Holland argues that the position of blackness in the US nation-state is that of comparison. It is not only a comparison with the state of being white, but also with the state of the living. She claims that in imagination of US culture, “Blackness is the yardstick by which most peoples in this nation measure their worth—by something they are not” (Holland, 16). With blackness being equivalent to death, society can measure both its worth and its liveliness by how unlike they are to black people.
The black body is juxtaposed in society as an example of what not to be; it acts as a sort of death, the ultimate enemy of Western society. She asks, in reference to the position of blackness in the United States, “What if some subjects never achieve, in the eyes of others, the status of the ‘living’?” (Holland, 15). Though she uses the word “others” to refer to whites, this is not in the context of “the Other,” the one who is outside the norm. Blackness remains in the position of “the Other,” as it is a comparison to the norm, the ideal, and a reminder to those within the norm that they are, in fact, in the position of normality and power.
“Power is the intangible tangible—visible to everyone yet invisible to all” (Holland 31). I agree with this position on one account. To those inside the power end of the relationship, it is so normal, so overarching that we do, in fact, not see it. I feel though, that to the Other, power is not only tangible, but it is visible in every aspect. If it were not, there would not be such a movement within minority and subjugated communities to obtain the status of “power.” One way to hold this power is to speak for the dead, to give death itself a voice.
Bill T. Jones and many other artists during the AIDS Epidemic’s beginning took power and recognition by speaking for the dead, who were in many cases the artists’ deceased partners. In his piece Untitled, Jones speaks through dance, using the voice of his deceased partner in life and dance, Arnie Zane. In the video performance especially, Jones invokes the spirit of the dead to express mourning and anger, accusing him and the audience, “You said, ‘A system in collapse is a system moving forward’” (Gere, 58 via Jones’s Untitled). There is no explanation, so the statement is subjective to the viewer’s experiences. To me, he is accusing me of allowing his partner to die—I allowed Zane to collapse, rather than move forward. Jones’s accusations are heartfelt and powerful. He is taking Zane’s “moving forward” into his own body, by dancing his choreography. When he looks into the camera, he is looking into the viewer’s eyes, an action that is disconcerting to the viewer. It is personal and intimate, and it is heartbreaking to take the position of his now dead lover, and be unable to remove one’s self from that place until Jones allows you to do so. Also in the video performance, Jones dances with a holographic image of Zane, the ultimate invocation of the dead.
Another way to invoke the dead is to have benefits in their name. The movement, begun in the 1980s, still rages on today. The following video is from the Fashion Fights AIDS benefit in San Francisco.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-Wp26XX5TE&feature=fvsr
Like Jones’s Untitled, the media of film gives the viewer perspectives that are not possible if we were seeing the performance live. The split view gives us the ability to see the performers from different angles at the same time. We can see the full power of their lively bodies while dancing, and the full glory of the fashions they display. The whole performance is in remembrance of those who have passed, but it is also a fight to save those of the future. The performers invoke the dead, taken by AIDS in the past, by dancing, designing, and raising money in their name. A number of the pieces of fashion included the color red, which is the signifier of the fight against AIDS. In these ways, we are reminded that AIDS is still rampant, but we are given hope from the dead and dying that we can fight it in the future, that we can overcome.
Works Cited:
Gere, David. "T-shirts and Holograms: Corporeal Fetishes in AIDS Choreography, c. 1989." Theatre Journal. 54. The Johns Hopkins University Press: 2002. 45-62.
Holland, Sharon P. "Death and the Nation's Subjects." Raising the Dead: Readings of Death and (Black) Subjectivity. Durham: Duke University Press, 2000. 13-40.
Saazmantra. Fashion Fights AIDS **Official Video**. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-Wp26XX5TE&feature=fvsr
i was struck by the phrase you used "the ultimate enemy of western society". I never considered the african americans to be the enemy however the way that whites have deemed us inferior and stripped our heritage away- white people along with everyone else consider us a lost cause. Without history from which most societies build their cultural foundation, the black people in America are even afraid and don't really know how to be themselves. It is really an interesting dynamic. I disagree with your idea that within the black culture there is power- I believe that those who perform outside of the norm (blackness) and perform like the other(whites) then they have an opportunity to succeed. The standards are set by white people- therefore power is easily attained and dominated by them.
ReplyDeleteYour writing is awesome. You say things cleanly and with authority. Your first few paragraphs do a great job of explaining Holland’s arguments. Your first paragraph is an especially powerful one. It does a great job of shining a light on the relationship between ‘mainstream’ and other.
ReplyDeleteThe first paragraph reminds me of a lecture a professor of mine gave. He said that the way people define themselves originated through defining what they are not. For example, he said, the identity ‘homosexual’ came before ‘heterosexual.’ I wonder if people only realized they were ‘white’ by seeing that they weren’t ‘black’?
I get the feeling that there has always been a recognition of difference. Maybe it wasn't "white" versus something "non-white," but there was probably a recognition of "us" and "them," even in the tribal days. Of course, I could be wrong. I think, though, that this is the reason there can't be a "colorblind" world.
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