One article describes Mansbach as, "a nice Jewish boy from Newton, MA, " and talks about his budding interest in black culture, "Mansbach spoke about his own early attraction to black culture, when he’d ride the bus that brought black kids to his heavily Jewish suburban school back to their African American neighborhoods to hang out and listen to the music that meant more to him than the Hebrew school he was thrown out of. "
The comparison between Mansbach and Macon is very clear. They are both jewish boys from the suburbs of boston who got into hip-hop and rap. The difference is very clear when it come to their interactions with the culture they so dearly admired.
In the novel, Macon seems to trample any black people who have an opinion contrary to his and uses hip-hop as an invisible badge of cultural knowledge that gave him the right to say and act as he wants. The first example of this is him not correcting the media when the news of a black cab driver robbing white passengers gets out. Macon does not consider the possibility that he is hurting the black community much more with his actions than the white community. The second and perhaps most obvious example of Macon's righteousness comes when he dismisses all the other voices at the Black Student Union and decides that he knows best for the group.
Mansbach, however, deviates from Macon in this respect. Mansbach recognized that he really wasn't a part of the culture and owes most of his "hip-hop insider knowledge" to his participation in hanging out with the inner city kids whom he met on the bus. Mansbach spoke about his time with his new friends as, "venturing outside of comfort zones, rendering myself visible as different."
With this history of Mansbach, it seems that the novel could not be anything but a satire of an alternate version of Mansbach himself, but his recognition of the person that he could become is all the difference between clueless hypocrite and a great book writer.
Sources:
http://www.jta.org/2008/05/20/news-opinion/the-telegraph/adam-mansbach-appreciation-or-appropriation
Page 53&54 of:
https://books.google.com/books?id=da5XAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=venturing+outside+of+comfort+zones,+rendering+myself+as+different.&source=bl&ots=dTL3Zg0Zj3&sig=A7L6XKdvUqBLDg2z01HzYwleQOg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiFrbiYhe3TAhWi2YMKHd44BJoQ6AEILDAB#v=onepage&q=Mansbach%20boston&f=false
I thoroughly agree with what you've said here. Macon is obviously written as some version of Mansbach himself, but I think Mansbach is definitely satirizing himself and is raising the question of how white privilege should be dealt with. He is recognizing that it's a really difficult topic and he's satirizing Macon for going too far with it. I think some aspects of Mansbach's writing are still a bit questionable (e.g. his liberal use of the n word). However, I think you're right, the recognition and satire of what could happen if someone like him went too far in their efforts makes him a more successful writer than "clueless hypocrite."
ReplyDeleteI agree that Mansbach and Macon are definitely not the same guy. The most significant difference, like you said, is basically that Mansbach has a respect for black culture and knows his boundaries and Macon doesn't. However, I also think that while Mansbach and Macon are not the same, there are elements of Mansbach in Macon that he is satirizing, which you kind of touched on with their similar backgrounds as Jewish boys who immerse themselves in hip hop culture. I think, since we see Macon as blatantly crossing so many lines throughout the novel, Mansbach might be criticizing himself for stepping over a few such lines in his lifetime.
ReplyDeleteI would also say that Mansbach is satirizing people like Professor Alam, which to me was similar to how Macon went into the BSU and criticized their choices for guest speakers. They both just don't have the right to criticize or make fun of black people, as if they believe that their knowledge of hip hop or black culture gives them the position to be critical of a culture and experience that they never can be part of. That being said, I do agree that there are significant differences between the two.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think they both kind of use their knowledge to give themselves an air of authority that they don't really deserve, as they are both not black, but there are significant differences between them.
DeleteMansbach and Macon surely aren't the same person. Nora is right...both of them don't have the right to criticize black people or make fun of them.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right. Macon seems to, from what we know about Mansbach, be an extreme version of himself, one that has a similar background but is able to go through many extreme situations that Mansbach himself has not chosen to go through.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone else that there is a clear differentiation between Mansbach and Macon. Especially in the context of the ending of the novel, it is clear that this is a fictional story. I also think, however, that Mansbach certainly went very in-depth in regards to his satire -- making Angry Black White Boy an uncomfortable read at times.
ReplyDeleteI think that Mansbach is trying to satirize a version of himself in the form of Macon, but his satirization of other characters made me very uncomfortable, especially Professor Alam. I agree with Nora, neither of them have a right to criticize black people, but there is a difference between Mansbach and Macon.
ReplyDeleteI think Mansbach is definitely writing about himself in this novel--to some extent. He has a strong familiarity with the character while also remaining skeptical of Macon and at the very best ambivalent towards him--like he dislikes that he himself is or was similar to Macon.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've heard of Mansbach, I do think that he takes aspects of himself and translates that into Macon's character. However, I think he also weaves in aspects of people that he doesn't like. From those letters that Mansbach that Mr. Mitchell showed us, Mansbach definitely knows that a character like Macon in real life is taking things way too far.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the other ten or so people that Mansbach took the absolute piss out of himself while writing Macon. All the same I think that, from the Mansbach interview(? I think) that we discussed in class and from his ability to parody himself in the form of Macon, he is far more self conscious and aware of the intricacies of it all than Macon is in the book. Because of that I think there is a very big distinction between Mansbach and Macon and the extent to which they should be talking/writing about what they are. I think Mansbach in ABWB is not really writing about black culture as some suggest but rather the dynamic between "blackness" and "whiteness" which I think has every right to be critiqued.
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