Black Moses Barbie

rejoice!

For Your Black History Month: Black Moses Barbie

via Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture by Andrea on 2/15/11

By Sexual Correspondent Andrea (AJ) Plaid

I first saw this on my Twitter pal Ludovic Blain‘s Facebook page and fell off my work stool in laughter. Perhaps I was dead wrong for doing so, but I’ll own it. Check it out:

Black Moses Barbie (Harriet Tubman Commercial) (1 of 3) from pierre bennu on Vimeo.

This is the blurb:

This mock commercial for a Black Moses Barbie toy celebrating the legacy of Harriet Tubman is part of Pierre Bennu’s larger series of paintings and films deconstructing and re-envisioning images of people of color in commercial and pop culture.

Two more commercials for this hypothetical toy will be posted throughout Black History Month 2011.

The transcript after the jump.

Music: Mmmmmmmm (woo woo woo)….Black Moses Baaaar-bieeeee.

Runaway Ken: Oh no! I think we’re lost!

Runaway Christie: (Simultaneously) We’ll never be free!

Black Moses Barbie: Hey kids! Looking for freedom?

Black Ken: It’s Harriet Tubman!

Black Christie: It’s Black Moses!

Black Moses Barbie: On the other side of this tree you’ll find a cave. Go through the cave, make a quick left–

Runaway Ken and Runaway Christie: –mmm hmmmm–

Black Moses Barbie: –and you’ll see a boat.

Runaway Ken and Runaway Christie: –okay–

Black Moses Barbie: Inside of that boat you’ll see a pair of oars…

Runaway Ken and Runaway Christie: …

Black Moses Barbie: …FREEDOM oars!

Runaway Ken and Runaway Christie: WWWOW!

Black Moses Barbie: Paddle north and make your way to freedom.

Runaway Ken: Runaway Christie?

Runaway Christie: Yeah, Runaway Ken?

Runaway Ken: This is all kind of scary.

Black Moses Barbie: Freedom–true freedom–is daunting.

Runaway Christie: I know, Runaway Ken, but–

Black Moses Barbie: –you’ve come this far, but you have to know you’re ready.

Runaway Christie: You know she’s been known to hold a gun on folks who…hesitate.

Black Moses Barbie: I never ran my train off the track–

(Sound of shotgun loading)

Black Moses Barbie: –and I never lost a passenger.

(Pause)

Runaway Ken: (singing) Doo doo de doo  be doo doo–

Runaway Christie: (simultaneously) Oookay.  Walking, walking, walking to freedom–

Runaway Ken: –for me.

Music: Mmmmmm mmmm mmmmmm.

Announcer: Black Moses Barbie comes complete with Motivational Freedom Rifle. Freedom Oars sold separately.

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Shifting Cultural Sensibilities and Valentine’s Pleas

Shifting Cultural Sensibilities and Valentine’s Pleas

via Sociological Images by Lisa Wade on 2/13/11

I recently posted a vintage cartoon featuring men showering. Today, in the context of “don’t drop the soap” jokes, it seems obviously homo-erotic (or -threatening).   At the time, however, it likely didn’t because homosexuality didn’t hold such a central place in our collective imagination.

Dmitriy T.M. sent along a series of vintage Valentine’s Day cards that, similarly, have a different effect given our contemporary cultural sensibilities. After decades of efforts to draw attention to and problematize men’s violence against women, these cards seem misguided at best:

Cards borrowed from Funny or Die.

(View original at http://thesocietypages.org/socimages)

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