Thporth!

Here's an animation I've been working on! I started it this summer on my laptop trackpad, animating over found footage from Prelinger Archives. Please enjoy!


Thporth from Marcie LaCerte on Vimeo.

UPDATE: So, this past weekend I received on tumblr an anonymous message on tumblr concerning this video. Specifically, a peer (whom I've never met) found this video offensive because she saw a character that she perceived as blackface. And it wasn't just her. There were other students in one of her classes who were, apparently, gossiping about this video and passing it around, angry and hurt because of the blackface character.

So she messaged me to tell me this was going on, and after discussing with her about this privately, I decided to change the character that looked like blackface. But, for record-keeping, I'd like to repost a very long message I sent back to this student concerning why I decided to change the video, even though I think she was wrong:

First off, I really appreciate your coming off anon—I know it can be hard to shed this guise, especially when discussing IRL affairs. I also want to thank you for contacting me in general. It’s kind of scary that other people have been talking behind my back, and I’m glad you’ve informed me this was going on. 

For the record, I’ve shown the animation at different stages in my process to many different people, both MCAD students and non-MCAD friends, people of different races and cultures, and not one person has mentioned anything remotely resembling what you’ve messaged me about.

With that said, I’m willing to alter whatever part you thought looked like blackface, and I’d like you to tell me exactly which parts made your stomach drop because I honestly don’t know which character(s) you’re referring to. Some friends have said it could be the spinning purple and yellow man, or maybe one of the bouncing balls, but I’d like to know for sure. 

However—and I’d like to respectfully emphasize this—I am only doing this because it’s easy to change. Were this part of a larger project, I would be less willing to compromise my time and energy in order to serve a minority opinion.

I’d like to point out the broader purpose of this project. I hope you understand that my intent was not in any way to emulate blackface or mock black people. And I think this is obvious, and I think people know this. And as a person of color myself (I’m half Chinese, half white), I am very wary of the barrage of excuses people come up when accused of racism, both micro and macro. They were ignorant of the historical context, their black friends gave them the green light, it’s satire!

But I digress. For context, this project was a random thing I started in my free time (that I finally finished in an actual class), so its purpose/theme isn’t entirely clear. I mean, it’s only 40-something seconds long. If anything, I’d say that my animation mocks hypermasculinity and health culture within the plainness of white, suburban America. Not black people. Not blackface.

If the students in your class saw my animation by watching it in class when I presented it, and proceeded to gossip behind my back, that’s shitty. Like I said, no one came up to me. No one said anything. But if people saw it on tumblr or Vimeo, then I understand their not coming forward. It’s still shitty, but maybe slightly less so. 

This is getting long, but I’d like to let you know a bit about the process for my animation. I compiled archival videos of old-timey (read: white) people playing sports or exercising, and edited the footage over an archival track of sports commentators. I don’t know if you noticed, but the colors in my animation are limited—early on in the process, I created a color palette that I stuck to for the entire video. John Baldessari (if you know him) was a major inspiration for the ludicrous, vibrant colors over vintage black-and-white aesthetic I chose. I realize a few of the colors could be interpreted as flesh-toned. But the vast majority of characters were unnatural—blue, purple, orange, golden yellow, etc.

Because of all this, I think the criticism is extremely misguided. It’s not based in what I was actually doing and more in what could potentially be seen as offensive. As soon as one person says, “This is blackface!” then I’m sure that’s all people could see. Not to get too philosophical, but I think we find what we look for in art. Sometimes this is good; in my case, it’s very, very bad.

I’m sorry this is so long, but this situation makes me extremely uncomfortable and I’d like to explain my side. I think about this stuff quite a lot and (obviously) have a lot to say on this topic. I’m sending you this explanation in the hopes that you may let others know my thoughts and because I respect your opinion/personhood and want to have a discussion.