Wondering About the Wonderful Wonder Woman

Yesterday, Warner Brothers revealed the image of Wonder Woman, portrayed by Gal Gadot in the movie Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, which is set for a 2016 release.They clearly have found their Gal! Having grown up in the 1970s when the Wonder Woman television series starring Lynda Carter ran on television, I was curious to see how the 21st century version of this 20th century heroine would be portrayed.

The version is still sexy but with the warrior edge much more prominent, and as one conservative poster lamented, a downplayed presence of Americana in her accoutrement. The poster commented that there was more of a Xena feel to this Wonder Woman. He might be right. Xena represented many of the values of the 1990s--a more independent, battle-worthy form of the conception of the woman in battle. We have seen a shift in the cultural landscape and this is a good thing. 

I think in many ways that Wonder Woman represents different images and values to different people. The National Geographic magazine that is out in stands now features prominent women in US history and it spends time on Sacagawea and how since there was no real portrait done during her lifetime, that the "authentic" image of his famous Native American Indian woman has been articulated and interpreted by various artists in different ways. 

I know Gal Gadot will bring a refresh and new perspective and interpretation to this famous figure of American mythology (it is interesting to note that since she was not born in the US--but in fact on Paradise Island--it is ironic that she has been incorporated as a figure of American values). How will the new version jib with books such as Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth? We will have to see. 

I am sure that the new Wonder Woman will inspire much debate and that is not a bad thing! I like the fact that she is Israeli. Given what we have seen over the last couple of weeks in the Gaza Strip it is important to realize that Israel can produce wonderfully talented and good people.

Discovering Ernst Toller

I started reading Ernst Toller's play "Man and the Masses" yesterday. I found it at the college library a few days ago and I like what I have read so far. Toller wrote it while he was in the Niederschönenfeld prison in Germany for four years beginning in 1919. Toller was a socialist and fierce anti-war critic.

I found myself often thinking of the present horrific situation in Gaza as I read this text. For example, in his introduction, Toller writes, "These corpses, in a ghastly embrace, seem to lift their stark fists in protest against a humanity which despoils itself, against a fate which gloats in the danse macabre of blinded nations."

Here is another part of a memorable scene:

The Man 

I must make it clear,

I did not come to help you

The Woman 

Forgive the dream that blossomed for a moment. 

And later, a passionate soliloquy that echoes throughout Gaza today.....

The Woman 

You speak of desires?

I know---a chasm yawns between us...

But it was not a whim that made me turn,

No wish to change my way of living.

It was a need...Need of my very self,

Need of the darkest depths of my existence.

Need alters us, I tell you, need changes us.

Not moods or spells or fits of boredom,

But need--the need to be a human being. 

Toller might be forgotten these days, but I will read more of his work. His message, however, still rings loudly.

Interesting Sights in Havana

Shortly before I returned to the US for a vacation I saw a Cuban driving a British vehicle--that is the steering wheel was on the right side--in Havana. This must have been a challenge for him! Everyone else is driving as they always have and he has to take extra precautions while he drives. Clearly, someone from England donated the van and this is one more testament to how Cubans make do with what they have. Very rarely will we see something similar in the US.

Back in May as I was walking down the street I saw someone wearing a " Save Ferris"  t-shirt. Anyone who has seen the classic 80's movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"  will know that characters in the movie wore similar shirts to save the "ailing"  main character. I wondered to myself, "How on earth did that shirt get here?"

By contrast, when I was at the airport waiting to pick-up a colleague, I saw a teenager with a shirt that read " Fuck Facebook; I have real friends!"

Very interesting indeed!

Rolf Jacobsen, Norwegian Poet

Looking through the stacks of books at the college library today I came across  a book of poems by the Norwegian modernist poet Rolf Jacobsen (1907-1994). I flipped through them and I enjoyed his style. Here is one of his poems that I really enjoyed.

HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT

Innocently
with large eyes
and twisted eyebrows
and mouth curiously pursed
like a child
she goes to start dancing
under dimmed floodlights, hooded floodlights
Tango and Cucaracha
to the castenets, so:
Arms raised, two steps to the side.
Bend clumsily in the knees.

Now with innocent eyes
and twisted eyebrows
the gasmask stares out over the world
with its snout curiously pursed
like a child.
So we go to start dancing
under cold floodlights, white floodlights.
Tango and
cucaracha
to machine-guns, so:
Arms raised. Two steps to the side.
Bend clumsily in the knees.

Judging a Country by its Theaters

They say never a judge a book by its cover (“unless it is artwork done by Boris Vallejo!” exclaim males in the 15-24-year-old demographic!). You may have to adapt that sage adage to something more contemporary and at the same time depressing: judge a country by its movie theaters. AMC’s recent announcement that it was “improving” the movie experience for viewers by replacing theater seats with recliners nearly made me choke when I read it. For a brief instant, I was bewildered and disoriented. I thought to myself, “Is this for real?” I soothed myself by rationalizing that this was perhaps the latest spoof offered to us by The Onion. But no, it wasn’t and it left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

No longer is the movie experience that AMC offers us solely about watching a film on screen, it is about transporting your personal space with you to the theater itself. People can now take naps while the film is being screened. No longer do people have to adjust to the theater; the theater has to adapt to the customers. How distressing! Very soon, I fear, people will soon be able to receive pedicures or drink a daiquiri while a beautiful woman fans them with a giant palm leaf while they watch “Transformers 56: the End of Meaning.”

I live in Cuba now and the theater experience here is incredible! Conversations take place between various sections of the theater….all in good nature, usually talking about certain parts of the film. This became clear to me when I saw the film “42” in the fall. I found the experience incredible and exhilarating! Social conversations have not died out and the film takes center stage in these public and spontaneous discourses. People were talking about racism in the US and what Jackie Robinson had to go through; they asked me what I thought about it. The experience was entirely different from what the theatergoer takes part in when he/she goes to the cinema.

From June 12 to July 12 theaters in Cuba have screened games from the World Cup and this has been incredible! It is an experience to watch a great fútbol game in a cinema with over 300 people in the audience. Breathtaking and lively. They get it here. For Cuban cineastas and most theaters around the world, going to the theater is still a social experience; it is not an individualistic cocoon fashioned to inure people from that social contagion known as public conversation. It is not about extending the confines of home to public spaces. It is disappointing, but all AMC has done is settled one non-existent problem by creating another one: the person sitting behind the audience member who is reclining won’t be able to eat his/her $20 box of popcorn with the back of the seat in their face.

No One Says No to Leoneta

You can’t miss her even if you are one of the least observant persons on the planet. She stands about 178 cm (with help of five-inch heels), she has a mane of jet black hair that reaches out and expands as she moves her head to the hypnotic rhythm of her band. Her black eyes will grab your attention; or rather, they will just grab you, period. Her svelte form is accentuated by tight black pants (or yellow depending on the night) that gyrates to the music, enthralling all the male members of the audience.

She is a throwback to the Cuba of the 1940s. Her alluring, inviting and happy smile are irresistible and when she rolls her ‘r’s’ as she pronounces the word “rico,” (rrrrrrrrrrrico!) many people find that they cannot say no to this woman who one Cuban described to me as “salzosa.” She certainly is. Spicy, hot, exotic and with a personality that matches her beauty…these are the components that make up her “salzosa” identity. When she encourages the audience members (unwitting victims) she pulled on stage to dance with her, she jubilantly exclaims “Eso!”(that’s it!) or she will exhort them to swivel their hips with one word:  “cintura.”

She is the perfect performer, but more than that, she is, for many, the idealized Cuban fantasy woman that harkens back to the pre-Revolution days when the sultriness of Cuban females lured US men to the island like the Sirens did to Odysseus. Her voice is incredible and she whole-heartedly embraces the role she has chosen to entertain people.

No one can say no to her. She has called me up to stage where I danced (horribly, in fact). She flashed her smile and opened her mouth in joyful rapture; she extended her arms and jiggled her chest before me before turning around and shaking her rear end in a sexy, erotic gesture that was not lost on the male audiences. I forgot about my horrible dancing and just enjoyed what I was seeing. I don’t think I will ever meet another woman like her again. I have not seen anyone with such spirit, such joy, who was so “salzosa.”

I enjoyed a show with a friend and she said, when she saw Leoneta, that “she is a heartbreaker.” I agreed. For little did I know, she broke my heart. Am I sad? No. I am just grateful I had the opportunity to orbit around this bright star, even if for just a brief moment. These are the things in life that you remember. Years down the road, I will fondly recall my time in Cuba and you can rest assured that I will think of Leoneta quite often. Que rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrico.

You can't ignore her style!

Post script (July 20, 2014). Apparently someone can say 'no' to Leoneta; her band fired her for inappropriate comments. I wonder where this sultry crooner will land next?

A Different Kind of World Cup

While all eyes are on the World Cup scanning the football pitches for spectacular moments that redefine the sport, another event took place that did not garner so much attention.  In June over 200 teams not recognized by FIFA, the world's governing body of football, gathered to play their own version of the World Cup in the Swedish city of Ostersund. This is great. I wish more media attention would go their way. To learn more about the Confia Cup, go the link on the New York Times site.