Cold Critical

I find myself wanting to be more in my niche. It’s pretty rare I go out of my way to watch TED talks, and when I do I usually already have some connection the the speaker or the topic ( Caitlin Doughty , ). I’m aware that’s limited, but longform lecture is difficult to remain invested in if I don’t already have interest in the topic at hand. The more emotional talk (Murphy) grabbed me much faster, but I also work with architects so I already had a baseline. Ogbu’s black sheep analogy made me curious, but not enough to be completely hooked. I found my attention wavering from Adegbeye’s talk rather quickly, as I felt lost due to the totally foreign concept straight off the bat. The cleanest segue from opener to thesis is Murphy, as he moves from personal connections to his ideas on architecture more organically, but Ogbu has a more compelling story overall. While Adegbeye’s talk is the most impactful, but as I said, the opening wasn’t enough keep me interested. All three tell a sto...

Neo-Nazi and fascist ideologies are on the rise in modern America. From the riots in Charlottesville , to the active online presence of white nationalists, a clear problem is resurfacing. Who are these Nazis ? Where do they come from ? Do they deserve sympathy (No)?  Do they deserve respect (Also No)? How do they impact the media sphere? A fascist reading of any text can provide a multitude of interesting interpretations as well as pose an ethical quandary; is representation of Nazi ideology ethical ? In looking at several examples of popular media, we can examine the effects of semitic coding, implicit and explicit Nazi iconography, and undeserved redemption. The following examples all serve to show the influence of the media sphere on Neo-Nazi ideology: Superman: Implicit Nazi iconography and blatant antisemitism My Little Pony: Forgiveness is undeserved Cabaret: Explicit anti-fascism still draws a fascist audience The Wizard of Oz: Coded antisem...

Cabaret the movie musical may take some liberties from its source material, but it certainly doesn’t shy away from the anti-fascist themes of the original. One of the more remembered scenes is Tomorrow Belongs to Me . A soft ballad about the promise of a brighter future. Sung by an actual Nazi. As the song continues, the audience joins the choir and supports the now darker lyrics. Tomorrow belongs to the white children. Tomorrow belongs to those in power. They stand and salute the idea. The stand and salute the Nazi party. It’s an evocative image that uses the earnest patriotism to paint a unique picture of pre WWII Germany. Make no mistake, the rest of the show uses the romance centered plot to condemn this behavior. Nazis are the evil in Cabaret, the evil in WWII, and an evil force now. Despite this irrefutable fact, Alt-Right groups adopted Tomorrow Belongs to Me as an anthem. The comment section of the video is rife with awful [ID: A Youtube comment readi...

The Wizard of Oz was not written by a Nazi, contrary to popular belief. L. Frank Baum was a man of his time, thoughts on race included, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that much of his work contains racist, agest , sexist , and all around old fashion ideas. However, by analyzing at how the works of Oz have changed over time, we see how racial coding impacts the reception of a work. In 1900 Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and while it is generally believed to discuss the socio economic fluctuations of a bimetallic economy in the late 1800s, whether there is intentional allegory at all is a contentious point. The perceived allegorical statements of the book are in line with Baum’s liberal use of coding, or shorthand character signifiers. This type of coding has some unfortunately racist outcomes that fundamentally alter thematic elements of the story. The Winkies (See Figure 1), a fictional race that resides in the Ozian west (See Figure 2), are slaves to the Wi...

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is a children’s cartoon based on the popular horse toys from the 1980s. While the cartoon has had several incarnations, the most recent generation is the first to have a substantial adult following .The show focuses heavily on the lessons it teaches, and educating a young audiences. In 2018 a “Brony Analyst”, ToonKriticy2k , was accused of grooming underaged girls for sex. The allegations were evidenced by years of screenshots and incriminating skype calls . Once all of the evidence was available to the public,  While this is horrific, the surge of content creators gaslighting the victims , calling for forgiveness, and steadfastly refusing to eliminate his presence is nothing short of repugnant. By this logic why wouldn’t the MLP community forgive Neo-Nazis ? Why bother to eliminate violently transphobic , racist (See Figure 1), bullies when forgiveness is the only answer?    Figure 1 [ID: The Third ...

Injustice: Gods Among Us is a comic book based on the popular video game of the same name. Clark Kent is tricked by The Joker into murdering his pregnant wife, Lois Lane, and killing all the citizens of Metropolis. Superman kills The Joker and proceeds to make a crime free world by becoming a fascist dictator. The whole comic is rife with gross implications, the most egregious being the portrayal of Superman. Not only do the artists use tacit Nazi symbolism to show Clark’s misdeeds (See Figures 1,2,3), but the story goes to great lengths to show this evil Superman as a good person prior to his trauma (See Figure 4). In addition, a subplot of the Year 2 storyline includes Superman gaining access to a yellow lantern ring , a weapon used to rule by fear. This paints the I:GAU Superman as a fear mongering dictator with a super weapon and horrific moral philosophy.     Figure 1       Figure 2     ...