This is the third edition of Obsessions by moi, RBG. For those who are new to my writing and what I’m doing here, I’m a queer femme writing about the body and culture. I’m an Aquarian sun, Libra moon, and Pisces rising which means I’m a lot of eyes and cranium with a bit of fluid running through. Soon, there will be a paid subscription version (free posts + special posts only for paying subscribers) so look out for that. Artists deserve to be paid, and I appreciate any and all support. Another great way to support this is to click the heart and share my work on FB and Twitter. My success leans on the strength of those who believe in me.
I first fell in love with Natalie Wynn’s work not because I was learning something new, but because I was being seduced by heliotrope light. Wynn, a former philosophy PhD drop-out, is a YouTube video essayist who creates video essays on culture and queer identity. Her essays are gorgeous, sarcastic, nuanced, and well-edited. Her latest video is on Opulence; it is her meticulous editing and her decision to strive for beauty rather than dutifully putting out five videos a week that makes her still something of a rebel. High quality videos that challenge your mind and read like little dreamy French films, OH MY!
“Opulence is more than just shimmer and sparkle…. Why does Donald Trumps’ apartment look like Liberace married a Turkmenistani dictator and moved into a Cheescake factory? Well because he’s trying to send a message, maybe to the world, maybe to himself. He is saying, ‘Behold I am a winner, a very stable genius with one of the highest IQs.’” Contrapoints, Opulence,
Because this is video, her tongue in cheek sarcasm is communicated, ahem, through the voice and the face. Natalie Wynn has become a little bit of a superstar on YouTube; she has been cancelled by certain queers and beloved by others, and in my opinion, her words have often been taken out of context to prove whatever the critic is trying to prove. Often, the critic is just a troll who is trying to divide the queer community and sometimes the critic is a queer who has something valid to say. But the controversies around someone like Natalie Wynn point out something that feels like it’s missing in mass social media – room for nuance, room for differing viewpoints within a community, room to misunderstand, and room to breathe.
There aren’t many YouTube creators who leave you feeling smarter than when you started, or that leave you feeling moodily seduced by silk and sparkles. Natalie Wynn is to YouTube as Bjork is to music.
In the video Opulence, Natalie goes on to explain how the modern history of the word opulence comes from Paris is Burning. From Paris is Burning, we learn what opulence can be, and we also learn what it means to steal words from other cultures. Trickle-up linguistics means that a white sorority girl ends up mimicking the words and expressions of a queer trans black woman without even knowing or caring that she is doing that.
“O-P-U-L-E-N-C-E. You own everything,” recited by MC Junior Le Beija. The reality is that the queer person speaking and his community owned very, very little and that’s where the spirit comes from. You can viscerally feel the difference if you imagine a bunch of rich white men shouting “O-P-U-L-E-N-C-E we own everything” while smiling.
The point is context; there is always a context for everything, and to remove art from context or history from context is often lazy and sometimes bordering on violent. Cultural appropriation happens when something precious is removed from context and the person who has taken might not even care or know from what context. Often the person benefits culturally or economically from removing that thing from context.
I will leave you with some examples of when pop culture appropriates huge amounts of money off of other cultures beauty; and gives little back.
Examples of recent cultural appropriation in the U.S.:
1. The Kardashians – braids
2. Sage for sale in Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters
3. “Yasss, girl”
4. Rich gay white men using the expression ‘Realness’ while enacting laws and customs that keep the brilliant originators of that term, black queer largely trans people, out of their neighborhoods. (For more information, google “Chicago Boystown controversy”
Hmmmmmph. This is it my friends, until next time. Oh and if you are disappointed in my use of italics and colons so is my 9th grade English teacher, Mrs. Lund. I seem to be the kind of student who only retains knowledge when I’m slapped with a ruler over and over and when that knowledge is fun to remember.
Thanks for reading,
Renée