My favorite moments from the bell hooks/Hari Kondabolu conversation:
At one point, bell hooks says:
When we go against the grain, we are deemed political humor but the nasty misogynist stuff isn’t deemed political humor so we constantly operate in this world of imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy where the normalized aggression is not seen as political. So maybe part of what has to happen is we have to do more of that education for critical consciousness that helps people to see that this is political.
This is an important point to me and one that I have written about often with regard to video games (here and again here): the way in which games that challenge cultural norms are criticized as “having a political agenda” while deeply political games that merely replicate and reinforce sexist, racist or imperialist norms are treated as apolitical. I think people who write about games have a responsibility to illuminate these politics and to foster a more critical consciousness throughout the culture in general.
Later, bell hooks says:
I want to be whole. I don’t want to be trapped by race or gender or class because I think I am more than all of that. I am transcendent, at the same time that I think those specific parts of my identity are important. And it’s very hard to project that when you’re always coming up against a dominant culture that wants to fix you in your brand, but fix you in a way that silences you, not in a way that opens up the space, that allows you to speak in various voices and in various dreams.
I love this because I feel it so deeply myself. I felt trapped for so long. Now I want to be whole, and my writing reflects this. I can’t write about games without sometimes writing about loneliness. I can’t write about film without sometimes writing about love. I can’t write about television without sometimes writing about the oppressive systems in which we are forced to function. I love that bell hooks specifically talks about being “fixed in your brand.” I reject the reductive notion of the personal brand. The turning of the self into the predictable and easily consumable.
Finally, there is a point when bell hooks gets snarky discussing Eat, Pray, Love, and this delighted me because Eat, Pray, Love is ridiculous. She is funny throughout much of this conversation, and it is good to see bell hooks being funny. Finding joy in the struggle is so important.
Notes
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