Golden Fang

[Robin Landseadel]

On Sep 24, 2009, at 7:14 AM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:

> My own take on the Golden Fang is that it's just another bit of pop  
> culture send-up.
>
> p. 77:  " ... I'm working weeknights at Club Asiatique in San  
> Pedro.  Love and Peace, Jade.  P.S. -- Beware of the Golden Fang!!!"
>
> At this point, you can just imagine the faux-Chinese gong, followed  
> by a quick scene change to CLub Asiatique.
>
> This isn't a veiled reference to a CIA-led conspiracy, it's a Get  
> Smart episode.  Max and 99 find out Agent Fang's been kidnapped and  
> have to go undercover at the Club Asiatique.  Much hilarity ensues,  
> with inscrutable Chinese who talk like hippies, Dragon Ladies in  
> bikinis and conspiratorial dentists ("OK, it's illegal, but, nu,  
> it's a living."
>
> Fang is saved.  Another gong, followed by L&M commercial.  The End.   
> Pynchon loves to parody faux-Asian cheese (that Chinese damsel-in- 
> distress novel in
> M&D, Dally pretending to be kidnapped by Chinese slavers in ATD, DL  
> getting kidnapped by Japanese slavers in VL).
>
> http://www.tvacres.com/images/fang_dog4.jpg
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L&M
>
> Laura

Yeah, it's the Gilligan's Isle version of the CIA, but it's still the  
CIA. Remember—The CIA works for the Golden Fang, not the other way  
around. The Golden Fang, as Laura rightfully points out, is more "Get  
Smart" than Graham Greene. It's been Pynchon's working method all  
along. I've noted plenty of echos with Jay Ward throughout the  
author's oeuvre and as the most purely cartoonish of all of Pynchon's  
novels we should expect the central mcguffin of Inherent Vice to be  
every bit as plausible as:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUa3np4CKC4

At the same time, this "Them" is pretty much the same "Them" we find  
in Gravity's Rainbow.