What a Jerk Off

After Armond White’s review of A Prophet (Feb. 24-March 2), one reader quoted a line from the piece—“Bourgeois ethnic guilt mutates into genre excitation; that’s how liberals get to project their fears and simultaneously jack themselves off”—and went on to let us know: “Armond White accusing people of jacking themselves off? Say it isn’t so?

I hear there’s a pot and kettle convention somewhere in the building. If you’re lucky you can join the writers of Aqua Teen Hunger Force in a room somewhere and you’ll have somebody to jerk off with.”

White or Black

White’s review of Precious (“Pride & Precious,” Nov. 4, 2009) continues to cause problems: “I would not be surprised if Armond White is a member of an elitist group that aligns itself to the KKK. If he is not, he should certainly check his back pocket for the race-ist [sic] card. It’s there. People who refuse to acknowledge that women like Precious not only exist but are plentiful thanks to the establishment and methodic perpetuation of institutionalized slavery in the Western hemisphere, seek to submerge the real issues of America into an abyss of denial. Are we to also concur that the slave trade never existed, Mr.White? Please. Go feed this B.S. to your cronies over drinks at the members-only country club where you swim together in a river of denial refuting that Precious couldn’t possibly be “a credible depiction of Black American life” and Barack Obama couldn’t possibly be the 44th president. Alas, both are true much to your dismay.”

Preview Time

After reading Armond White’s review of Shutter Island (“Shutter to Think,” Feb. 16- 23) on reader requested: “You know how Anthony Lane would write those ‘general reviews’? He would write reviews over a widerange, instead of focusing on a specific film.

I’d like to see a few of these kinds of reviews written by you. For instance, I’d love to see you write an essay on “previews.” How do previews work? How do they influence our viewing? Can a good critic know how they will feel about a film just by seeing the preview? I know it’s a long shot, but, hey I figured why not try a request.”

themail@nypress.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Letters may be edited for size and form.