In March 1990 I saw a tv commercial, which I wrote about as follows in my journal:
A group of noble and frisky children are trying to “liberate” a good
cereal that is hidden away in a dark, impenetrable castle, guarded by a
dangerous, huge man dressed in black. All black, including a
hood: he’s the black man, in effect. The guardian tries every
trick to keep the kids from the treasure — the product that’s being
advertised — but of course the children win out against him, partly
through luck, partly through Yankee ingenuity and plenty of
technology. Finally, the last barrier between the little hero (a
boy, of course: did I have to say it?) & the cereal is smashed, and
as the little boy rips open a box of the precious cereal — to enjoy
the fruit of his imperialistic conquest — the black man looms up once
again in front of him, in one last-ditch effort to squash the little
intruder. What does the little hero do? He doesn’t use one
of his magic tricks — some gimmick of technology — to kill the big
black man, no, he co-opts him: he disarms him by asking him if he would
like to join him in partaking this wonderful yummie cereal. And
what does the black man do? He becomes white: he’s disarmed,
surprised by the American child hero’s kindness, and he smiles, becomes
all friendly, and pulls the black hood off his head, revealing a blond
& blue-eyed being underneath. Perfect transformation.
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