The Talking Android
In Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed, we see the atonists trying to take down Jes Grew with any means possible. This varies from directly assassinating important figures (like Abdul Hamid), to using the ultimate weapon: the Talking Android. The concept of a Talking Android is that of taking down a movement from within, injecting an imposter into the midst of change. In Mumbo Jumbo, the role of the Talking Android is ultimately played by Hubert Safecracker Gould, a white man who dresses in blackface and tries to copy black speech in his speaking and poetry. In the climactic scene, Gould, apparently an up and coming poet, presents himself upon other renowned black artists. He performs a slightly bizarre poem, attempting to appropriate black slang, and his attempt is met with mixed reactions, but he does manage to gain the support of a few people, like Hank Rollings, a Guianese art critic.
Now onto the real world significance of the Talking Android:
Obviously life has changed in the 50 years since Mumbo Jumbo has came out, however like many of the threads addressed by Reed, the concept of a Talking Android still is relevant, now even more literally than before. With deep fake technology, it is easier than ever to contort and invent misrepresentations of people and even entire movements. Additionally, the invention of the internet allows misinformation to spread at rates not even imagined 50 years ago.
Pictured: Dean Browning and the duality of man
Here we can see Dean Browning, the modern day equivalent of Safecracker Gould, attempting to deceive the masses, personally embodying Reed’s Talking Android in the 21st century. Just as Papa LaBas wiped the black paint off of Gould’s face, Dean Brownings was revealed to in fact not be a black gay Trump supporter. Apparently technology has evolved quicker than our minds, as even bizarrely poor attempts at convincing people to think one way such as this influence vast amounts of people. While in Mumbo Jumbo, Safecracker Gould had to show up to a large gathering to have the chance to impact people, today all it takes is the ‘tweet’ button. In the wise(?) words of Dean Browning: “Twitter is a weapon of war masquerading as a toy.”
It is crazy how common this is as the term "as a black man" is an immediate red flag when reading replies and comments. Reed does really well illustrating and articulating problems that have become even more commonplace in society in the 50 years since this book was written as racist people have had to search for other means than to openly say what they think.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting and funny parallel between Mumbo Jumbo and the real world. I hadn't really thought about drawing a connection between Mumbo Jumbo and the present day besides the concept of Jes' Grew and what it represents in society. It goes to show that though the internet has become a hub of creativity and a place for Jes' Grew to grow, it has also made it much easier for Atonists to manipulate.
ReplyDeleteGreetings Mr. Roberts, I thoroughly enjoyed reading you post. I like how you drew connections to the Talking Android which has been overlooked a bit in most of our discussions. I especially like how you relate the internet to this. In today's society there are so many ways to hide or alter your identity online, with no one the wiser. However, it seems that Dean Browning was incredibly sloppy with his attempt at deception. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great example in the Talking Android in real life. For most of the book, I was honestly really confused what exactly the Talking Android was and what its purpose was, but your example made it a lot easier to understand. Clearly, Dean Browning is not a good Talking Android. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis is so deep, the duality represented by who Dean is in reality and who he is trying to impersonate are almost identical to Gould. The idea of inserting an imposter among a group of people to sabotage them from within by ruining their image - such as Gould with black culture and Dean with black Democrats/Democrats at large - is an extremely effective strategy, and it seems to only be increasing. Other examples of this could be things like the Russian interference in the election, with their influence on political campaigning. Overall, really deep post!!
ReplyDeleteI remember you mentioning this incident during class discussion and its nice to see the actual tweet in your blog post! Thinking about Mumbo Jumbo in terms of today's world helps to clear up the meaning of the novel and understand its motives more. The plot line with Gould was one that didn't make much sense to me at first, but your description of the Talking Android as an imposter that is able to take down a movement by sabotaging it sums up the role of Gould in the novel. Furthermore, your example with Dean was a funny but unfortunately true story of how the Talking Android is still prevalent today, even amongst influential politicians. Awesome post!
ReplyDeleteI think this is another example, along with atonism, of things from Mumbo Jumbo still being extremely prevalent in society today. Sadly, I don't see either of these issues getting any better in the near future, especially with deepfakes now being a thing as you mentioned in your post. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Although the Dean Browning guy does look really dumb, if the Talking Android can gain the support of a few people, I suppose it's not a surprise that somehow this guy can be a seemingly somewhat successful politician. I suppose there'll always be people who are as sharp as a marble. Great (and funny) comparison!
ReplyDeleteI love this example, and I'm glad you brought it up in class. Twitter as a medium certainly enables some "talking android" potential--the whole idea of "bots" that post words might be seen as a variant of a "talking android"--and I also love that Browning is as inept in his efforts at "social media blackface" as HVV is inept at his efforts to pass off Safecracker as a Harlem Renaissance poet. The clueless audience at the gala buys his act, but LaBas and all the "real" HR poets in the book wouldn't buy it for a second. Likewise, I'm sure various like-minded social-media politicos retweeted Browning's hamfisted post with enthusiasm, before it was unmasked by people who know the deal.
ReplyDeleteI think this concept of a modern Talking Android is pretty scary. In Mumbo Jumbo, the Talking Android was never supposed to really succeed in his mission of appropriating black culture -- one of Reed's points was that Jes Grew is nothing but authentic until it is absorbed into the mainstream. This is the same reason why most were able to see through Hinckle VonHampton's "vulgar" magazine. The scary part is that technology has made it much easier to succeed as a Talking Android. Although you mentioned an example of failure, I have to ask myself how many times has someone succeeded?
ReplyDeleteThis connection is honestly quite interesting, kudos to you for writing about it! The actual tweets are so unbelievably stupid. Why the dude didn't just check to make sure he wasn't signed into main before posting them is hilarious. Regardless, it connects super well to Mumbo Jumbo's talking android. How he's trying to mislead people into believing he's something he's not, while simultaneously trying to advocate for his cause. (either supporting this random politician or supporting the atonists).
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