251 Portraying White Male Rage: Raising Dion vs Joker

This week we watched the new Netflix series, Raising Dion. While we didn’t totally love it, (this cereal scene in particular stressed us tf out!), we were VERY impressed by the themes in the show and the lessons on boundaries and entitlement.

In This Episode

Advice

This question was posed in the VWPA Society by friend of the show, Mohera. (Thanks Mohera!) Join the Facebook Group to join in on this and many other fun discussions!

Potential CW: Religious talk around Christianity and AtheismI’ve had a very weird life when it comes to religion. I didn’t grow up religious, but I was introduced to it later on. As a child my dad was an atheist and my mom was more or less a deist. My mom became friends with a guy who stared bringing her to church and she became a Christian and then she convinced me to start going and I became a Christian. The truth is that I questioned it for a long time, but it gave me hope, and I needed that. Anyways, I’ve recently become an atheist and it’s been super liberating in a lot of ways. I haven’t really told a lot of people except my parents and my close friends. But yesterday, a few preppy, white girls from a college ministry group on campus came up to me and a few other people I was working with on a project and they asked us to fill out a short survey. In the survey, it asked what the meaning of life was and then it asked to rank how important faith was in your life on a scale of 1-10. For the latter question, I put down a 1. Then when we turned them in, my friend in the group asked me what I wrote (knowing I’m an atheist) and I told her I put a 1, because I wasn’t gonna lie, and she started laughing because she knows I don’t bullshit about stuff like that (we’re good friends). Then, our graduate mentor, who is also a preppy, white lady, was giving me this really weird look. Like I was contaminated or evil or something like that.I say all this because I am so sick of the stigma around atheists being assholes and monsters. While I do feel that there are a lot of atheists who are intellectual bullies, I sucks that so many people think that because I’m an atheist, I’m not compassionate or empathetic, when in reality, liberating myself from religion has allowed me to be more loving and kind. And it had given me the freedom to take a critical look at institutional issues, without religious bias or influence. Just wondering if any fellow atheists struggle with the same thing or have any advise!

Joke

What do ghosts like for dessert?

Main Topic

With all the continued talk on Joker, we were thrilled to see a piece of media show white male rage, entitlement and the subsequent violence, in such an accurate and responsible way! While we think there were some issues overall with the pacing of the show and some of the writing, where it counts, this show has excellent themes, nuance and heart.

Produced by Netflix and Michael B. Jordan, directed by Dennis Liu, written by Carol Barber, based on Dennis Liu and Jason Piperberg’s cult hit comic book (purchase here)Nine-episode series launched on Oct 4

Spoiler-Free Review:

Overall, Raising Dion is a good show that is exceptional for the themes it explore and the scripts it gives us for talking to children about big topics like racism, grief and consent. It brings a much needed perspective to the genre, and in a way that is family friendly so the kiddos can learn the lessons without seeing massive violence. It has great diversity of voices and perspectives, both in front of the camera and behind.