Stripes
Joshua Caldwell
Oh Shit.
My Bio-Dad never swore.
Well, that is what my memory seems to dictate.
Possibly, and probably shaped by the strenuous relationship that defined my adulthood. For this story, however, Daniel Sr yelled: OH SHIT, as they ran to the television, attempting to cover up the exposed breasts that were now on the screen.
Stripes were among a handful of the first R movies I got to watch one of the weekends under Daniel Sr, and Kerry's purview. Daniel received bi-weekly weekend visitations, as a function of their divorce when I was three.
If you have ever watched anything, that divorced dichotomy was keenly portrayed and satirized, a staple of cinema as the country began to soften its views around the patriarchal control of marriage/divorce. The often forced and racist ideologues around the Nuclear Family began to shift. Though this type of framing was unavailable to a child and teenager living through it.
At the time, it meant extra gifts to satiate guilt.
My memory also dictates that this was framed as Irish guilt. One I think Daniel Sr. adopted through their Father-In-Law Thomas G. As it stands I have yet to find any historical Irish Ancestry. There are some interesting parallels with Daniel / Thomas / Kerry and their anecdotal proximity to wealth and Whiteness...but for another time.
It was a bi-weekly Happy Meal from McDonald's, Pizza, and forced labor.
With that though, came some ability to push boundaries.
For a middle-aged Catholic, that spent their days working for a Cable Company, and nights and weekends as a drummer and pool shark there was an odd amount of structure and rules, mixed with the threat of a smack.
There were also video games and movies. I remember a small bookshelf filled with VHSs. To start my Rated R party included:
Every single one of those movies has something in common:
When Keanu Reeves is the MOST Diverse main character in the early formative movie-going experience, there may be an issue.
These movies also all HEAVILY play into the white male hero's journey.
Lets play a game:
Description: A down-and-out white Male, gets drawn into a conflict larger than they realize, and its up to them to save everyone.
Which movie above am I talking about...
Closer to which movie am I not talking about.
TrauMEDIA is a very personal project.
One I hope will be a communal experience.
Centering a universality.
The commonality of trauma.
Trauma is universal when operating and living under a framework codified of 500 years of colonized capitalism.
Media collectively becomes the outlet in which the populace filters, learns, codifies, and combats that oppression.
It's why we venerate the most talented, the facade of success, yet they kill themselves at 28.
Nobody, except for the ownership class benefit from an oppressive system. Media captures generational zeitgeists and imagines various futures in its best use. At its worse, it perpetuates the harm it looks to venerate.
It is also held hyper personally. A cipher for the artists, speakers, and people creating and consuming.
Therapy or childcare delivered straight to your homes.
So the ability for trauma and oppression to perpetuate themselves is unending.
This will be a space to explore that and more.
Welcome To TrauMEDIA