Venus

Today I met Carla and Jacob at Café de Flore. Was very disappointed. One of the most famous cafés in Paris, and I hated it. I had a salmon quiche and salad, with green tea. One of the most atrocious meals I've had here in Paris. So overpriced too for the crap they served us. We did have an interesting philosophical/psychological conversation though, as Jacob graduated with a major in Philosophy.

Layla was there with her parents, we said hello, then walked down Blvd St. Germain until we got to the MK2 Odéon where we finally, finally, got to see "Venus Noire".....

Unfortunately, halfway through the 3 hour movie, I developed a horrible migraine. The film was awful, in such a visceral way I just wanted to scream and rip my hair out. Poor Venus. Poor poor thing. I felt awful for even watching the movie, because I too, was a spectator, perhaps secondary, but I am watching the mocking and dehumanization of this woman second hand, which makes me feel guilty too. Yeah, we think we've evolved so much, but we're doing the same thing, watching something, just like the people at the freak show were watching Venus.

For those of you unfamiliar with Hottentot Venus, she was a slave of someone who decided to take her to London and make a show with her, portraying her as a savage he had captured. He would put her in skimpy outfits, put her on a leash, and let people touch her ass and genitals. It was suggested he took advantage of her sexually too, but he pretty much brain washed her into thinking that she was free and just an "actress". She then was taken to Paris and exhibited in Salons, and was sold to research institutes to be examined. She was constantly compared to a monkey, and often referred to as a specimen. In the film we see a lot of close ups of Venus, her sad, drunk eyes, as she repeatedly had to "perform". We see the abusive relationship between her and the people who exploit her and make money off of her. We watch as she's forced to lie down, and exhibit her vagina to the public, who prod and laugh and scream as she cries. We see as she's turned into a prostitute, with no other way to survive. We see that after she dies, she's returned to the research facility, and her brain and her vagina and other organs are cut with scalpels and put into jars with formaldehyde, to be used later at a lecture. It was cruel and inhuman. Only in 2002 were her remains returned to Africa and buried rightfully. Before that, for 2 centuries her remains were displayed at the Musée de L'Homme.

After the movie I was silent. My brain felt compressed with melancholy, I had to go home and skip dinner at a Raw food restaurant. Jacob and Carla are going there soon-ish, and it's right by my house, but I think I should nap. Julia's coming over at 10 and we're going out.

À demain.