XYZ Propaganda #3: Undertide Primaries

Abyss/Orchid/Cyan

Abyss/Jade/Remora

Jungle/Watermelon/Lemon

Jungle/Orchid/Radioactive

Caribbean/Goldenrod/Yellow

Caribbean/Lapis/Flaxen

Splash/Seafoam/Mint

Splash/Mist/Caribbean

..

unrelated to that lmfao

i love being not (insert religions based on the kings and their people as ''demons'') but being adjacent to the communities while knowing the kings on a personal level because oh boy

some of y'all literally have no idea what politics are LMAO

forever annoyed by the wannabe activism that got so much worse during the pandemic that so many younger people seem to primarily abide by now. where almost all their "action" is online-based and heavily focused on media consumption and "problematic people". it drives me so crazy. i don't know how to tell you that going after a musician or actor or comedian because of their views or statements is the least productive form of activism and i honestly wouldn't even count it as such. if you want to call yourself an activist you actually need to ACT. not just talk online about how person xyz is evil and be done for the day, or say book/movie xyz is problematic and then log off, that's not enough, that doesn't actually DO anything

call local officials, go to protests, talk to people at your uni/school, boycott brands. hell, even talk to your parents about what's going on in Palestine, or other current events, many older people have conservative views, not because of inherent bigotry, but because they don't have enough information and grew up in a media propaganda bubble. or just talk about ongoing events online, keep the pressure on the public and don't let people lean back and forget. all that are actual forms of activism

i'll never stop being mad at the new wave social media wannabe activism that lets people think they're done with their Activism Activity of the day if they called timothee chalamet or noah schnapp a bad person. girl, yeah they are, but actually do Anything else too, that's not the activism you apparently think it is😭

Propaganda

Joan Bennett (Man Hunt, Scarlet Street, The Woman in the Window)—Joan Bennett has everything you could ever want in a hot vintage dame of the big screen, She has gorgeous big green eyes that are so expressive both when they're filled with tears or with scorn or lust. Despite being a whole five foot barely anything she brings a presence that makes her feel larger than life. Never letting any scene partner take away from her and she was up against some heavy hitters like Spencer Tracey, James Mason, Michael Redgrave, and Edward G Robinson just to name a few.. She went from being an adorable blonde to a deadly and sexy brunette. She's THE femme fatale to end femme fatale and I will not take any criticism. Her voice is distinct, her look her own, and not even her shitty husband shooting her agent in the dick stopped her; finding success in theatre and hit TV show Dark Shadows. (Screw Hollywood for being sexist but shout out to Humphrey Bogart for insisting she stay in 'We're No Angels') She should've been nominated for an Oscar for Scarlet Street. She made Fritz Lang relevant again with her amazing performances. She made noir NOIR, her influence can be over stated. She's beautiful as hell, she was a genuinely kind person despite all nonsense she was put through and though she didn't think much of the films she was in she was doing it for the LOVE of film making. I just have lots of feelings about her. She's a blorbo.

Lucille Ball (Beauty for the Asking, Two Smart People, Go Chase Yourself)— important propaganda: lucille ball in ziegfeld follies bedecked in pink feathers and cracking a whip at a horde of catgirls [video below the cut]

This is round 2 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut]

Joan Bennett:

She was THE leading woman in TWO famous “the woman in xyz location” films which is very funny. Fritz Lang loved her and he was correct (as always). Slayed on Dark Shadows and in Suspiria. Slayed as a blonde. Slayed as a brunette. So pretty. Excellent voice. Big sad eyes. Talent. Elegance. She’s every woman.

The epitome of a femme fatale, just look at her

Blonde, brunette, this woman can do it all

Lucille Ball:

THE girlboss of all time

Before she was a prolific producer or television actress Lucy was a Hollywood starlet. Check her out with her blonde hair before she always had an updo.

A powerhouse of comedy!!! Funny people are hotter, I don't make the rules

I'm sure there's been posts like this in the past, but I'm curious to see what both fans and creators like to see/make!

EDIT: Hi voters! If you make a podcast or enjoy podcasts, you should check out what we do over here at Podcast Book Club. We're primarily a Discord server focused on building a community space to share podcasts, & we'd love to have you join us :)

cult jokes are a symptom of and contribute to the simultaneous sensationalizing of cults (cults are all dark cloaks and animal sacrifices and devil worship and group suicide and despicable/unhinged beliefs) and diminishing of cults ("uwu come join my CULT XD we're gonna make cookies and WORSHIP SATAN teehee"), but i'm realizing how they go so hand-in-hand with the mindset of "only ~stupid/evil/crazy/etc.~ people could possibly join a cult. if it were me i would simply not fall for cult propaganda."

the diminishing part means that people don't take you seriously if you say you're an ex cult member or talk about your experiences in a cult or believe you are a current victim of a cult, because cults are just silly little groups that have weird beliefs but are otherwise innocuous. the sensationalizing part means people will also not take you seriously because if it was Actually a cult cult, that does harm and has evil beliefs, you should've known better because any reasonable person would have seen through it. the other side of "only an [xyz] person joins a cult" is "i am not an [xyz] person so i will never join a cult or be victim to propaganda and other cult tactics." the other side of "if it were me i would simply not fall for propaganda" is "someone falling for propaganda is fully a choice and a personal failing on their part." and combined they make: if you were [xyz] enough to join a cult and fall for propaganda, that means you deserved it.

people who would never make jokes about any other kind of abuse but feel perfectly fine making cult jokes used to kind of baffle me, because why is joking about personal abuse a problem but large-scale/group abuse is fine? why is it suddenly funny when you're the one that wants to perpetuate the abuse? but if your belief around cults is: "your experience wasn't that bad [diminishing], and if it was that bad [sensationalizing] it was your own fault and personal failing [i would simply not fall for propaganda], which means you deserved what you went through [only stupid/evil/crazy/etc people join cults]" and you don't understand how cults or cult tactics work, cult survivors/victims probably feel like a fair target for jokes (they are not, to be clear).

You mentioned that you don't think legally blonde is progressive and I'd like to hear more of your thoughts on that if you don't mind.

i mean, in the first place (and i promise i'm not trying to sound condescending i just genuinely don't know how else to say this) i think it's important to like... let go of the binary "progressive/oppressive" model of thinking about media, and instead pivot to talking about analysing e.g. films through different theoretical lenses instead.

so instead of trying to make a definitive declarative statement on whether xyz mainstream hollywood romcom IS or ISN'T feminist, fullstop, it's much more useful and conductive to actual productive discussion to analyse it from a feminist perspective instead.

because when you're no longer limited to ones and zeroes, that'll allow you to, say, in the case of legally blonde, both talk about the way that it takes some steps forward in terms of e.g. letting its protagonist succeed at things that are traditionally seen as male, such as academic success (aside: extra ironic bc in most countries women are better students than men but when has propaganda every cared about that), or choose academic success and her career over her erstwhile romantic partner, but also many steps backward.

like the fact that marketing that brand of hyperfemininity/beauty rituals/etc to women as So Empowering Akshually is part and parcel of misogynistic industries owned by men that prey on women's self-image, time, and money to sell them products that they at best don't need and that at worst are actively bad for them. like, they have caught on by now that shaming women for failing to uphold standards of femininity doesn't work nearly as well as selling them as part of a Feminist Identity in which your 50 step skincare routine that you spend 2 hours a day on so as not to show a single sign of aging is actually just Getting In Touch With Your Body and Expressing Your Womanhood. i honestly do not have the time to get into it right now but i recommend reading "femininity and domination: studies in the phenomenology of oppression" by sandra lee bartky, "beauty work: individual and institutional rewards, the reproduction of gender, and questions of agency" by samantha kwan and mary nell trautner, and/or "choosing to conform: the discursive complexities of choice in relation to feminine beauty practices" by avelie stuart and ngaire donaghue.

and so like, the fact that her Grand Crowning Moments in this film (like her win in court or helping jennifer coolidge's character) actually almost all revolve around those beauty practices and how well she manages to uphold them and not, say, the knowledge she's gaining in the incredibly difficult university course she's taking.

OR such as the fact that there's a whole character who's just there to be the frumpy, masculine, feminist lesbian who's suuuuch a killjoy and combative to our poor protagonist for seemingly no reason and just Hates Feminine Women sooo much, and who we are meant to jeer and laugh at when the Right Kind of Woman (read: feminine and heterosexual) wins against her. or how the protagonist's happy ending still has to include a man anyway. or how you can count the people of colour that even just appear in this film on one hand.

this is at this point definitely already long enough lol but i hope you get what i mean? anyway. there's absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying this film obviously but it's good to be critical of the way these narratives are presented to us, as always.

XYZ propaganda #4: Harlequin

Blue/Orange/Sanddollar

Denim/Hickory/Amber

Sunset/Peach/Orchid

Thistle/Peacock/Pear

Chartreuse/Bronze/Saffron

Ruby/Orange/Thicket

and that quote is true because the majority of a population won’t be extremist or congressmen they will be average civilians, if u can get average civilians to ignore or even mildly support injustice you’ve won, the point of propaganda isn’t to win over the extremist who is already convinced or the politician that has money involved, the point of propaganda is to convince the average majority to join your side or at least quietly allow ur side to do what it likes, when i speak about the white liberal i am talking about the white majority, the type that would never call me a slur, and probably won’t ever serve our government, but the person on the street or the cashier i see everyday or the teacher at xyz school, if you can convince that person, the “moderate”, that an oppressed groups violent fight for freedom is bad, if you can convince them that an oppressed group is a nuisance in general, you’ve won, the nazis knew this, the kkk knew this, fascist know this, but you the average citizen refuse to listen to us when we point it out, silence and averting ur gaze IS violence when your refusal to be agaisnt injustice allows injustice to happen

sorry if you've already already answered this, but do you mind explaining your thoughts on anti-intellectualism (/the discourse surrounding it)? I'm trying to understand it but while I get how what is defined as intellectual is very selective etc, I took a lot of the discourse to be about how folks tend to ignore themes entirely for the literal, or not noticing obvious subtexual racism/propaganda and going 'it's not that deep' when folks point it out, the like.

maybe it's that I tend to hang around in sff circles bc stuff like that tends to proliferate there, and while I definitely think the mocking gets very over the top and cruel (+ ascribes a lot more importance to media than it has in reality) and I dislike the way folks seem to think it's a moral failure, from my perspective there is still things that are reasonable to criticise?

I'm genuinely asking this in good faith and trying to understand, sorry if there's something big/obvious I'm missing

i talked at length about my feelings on the discourse here; that post should cover most of what you're asking for, but to address your specific queries:

i understand what's meant by "[ignoring] themes entirely for the literal," but, to be blunt about it: i don't care! i have my way of engaging with what i like and you have yours, and if you're interested in my way then it's on me to keep the door open for you rather than sneering about how anyone who doesn't adhere to my preferred methodologies is beneath me. how we identify a reading that orients itself towards "themes" rather than the literal material of a text is already pretty incoherent and certainly not conclusive; many will argue that eg. writing fanfiction is fundamentally at odds with engaging with such 'themes,' but i don't see why that should be the case at all. my mantra for this kind of discourse is "worry about yourself"; discuss texts in the way you like to, and you'll probably encounter like-minded people who want to engage further, as well as interested parties who may not have thought about the approach you're taking before now but want to learn more. i think it's good to assume that we can't draw definitive conclusions about any one person's understanding of or approach to a text based on how we see them talk about it, and i think it's necessary to avoid making a character judgment based on a[n assumed] lack of xyz critical analysis skills.

& i talk about this in the linked post, but i think an appeal to an absence of 'intellectualism' wrt people refusing to engage with eg. racism in a text (or similar such bigotries) is obscurantist. it's not that people lack the intellectual capacity to engage with such criticisms and if they had these capabilities then they would be able to do so in a conscientious manner, else elite academic circles of literary studies would not invest significant time and effort in trivialising and dismissing readings of canonical works which speak frankly about their relationship to white supremacy. there are incredibly racist readings of texts which are wholly cohesive within the "intellectual" tradition of literary criticism; that tradition itself cannot be separated from the context of western imperialist hegemony from which it emerged, and nor can the critical practices which inform and perpetuate it. intellectualism alone has no explanatory power when talking about racist literature and racist readings of literature; it's a smokescreen behind which lie a handful of possible explanations that i touch on in the above post.

of course there are reasonable critiques to be made of which reading practices proliferate and which are sidelined, but "[anti]-intellectualism" is not an explanatory framework that i find actionable, because it is rooted in appeals to idealism rather than materialism.

Propaganda

Joan Bennett (Man Hunt, Scarlet Street, The Woman in the Window)—Joan Bennett has everything you could ever want in a hot vintage dame of the big screen, She has gorgeous big green eyes that are so expressive both when they're filled with tears or with scorn or lust. Despite being a whole five foot barely anything she brings a presence that makes her feel larger than life. Never letting any scene partner take away from her and she was up against some heavy hitters like Spencer Tracey, James Mason, Michael Redgrave, and Edward G Robinson just to name a few.. She went from being an adorable blonde to a deadly and sexy brunette. She's THE femme fatale to end femme fatale and I will not take any criticism. Her voice is distinct, her look her own, and not even her shitty husband shooting her agent in the dick stopped her; finding success in theatre and hit TV show Dark Shadows. (Screw Hollywood for being sexist but shout out to Humphrey Bogart for insisting she stay in 'We're No Angels') She should've been nominated for an Oscar for Scarlet Street. She made Fritz Lang relevant again with her amazing performances. She made noir NOIR, her influence can be over stated. She's beautiful as hell, she was a genuinely kind person despite all nonsense she was put through and though she didn't think much of the films she was in she was doing it for the LOVE of film making. I just have lots of feelings about her. She's a blorbo.

Lizabeth Scott (Dead Reckoning)—no propaganda submitted

This is round 1 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut]

Joan Bennett:

She was THE leading woman in TWO famous “the woman in xyz location” films which is very funny. Fritz Lang loved her and he was correct (as always). Slayed on Dark Shadows and in Suspiria. Slayed as a blonde. Slayed as a brunette. So pretty. Excellent voice. Big sad eyes. Talent. Elegance. She’s every woman.

The epitome of a femme fatale, just look at her

Blonde, brunette, this woman can do it all

Not just about Taika (although of course a lot with Taika) but the number of times I've seen on Twitter someone talking about whatever celebrity, getting a comment saying that person is a Zionist and you're bad for "ignoring" it to support them, and then immediately backtracking like oh my god I didn't know I'll never watch them again *without doing ANY further research*. And half the time if there even *is* anything it's just the celebrity said "I want the hostages to be freed because there's civilians and kids in there". Like there HAS to be a scale here, not everyone who isn't shouting pro-Palestinian stuff online 24/7 is a "proud Zionist", and this kind of attacking people for not having the perfect response right away or not knowing enough on the issue yes, even now, because most of us have gone our entire lives *surrounded* by pro-Israel propaganda that is just starting to get broken through, is just going to push people away! And on top of that, no one should just be blindly believing random people on the internet or tumblr posts that say so-and-so is totally a Zionist and pro-genocide without looking into it further, half the time you're just doing antisemites' work for them.

it's maddening as well because as i keep saying it's diluting terms that actually mean something important

the more you say 'xyz is a proud zionist who supports genocide' about people who have done fuck all other than exist and be jewish, the more difficult you make it to call out people who actually are proud zionists who support genocide

and celebrities in the entertainment industry aren't here to be our moral compasses! they're literally just random people who happen to have a platform and yes it's great if they use that platform for good but they're not obligated to become an expert on every single geopolitical issue and take a public stance on every conflict. they're not activists. they're not politicians. they're not heads of state

stop harassing celebrities and their fans when you could be doing actual useful shit like contacting your elected officials or going on a protest or giving to charity or volunteering

Anti- Zionists’ constant demand for proof while spewing nonsense is tiring

Israelis : This statement is wrong, the reality we face is XYZ. Here are some examples and numbers

Anti Zionists: but where’s your proof

Israelis : here are some links, photos and more details

Anti Zionists: that’s propaganda.

Israelis: no, it’s what actually happening .

Anti Zionists: you’re a brainwashed& evil Zionist killer who thinks all Palestinians should die

Israelis: huh???

This constant cycle is tiring

—

Notice how you talk with Israelis and Jews

your tone is always very condescending, patronising and often times rude and accusatory.

-If you want to “gain insight” and “educate yourself “, at least have some respect for us Israelis.

—

You cannot deny that Israelis are suffering from war as well.

We’re literally going through our 7th war since 2002, not including the yearly operations and rounds of rockets.

Edit: yesterday there were 40 rockets sirens across Israel. Only this morning ,there were dozens.

Pinned Post!!

Hello and welcome to the White Boy of the Year Bracket, a competition to crown the White Boy (TM) of 2023!

Round One is CLOSED!!!

Round Two is CLOSED!!!

Round Three (semis) is CLOSED!!!

FINAL POLL

PROPAGANDA POLL

DISCLAIMER!!!

All views represented and expressed by any person in this competition are NOT our own. This competition is simply meant to represent present figures in media in a lighthearted, mostly stupid bracket. Any person's inclusion in this bracket is solely based on presence throughout 2023 and their inherent male "whiteness", nothing else.

FAQs:

"Why isn't XYZ included in the bracket?"

Simply because we didn't think of them while making our bracket.

"Can we submit propaganda for our favorites?"

Yep! You can submit text propaganda to our inbox with the first line as "Propaganda for: [Candidate Name]" and we will append your submissions to bracket posts. We will do our best to include equal amounts of propaganda for each candidate if possible. If you would like to submit images as propaganda, please reblog the relevant bracket post with your image! However, we cannot guarantee we will get to every submission.

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