A Few Small Thoughts On Parasite

To say a little more about Parasite's victory, beyond the fact that it's a non-English film, it's truly shocking to me that the Academy has rewarded something that is so unavoidably about class conflict.  The typical move (and this comes to race as well) is to reward films that meekly split the difference -- "Sure, you're poor and I'm rich, but deep down we're the same!"  (Insert "you're black and I'm white," "you're gay and I'm straight," rinse and repeat.)

The point is, Hollywood almost never recognizes race and class conflict as deeply structural, embedded, and often invisible.  Race and class and gender politics are always just subjective annoyances, something you can just brush away with healthy doses of fond-feeling and gumption.  (A white guy being "saved" by a non-white guy also helps.)

So I guess I'm saying saying nice things about the Academy.  That's also shocking.

TL,DR:  Is 2020 the year the Academy stops ignoring films just because they confront class and race stuff in serious, structural, adult terms?  Or does it go back to being meaningless in 2021 when the next Green Book or Crash comes along?

"running in boxes like rats"

"'It was several years later when I next saw him; you'll know what year I mean.  I was still a lawyer, older and slouchier and tubbier than ever.  That was life in the old time -- the years in the boxes took it out of you fast.'  At that point Tom looked at me, as if to make sure I was listening.  'It was a stupid life really, and that's why I can't see it when people talk about fighting to get back to that.  People back then struggled at jobs in boxes, and they spent their whole lives running in boxes like rats.  I was doing it myself, and it made no sense.'"

-- Kim Stanley Robinson, The Wild Shore

The Future Is Here, And It's Buggy As Hell

The first fully automated convenience store has opened up near Seoul.  The article refers to it as an "A.I." store, which is a popular term in Korea but also over-used.  (The store can have a Turing-level conversation with me?)  Anyhow, it's going about as well as you'd expect:

"AI is changing the landscape of the retail industry and consumer behavior, but the technology is not perfect. To enter this store in the first place, a customer must sync a credit card or a debit card to the SSG Pay app and get a QR code.

However, on the day of the visit, a QR code couldn’t be generated on the reporter’s iPhone for an unknown reason. We could finally enter the store using the Shinsegae I&C PR manager’s QR code on her smartphone.

According to Shinsegae I&C, these limitations will be overcome after AI sharpens its technology over time through deep learning.

The AI failed a number of stress tests. It was unable to conduct a proper checkout twice when it was given eight unusual checkout situations. In one case, the reporter took a sip of water from a bottle and left it in the store. No charge was registered."

Obviously the bugs will be worked out, and in a country with many avid early adopters this is probably what the future looks like -- no cashier, no cash stores where angry machines will beep at you and then lock you in just because fuck you.

Good times.

(Is it clear I'm really not a fan of any of this dehumanizing, anti-labor bullshit?)

Gold Spoons, Dirt Spoons

In South Korea, "Gold Spoons" are what we Americans would call "Silver Spoons," and "Dirt Spoons" mean "no spoon at all."  Anyhow, younger Koreans are fed up with a society where neither right-wing nor left-wing politicians are interested in helping them achieve a better future:

"'If I try hard enough and get a good job, will I ever be able to afford a house?' said the 25-year-old, who lives in his small, cluttered room where clothes were piled on the bed. 'Will I ever be able to narrow the gap that’s already so big?'

The concept of dirt spoons and gold spoons, as those from better-off families are known, have been around for many years but exploded onto the political scene in recent years, undercutting support for liberal President Moon Jae-in.

Moon came to power in 2017 on a platform of social and economic justice. Yet halfway through his five-year term, he has little progress to show the country’s youth who have borne the brunt of deepening inequality."

Is there any wealthy country these days where people are generally optimistic about their economic futures?  I can't think of one.  Something something "lives of quiet desperation" something.

Thanks, Capitalism!

"the fact that they are getting improper help makes me angry"

Moon Jae-in, the liberal South Korean president who replaced the conservative (and impeached) Park Geun-hye, is having a hard time keeping his election promise to make it easier for younger Koreans to find quality full-time jobs:

"I can’t complain that we have different starting lines,” said Kim Jae-hoon, 26, who also lives in a goshi-won [short-term rental apartment] cubicle.

'But it makes me angry that there are people who are getting help improperly. It’s OK that someone was studying when I had to be working, but the fact that they are getting improper help makes me angry.'

Kim works as a part-time waiter at a bar near his school and gets by on 400,000 won a month for rent, food and allowances.

Most meals are 'cup rice' he prepares in the shared kitchen, menial fare of rice and basic toppings - eggs, half an onion and sauce.

Young, low-income voters like Kim have deserted Moon in record numbers."

It's always problematic to draw parallels between Korean and U.S. politics but I'd only add that as an Elizabeth Warren / Kamala Harris supporter, the fact is that without taking back the Senate almost nothing of true substance can occur with a "Moscow Mitch" still in charge.

The point being, politics is all about making promises, but they can bite you in the ass even if you do manage to win.

Deep Political Thoughts, On The Internet Of Course

the one thing Capitalism is really good at is making you and everybody around you as fucking miserable as possible

— Mellowy Fruitful Autumn James (@wetcasements) November 26, 2019

Fail Spawn

I can't even with this story:

"U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling called the parents charged in the case 'a catalog of wealth and privilege.' The schemes involved paying better students to take the SAT or ACT on the rich kids’ behalf, straight-up changing answers on the tests after the kids took them, having therapists help them get extra time on their exams, and even bribing university athletics’ coaches to pretend the students were athletic recruits. Many of the students were unaware their parents were cheating on the tests for them, the FBI said. The payments were made through a non-profit and disguised as charitable donations. According to the FBI, some parents paid up to $6.5 million for 'guaranteed admission' to colleges.

What this case shows us is how different these things are for the rich. Regular people see college as their chance of having a decent career and earning enough money, even with the burden of student loans, to survive in a society where the minimum wage won’t cover the rent anywhere—as well as, you know, a place to learn things about the world. Regular people have to work very hard to get into college and to pay for it, often for the rest of their lives. Rich people, on the other hand, see college as yet another way to pay their way into privilege—the privilege of having been to a good school, because people still insist on assuming you’re smart if you went to an elite school."

First off, half a mil to get into USC?  A fine school, no doubt, but isn't that approaching Harvard-Kushner level bribe money?

Second, I had tons of advantages for getting into college that most kids don't have.  I went to a private high school, I took a fancy-schmancy SAT prep course, I had parents that were actively invested in my doing well academically.

But at no point did it occur to any of us that I wouldn't actually have to sit the damn test myself and take some AP tests and do all the tedious paperwork and write essays and all that.

According to the story, one of these Fail Spawn couldn't even fill out an application form:

"We also have fake rowers, as well as a high school student who couldn’t fill out her own application."

But truly, the greatest threat to America these days is a freshman congresswoman suggesting that Capitalism isn't working out so well for about 85 percent of the world who can't bribe their way into elite colleges.