I thought we’d start out subtle. Don’t worry, this is one of the few times I’ll draw the President; I can’t stand to look at the reference material for more than that.
I drew this at the beginning of September. Hard to believe, but the stink has gotten worse. The debate on September 29 showed just how far the rot has gone.
Tomorrow begins the yearly art challenge known as Inktober, which I have done for the last several years. In it, artists try to produce an ink drawing every day and share it on social media as a way to practice skills, experiment with new ones, and hold themselves to a schedule. The official Inktober site lists daily prompts as inspiration, but artists often follow their own themes; I myself once did drawings of cars every day. This year, I’m doing something different and I thought you deserved advance notice.
Sometime in early 2017, I made a decision to keep politics out of my Facebook and Instagram feeds.
Do you remember that time?
The pain from the election was still fresh; the new President was living down to expectations, although we had no idea yet how bad things could be. I was tired, disillusioned, and depressed, and I figured lots of other people were, too. I didn’t think I could make a difference posting outraged stories and rants, and when I did, I got taunted by “friends” who gloated over Clinton’s defeat and the end of the Obama era. (Coincidentally, that was when I first started unfriending people like that. No connection, I’m sure.)
So for the next 3.5 years I kept my opinions (mostly) to myself, and I populated my feed with funny, awesome, or beautiful things, hoping people would find some comfort or relief from the shitshow that our country was becoming. Maybe you followed me and got a laugh or a pretty picture inserted into your day. I hope so. You may even have seen my Inktober entries from that time.
This year, Inktober once again has the distinction of taking place during the runup to the Presidential election. In fact, due to the pandemic, much of the voting will be taking place during October. I don’t think it’s exaggerating to say that this election is the most important one in my lifetime. After the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and countless others, the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter protests, and the ugliness of the federal and public responses to them, I found it difficult to post funny or beautiful things anymore. It just seemed dismissive and frivolous. I started posting about politics again.
Now, with election day a month away, I find myself thinking the same thing. I’d love nothing more than to draw and post fantasy art, or cars, or cartoons using the Inktober prompts…but how do I do that when we seem to be facing the greatest challenge American democracy has ever seen? It’s fiddling while Rome burns. I can’t do it.
I’m not a fiery public speaker. I’m not cut out to face rubber bullets and tear gas. I’m not a civic leader or a lawmaker or a celebrity who has millions of followers. I’m an overweight middle-aged cishet white guy of the kind who got us into this mess. But I can draw, a little. So that’s what I’m going to do.
This Inktober I’ll be drawing whatever my skills will allow to support the right side of history. For the next month my Facebook and Instagram feed will be clogged with black and white drawings that will encourage votes for Biden and Harris, that will call out unacceptable behavior from our current President, that will depict uncomfortable topics but also inspirational moments and people from America’s history, that might not be well known but should be. I’m not going to be fair. I’m not going to be objective. I’m not going to listen if you disagree with me. If you disagree, make your own art and post it.
Share these if you want; they’ll all be public. Ignore them if you want. Snooze me or unfollow me or whatever. I hope that come election day I’ll be able to celebrate a return to more frivolous posts, and I hope you’ll be there with me.
You Can't Spell 'Fifth Element' Without 'Meh'
When Luc Besson re-released “The Fifth Element” (1997), I decided to go see it…for the first time. Yes, revoke my geek credentials, for I am guilty: I had never seen it before. I announced my intentions to my friends, who either raved about the movie, or sneered in disgust. It seems that ‘5E’ (as I’m trying to rename it) is one of those films that allow no one to remain neutral. Either they love it, or they hate it.
Well, you’re looking at the Switzerland of the 5E war.
Let’s get one thing straight: this is not a good movie. The story is boilerplate sci-fi nonsense, with huge plot holes and no consistent rules for the world being built. Things just happen because plot says they should. The characters are either one-dimensional cutouts or weapons-grade irritants (you thought of Chris Tucker too, didn’t you). There’s not an ounce of real emotion displayed anywhere. And Luke Perry gets top billing but only shows up for five minutes at the beginning.
But when you get right down to it, I can still enjoy movies with those things going against them. ‘Star Wars’ suffered a lot of the same problems, and it’s still one of my favorites.
Visually, though, ‘Fifth Element’ is a visual feast. Where ‘Star Wars’ goes for utilitarian and drab, ‘5E’ goes for eye candy. Bright colors, quick action, and a cast that’s as much scenery as actors…in a good way. This was an ethnically diverse movie at a time when nobody gave two shits about diversity, and more importantly, there were lots of actors with what they call “unconventional beauty”. That means they were ugly, but so striking that you couldn’t look away. I liked that. The designs by Moebius and Jean-Claude Mezieres reminded me of nothing so much as an issue of “Heavy Metal”, busy and frenetic and stylish in a consistent way. ‘Star Wars’ went for gritty verisimilitude; ‘5E’ goes for campy future-noir and scores big. If you like that sort of thing, you’ll like this.
But where ‘Star Wars’ combined melodrama and science fantasy with cutting-edge effects and designs to make something epic, ‘5E’ manages to take the same things and turn them into a giant shrug. So what if there’s a giant evil ball headed toward Earth? So what if Gary Oldman is chewing scenery? So what if there’s a blue opera singer with literal gallstones? I felt like I was flipping pages in a comic book, marveling at the detailed illustrations but skimming the dialogue because I’d read it a million times in other places. I felt no suspense, because hey, it’s Bruce Willis! Of course he wins!
So now I’ve seen it, and I can geek out over the details (It’s a police state! How can everybody have a Corbin Dallas Multipass in such a world?!), but the point is, I don’t want to, because the movie did nothing to earn such passion. In the end, the Fifth Element is not Leeloo. It’s who cares?
Bonus Review: Valerian the Trailer.
Because let’s face it: The Fifth Element re-release was a thinly-disguised excuse to show Valerian trailers to the target demographic. The trailer makes Valerian look like more of the same—lavish, detailed environments with empty suits as our main characters, and sweeping action sequences that carry no weight because they’re all shot on greenscreen. My friend, after seeing the trailer, declared, “Curious that the movie is named after an herbal remedy that puts you to sleep.”