life & style // no. 16

The last laugh

> Mark Hamill’s hilarious tribute to Donald Trump

Brittney MacDonald
Life & Style Editor

 

oking fun at Donald Trump has

become something of a national
past time, both in America and up
here in Canada. I mean, what else are
we supposed to do, hide under a rock
till the next presidential election?
As tempting as that sounds, taking
the next four years off to hermit crab
ourselves away somewhere isn’t really
an option for most of us. So, I offer
you an alternative, and I’m pretty
sure it’s one youre going to like.

If you have ever read some

of Trump’s tweets and you were
reminded of some of the most glorious
supervillains the comic book world
has to offer, don’t worry—yourre not
alone. I mean, it’s pretty hard to miss
the similarities with lines like “Happy
New Year to all, including my many
enemies and those who have fought
me and lost so badly they just don’t
know what to do,’ which was Trump’s
actual New Year’s Eve tweet, and the
one that sparked writer Matt Oswalt’s
imagination. Oswalt replied to the
tweet with one of his own, saying
“This sounds like something the Joker

would say right before releasing a
swarm of killer bees into Gotham,”
and then stated his desire to hear
some of Trump’s more famous tweets
read aloud in the Joker’s iconic voice,
which has been provided by Star Wars
actor Mark Hamill for over 15 years.
Never one to back down from a
ridiculous request, Hamill obliged, and
has been releasing short video clips
over his Twitter (@HamillHimself) of
him reading various Trump tweets,
including the New Year’s one that
originally peaked Oswalt’s interest.
Unfortunately, due to the politically
motivated nature of most streaming
or video services, most compilations
of the audio of these tweets are almost
always immediately taken down. A few
short ones can be found on YouTube,
but only ones that have been cut or
heavily edited to appear more like a
streaming news service. It’s a loop
hole in YouTube’s terms of service that
some people who wish to share the
story have exploited—but it also means
that you may have to listen to some
annoying person talk over top of the
initial audio itself. For now, the only
way to view the readings themselves
is through Hamill’s personal twitter.

My body, my rules

> Public vs. private in the world of body positivity

Brittney MacDonald
Life & Style Editor

 

[ seems like a very easily understood
concept—the idea that someone’s
body, being their own personal
property, is therefore private. Naturally,
we assume that because something
belongs to us, it is therefore a
private space independent of public
scrutiny, but as many people have
come to realize, public scrutiny is
not something so easily dismissed.

Asan observer, I think that the
dangerous territory people seem
unaware that they’re entering is entirely
reliant on how far into politically-
correct culture they are. People who
believe they are doing good by keeping
things PC are actually some of the
worst offenders in passing judgement.

A recent example of this is the
situation with plus-size model Iskra
Lawrence. Lawrence, who is a supporter
of body positivity and one of the
founders of Runway Riot—a website
devoted to creating a community of
fashion and make-up lovers of all
sizes—has suffered a lot of criticism
over her recent weight loss. Lawrence
attributes the weight loss to changes in
her fitness regime that were made for
health reasons. Though the weight loss
is not significant enough to remove her
from the plus-size modelling category,
many people see it as significant enough
to question her previous stance on
accepting yourself for who you are.

If that sounds ridiculous to you, it’s

because it kind of is. Body positivity is
not a movement based on the opinions
of others. Its original intent is to

inspire people to accept themselves,

so proponents of that movement then
turning around and criticizing someone
on recent changes in their physique is
entirely hypocritical. It’s the equivalent
of saying “Be proud of who you are, but
only if you’re the way I want you to be.”

Understandably, if you have
idolized someone for their perceived
acceptance of their unique body, only
to see them then turn around and
alter that body in a way that you see
as an attempt to conform to more
traditional beauty standards, you might
feel betrayed. What you then need
to question is the origin of your own
acceptance. Have you actually accepted
your body, or were there conditions
to that acceptance? If there was, then
the acceptance you felt before was
actually an illusion—a moment in time
that you were less self-conscious.

Being body positive is accepting
your body as imperfect and unique no
matter what state it is in. It is loving
your body just as much in one size as
you would if it was two sizes bigger or
two sizes smaller, and it is a journey
that is individual and private. So all
those people who claim that Lawrence
isn’t body positive because she lost
a few pounds, and that she isn’t a
good role model for the movement
because she is no longer that larger
size—well they’re kind of missing
the whole point of it, aren't they?

theotherpress.ca

 

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mo Thornhill Images
] (@ Thornhilllmages

Native carving in the Aboriginal
Gathering Place at Douglas College

This week’s post is by @Thornhilllmages

 

Illustration by Ed Appleby