Clip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Harrogate's head almost exploded last night, Readers. Not only did internet-wide predictions about a Cena/Umaga feud come true a mere three hours after Harrogate mentioned it on this very blog, but that feud began in a way that should concern, and excite, every single teacher and scholar remotely interested in American Studies. Whether your area involves postcolonialism, masculinity studies, feminist studies, American literature, literacy theory, fairy tales, westerns, political rhetoric, or just about anything else under the sun, the linked clip has something that will threaten your head with explosure, too.
Several months ago Harrogate expressed concern that Vince was getting a little too cavalier with the whole violence against women thing. Now the scales have fallen from Harrogate's eyes. The age old fear of a savage getting ahold of one of our white women, if not for the protection of a hyper masculinized military, is right here in living color for all to look at. Listen to Jim Ross cry out that this isn't your ordinary Beauty and the Beast story, that any way you look at it, this isn't right. Listen to the crowd go bananas with boos and watch the actor doing Umaga eat it up like parfait(Harrogate always wanted to use that word). Then the best actor on the show this side of Triple H, John Cena comes out and does Richard Slotkin proud, gives us all our Regeneration Through Violence.
Also in the clip you'll see that "K-Fed" and Cena will be going at it on New Year's Day. Gossip around the internet right now has it that Britney Spears and "K-Fed" had a huge falling out last night, that she stayed at Four Seasons Hotel after he punched a hole in the wall and threw a lot of stuff and basically lost his proverbial shit. What caused it all? Why, not only is "K-Fed's" artistic genius going unrecognized as tour date after tour date goes staggeringly unattended and in some cases cancelled, but to top it off Britney made a crack about "K-Fed's" performance on Raw. Wives. Don't worry "K-Fed," John Milton too had problems getting the 100% worship he expected from his wife. What's a poet got to do to get appreciated?
Finally, notice that the commerical preceding this pedagogical goldmine of a clip is another anti-marijuana commercial, brought to you by the same people who brought us Pete's Couch.
8 comments:
I would reply but I have to mop my brain up off the floor.
Yes, that's the reason Harrogate didn't immediately post this last night. In the words of Chandler Bing, "seriously sir, all over the wall."
Give it time to heal. And as soon as you're finished reassembling the brain tissue, Harrogate would love to get your feedback.
Hi Harrogate,
Goodness gracious, I can't even begin to respond to this display of colonialism (definitely missing its post-!). And who is the Captain America-looking gentleman who has come to save the day from savages *and* K-Fed? He is Quite Frightening Indeed.
Ciao,
Amy
Why hello Mrs. Reads welcome to our humble neck of the woods!
That Cap'n America chap, by the by, would be none other than our hero, a bastion of integrity (at least until he turns "bad" in a few months or so), and one helluva performer: John Cena, othwerwise known as The Marine.
Hmmm... When has the military not been "hyper-masculine"? Can we even call it "hyper-masculine" when it has always shaped itself in masculine terms?
Sorry Harrogate, but the colonial implications of the clip seem unoriginal. Perhaps more shocking is the real life depictions of the age-old story. One need merely watch the footage of the rescue of Jessica Lynch to know that the motif of the soldier as hero rescuing a damsel in distress from the Other is alive and well.
Furthermore, Upon watching the clip, Mr. P-duck pointed out the inaccuracies of Cena's performance as a Marine. Semper Fi.
Aka The Marine.
You'd think, then, that he'd put more thought into his outfit. That is most definitely not a Marine Corps cover (or hat, a civilians know it). And his rank insignia is certainly not of the USMC variety. It all looks very Army to me. (Which makes me feel that he's less of a bad ass than his nickname indicates!)
Ooh-rah, Mr. P-duck.
Welcome, P-Duck! Harrogate is delighted to see that yo hav joined the editorial board at the award-winning blog, The Rhetorical Situation.
He would also like to point out that the reason Cena is referred to as The Marine is because he just made a movie that goes by that title, a movie by the way that in history is sure to rival _Cassablanca_, _The African Queen_, and _Dodgeball_ as the greatest ever made.
And this is important, since some of what you, Mr. P-Duck, and Oxymoron have all alluded to involves accuracy. Harrogate's argument for the importance of the clip, and the Cena character in general, has far less to do with accuracy than with myth.
The myth of _Regeneration Through Violence_, of cleaning the savages from out the Virgin Land and thus paving the way for the white woman, is is all over the clip Harrogate posted, and the budding rivalry between Umaga and Cena in general.
Many in academia and elsewhere argue that we are in a postcolonial age. Perhaps, practically speaking, we are. But in terms of the myths with which we identify and the narratives we cheer, we are in Harrogate's opinion as colonial as ever.
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