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Elyce's comments:
on Carrie Brownstein and Portlandia
I mentioned in a response to another post that it is called an "economic" issue, as you also say, but it's not - it's disregard. I am in no way suggesting that all must remain stagnant. The neighborhoods in question were in serious need of development. But if we cared at all about the existing communities, we could have made it a priority that the urban renewal plan would have helped them to stay. There was none of that. Lots of public funding went into improving the neighborhoods, so we had a responsibility to using that public funding in a way that was fair to all, with priority given to the people already living there.
To your final point, this show is not really mocking. It's a showcase of cuteness, and that's completely fine. I am a bike-riding, vegetarian (unless the chicken comes with papers!), eco-friendly, belonged in a band, etc., etc., like the others this show is about, so I definitely don't "hate" those things about Portland. I just have trouble with the fact that the show does seem to suggest that the people in this show ARE Portland, which is very exclusionary.
posted 2 years, 4 months ago
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on Carrie Brownstein and Portlandia
About 8 years ago, I was part of a community alliance, going door to door in N/NE Portland neighborhoods, trying to galvanize some resistance to the incoming wave of gentrification. It failed, as the current state of N/NE Portland (think Mississippi Ave) is testament to. The face of these neighborhoods has changed completely, with much of our city's minorities once again being pushed out. (Portland has a history of doing this - NW 21st used to be the "black" neighborhood, until the whites wanted it.) I can't enjoy hanging out in the Mississippi neighborhood now - to me it simply represents modern-day inequality.
The clips I've seen of Portlandia show a small slice of Portland, the same slice that roams the Mississippi, Kenton, and other gentrified neighborhoods. I don't know this outright mistreatment of our city's minorities is represented in Portlandia, if at all, but in my experience, this slice of Portland that lives and plays in the places people of color used to call home is too self-absorbed with their DIY artsiness to appreciate or pay any homage to what came before them. There is a sense of total entitlement.
I know that Carrie said in her interview that she is not trying to make a documentary about Portland, but at the same time, throughout the interview she and callers talk about how "Portland" is hyper-aware (about some issues, maybe), or how "Portland" needs to be able to laugh more. So then it does feel like there is a claim or assumption that the people shown in the documentary are somehow representative of or synonomous with Portland.
posted 2 years, 4 months ago
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on Carrie Brownstein and Portlandia
Thank you for the comment. Please see my post, related to this issue. The trailers I saw of Portlandia were 100% white. Portland is not only "seemingly" unfriendly to minorities, as a comment to this post states, but outright hostile. We have a long history that spans to the current decade of taking over neighborhoods and kicking out the minorities. Yes, it's "economic," but if we cared about minorities, we could find different models for urban renewal.
posted 2 years, 4 months ago
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