We hope you’re enjoying this Halloween with lots of candy, costumes, and fun! Here’s a special On Our Radar round-up of links we love around the web, including zombie history, horror-film heroiens, and a reminder to not be a total racist!
- Doreen Oliver shares her story about her son wanting to be a princess for Halloween, and how the white-washed princess costumes gave her pause. [The New York Times]
- Speaking of the dead, you can always pay your respects by visiting the grave sites of some of America’s most famous writers. Here’s a run-down of their final resting places. [The Atlantic]
- Scary flicks are a must on this spooky holiday, but don’t be fooled by all of the misrepresented and stigmatized depictions of women with mental illness often found in horror films. Here’s a read to make you think twice before you judge that “crazy bitch.” [Bitch Flicks]
- Here’s a fabulous list of some of the most badass (and overlooked) horror film heroines of all time. But watch out! They might bite. [The Hairpin]
- People can’t seem to get enough of zombies these days. Ever wondered where their story originated? Amy Wilentz lays it out. [The New York Times]
- Don’t be racist, don’t be racist, don’t be racist! Kelsey shared a good run-down last week, but here is another eloquent take on how to not be racist for Halloween. [Tiger Beatdown]
- What’s creepier than the creepiest horror film you’ve ever seen? When they’re real! Here’s a list of scary movies based on true stories. [Flavorwire]
- UTNE is posting some of their best posts on contemporary witchcraft and feminst spirituality—here’s one of them. [UTNE Reader]
- And finally, Sociological Images has rounded up their Halloween-themed posts, that range from the good (women laughing with salad!), the bad (“Anna Rexia”), and the ugly (did we mention that people are really racist on Halloween?) [Sociological Images]
So what are you costumed in for the holiday? Read anyting good? Share in the comments section below!
5 Comments Have Been Posted
Costumes
Katie Boyer replied on
Thanks for sharing this awesome list! Read a lot on sexist costumes, slut shaming, and women in horror films. I wrote up my own thoughts and shared some links on racist Halloween costumes too :)
http://katieeelaine.wordpress.com/2012/10/31/racist-halloween-costumes-a...
About AHS: Asylum
Mariam replied on
I think the blogger missed the point with AHS's second season. Here's the thing about AHS: Asylum: It's a criticism on mental institutions in the 1960s and the tremendous abuse that patients suffered there and the absolute horrors that went on behind closed doors. One example is in Sarah Paulson's character, who is a lesbian, is forcibly committed against her will by Sister Jude, who blackmails Paulson's girlfriend, played by Cleo duVall, threatening to out her if she does not consent. What happens to Paulson's character is truly horrifying: she receives electro-shock therapy so she will forget how she can escape, and also because she is gay.
With Chloe Sevigny's character, she is committed because she's a "nymphomaniac", aka, she likes sex. They justify diagnosing her that to lock her up because they're misogynists. The show isn't making the argument that Sevigny's character is actually a "nymphomaniac" but rather a sexual woman who is being locked up against her will for being a sexual person, which is a horrendous crime to commit against someone.
Viewers are supposed to be shocked by how the patients are treated in the Asylum, not by the patients themselves. And as a viewer, that's how I see the show: As a viewer, it horrifies me to see how people with mental illness were treated and how and why people were committed in the first place. And what is also horrifying is that the people running the asylum don't even believe in mental illness in the first place!
Another point is that we're supposed to also see how progressive we've become in treating mental illness: Homosexuality is no longer seen as such and people are no longer issued shock therapy because of it, living conditions are not deporable, people are not secretly experimented on, etc.
The quote from Cait also misses the point: she calls it "an ignorant and unnecessary bastardization of mental health practices".... Well, yes. It is supposed to represent that *in the 1960s*. I wonder if she took that detail into consideration.
That’s Racist! (but not how you might think)
alexf replied on
I'm a POC that personally thinks the focus on halloween 'racism' is a bit much...
Below is an excerpt from my latest blog post: http://wp.me/pcxL6-fe
"The analysis about the costume racism is the easy part. The hard part comes in the question of why we focus on the symbolized over the symbol?
I’m sad to say, I think it’s because we middle-class Western people of colour more or less like it this way.
Fighting the big fight against the status quo, against the socio-political-economic system we live in, against imperialism, threatens our own way of life....
But to do anything about it means risking a loss of our own cherished position in the middle. We are second class citizens, but we aren’t at the bottom and we hold out hope that we can be one of the few allowed to rise up and join the elites up top."
http://alexfelipe.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/thats-racist-but-not-how-you-...
thanks for sharing!
Katie Boyer replied on
thanks for sharing!
:-)
alexf replied on
Thanks for reading! I'd love to know your thoughts. I've got lots of readers... but not many seem to be open to sharing their opinions. So I don't know if I'm too far off the public mood on this one.
(if you do comment pls comment on the blog! thanks again!)
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