rat pack mentality ( re: MDDM Washington )

In a message dated 06/30/2002 2:20:42 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
[email protected] writes:


> Pynchon puts these historical facts in a context that pulls us right into
> the racial politics of the 20th century, with Gershom bringing into play
> all of the complex baggage of black-face minstrel shows and Jim Crow, the
> role of black entertainers in contemporary markets dominated by global
> capital, the American hankering to believe that slavery and slave masters
> weren't as bad as we must, if we are to be realistic, believe them to have
> been, the tendency to just want to get stoned (literally and figuratively
> -- Sammy Davis, Jr. as part of the Rat Pack on 1960s TV is pretty
> hypnotizing, too) and joke about it to defuse the anger and resentment that
> might otherwise lead to a real revolt.
> 

Not to mention the celebrated award of an Oscar to Hallie Berry for her 
portrayal of a Pynchonian situation similar in dynamics to the situation of 
the Herero woman in the hands of the Schütztruppen in _V_ in the film 
_Monster's Ball_, consisting of an African-American woman enmeshed in a 
sexual liaison with a white racist (a part, incidentally, turned down by one 
actress on the grounds that it was a "demeaning" role).  However, I must 
admit I have not seen the movie.  I only know of it on the grounds of the 
interesting criticisms I have read.

jbf