There was a funny Volkswagen ad where an Indian guy responds to some question about yoga with “just because I drive a Volkswagen you think I’m into yoga?”
It’s funny because it simultaneously acknowledges and subverts an identitarian consensus
Also Seinfeld anti-dentite joke
Conversation
An identitarian consensus is also a set of roles and permissions within a narrative. Stereotyping is just the shallowest layer. History ends at an identitarian consensus not because the narrative ends but because it becomes 100% tropey
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The instinct behind simple role-swaps (eg female or black superheroes) as a way to break out of an identitarian consensus equilibrium is solid but... naive. Like transposing a tune to a new key rather than composing a new one. Doesn’t restart history, just phase-shifts it.
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An example of a history-restart type shift is from Campbellian Monomyth hero to LeGuinesque Carrier Bag unheroine. Doctor Who pulled that off, though it has other weaknesses.
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Real history edition: when women stop leading like men. Good or bad, you can’t ignore the fact that it’s equilibrium-breaking history restart/reboot. This ain’t Margaret Thatcher or Indira Gandhi style nytimes.com/2019/03/30/opi
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the woman wore a burqa and you’re calling that a historical reboot? IMO seems like the kind of low risk feel good pander Justin Trudeau has made his career on (and may likely lose it for)
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there’s something interesting here about monomyth and feminine leadership that was the crux of the newest Star Wars movie (which was incredibly polarizing)
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I think they had the right idea but then messed it up by being too color-by-numbers in execution. Only a few scenes had minor trope-breaks.
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The NZ case will unfold in ways as yet unclea; I don’t think we’re past tipping point of feminine leadership styles yet.
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I don’t think it matters who’s in charge tbh there will always be on the one side tough choices and on the other pandering. no pandering will eliminate tough choices. passivity / receptiveness can be a useful strategy but ... benefit frequently conditional
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There are more and newer ways to pander or make tough choices than we know of, is my point. History restarting doesn’t mean better or worse. Just different.

