Instead of going through a summary this time, I wanted to talk about the few things that stuck out to me in the readings.
Firstly, I wasn't a huge fan of the coverage of "The Apprentice", I understand where the author was going; however, as someone who never watched the show, it was hard for me to latch on to all of the references. To move on to actual issues though, I wanted to talk about the media's tendency to use white actors to play minority characters. A recent example of this is Juan Antonio Bayona's film "The Impossible. The movie depicts María Belón and her family's struggles in surviving a large tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but Naomi Watts may not have been the best pick for this one...
It's quite obvious that the characters that are portrayed in this film ARE NOT white. So what gives? I understand that Hollywood isn't in the business of social justice, and out book makes a point of that, but where do we get off? I hate to make this into a rant, but why is this still happening? There aren't even supporting themes in this film for the actual people, this is just counterproductive.
Further, to cite another movie, I wanted to discuss "The Help" for a little bit; as I was reading about the "mammie" character, I couldn't help but be reminded of the recent blockbuster. Calling the film "historically accurate" is just another way to put these themes on the back burner, right? The black characters in the film are portrayed as mammies and servants that are often stepped on. In an instance of standing up to the oppression, one of the maids feeds her ex-boss a pie made with feces...like, literally. So, the only way to get back at someone is to do something as grotesque as feeding shit to someone? There's a few issues with this. Additionally, everyone is saved by a young white woman; we again see the "white savior" character that has become all too familiar.
With these films, and movies like Shrek and various Disney movies, hammering down these racist ideologies is becoming the "norm". As a society we're conditioned to think that these films just represnt history, or that it's harmless to have white characters play characters that certainly aren't; opening our eyes is just the beginning. Though films and protests exists that combat against these master narratives, they are far outweighed by the blockbusters fueling them.
Also with movies like The Help, depicting resistence or interruptions as needing to be covert with characters unable to draw strength from unity of numbers, because the character that was not anonymous "the white ally", was the only one who was not in fear of losing her life or family wHen the book was published. I feel like this discounts the Montgomery bus boycott and other POSSIBLE historically accurate depictions of nonviolent protest through solidarity. I don't know, perhaps the way they worked on the book was their only option.
ReplyDeleteDepicting such episodes from the past also distances the audience, and makes it seem that this was an issue of the past that has been resolved, and not an ongoing problem. It seems geared toward relieving White guilt by saying, see there were some allies back in the 60's working to fix the racism issue, so modern audiences can feel better now instead of recognizing elements of contemporary kyriarchy.