We had a comment on the blog, that voiced some serious hatred for our focus on Beth Ditto, this person believes shes a fat spectacle thats just wasting our time:
The person goes on to say that fat womyn creating a spectacle is just a commodifying act, "there's nothing subversive about what she's doing, she's using her body to sell herself. It's no different from what tiny Pop tarts do, Ditto's just twice as big as the average celebrity." I think the fact that she is twice as big has everything to do with her subversive nature. Society stigmatizes larger women if their size is non-normative, the non-normative becomes Othered and almost always harshly rejected in popular culture. i believe the subversive nature of a spectacle is integral to the disruption of a normative values that more often than not represses dissent form the ordinary.
For instance, i work at Greenpeace and all the campaigns are connected to an action which is always a spectacle drivin effort to engage the public and media. I believe Beth Ditto's naked performances, amazing style and confrontational lyrics are spectacles that allow her to control and dictate the meaning of the her space, in much the same way Greenpeace uses climbers and banners to control and dictate the message and meaning of a particular space.
A fabulous example of spectacle driven activism was used by The Fat Femme Mafia's Chelsey Lictman, when she created a video that uses fat bodies in public spaces through the vulnerable act of letting her skin jiggle in a public park - the result is a sprightly spectacle that dictates the meaning of a space by reclaiming positive spaces for fat beautiful bodies.
For instance, i work at Greenpeace and all the campaigns are connected to an action which is always a spectacle drivin effort to engage the public and media. I believe Beth Ditto's naked performances, amazing style and confrontational lyrics are spectacles that allow her to control and dictate the meaning of the her space, in much the same way Greenpeace uses climbers and banners to control and dictate the message and meaning of a particular space.
A fabulous example of spectacle driven activism was used by The Fat Femme Mafia's Chelsey Lictman, when she created a video that uses fat bodies in public spaces through the vulnerable act of letting her skin jiggle in a public park - the result is a sprightly spectacle that dictates the meaning of a space by reclaiming positive spaces for fat beautiful bodies.
jenna, i've already told you that i think this post is brilliant but i thought i would praise you publicly.
ReplyDeletealso, the fat femme mafia video is wonderful. the comments made on it are interesting to read.
i would be curious to see what the person who commented on the beth ditto posts would think about chelsey's work and fat femme mafia. i don't think anyone can question how subversive it is. meaning, it's incredibly subervise and politically charged. i wish there was more of this activism happening in toronto (or anywhere for that matter).
in terms of spectacle and performance, it would be interesting to bring this up potentially in our class next semester which is on spectacle and performance. just a thought.
maybe one day i will post something when i get over my blogging phobia.