Julie's Rants
Warning: Some of these rants contain SPOILERS for movies and/or tv shows.
Artemesia, as portrayed in her own self-portriat
The ultra-thin version of Artemesia, as portrayed in the movie.
So why is it that people will buy up valuable waterfront property and then complain when the storms damage their homes? I'm sorry. I have no sympathy. If you can afford to buy waterfront property, you can obviously afford to live someplace safer. Don't whine about it after the fact.
Upon further reading, however, it's something quite different. It's sponsored by "Leadership U" which isn't a university, but an evangelical movement designed to promote Christianity in higher education. Not just any Christianity, but a specific fundamentalist mode.
Combined with this mode is the notion that deviance is bad. Being queer, transsexual, crossing gender lines, etc., is something to be stopped at any cost. As was noted to me:
...He considers one of his great achievements to be the case of a 7 yo boy w/ cross gender id, who was 'cured' using aversion therapy. And Dr. Rekers justification? That w/o intervention, the subject might grow up to be a TV, or a TS, or even (shock) *gay*. And that since these are all 'disorders', they had to be 'prevented'.As far as I'm concerned, Dr. Rekers simply reeks.
Well, here we go again. Their interpretation of god is the only right one, and any attempts to point out their small-minded petty bigotry is, of course, labelled as an attack on "religion." Well, my religion doesn't hold any claim on being the sole voice of wisdom, nor does it promote the viewpoint that sexual orientation is even remotely relevant to a person's character. But, of course, that doesn't matter. Because according to the FRC, I must not really have a religion.
I definitely have my problems with Lilith Fair. All the vendors are seriously overpriced, and with them not allowing you to bring your own food, or even water, into the festival, it's relatively unpleasant to be paying $3 for a 16-oz bottle of water. However, the concept of using Lilith as the theme for the festival is, in my opinion, quite wonderful.
Lilith has been villified for ages, but not because she was a demon. She was demonized for refusing to be in a role of pure subservience to men. She was kicked out of the Garden of Eden because she was empowered, and because she had self-respect and honored herself. I can certainly see why this could be a threat to the religous right.
What's wrong with this picture? Could it possibly be the fact that so many screenwriters seem to enjoy just making things up when telling allegedly "true" stories? Could it be that I'm tired of women being continually depicted as complicit in their own rape? Could it be that in Artemesia's self-portrait, she was a wonderfully round and bountiful woman, but for the movie they chose an actress about ten sizes smaller to portray her?
In reality, it is all these things, and I am personally disgusted.