WHY POP CULTURE MATTERS IN THE RESISTANCE TO THE TRUMP AGENDA

Jim Fouratt "Thinking OUT Loud"

Recently there has been a lot of chatter on the Internet about how can we be thinking of awards and art when the "world is falling apart?"

An almost hysterical blindness to the role that popular culture plays in shaping the public's consciousness.

We now know the the dark side of "reality" television and the dumbing down of public discourse  by reducing  any real depth and/or  nuance to a 140 character tweet.

Most of my political work has been in the area of popular culture .. the movies. books, music, theater we consume.  I now write about film in Westview News and blog  Jim Fouratt's Reel Deal : Movies that Matter, ,  Listen Up or Radiosexbeat. I use social media Facebook, Twitter etc to raise consciousness and endorse others who are taking action.

I do this not to alert you to the latest larger than life action film or fantasy animation film that has little to do with actual life itself.  But to expose you to the creative work of artists looking at life and and trying to reflect back in narrative and documentary film, theater, cabaret, and in popular and experimental and avant music who we are today and how to regenerate hope in this moment of both depersonalization and  at the same same time the heightening of a false sense of individualism. I do this to remind myself and you that “their” real  goal is the creation of market in this moment of the triumph of Capital.

Let me talk for a moment about Identity politics which has been under attack from both the right and the left in this moment of triumph for the DTs or should I name it : CAPITAL

As someone who played a critical role in the construction of a modern lesbian and gay identity post the Stonewall Rebellion as a political identity informed by radical feminist politics and the reality of oppression . Unlike identities based on biological or physical signifiers or race my collective tribe can usually assumed to be hetrosexual unless we "come out" and say we are not. The same can be said today of many people whose gender expression or subjective identity are not what gender behavior boundaries demand in behavior or expression,. In the late 60's androgyny was the path out of body and gender commodification Today there is a new language to explain identity. I desire to go back to the original goal of discovering how one is different from the role imposed by dominant society, It was simple . Know yourself . Be self-defining . Come out and claim your identity to first yourself and then to others . That was for people like myself only step one . But for many because of the politics of separation and the creation of market the first step became an end of the process . But it was not the intent of my tribe of radical activists. Knowing and naming oneself was an act of authenticity that allows participation in community unburdened with imposed inauthentic self. This identity was what in theory would allow one to find what is shared with others unlike yourself in desire,.. be it class, gender , economic condition, race etc.. I say this because at this present moment it is critical we see each other authentically. We can acknowledge our differences but most importantly we can find what we have in common. I see creativity and community as the path to unity So I say be bold, be visible, be sensitive to difference and most importantly seek solidarity with others to collectively make change.

So back to how I see popular culture

I do try to get you to discover and support artists in community. Mine is New York City. Artists  who are not afraid to speak their own inner truth. Here are some NYC people who I find doing the work as engaged artist :  Penny Arcade, Justin Elizabeth Sayre, Pamela Sneed , Joseph Keckler, Jack Waters and Peter Cramer , Chavisa Woods, Steven Winter, Barbara Hammer, Sarah Schulman, Toshi Reagon,  Bonnie Finberg, Karen Finley, Dane Terry, Tom Leger, Carol Lipnik , Margo Channing, Taylor Mac, Reno, Machine Dazzle, Amber Martin, Nicky Paraiso

Pamala sneed remembering friends loss to AIDS

Sam Green, Bizzy Berkley,  Erin Markey, Shane O'Neill, Bonny Finberg, Jaque Servin  to name  a few that don't get the just attention paid to Patti Smith or Bruce Springsteen, Common or Lady Gaga for example. These are the people being creative in these dark times in my geographical world ..sometimes they may visit your neighborhood, Find the people in your own community that are the creative flashlight lighting the way to resistence,                                  x

Here are some of the books I have read this year

(click image) i addition I would suggest two books to put hope back into this moment of presumed loss:

1: The Politics Of Meaning: Restoring Hope And Possibility In An Age Of Cynicism author Michael Lerner 

2: Depression a public feeling

author Ann Cvetkovich

I asked you who are in NYC to support and attend the work being developed at places like La MaMa, Dixon Place, The Owl, Pangea, The Stone, Bowery Underground, Roulette and  Issues to name a few and the seemingly endless pop up venues all over Brooklyn and now Queens. Find those places in your own home town.

Grassroots means local is cool.

I think is my job as a cultural critic is to make sure you know about events at Revolution Books or the Bureau of General Services, Queer Division, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the Film Forum, BAM,  etc etc etc ...  I go and I hope to see each one of you there.  When I had my own venues it was how I programed. With a conscious choice of relevance not to fame but to the intersection of art, creativity, survival and yes I will say it: JOY, erotic, spiritual and intellectual .

Now that I got that off my chest, let's look at why I think why  a discussion of awards and recognition for creative work is essential to keeping hope alive.

Movies : It really depends on what films are being paid attention to by me and you:

Has anyone besides me see Alex Gibney's ZERO DAYS?. About  CYBER-WARFARE and the US role as the world's leading the hacker? Critical in any discussion of the fog of Russian hacking. ZERO DAYS trailer

Or the British film "I, Daniel Blake"  about what happens to an older worker who loses his job and can not find another one and faces the insensitivity of the "welfare " system to see him and help him? I Daniel Blake trailer

Or "Moonlight" about the intersection between identity , family values and drug culture in a minority  neighborhood?  MOONLIGHT trailer

Or the Jessica Chastain political thriller "Miss Sloan"  (about lobbyists in Dc and the revenge of corporate interest like the NRA when they don't get what they want?)  Miss Sloan trailer

Or "Little Men"   Ira Sachs' exposure of how gentrification and economic disparity affects not only neighborhoods but also families, friendship and neighborhoods.  Little Men trailer   

(Ira Sachs lives in Greenwich Village )

Or the documentary "13"  Ava DuVernay’s documentary ab the US constitution and the reality of systemic racism in the US and the dignity of the oppressed ?  Now on HBO on Demand 13 trailer

Or "Trapped" about the the fight of two separate older Southern women to keep open their abortion clinics open to  give women the right to control their own bodies? Of the black MD who moves from NYC to help themNow on HBO on demand   Trapped trailer

Or  "I AM  NOT YOUR NEGRO” Raoul Peck’s giving voice to an unfinished work by James Baldwin with Samuel Jackson being the voice of Baldwin. I Am Not Your Negro trailer

For example:  Pop Culture can actually help us see the machinations of the Trump agenda. I believe it is in pop culture that the battle for the minds of the public is going on . Without the incisive humor of Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert, the public's did not have their laser insights  and acute ability to cut through  fake news and political machinations to focus on the real issues. What socially aware comics and performance artists, like Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, CItizen Reno and Penny Arcade can do is bring insight through their outrageous heightened sense of humor and satire during the last months of the presidential campaign.

I believe It is critical that we each educate ourselves in order to be able to sort through political spin, fake news etc and engage our friends in this conversation in the street, the lounge or over a good brew,

Who here has actually read the Wiki-Leak DNC or Podesta emails? I read as many as I could . And was shocked at the dirty playing at the highest level of the DNC to destroy Bernie Sanders , Yes, Sanders was the candidate I supported. When he was out of the running I endorse Clinton for one reason only : the Supreme Court . I suggest the contents of those emails are as important to understand how the DNC under Debbie Wasserman Schultz and with full complicity of the Clinton campaign undermined the Sanders campaign despite the fact that he actually won in those swing states like Wisconsin who would later vote Trump over Clinton.

But let me not point fingers now . We are here together I hope in resistance. But do not let the very politicians who were complicit nationally or locally steal our thunder of outrage and anger and desire for real change . This is where we can start in a common point with many Trump voters .

Much of the fog of Russian hacking is a cover up for the actual content revealed to the American public , Why, when Trump called for hacking by Russia of Clinton's  emails or called for someone to take Clinton out or chanted "lock her up" , did not the FBI arrested him for threatening a candidate or calling on foreign government to intervene in a democratic process?  Where was the FBI?   Or  Obama's  Attorney General? ..Why has not Giuliani's role in getting the FBI head to  suggest in the last week of the campaign that Clinton had violated national security? No public official , certainly none of my State's (NY) elected officials called for the FBI or the Attorney General to intervene.

Of course we do not have to agree. But please let us talk together.

Please, don't get caught in the quicksand of who hacked as the most important and only question. Educate yourself on how the DNC undermined the political process and opened the door for Bannon types on hate radio and online posts to rally people to express legitimate anger and channeled that anger into a  fear vote. Understand how the US, not Russians,has been the biggest user of CYBER-WARFARE . When all the cards are on the table .... than WE THE PEOPLE can begin to figure out how TOGETHER we can resist the Trump/Bannon agenda..

Remember : WE ARE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT .. and we need to learn how to row together,  Remember: THE RIGHT TO BE DIFFERENT is a core American value .regardless of color, gender expression, sexual orientation, sex,  ... etc.

Your turn