the OBSCENE machine: Nathan Leaman Calls in with a Posting

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Nathan Leaman Calls in with a Posting

Last week, on a very special 30 Rock:

Mandingo was a very sensational, very 1970’s treatment of an oft-repressed moment in American history. Slavery, sexual exploitation, racial oppression—it seems the seventies viewed these issues with equal parts scandal and voyeurism. How, then, do we view these issues today? How do we deal? Apparently with comedy. The running subplot of the critically acclaimed NBC sitcom, 30 Rock, depicts a slightly insane black comic uber-celebrity (think one part Martin Lawrence, one part Eddie Murphy, three parts himself), played by Tracy Morgan, who discovers that not only is he a direct descendent of Thomas Jefferson, but that he is actually 60% white– damn Gina! Throughout the next few episodes, Morgan’s character struggles to launch a new movie project featuring himself playing multiple roles as Thomas Jefferson, his slave, their son, Robert E. Lee and just about every other character needed for the movie. Talk about your black skin, white masks!! It’s actually quite a funny show and most recent episodes can be viewed online for anyone without a television like me. Besides, where else can you find Alec Baldwin dressed as our third president flipping off the audience of the Montel Williams Show quoting Star Wars movies?

NATHAN LEAMAN

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History of the Obscene Machine Cyberhive...

The Obscene Machine is an ever-evolving "ARTkive" chronicling cultural studies advancements in something I call the "ersatz human"--broadly understood, it is a series of links to stories that document the history of human self-fashioning, from ancient "primitive" totems and fetiches, to contemporary digital avatars and dolls.

In other times, this blog has served as a community exchange vehicle for my students at San Diego State University. In Fall 2011, The Obscene Machine was a cultural studies seminar at San Diego State University entitled TECHNOSEXUALITIES--the course is led by head cyborg Professor William A. Nericcio. Previously, it was the host cyberHIVE for a Spring 2011 undergraduate English 220 seminar: Robotic, Erotic, Electric: Televisual Nightmares, Seductive Hallucinations, and Naked Pscyhes in Literature, Film, Art, and the Web.

Know, also, that this blog had earlier incarnations and aspirations: The Obscene Machine began its life as an online supplement both to English 493, a literature and film undergraduate class at San Diego State University, and English 725, an Ethnic American cultural studies graduate seminar--both were directed in the Spring of 2007 by the aforementioned Dr. Nericcio and the posts associated with those two classes remain online here as an ersatz gallery and a living memorial.

These mirrored courses, both experimental, fuse an interrogation of Ethnic American critical theory with a more general probing of "fictional humans"--hence the term "Ethnic Mannequins" as a subtitle for the graduate seminar and its coincident obsessions with cyborgs, novels, stereotypes, and film. Both courses may be interpreted as supplements, if not revisions, to Tex[t]-Mex (UT Press, 2007) book and precursors to Eyegiene.

The Robot Running this Site...

William Anthony Nericcio is the Director of MALAS, the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences at San Diego State University. When not shepherding brilliant graduate student devotees of cultural studies, Nericcio also hangs his hat as a Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Chicana/o Studies, and serves on the faculty of the Center for Latin American Studies. Utterly more than is necessary to know can be found in his perplexing, image-laced online autobiography and a complete digital index of his web-based shenanigans is located here. Lastly, can also see a graphic design portfolio by Guillermo Nericcio García, his, er, 'cousin,' at memogr@phics designcasa.