South Africa continue to be high, 20+ years after apartheid and many black South Africans continue to live in poverty. Why? Because of the system that enabled Cape Town to be what it is today while disenfranchising, exploiting and marginalizing the natives.

    This Nas Daily video represents everything I hate about Africa conversations in the western world. I’ve had several eye-roll moments when people would talk about how amazing Tanzania is and how living there is like experiencing a paradise. I even fell into this trap myself until one day in 2019 when I was at a dinner party and this man started talking to me about his travels to Tanzania while he lived in Kenya and all I could think of was #cantrelate. Most people who from African countries find their lives unbearable and unhappy because, “we live in paradise, but none of us have the time or the means to actually live here” (Deni, Guava Island).

    I absolutely hate every single “Tanzania” video on the internet that tries to be overly positive about the country, because they oversimplify the issues, just like the Nas Daily videos, and create a narrative that only works for specific demographics. To experience paradise in Tanzania you have to be rich, non-black and if you are black then you need to be a straight man. I’ll give an example from my own experience. Women in Tanzania get mistreated and a good number of us feel trapped and unhappy when we’re there yet you’ll see videos praise Tanzanian women for our decency. But we can’t even wear what we want. We have to be “decent” and cover our knees, etc. so that we don’t get beaten in the street (yes, it’s a thing) or get told that we’re trying to “tempt” men. We can’t express ourselves as intellectual and sexual beings without being called sluts and told that we should know our place in society, because God didn’t create us to equal men and so we can’t have the same freedoms – yes, I’ve been told this very many times by family members. To make a video that ignores the story behind is insulting and careless.

    This is just one example of the many issues in Africa that videos like Nas Daily’s fails to address and therefore, contributes to the same problem he’s trying to “fix” (my choice of word, not his). These videos are presented as content created to debunk myths like the world’s wrong perception of African countries as poor, diseased and with all kinds of evils, including the killings of people with albinism, among other things. Well, the truth is that these issues are present in Africa, very present, and I think it’s time we started being vocal about them on social media. Fearing for your life is a reality for many people, and poor living conditions are basically life in most African countries. I understand why we need to push back against the narrative that Africa is just huts and wildlife and not much going on. But we have to do it in a way that doesn’t downplay the issues that Africans face.

    Fact is, those three skyscrapers in Dar es Salaam won’t erase the unnecessary conservatism that enables inefficient authoritarian rule and misogyny to exist in Tanzanian society. They are there because the government allowed them to be. The same government that will rent them for public office space and restrict entry for women wearing pants and skirts that don’t cover our knees (I am not making this up). We keep saying, ‘Africa is changing’ to mean positive developments, but is it?

  • Time to cancel the white savior complex

    I’m sure you’ve come across white savior films like The Help, Blood Diamond, Green Book, La la land and the latest being The Red Sea Diving Resort. This list is definitely not exhaustive.

    First check out this Seth Meyers parody, just because:

    The white savior complex is refers to the need/desire of a white person to help (save) “people of color” from problems that have been and are still caused by predominantly white societies, structures and practices (slavery, colonialism, imperialism).

    White savior films are the scum of film-making. Not only do they undermine the struggles of people of color fighting against oppression, but they also continue to reinforce the idea that things can only work out if a white person is involved.

    Meanwhile, in Africa, the toughest work clearly falls to the local guides who led the perilous Jewish exodus from Ethiopia to the Gedaref Refugee Camp. Raff composites all these heroes into a single character, Kabede Bimro (played by Michael Kenneth Williams, Omar of “The Wire”), the film’s only nonwhite ally of note.

    From Peter Deburge’s film review of the red sea diving resort for variety.com

    The existence of these films is one of the reasons why white savior practices continue to thrive in the real world. Think of the horrifying case of Renee Bach. This is just one example of the white savior complex going into someone’s head to the point of her thinking she can actually bring change by playing doctor on Ugandan kids from a poor area suffering from all sorts of illnesses even though she has no medical degree. 105 kids died because of her irresponsible actions.

    In his essay The White Savior Industrial Complex, Teju Cole writes, “if Americans want to care about Africa, maybe they should consider evaluating American foreign policy, which they already play a direct role in through elections, before they impose themselves on Africa itself.” I agree with this statement because the politics side of things is often overlooked. We might write hundreds of blog posts condemning white saviors, but the cause actually lies in politics. Western governments usually play roles in all kinds of conflicts and destruction in developing countries: Syria (currently), Cambodia (20th century), the colonization of Africa (Since the 15th century), the colonization of the Indian subcontinent (read on the Kashmir situation today). The result of all this chaos is that these places have become places that now need to be helped through charity organizations from the same countries whose governments contributed to the chaos through evil ideologies such as white supremacy that then led on to slavery, colonialism, etc. Even though lives get saved and significant numbers of people get the help they need, charity is pointless if the politics are all the same. Think about how we have had the United Nations for 74 years and organizations like UNHCR and UNICEF are literally everywhere, but today we have more than 25 million refugees and nearly 300,000 child soldiers worldwide.

    I might have gone on a tangent there, but I hope you get my point: a good number of the world’s problems are a result of evil racist ideologies like white supremacy (colonialism and its effects, etc.) and the funny part is that films and some people try to tell us that the same ideologies are part of the solution. The white savior complex is cut from the same cloth as white supremacy. Thinking you’re capable of saving “people of color” through medical procedures even though you are as unqualified as they are is white supremacy.

    Now back to the white savior films-they are simply a reflection of our world. One thing I feel that people with the white savior complex tend to ignore (in the context of African countries, for example) is that there are locals who can do the exact same thing a western volunteer does. The tough part is that locals are not seen as capable because of many things including the message carried by white savior films and the inferiority complex that many “people of color” still have to this day.

    Also, a message to westerners wanting to spend a summer in some remote African village: there are literally people suffering in your own countries. Think about them before spending thousands of euros to travel across the world to do something that can easily be done by the local population. I’ve lived in Germany for 2 years now and I know western countries also have issues that need normal citizens to help, such as refugee integration.

    Ever heard of ‘charity begins at home’?

  • #SantaIsOverParty

     Recently, I came across this tweet:

    67177237_467371947378169_7774998383336357888_n

    I actually never thought of it that way, ever, until just a week ago and I felt that this tweet has so much truth in it that I needed to write something on it. So let’s get on with it.

    Before anything else, I’ve never watched this Grinch movie. I did watch one episode about the Grinch on The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, but that was a long time ago. I don’t remember most of the details other than the Grinch turned out to be Mrs. Claus. Obviously, the Grinch was an antagonist in this episode and I assume he/she has been one in many other makes of Christmas movies.

    So, of course, watching too much Western Cartoons (and I mean way too much) as a kid, Christmas became a thing I loved. Somehow it never felt like Christmas back in Tanzania because we don’t have snow and for some time I wondered why Santa never brought me and my siblings any presents. Then I grew up and unlearned all that Santa bs and Christmas, to me, got a different meaning. I’m really glad it did and I shall explain why below.

    The North Pole is supposed to be at the North Pole. It’s cold, snowy and I’m pretty sure they don’t have YouTube over there, based on the general/dominant assumption from TV and movies. Mr. and Mrs. Claus are old and live in a nice warm house in the North Pole. Mr. Claus aka Santa Claus has a factory where his elves make toys for good kids. Santa has a list of all the kids in the world and they’re grouped based on who’s been naughty or nice that year. How does he know how to do this? He stalks them using God knows what ways meaning he invades their privacy.

    There are about 2 billion kids in the world right now so according to this, Santa’s elves have to work day and night for a whole year (and way more) just to produce toys (really good toys that require a lot of work and intelligence to make) for a billion kids assuming half are nice and half are naughty (and this is me being very pessimistic about the world’s balance of good and evil). So basically, Santa’s elves are his slaves and here’s why; they’re overworked, they’re all dressed in hats and green uniforms and most importantly, the fact that elves are shorter, smaller and have pointy ears already establishes a physical difference between Santa (and Mrs. Claus) and the elves. We can just go ahead and say this promotes racism since the same logic of physical differences was used to justify the slavery of black people in different parts of the world, most notably the United States of America. The fact that absolutely no one administers the North Pole makes it worse because then Santa can do whatever he pleases, including enslaving poor elves. Also, do elves know that the ILO (International Labor Organization) has existed for 99 years now?

    There is an argument against this conclusion. Based on the movie Elf, that elves choose to work for Santa and working at Santa’s toy factory is what elves love the most among other “elfisms” that include baking cookies and making shoes at night. This makes me think of slavery in the United States and how some slaves preferred to be house slaves-NOT because they liked being slaves, but because most times they had no choice, but to be there and working in the house seemed far better than working outside, also considering how escaping meant death. We don’t know why the elves are in the North Pole. They have nowhere else to go and because it’s the North Pole it’s mostly dark and cold and covered in snow and with their small bodies it wouldn’t be very pleasant to walk around, or even escape. Where do they even go? My assumption is that elves are natives to the North Pole, Santa is an outsider, he is an invader; a colonizer who set up his factory at the North Pole and forced its natives into slavery. We’re told elves are happy to be working for Santa, but is that payment? No. You can’t have these poor elves working day and night (for the North Pole, it’s mostly night) and then say that they get rewarded because they’re happy to be serving the colonial administration that is Santa and his wife. This is not right. Just the simple idea that elves have a limited handful of options for work at the North Pole already violates every human right I can think of because everyone is free to choose what they want to do and how they want to do it and nobody should be limited by a few options just so that Santa can have his glory. Santa should be in a retirement home somewhere in his home country and he and Mrs. Claus should’ve left the North Pole and given independence to the elves a long time ago when all the other colonizers were doing it.

    Now we move on to the issue of the reindeer. The dominant assumption is that Santa is big and old (why he hasn’t died after all these years, no one knows). How is it fair that he makes 9 reindeer fly him around the world in something close to 24 hours considering different time zones (and still having time to eat cookies and milk)? This is animal torture and it’s wrong to teach kids that you can just make animals move you around for however long you need for whatever cause. This has to go.

    Finally, I want to point out the fact that somehow this Santa fantasy is mostly (if not completely) based in Western Societies. Elves like Buddy (Will Ferrell in Elf) always end up in New York or some Western town. Imagine how this impacts the minds of children in Western societies; instead of educating them and exposing them to what other societies are like, Santa literature teaches them that the only world that matters is the Western world because that’s the only place where Santa cares enough to visit in every story. The media in my country is obviously based in my country and the societies within it, but it still acknowledges the existence of other places in the world such as Europe, USA, China, India and most importantly, other countries in Africa. Imagine if filmmakers without advanced technology as that you’d find at Walt Disney Studios or wherever can make their viewers aware of a world outside the one they’re confined to because of mostly economic incapabilities then how is it possible that big studios in Hollywood and elsewhere act like these parts of the world (such as the one I come from) don’t exist or even matter enough for this “good man” Santa to visit and reward kids with presents?

    I’m also going to go on a tangent here and mention that most of the time countries like mine get mentioned in Western TV and movies is when the topic is disease or war. Just a few days ago I watched an episode of Modern Family where the characters mentioned that they had a friend in Tanzania who they feared had become a warlord. I felt insulted because my country has always been a peaceful place without wars and neither do we have “warlords”. Imagine how unexposed people somewhere outside of Tanzania swallow this bs and of course, how kids in the Western World become indoctrinated with the evil ideas that this whole Santa narrative presents.

    Christmas should be about family, no matter what religion you are or what society you live in. Decorate if you want to, but if you’re going to tell kids about in Santa then think of a better story to tell because the one that exists now doesn’t contribute to a better society. Tell kids a story that promotes human rights (including elf rights), animal rights and most importantly, love.

  • Long Live the Boybands

    It was probably you or your annoying 13-year-old cousin sister who had just gotten her first smartphone. Sometimes it was basically everyone on the internet. The sound of boy bands equaled high-pitched screams and gags. Though there are many, it is important to acknowledge the impact of one important boy band of this decade; One Direction.

    One Direction came at a perfect time in my life. I was 15 and, of course, mostly depressed because I was single and sad about nearly everything including the fact that I hadn’t had my glo up yet. Actually, at that time I didn’t believe I would ever have a glo up. Everything was just complicated on that August evening when for the first time ever I saw what came to define the next 5 years of my life: One Direction in the London 2012 Olympic closing ceremony. They sang What Makes You Beautiful and I immediately fell in love with the song that I had it on repeat for two days straight.

    It sounds like some cheesy fangirl story about how I became part of, quoting Urban Dictionary, “the MEANEST, Deadliest, Scariest and Creepiest fandom in History” that is widely known as Directioners.

    Like every other preteen and teen girl, I was going through a time when I needed to have assurance that my pain is worth the struggle. I considered What Makes You Beautiful my song and that the boys meant every lyric they sang in it. For many Directioners, we loved the boys because they filled the void left by our nonexistent boyfriends, best friends or sometimes just people who care for us and are not afraid to show it.

    For haters, it’s hard to accept the fact that One Direction and many other boy bands will always be in many girls’ hearts. Even though they (One Directions) are officially not disbanded, they remain part of a special era. An era before some of the boys that came into our lives came and took away whatever light that One Direction lit in us through their music. Today, when a Directioner is heartbroken she goes all the way back to Up All Night, their very first album. This way trying to understand all the good things about herself she knew before. Good things that were erased from her mind with every horrible experience she had.

    For old times sake, to shed a tear or two, One Direction Mashup – DJ Earworm

    And just for laughs Boy Brand – 1D, NSYNC, Jonas Brothers, Backstreet Parody