An Open Letter to the Apolitical

During the Super Bowl this year, Budweiser caused controversy with an advertisement telling the story of a German immigrant who overcomes hardship to come to America to meet a man named Anheuser, forming Anheuser-Busch with a cultural collision and a handshake. It didn't take long for the backlash and Budweiser boycotts to start, the overriding message being: keep your politics out of my beer. First of all, good luck avoiding Budweiser parent company ABInbev/SABMiller's approximately 400 brands and 28% market share: many of the people "boycotting" Budweiser will be turning from one of their products to another. Let them chug in ignorance. 

Regardless of the reasoning behind it, I support everyone's right to boycott any company they want. It amounts to non-violent protest, which is intrinsically democratic. What I can't support is the people with their heads in the sand, just because politics makes them bored or uncomfortable or cynical.

With that said, I would like to respond to the plea to keep politics out of your pint glass, or anything else for that matter:

No.

We just experienced an election in which nearly half the country didn't vote. Let me say that again: almost half of the people in our country either weren't eligible or didn't care enough to cast a ballot in our 2016 primary election. I have sympathy for people working multiple jobs to support their families in a system set up to make them fail: political obfuscation and archaic voting rules have made it hard for many to vote. There are too many politicians that don't want you filling out a ballot. But with the option of early voting, the majority of non-voters don't have a valid excuse. Voter turnout in 2016 reached a 20-year low, and it's not OK.

I have a friend who didn't vote because he thinks of himself as a "conscientious objector," citing our fucked up and self-serving political system and lack of attractive political pundits. I understand the cynicism. I do. But I think his excuse for not voting is a fragile soap box, constructed out of idealism and privilege, and one that will crumple under the weight of reality. Besides the fact that there is more on the ballot than the president, the point needs to be made again and again: your vote does still count for something, and the president does indeed hold a lot of power in our system. Just look at the current president's onslaught of executive orders.

Whether you want to see it or not, your decision to abstain from voting directly influences your life, and the lives of millions of other people. And this is crucial: while your sex and skin color and economic opportunities may allow you to carry on with your day-to-day activities regardless of who holds office, that is not the case for millions of less privileged Americans who are marginalized and threatened by a political system whose current stance toward their existence ranges from apathy to overt aggression. Consider the words of Desmond Tutu: "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." Not everyone that supports the current administration is a racist, sexist xenophobe. But the president and his closest advisors are just that - and that can cause just as much damage. Like the monseigneur from Boondock Saints says: "Now, we must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil, which we must fear most...and that is the indifference of good men."

Even if you're not one of these marginalized citizens, this affects you whether you want to admit it or not. Go take your dog for a walk or take a few hours to go fishing. These may not feel political but they are. Air and water quality are being threatened by pollution and governmental deregulation. Fish and animal habitats are falling victim to the same forces. Want to ignore the talking heads and eat your dinner in peace while watching Netflix? That dinner may be more and more expensive after a president-approved merger between two of the largest seed and chemical manufacturers on the planet. That escapist show you're watching online will cost you more and buffer longer if the FCC kills net neutrality with the administration's help. You may be sick of politics but I have some hard news for you: it's shaping your life already, and you are just hurting yourself and others by choosing to ignore it. Getting back to your plea for us to keep our politics out of your life: sorry, but the politics are already there. What are you going to do about it?

Jonathan Ross

Equality: It's Up To Us

On the heels of National Women's Equality Day in August, I found myself debating with my partner the feminist qualities of 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road, which garnered a lot of attention not just for its stunning visuals and practical effects, but for its perceived feminist plot and characterization. As evidenced by our conversation, and the ongoing conversation of the internet, not everyone agreed with the "fempositive" perception. I don't think I'm being naive in believing that most educated and open-minded people today believe in the value of gender equality, yet women in the workplace still make 80¢ on the dollar, and the "damsel in distress" trope is still alive and well in Hollywood.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Intention does not equal action, and as an advantaged white male in America, I realize with discomfort that despite my feminist beliefs, I am still embedded in a long-standing privileged patriarchy, and coded sexism sneaks into my thoughts and syntax on a daily basis. 

Imaginos Workshop was created because a group of people agreed that art and stories are important, and that shared creativity is an endeavor worth pursuing. We are a multi-ethnic, multi-gender group of strange and unique people, an oddball microcosm of society at large. We are both creators and consumers, telling stories and crafting characters, while also voraciously taking in the wealth of entertainment available to us in so many forms. So how can we be sure that we aren't falling victim to the systemic prejudices that plague our society? How can we avoid unwittingly perpetuating inequalities of race and gender? 

Aliens (1986)

I don't have the answers to all of these complex problems (and my baked-in pessimism regarding human nature whispers to me that we'll never conquer them completely), but I can say that I think positive change starts with thinking critically and interacting with more (different!) people. We should strive for empathy, which in my experience happens when we dissolve that feeling of otherness that comes from ignorance of another group. As consumers of media, we should do so actively, which is to say that we should be critical and questioning of even the most seemingly benign tidbits of popular media, from commercials and billboards to multi-million dollar budget summer blockbusters. Like I said, I don't have all the answers. But I'm trying, and I've come up with a few questions to ask the next time you're sitting down to watch a movie, whether it's an action epic or a romantic comedy (even the term "chick flick" figures into this conversation. See? It's everywhere). 

1. Does a woman or women drive the plot in a meaningful way?

2. If so, do they do it actively or passively? (This follow-up question is hugely important.) e.g. If a woman is captured, thus forcing a man to rescue her, this is passive action which feeds into old patriarchal plot structures. But if, on the other hand, a woman rebels from the status quo (Furiosa deciding to take the war rig off course in Mad Max: Fury Road) or takes action against a threat (Ripley fighting off the xenomorph in Aliens), this is active influence, and in my opinion indicates a measure of equality and respect towards women and their ability to be as forceful and decisive as men, both in changing their own lives and the lives of others, and also in influencing the landscape and direction of the film plot.

3. To what end do the actions of women in the film lead? If they drive the plot but ultimately only in the service of a male protagonist, this is problematic and may indicate a regressive attitude towards women and their roles as being useful only in regards to how it might benefit a man.

4. Is the sexiness of women a key part of the film, both in terms of aesthetics and narrative? And if so, how is it depicted? Women as sexy is of course not offensive in itself. Women (and men, for that matter) can be sexy while still being powerful and intelligent. But if women are there only to satisfy the male gaze as objects of sex appeal, this is damaging and regressive.

This is not an exhaustive system obviously, but I think if audiences ask themselves these questions in combination with something like the Bechdel test, we can say fairly confidently whether a film is feminist or not, or at least get the discussion started in the right way.

- Jonathan