minipiphany 14

upon watching the the tracey fragments, i realized that that it's not ellen page i dislike. my issue lies more with diablo cody (aka brook busey.) i really disagree with the whole "y'all hatin' cuz y'all JEALOUS!" defense taken by the ladies at jezebel. as for cody, i think it's fantastic to step away from the essentialism surrounding women. she was a sex worker, she has tattoos. fantastic. live your life. i believe that all women should claim their identity as they see fit, but there is something very backwards and reductionist in saying that the tattoos and all the sexcapades imagined in haters minds are the only reasons why one can hate on this woman. the women on jezebel are again perpetuating a fucked up politic where cody is reduced to her stripper past, her tattoos, and hipster haircut. there is a sense of unchecked elitism in the air, as exemplified by the reaction to following clip (found on the jezebel site):

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hortense at 06:08 PM on 01/16/08
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Oh NO she did NOT pull that "I'm from the Midwest, so my story is more original than those coastal people" bullshit.

And Oprah needs new writers. Quickly.

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i agree with the sentiments above. there is some white privilege going on up in there. i dislike cody because she was pulling some wack privilege shit on oprah. i like cody because she created a story that resonated with millions of viewers. i like cody because teen pregnancy was interpreted under a fairer, more comprehensive gender lens (of course, compared to what's been mainstreamed and is already out there.) i dislike cody because she is obnoxious as an interviewee. i dislike Juno because it is reliant on a bunch of self-glorifying, masturbatory, snarky one liners (which cody said was based mostly on herself) --- as an artist the directive to unearth something larger than you is the goal. i dislike Juno and diablo cody, because i'm unsure of how this work, as something seen as revolutionary in addressing class and gender issues, how does it continue to marginalize? how is can we challenge this movie so that it is relevant to my community, those of color and beyond. i dislike cody because in the nature of Juno as a film, i am unsure where it addressed the interlocking nature of oppressions affecting women. All women.

my bottom line is this:
to promote a strange radical feminist perspective without context (do your homework on what this means, first. don't be taken just because it has the world "radical" in it) is pretty dangerous. to romanticize sex work without contextualizing it in a macro sphere is problematic, to the point where it stunts the development of a healthy gender politic. ultimately resulting in some asinine logic, ie "stop hatin' just cuz she cute and used to be a stripper, y'all!"

and to be clear, i am aware that the hating on her face is quite possible. all i am saying is: there are other reasons to dislike diablo cody.


in the picture above, she is also doing that pose-thing i hate!