Thursday, August 30, 2007

What's it all about?

From my blog-reading experience, blogs are supposed to be centered upon one subject: Fashion, black fashion, beauty, fat acceptance, weight loss, writing, etc.
But what if I wanted to write about all that? And other stuff?

In a hail-mary attempt to get back into writing (and somehow manage to avoid the self-conscious, self-indulgent navel-gazing I tend towards), I'd like to at least begin investing some time and effort in a variety of subjects.

The short list:
Black love (sex and romance and conflict and infighting)
weight loss and its associated difficulties (this feels important, as I've started seeing a nutritionist again)
fashion (or the occasional lists and objects of lust, as I delve into a 30 day shopping ban. Also, I may attempt to not subscribe to any more fashion magazines, as I am not their target audience.

I thought of posting my short stories here, but I've been burned before with posting in public forums, so...*shrug*

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Art, Race, Sex, and the perfect fall bag.

So while I was hunting down the perfect fall bag, inhaling HPADTH (and mourning the loss of one of my imaginary boyfriends), it appears someone was actually reading posts!

The mind, she boggles.



A person whose art I appreciate left a most interesting comment on my last post, and it's been brewing in my mind since I saw it in my inbox last night.


The questioning and recrimination you went through in this message seems to constantly show up in black folks examining their art. Complaints about the difficulty in finding satisfying black art in any form or genre is traced to the same source. It seems that to have any credibility, “Real Black Art” must be, by definition, about The Race Problem. Whether through comedy or drama, direct confrontation or subversion, if it’s about black people and it isn’t about race, it’s not “really black”. Look how quickly the self appointed Guardians of Afro-Centricity are to judge and condemn creative work for not being “black enough”. What they mean is that the work isn’t sufficiently (to their taste) focused on The Race Problem and the anger it nurtures.

Let me address the last sentence, because it's the one that really got me thinking: I have to first admit that yes, the issue of race (necessarily) is connected to anger. That said, it's also connected to frustration, sadness, empathy, lonliness, comraderie, blood memory, waywardness, focus, ambition, and a million other emotions that, while not exclusive to black folks, are tied in a certain way to the african-american experience. To focus on the race=anger part is at best, unfair.


But to attempt to separate race -- and its issues -- from blacks is equally unfair. Because being black comes with a set of issues. They needn't be plot engines or characters in and of themselves, but neither should they be completely discounted.


I've read erotica/romance in which an african-american heroine's color was rather incidental: (Marjorie Liu' s Soul Song, for one), and found it to be refreshing and quite good. Is it Black Erotica? I wouldn't say so; it contains an african-american character in an interracial relationship (also rare in literature, especially erotica), but by and large, Liu's focused on the psy/sci/erotic/romantic/adventure bits. And it completely works for her -- and me. Seeing a heroine that doesn't have long, silky hair and alabaster skin was a really nice change. But then again, Liu's cast of characters in the Dirk & Steele series is refreshingly multicultural. Sharon Cullars writes erotic fiction as well, also dealing with a bit of the paranormal, but the race issue is more firmly entrenched in the characters and the plot. The younger, white male hero's attraction to the older black female heroine in Object of Love is taboo, but not simply for the race reason. Zane is practically the byword for black erotica-- her characters are african-american (some would say stereotypically so) but I wouldn't say that 'the race issue' necessarily drives them -- or, as the commenter says, "focuses on the race problem and the anger it nurtures". Colin Channer's Waiting in Vain (and I still have a crush on him after his reading) is an excellent example of what black erotica/romance could be -- should be: persons of color, making their way towards each other through the situations and conflicts presented. Internal and external conflict and resolution. And some damned hot sex.



I don't believe in "black enough." Just being black, or a person of color in this society, makes you _____ enough. Who are these 'guardians,' anyway? Wanting to see Black characters in romantic/erotic situations has nothing to do with being black enough, or anger, for that matter. Nurturing, perhaps. But not anger. Credibility in black writing, IMHO, means that it's a)honest, and b) good. And honesty is relative, depending on one's experience. But it should touch on something in the common, greater experience as well.


So does this means that white erotica (i.e. erotica in general) has 'guardians' its 'culture warriors'? Does white art? Is there anger 'nurtured'? Can it be 'white enough'? No. Because the default settings are white: white romance, white love, white sex. Not that I'm complaining, but why is it wrong want to see myself reflected in the pages too?

This last part, though, really got me, as well:

As for romances specifically, "Black women don't have the luxury of believing in the love story, much less the fantasy of romance", seems a cop out. Why don’t they? A statement like that seems more like deliberate scab picking to not let a wound heal rather than anything based in reality. There are plenty of fantasies black women “don't have the luxury of believing in”, yet still indulge daily. With the divorce and relationship failure rate as high as it is, white women don’t have the “luxury” of believing in these stories either, but you don’t hear them agonizing about it. What goes on in these novels is just as alien to the actual life experience of most white women as it is to black women.

I'll admit to the wound-picking part. But I'll have to disagree with the whole 'you don't hear them agonizing about it" bit. (Sex and the City wasn't about the joys of being alone, after all, and Dr. Phil and the "He's not that into you" writers aren't making millions beacuse white women are having an easy time of it when it comes to relationships. Maybe the commenter just isn't listening too hard in that respect.)

Ultimately, I guess I’m saying that it’s too difficult to tell emotionally satisfying stories involving black people when the point of the stories are primarily about pushing a political agenda. Black folks need to be more inclusive about what makes art “black”.

What's this political agenda, again? And where is all this black non-black art? Crushed under the boot of the Dark Crusaders, perhaps?