SCWAMPing the movies...

After starting what seems to be a non-traditional capstone course at UDC this semester and diving right into the reading materials on black female sexuality and ideology, I've quickly realized that this course is going to be more than your standard take notes and listen to a lecture class.  I certainly agree with many of the view points raised in the first couple of readings assigned to us, especially in Leslie Grinner's piece "Bella's Choice: Deconstructing Ideology and Power in the Twilight Series".

 So in the same manner, I would like to attempt using her same philosophy in deconstructing another movie while using the same frame work that Grinner uses in deconstructing the Twilight series. 

  The movie I decided to use, was literally the very next movie I watched after reading Grinners article, Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. 

  Now for the elements that will coincide with my movie and Grinners movie, the same concept that she brought to the forefront, is the acronym SCWAMP! SCWAMP stands for Straight, Christian, White, Able-bodied, Male,Property owner. This concept points out that these are the adjectives/abilities that allow for one to get ahead in life. We also like to convey these characteristics in everyday media and onto inanimate objects to help with advancing the probability of those objects, movies, jobs, etc to become more  "successful" or "liked".

 Lets begin with the deconstruction.

Straight- The Hobbit is a widely known fantasy book turned into blockbuster. Now the idea that this is a fantasy, could have one thinking that there may be a small chance, that just maybe, one or some of the characters may exist as something other than straight men/female/dwarf/ork or whatever. If you thought that then your fantasy of seeing these types of characters in a surreal world is in and of itself...surreal! Every character in the 2 part trilogy (the 3rd hasn't been prodded into a movie yet) so far are straight. Even the elves who appear somewhat androgynous with their long hair and celestial movements are all straight. 

Christian- The themes of Christianity here are woven with fine thread through out the movie. It doesn't take a devout christian to see the underlying religious sentiments in this movie, but you do have to be aware, as we are blinded to these everyday ideas because we live in a christian society. The movie is biblical in a sense with the prophetic storyline, the fighting of demons, and the overcoming of the huge monster by the little hobbit akin to a story of David and Goliath. 

White- This one is easily seen when watching this movie along with many other main streamed movies or blockbusters. Through out the whole movie there was only one black female actress and she did not even have a line in the movie. She may have been on screen for a total of 1 minute in the whole 166 minutes of the film. 

Able-Bodied- Here we see the inflation of power to super human or super powers with many of the characters. All of the elves have amazing fighting abilities, almost never losing a battle with the Ork's that they fight through out the movie. The Dwarfs also fight with superhuman strength, even though they are smaller than average. Here the disability of being a "short person" is nothing but a personification and the disability is washed away because of the manner of the movie and it being a fantasy. Anyone in the movie that becomes disabled is left behind. Shunning aside a person who is no longer adequate and making room for those who are.

Male- Most of the characters in the movie are male. At least the major roles. This movie makes way for one female elf named Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly). She is placed in the movie simply to create a love dynamic between herself and one of the dwarfs, which of course is male. 

Property- The entire movies plot is depicted loosely upon GREED!! The whole storyline is of the dwarfs trying to get to the mountain, which is filled with gold, to be able to take back there kingdom and have power over the land they once ruled. The idea that we must obtain the most amount of riches or the best of "something" wether it is a castle or home, weapons/armor or clothes is a trending philosophy or ideology which continues to grow because we as a people allow it.  We get sucked into buying things and owing money for the things we buy. To support our spending habits we need jobs and must compete for the best jobs to be able to get the best paycheck to pay off the worst debt! Its a cyclical phenomenon that many don't question because its so mundane and habitual that there's no reason to question it until you can no longer swim above the debt pool you've made for yourself and are drowning in your inability to support yourself.