VLVL Ditzah

[jbor]

on 18/2/04 2:27 AM, Paul Mackin wrote:

> Danish and sangria of course had nothing to do with any of it.

Not in isolation, of course, but the accumulation of descriptive details
emphasises her materialism: Ditzah in the present day is "divorced and
solvent", she lives in a "Spanish split-level up a pleasant cul de sac on
the high-rent side of Ventura Boulevard" and owns a "vintage T-Bird". She
wears "eyeglasses with fashion frames and a muumuu with parrots all over it"
(194). This is our introduction to the character and it's framed in terms of
her possessions and financial status (and ostentatiousness).

Back in the '60s the twins stored their explosives in "Tupperware containers
in the icebox", wore battle fatigues and "oversize" hairdos and, with
Frenesi, held enough capital between them to set up 24fps and run a convoy
of vehicles, including "a dinged and chromeless but nonetheless kick-ass
Stingray" (194-5). Their primary points of reference, in general, and in
comparing "apartment living" in NYC and life in California, are the
grandness of shopping centres and comfort food (hot fudge sundaes,
Danishes), and whether or not people's pets need to go to shrinks (196). As
they work, having somewhere acquired extensive proficiency with expensive
film-making equipment, "[t]hey liked to chain smoke and to have two to three
television sets" and a radio on (197). Ditzah's reminiscences focus largely
on episodes of excessive drug consumption.

Satire operates here in the juxtaposition of their materialism and elitist
attitudes against their pseudo-socialist pretensions. The Danish controversy
was always only a quibbling sideshow.

best