Post Punk Kitchen Forum

When Dakota Fanning was 9, Twitter wasn't a thing. Neither was Facebook. Social Networking wasn't that much a thing. And I am pretty sure I myself have called Dakota Fanning that exact word. Because I hate her desperately for no real reason I can put my finger on, but also because that most hated of words is my absolute favourite. At least, it is as of late. I know this makes me a bad person, please don't spit on me.

But seriously, it was absolutely a terrible joke and in very bad taste and when I read the tweet (only because this thread directed me to it) I absolutely laughed out loud.

She's being called this because she's the youngest actress to ever be nominated and that puts her in a bit of a special spotlight. She could be white or green or purple polka dotted and The Onion would have come up with the same terrible joke. But the fact that a lot of people are saying this is a race issue really bother me because it wouldn't be mentioned at all if she was of a different race.

And that's all I have to say about that.

I absolutely do not think that the Onion would have called Ms. Wallis a croissant if she were white. I read the implication as "holy shiitake, a young black girl who is proud of her ENORMOUS ACHIEVEMENT, how dare she be proud and confident and correct people on her name, what an uppity bisque."

Didn't Keisha Castle-Hughes (of Whale Rider fame) have some similar terrible jokes made at her expense??

I don't know, I'm probably the wrong person to message about this because I use the word in a very offhanded, relaxed way and I don't have the same reaction to it.

I thought that was part of the joke, too. I know D. Fanning came in for a lot of commentary whenever she was nominated for awards and S. Cruise doesn't even do any acting that I am aware of and still gets negative comments. (Real comments, not satire from the onion) Lots of kid actors get crepe said about them for no real reason (that anyone would admit to much) and going for the worst thing that you could say sort of made of fun of that whole cutting down kid actors for no real reason trend.

Yeah...I know it's used more casually in other countries* but generally in the US it's considered to be so offensive** that even people who comfortably use other offensive words would draw the line at "croissant".

*PPKchat is another country, duh
**I personally think it's an awesome word, but I still would never call someone, especially someone I didn't know, double especially a 9-year-old girl, a "croissant"!

I think calling her a bisque or a brat would be much worse because those are words that might actually be used seriously by someone trying to degrade a little girl. No one would ever call a cute 9 year old (actress or not) a croissant. It's so over the top it's funny, and as panders said it's kind of mocking the stuff that people might say seriously about her.
I like over the top humor like that, though.

I didn't read that article, but I can absolutely see the same thing being said about dakota fanning if she were 9 right now.

I'm sitting in a workshop that is for a group of people I have nothing to do with, other than being the program organizer. I now realize how much I like to just sit at my desk doing my job the whole day.

The woman in the car beside me just nearly took my wing mirror off my car getting out of her car. Then she pulled out her car again to repark and pulled out in front of another car nearly causing an accident. Then got out of her car again hitting off my wing mirror. THEN opened her rear door and hit the door off my car not once but 3 times.


I think I'm going to move my car before she returns.

I think this is spot on. Calling her a brat or a bisque might actually ring of a bit of seriousness, but the joke is the absolute absurdity of calling a sweet, gorgeous little girl a croissant. I won't say it's tasteful, but it's meant to be over the top. I think that kind of stuff is funny though.
And I think if D. Fanning were still a young girl, The Onion would totally make a comment like that about her.

Love this article!


I understand the point you're trying to make, but the whole "white or green or purple polka dotted" thing seems kinda.. trivializing? condescending? I dunno.

I don't agree that this has nothing to do with race, but I do agree it wouldn't be mentioned if she was "of a different race" - if by "different race" you mean white. If that were the case, why should they mention it? White people aren't racially oppressed.

I agree, mostly. Diva or brat or bisque wouldn't have read as satire in the slightest. I mean, Suri Cruise has done absolutely zero to put herself in the public eye and people are (evidently) calling her a bisque online. So I can't think of another word they could have chosen that would have made it clear it was satire. On the other hand, I think it's in poor taste because she can't be in on the joke. Saying that about an 18 year old actress who is so universally thought of as sweet and sunshine-y that calling her a croissant is pure ridiculousness? That might be funny because she has the maturity to understand that the joke isn't about her at all, but about our culture. I don't think a 9 year old is equipped to fully understand satire (I mean, I don't remember when I first encountered A Modest Proposal in school, but it sure wasn't 4th grade!) I do think that they'd have made that joke about any child actress who happened to be in that position (Anna Paquin's nomination years ago comes to mind... if the twitterverse had existed then, I think this exact joke could have happened.) But I realize that's from the perspective of someone who's never been on the receiving end of racism.

yes, i agree with that, monkeytoes. i definitely think it was in poor taste and i agree tht it wouldn't be even remotely funny to her, so that definitely takes away from it. it was a dumb thing to post on the internet. like i said earlier, maybe best as a joke you say to your friends at home at your oscar party.

I'm working on editing a portrait of someone who has had a noticeable amount of plastic surgery, which involves zooming in really close and fixing blemishes (at her request) and the tautness of her skin is weirding me out.

someone stole my credit card number which I'm pretty sure is proof that my birthday is cursed BUT the only charge I have to dispute is for 73 cents so birthday miracle?

Birthday miracle. (Who steals a credit card to charge $0.73?)

I was ill all last week / at the weekend and had no appetite. Well now it's back with a vengeance and I'm forking STARVING!!

My theory is that they test it first to see if it works and they get away with it before trying for something big. I got a call that someone was trying to charge something over my credit limit, and I confirmed it wasn't me. Then the card company and I went over my pending charges, and the person had also charged lunch at a diner in California somewhere. Still not as weird as $0.73 though.

Glad it's not a huge headache! And happy birthday!!

Yeah, somehow someone got my credit card number for one of my credit cards. They made a couple small charges, a decent sized charge at Lush (this is not the credit card I use when I order from Lush) and then a HUGE charge after. The CC company caught it and stopped all charges until they talked to me.

When my credit card number was stolen there was a charge of 1.01 that was put through. Then an attempted charge of $70 ish (which the company blocked) and then they tried another $1. Then the credit card people called me. I was actually really impressed.

73 cents is weird, though!

Yeah, it's kind of weird but they did 73 cents and then $1700 at Best Buy, then reversed it. So that's weird. But lucky since I don't have to dispute that one.

2x birthday luck. Awesome.

And Happy Birthday Fee :)

happy birthday, fee! sorry about trying to steal 73 cents from you!

Yeah my cc company blocked some charges on mine for a while and contacted me. It was actually me spending the money. Ever since they have gotten used to me using the card.

So I some how managed to snort tea up to my nose from my mouth. It feels awful in there right now.

My boyfriend just said he forgets how intelligent I am sometimes, which while meant as a compliment, just made me wonder how stupid I act in day-to-day life.