tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8302487761596456689.post370715717721611562..comments2024-03-27T11:04:31.390-04:00Comments on From the Sorcerer's Skull: Banana RepublicsTreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04647628467658839351noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8302487761596456689.post-31423726489131201712014-04-28T07:37:36.326-04:002014-04-28T07:37:36.326-04:00Good points, all.
It's interesting, in lookin...Good points, all.<br /><br />It's interesting, in looking for art for this piece, I reviewed the covers of a lot of men's adventure magazines of the 40s-60s looking for art. The Central South American dictator/firing squad stock scene was nowhere in evidence. I'm sure those stories existed (I've seen a few), but when Latin America showed up on the cover at that time, it was all Mato Grosso and Jivaro headhunters. I wonder if too many banana republics might raise questions of American complicity and so were instinctively shied away from?Treyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04647628467658839351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8302487761596456689.post-61958075659132250922014-04-28T07:16:53.151-04:002014-04-28T07:16:53.151-04:00(gloss: here I use "modernity" to mean a...(gloss: here I use "modernity" to mean an ideology of orderly success and reliability, defined by European colonial powers and expressed through bureaucracy, technology and exports. It's that indefinable <i>je ne sais quoi</i> that colonizing powers have and colonized states must forever aspire to, which makes all the difference in business negotiations, property rights and the international seriousness of one's wars)richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517340075234811323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8302487761596456689.post-52081189835444171012014-04-28T07:12:22.066-04:002014-04-28T07:12:22.066-04:00It seems like there's an implicit critique of ...It seems like there's an implicit critique of the standard Colonial trope, actually, when the corporation is the primary ill. Like it's <i>news from below the wire</i> on what the colonial/imperial state is doing - the Banana Republic is not modern precisely because the Banana Company is keeping it down, and where the corporation does its dirty work, so you also find all the other ills and social disorders, either as symptoms or as co-infections.<br /><br />During the period 1860-1940 there were lots of contradictory messages in popular culture about South America, from <i>Flying Down to Rio</i> (Brazil is modern, a dance partner for the US) to steamer brochures (there was massive migration from Europe and Japan to South America through the period, much of it on relatively luxurious liners) on one hand, and Zapatista zealots, disorder, incurable corruption and jungle magic on the other. The Banana Republic could be seen as one of the failure modes of southern modernity; succumbing to the colonial condition, just when equal status seems within reach.richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517340075234811323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8302487761596456689.post-52840411455034447272014-04-28T06:32:20.468-04:002014-04-28T06:32:20.468-04:00I think you're on to something there, though I...I think you're on to something there, though I think the interplay of "civilization vs. savagery" is more a factor of Africa or India narratives and pre-banana republic tales rather than these. The dangers of the banana republic are typically "civilized" ills: improper social order, femme fatales, dictators. There is a bit of North reservedness vs. Latin hotblooded passions in it, too.Treyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04647628467658839351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8302487761596456689.post-15681664879457295082014-04-28T02:32:44.036-04:002014-04-28T02:32:44.036-04:00also I can't believe that list omits Cascara!
...also I can't believe that list omits Cascara!<br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_%281985_film%29richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517340075234811323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8302487761596456689.post-79809394501643079312014-04-28T02:24:46.549-04:002014-04-28T02:24:46.549-04:00Don't forget the Oriental equivalent: White Ra...Don't forget the Oriental equivalent: White Rajahs (the flipside of White Slavers) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Brooke<br /><br />Putting the academic hat on for a minute, like Ruritania, I think the Banana Republic defines the borders of The West as a cultural entity (in the latter case in order to include America). It's a dangerous heterotopia, which promises freedom from the usual restrictions (political, sexual, economic) at the price of substituting the Law of the Jungle (which probably deserves its own post and tends to in fact reinforce conservative values of gender and racial identity). Which is why it's a critical parent of Pulp Fantasy.<br /><br />It might be interesting to explore what the classic plots of banana republic stories are, to see if there's some distinctive flavour to them. There's colonial white mischief, natch, and native joojoo (generally inherited from African explorer tales), but the role of the sinister foreign corporate interest is intriguing. Is Dune actually a banana republic tale?richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517340075234811323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8302487761596456689.post-52853620138171702042014-04-27T11:53:13.408-04:002014-04-27T11:53:13.408-04:00I haven't either, though it would be interesti...I haven't either, though it would be interesting, I thinking. It wouldn't be hard to add magic to it either, if you wanted. Of course, a sort of banana republic type vibe could easily be built in a non-real world setting, too.Treyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04647628467658839351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8302487761596456689.post-39018736531089727882014-04-27T11:46:33.683-04:002014-04-27T11:46:33.683-04:00Loved that list of fictional names. That time per...Loved that list of fictional names. That time period/setting would make some interesting gaming. I don't think I've ever read/encounter a came where 20's or 30's latin america was the setting. Gothridge Manorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11371740532802642972noreply@blogger.com