I was thinking about how far we have come now, as of today, and while it does seem like the more extreme, in your face, exaggerated depictions have died out, it feels like that has brought on a new era of more subtle racism and notions of black people especially. When I think of current views I think of how black people are (sometimes) portrayed as criminals and it brings to mind all of the cases of police brutality against black people. This may not be the exaggerated, blackface and broad red/white lipped minstrel dances but it seems like it is another form of society's (wrongful) notions of black people.
We also talked about different things that exist today that have a basis in this culture, such as the "eenie meenie" thing. I was really surprised to learn how such commonplace things like that (seemingly) nonsensical rhyme have such dark root. Even things like the food brands (aunt Jemima, etc) seem sto stem from this. Maybe it's nostalgia for things that we learned as children, its just seemed to me that there would be no reason to keep things like that in today's society.
I don't know that the montage at the end is specifically designed to reflect how far we've come as a society--though that might be one effect. (The inclusion of artists like Prince, in my view, strongly points away from the stuff we've just witnessed in the film. But the 8x10 of the "What's Happenin'" crew, or Mr. T with the A-Team, might point in the other direction.) The speaker whose voiceover accompanies it has just said that she sees basically the same dynamics in the media of the 1970s and 1980s, and the montage of contemporary pop culture seems to demand that its viewer judge for him/herself whether we're really somewhere completely new. Spike Lee's harsh satirical film _Bamboozled_ does something similar, with hip-hop culture circa 2000, by explicitly drawing connections between the stagy performances of black masculinity in (some) rap music and blackface minstrelsy. The viewer is intended to look more critically at the pop culture surrounding us today as a result.
ReplyDeleteI'm more aware now of all the connections, and I definitely didn't expect so many. I can somewhat understand why some rhymes or songs might still be around today (with changed words) and I guess nostalgia could play a role, though for food brands and things like that, I'm not as convinced. I don't believe changing some images or words in the brand's name is enough to make everything okay, especially with their "dark roots". The racism is still there, but muted, and like you said, they're not as prominent as an exaggerated blackface minstrel dance, but they still has wrongful notions attached to them.
ReplyDeleteI would say that one of clearest pictures of how far we've come is that there's a version of Spider-Man who is an african-american! Miles Morales took over from the more traditional Peter Parker after the character was killed in an epic battle. Miles is a fully fleshed out character that is in some ways more interesting than white spidery, and not just because he's african american. Sure, there are many instances where we as a society haven't really progressively evolved, but I think this is an example of a step in the right direction
ReplyDeleteIn many ways Miles Morales is a much stronger character than Peter Parker. Think about it. Peter faced public hate because the News Papers demonized him, but imagine that fabricated hate and then mulitply it by a much larger factor that is the hate that Miles must receive because of his race. But yes I definitely agree that he is a testament to how far we've come.
Delete