Swimming in Change

Swimming in Change

            “Gaga Feminism”, by Jack Halberstam, this book, I believe, that it is ‘reader friendly’ because of the use of media. Jack uses media, which is the perfect back drop for today society, to not only get the reader attention but also uses examples of media to elaborate the author’s views and ideas. These examples range from Finding Nemo to SpongeBob to HBO “the wire” and to lady gaga, etc. The way the author uses it, is almost like a mild brain wash, for example, I have my views but when reading the piece I saw by views alter and the realigned. Made me double think my view and ideas. also, this gaga feminism is gaga for change. the world has changed, will continue to change, our job... can we change?

            After reading this text, I could not pull the image of Finding Nemo out of my head. Jack states “Dory, the forgetful queer fish.” When I first saw this film I had no idea, no notion that Dory was a queer fish, maybe odd but not butch. Initially I was angry that the author would imply this to get her own views and ideas out there. Also, it doesn’t mean that because Ellen DeGeneres played Dory than that would say they are one in the same and solve it. I paused, thought about it, than I could see it. Dory was a queer fish, she was odd, she had no love connection with Marlin, and it made perfect sense. I was drowning with the norm and dominant opinion, I could not see past it. I could not see into the queer water.

            The media has changed, and has gotten ears and eyes open. As we discussed in my creative writing class, Disney has change. There was always a set of true love characters, a woman always has to find her prince charming. As one of my classmates introduced that the villains in Disney movie are evil because they go against the norms of society, for example like jarfar, he has some feminine qualities and use of magic and he thereby was evil. (one could even say he was queer ) but now a days, taking this full circle, in Finding Nemo, there is no love story between a man and women, the only odd character is Dory and she save the day and is the hero. As Jack points out, “while Dory may not have  much of a memory, in her queerly butch way, she knows lots of stuff- she reads, speaks whale, can follow the ocean tides to Australia- and in the process of helping Marlin find the abducted Nemo, Dory manages to articulate a different mode of being female.”

 

This text is pretty powerful and understanding, it shakes you and at the end you go a little gaga. Jack was right the world has change and will continue to change. People will have to decide rather or not to be robots or cyborgs, (Incubation: a Space for Monsters, by Bhanu Kapil(outside text source)) to not change or to assimilate. But as stated in the text, “mutation is possible”.