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Popular Culture Review
representation of “European myths about the aggressive, violent, and animalistic
‘nature’ of black sexuality . . . fabricated . . . by the phallocentric anxieties and
fantasies of the all-powerful white ‘master’” (qtd. in Julien/Mercer 169). For
example, Jess Cagle, in Time magazine, refers to the actor’s “exotic looks—
olive skin and full lips,” and adds that “he’s widely assumed to be of African
and Italian heritage, but Diesel resolutely refrains from identifying his
ethnicity.” Cagle’s use of the word “exotic” is telling because common
associations paradoxically objectify an “exotic” person as alien, or “other,” as
mysterious and of obscure and distant geographical or cultural origin, yet
associate that person with an amoral sensuality and sexuality, and by extension,
with desire. (It therefore makes sense that in American culture there are “exotic”
dancers who are actually erotic dancers, and men trolling the Internet for wives
from “exotic” places.) David Hochman, in Details, also focuses on Diesel’s
physical image, introducing his readers to Diesel’s “kryptonics”—his biceps—
and then claiming that “his shaved head could have been sculpted by an
Etruscan, perhaps an entire village of Etruscans, and [that] even his jaw muscles
look like they practice Tae Bo” (158). Rolling Stone’s cover dubs Diesel “an
international man of mystery,” and Jeffrey Wells article therein bullets what he
will or will not admit about his background, his family, and his sex life;
however, the photo portrait showing Vin gracefully posed, alluringly lit in a way
which emphasizes the pure power of his physique dominates the page. What is
interesting is that magazines which don’t often focus on male skin spice up their
stories with photos of Diesel shirtless. What is more interesting is that of those
surveyed, the only magazine featuring a fully clothed Diesel, in a headshot and
then in a dark, inconspicuous sweater which hides most of his physique, is
Savoy, an African-American magazine. Shively’s ideas about fantasy seem to be
fully operational here.
There’s also an undercurrent of disbelief on the part of mainstream
reporters concerning the information that Diesel gives them—and information
he will not give them. For example, in Rolling Stone, Jeffrey Wells announces
that [Diesel] “is building a myth about his multiracial lineage. Is he AfricanAmerican? Italian? Hispanic? Diesel won’t say. He wants to be all-inclusive”
(44). If Diesel won’t say, where is the myth? Merriam-Webster offers these
definitions of “myth”:
1. a. A usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events
that serves to unfold part of the worldview of a people or
explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon, b. Parable,
allegory. 2. a. A popular belief or tradition that has grown up
around something or someone; especially: one embodying the
ideals and institutions of a society or segment of society
{Merriam-Webster Online).
According to either definition, a myth is a constructed story. However,
the myth to which Wells is referring is not a story at all, but actually a carefully