Newts have 20/20 hindsight
I didn't do much too celebrate Halloween. I had dinner over a friend of a friend's house, but otherwise nothing of note. If it weren't for that, I would've probably done nothing.
Halloween was never a big holiday for me growing up. In fact, it was bquite the opposite. My home church objected to the occult theme revolving around the holiday and encouraged members not to participate. Instead they held a "Hallelujah Night", where kids were encouraged the dress as Bible characters. I'm not making this up. One year I won first place after I dressed up and told the entire history behind King David. As you can imagine, it was a sad time in my life. And the candy sucked too.
So I never got very wrapped up in the holiday. No horror movies, no dressing up, and not much fun at all. A friend was shocked to learn I've never carved a pumpkin, like that was a travesty. He later heard a black woman comment "Black people don't carve pumpkins". I strongly resent broad generalizations, especially when they apply to me*, but in this case I tend to agree.
I never dressed up either outside of the aforementioned biblical activities. The reasons there are quite different. For one thing, dressing up takes work if you want to do it well. You have to track down the clothes, materials, and any wigs necessary. Some amateur makeup and crafting might be necessary too. Too much work for not that big of a payoff.
There's also the social nature of Halloween activities. I tend to be a loner, and while I probably could latch myself onto a group, it's just extra work on top of costume building. Staying in with various kinds of liquor is much more attractive.
The biggest factor is the lack of interesting black characters to emulate in pop culture. In terms of being recognizable by the average slack-jawed mouth-breather, there are few choices out there. And I could adopt other characters with different racial ancestry, but I'd have to endure countless "But you're black" comments. Never mind that I might be able to emulate a character's personality or style. Or that, unlike many of the people that dress up as them, Jedis in the movies can see their feet without a mirror. I'd just rather not deal with the annoyance.
So if I were to dress up as any character, regardless of race, who would I go for? Hmmm, that requires a bit more thought than I like to devote to these entries, but here goes:
Jules Winfield: Oh, come on, you had to see this one coming. His name is the title of the blog, ferchrissakes. And who better epitomizes the definition of badass than Samuel Jackson, the actor who, with the direction of Quentin Tarantino, gave us the most hilarious assassination scene in the history of cinema? Combine the iconic role with the Chappelle show reference potential and its value becomes obvious.
Body Suit Man: Might as well get the obligatory Seinfeld reference out of the way. Body Suit Man would turn more than a few heads before folks realized that I wasn't that ballsy. Public decency standards fly right out the window on Halloween anyway. Similarly I could imitate these folks on Futurama, although I fear I've been outdone on that front.
Dante from Devil May Cry: The two-gun-wielding, large-sword-swinging, cheesy-dialogue-spouting Dante redefined kicking-ass for the post-Sephiroth video game scene ( he also exhausted my hyphen key). His distinct clothing and snow-white hair gives him a style all of his own. He eviscerates murderous puppets in seconds, survives a stab through the chest without batting an eye, and rains demonic lightning down on his enemies. What's not to love?
Chun-Li: Miss Thunder Thighs herself offers a great opportunity. Instantly recognizable, strong yet feminine, and a lot of fun. And if I'm gonna cross racial lines, why not bowl over gender boundaries while I'm at it? The World's Strongest Woman's stockings would also conceal my flawed extremities without taking away all the fun. You can file this one under "things I will never attempt".
*This is the only time I resent broad generalizations.
Halloween was never a big holiday for me growing up. In fact, it was bquite the opposite. My home church objected to the occult theme revolving around the holiday and encouraged members not to participate. Instead they held a "Hallelujah Night", where kids were encouraged the dress as Bible characters. I'm not making this up. One year I won first place after I dressed up and told the entire history behind King David. As you can imagine, it was a sad time in my life. And the candy sucked too.
So I never got very wrapped up in the holiday. No horror movies, no dressing up, and not much fun at all. A friend was shocked to learn I've never carved a pumpkin, like that was a travesty. He later heard a black woman comment "Black people don't carve pumpkins". I strongly resent broad generalizations, especially when they apply to me*, but in this case I tend to agree.
I never dressed up either outside of the aforementioned biblical activities. The reasons there are quite different. For one thing, dressing up takes work if you want to do it well. You have to track down the clothes, materials, and any wigs necessary. Some amateur makeup and crafting might be necessary too. Too much work for not that big of a payoff.
There's also the social nature of Halloween activities. I tend to be a loner, and while I probably could latch myself onto a group, it's just extra work on top of costume building. Staying in with various kinds of liquor is much more attractive.
The biggest factor is the lack of interesting black characters to emulate in pop culture. In terms of being recognizable by the average slack-jawed mouth-breather, there are few choices out there. And I could adopt other characters with different racial ancestry, but I'd have to endure countless "But you're black" comments. Never mind that I might be able to emulate a character's personality or style. Or that, unlike many of the people that dress up as them, Jedis in the movies can see their feet without a mirror. I'd just rather not deal with the annoyance.
So if I were to dress up as any character, regardless of race, who would I go for? Hmmm, that requires a bit more thought than I like to devote to these entries, but here goes:
Jules Winfield: Oh, come on, you had to see this one coming. His name is the title of the blog, ferchrissakes. And who better epitomizes the definition of badass than Samuel Jackson, the actor who, with the direction of Quentin Tarantino, gave us the most hilarious assassination scene in the history of cinema? Combine the iconic role with the Chappelle show reference potential and its value becomes obvious.
Body Suit Man: Might as well get the obligatory Seinfeld reference out of the way. Body Suit Man would turn more than a few heads before folks realized that I wasn't that ballsy. Public decency standards fly right out the window on Halloween anyway. Similarly I could imitate these folks on Futurama, although I fear I've been outdone on that front.
Dante from Devil May Cry: The two-gun-wielding, large-sword-swinging, cheesy-dialogue-spouting Dante redefined kicking-ass for the post-Sephiroth video game scene ( he also exhausted my hyphen key). His distinct clothing and snow-white hair gives him a style all of his own. He eviscerates murderous puppets in seconds, survives a stab through the chest without batting an eye, and rains demonic lightning down on his enemies. What's not to love?
Chun-Li: Miss Thunder Thighs herself offers a great opportunity. Instantly recognizable, strong yet feminine, and a lot of fun. And if I'm gonna cross racial lines, why not bowl over gender boundaries while I'm at it? The World's Strongest Woman's stockings would also conceal my flawed extremities without taking away all the fun. You can file this one under "things I will never attempt".
*This is the only time I resent broad generalizations.
posted by Antonio at 10:28 PM
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