 The
Tibetan Macaque - Issue Twenty-Three |
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by "The [Sandra Bland] video is a one-shot masterpiece of found cinema." (Ty Burr, Boston Globe) "Texas Dashcam Vid," starring Sandra Bland and Brian Encinia, is the hottest thing in the burgeoning genre of found cinema this year. If you want visceral action that sparks a fire in your gut, you've got it. If you want witty unscripted dialogue between a feisty assured femme and a redneck authority figure whose self-esteem is likely proportional to the girth of his manhood, you've got it. We also have timely sociopolitical themes percolating throughout the video, as we witness a swaggering caucasian cop become increasingly incensed as a black woman - how DARE she! - refuses to submit demurely to the creepy cop's irrational demands. And moral dilemmas abound: What, really, was Sandra Bland being pulled over for? Driving While Under the Influence of Being a Strong Black Woman, or Failing to Signal to a Caucasian Cop Who Was Entrapping Her By Making Her Think He Was Trying to Pass, When In Reality He Needed to Fulfill His Weekly Quota of "Tickets For Petty Shit"? And what about that cigarette? Should Sandra be allowed to smoke in her car? What if poor ego-bruised Brian Encinia got lung cancer from the second-hand smoke exhaled vaguely in his direction during what could have been a brief interaction that he intentionally prolonged because his macho maleness was under threat by someone cooler and sharper, who also happened to have ovaries and a deep skin tone? Would he be able to sue the Bland family for cancer treatment money? Is the cigarette the real culprit here? Should Encinia have arrested the tobacco company instead? When Brian Encinia invents and then escalates a conflict over Sandra's smoking stick, that's when the real action heats up. Until this point, the video relies on banter mixed with generic officer-offender conversation to propel the plot. But when Officer Encinia intones in a manner calculated to stoke tensions that Sandra seems irritated, and she bluntly responds that yes, she is irritated, because she was simply trying let him pass, he becomes annoyed (as though, "The nerve of this colored bitch to not cower in my Anglo-authoritarian presence. Doesn't she know this is WALLER COUNTY, where we have separate burial places for negroes, defiant or otherwise?"). And so his white privilege already punctured, Encinia, phallic weapon ensconced in hip-hugging holster but ever at the ready, decides to take things a step further. After all, Sandra not only dared to be woman, she dared to be a black woman - and then she dared to smoke while being a black woman! That's at least three felonies right there. So Encinia asks Sandra to put out her cigarette - but fails to give her a legitimate reason. Sandra asserts herself in casual retort, "Why do I have to put out my cigarette in MY car?" and that's when our antagonist begins to inhabit a truly villainous role. Encinia drawls a demand for her to step out of her car. She refuses,
on the grounds that she has done nothing wrong. She tries to start recording
the incident on her phone. Encinia's ire at this woman who will simply
not Then, in a nod to experimental cinema, the action moves off camera.
The video only affords us an auditory experience at this point. But
we can vividly envision the action as Sandra becomes our narrator, and
gives a play-by-play, in incredulous and outraged tone, of exactly what
is happening to her at the hands of Officer Encinia - her violent handcuffing,
her head being slammed into the ground, the corrupt cop's knee in her
back.
Our precious protagonist maintains her dignity throughout the ordeal.
She asserts the vile wrongness of the situation but retains a sassy
sense of humor. She emerges a victor over this terrorist in uniform,
this meager man whose bluster and bravado are all too pervasively witnessed
in the flourishing genre of found cinema - these tragic cell phone and
dashboard video dramas pitting cop against citizen, fascist force against
hapless human.
"Texas Dashcam Vid" can be seen at a laptop theatre near you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaW09Ymr2BA
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The
Tibetan Macaque is found in mixed subtropical forests at altitudes
from 800 to 2,500 m above sea level from eastern Tibet east to Guangdong
and north to Shaanxi in China. this largest species of macaque is
one of the largest monkeys found in Asia. Males are the larger sex,
commonly attain a weight of 13 to 19.5 kg while females weigh 9
to 13 kg. Their long, dense fur is brown on the back with creamy-buff
to grey coloration on the underparts. Some adults are quite dark
brown on the back while others are basically a sandy yellowish brown
color. They have a prominent, pale-buff beard and long whiskers,
but have a hairless face. The infants have silver and black fur
that changes to its adult color at the age of two. They live in
mixed sex groups and have a complex social system; females remain
for life in their natal group, but males disperse shortly after
their adolescence (at about 8 years old). Alpha males dominate the
group, being those that are typically large, strong and newly mature.
As they age, males tend to gradually lose their social standing
and are frequently subject to challenges for dominance from other
males. Females first breed at around five years of age. The gestation
period is six months with a single offspring being produced at each
pregnancy. Males of the group may also be involved in alloparenting
care. They spend most of their time on the ground, where they forage
for leaves, fruit, grass and, to a lesser extent, flowers, seeds,
roots and insects. When available, bamboo shoots, fruits and leaves
are particularly favoured. Their main threats are all human-related.
They are sensitive to habitat destruction, as they are tied closely
to the forest. As well, they are occasionally poisoned by herbicides
and pesticides while eating and may catch diseases transmitted from
human. Illegal poaching may occur, with humans killing them for
their flesh and fur.