As an avid reader of classic literature and pulp novels, mostly between the 19th - 20th century, it is not long before I stumble into some form of racism, such as racist stereotypes of Jewish people in Picture of Dorian Grey and The Great Gatsby. One of my favorite horror writers, H.P. Lovecraft employs some of the most racist terminology both implicitly and explicitly in his work, one of his stories (The Shadow over Innsmouth) is partly about marriage "mating" and how terrible he thinks it is. Most of views were outdated when he was alive. However I still like reading these stories, they are powerful and creative in so many ways but I understand that there is an uncomfortable side to them. This (I think) doesn't make racist, I know that these views and stereotypes are awful but I don't outright hate the work, this leaves me in a tricky position. So is there a way around this?
This is also an issue that is tied to old cartoons, most notably Warner Brothers and Disney. They have an ugly past especially around WW2. This racism stems from the structural racism as it was almost systemic at the time. Those cartoons relied on terrible stereotypes that made fun of many different people. But they are still considered important because they are a part of the medium's history and it is essential to accept and acknowledge that history. To try and erase that part of history could be damaging in so many ways, the old saying from George Santayana goes 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'(Santayana, 1918)
Most of those old cartoons have a preface explaining all of this to modern viewers. There is no point in trying to hide any of it, unless you're name is Disney and you have a movie like Song of the South, which has been made hard to find in psychical form by Disney and has no DVD release (Although you can find it on YouTube very easily).
But there is more complication to be had. Take the story of Speedy Gonzales, who for a time was removed from re-runs of Looney Toons on TV because he was seen as a racist stereotype of Latin Americans, however a Latin American rights group petitioned for Speedy to be returned to TV because he was a loved character by a lot of Latin Americans, his removal was seen as eraser of an icon.
A problem that many people have, including film critic Roger Ebert was that although an adult can understand that these cartoon are racist children may not, and are so easily impressionable that these cartoons may reinforce the systemic and blatant racism of the time. Although I think that children can easily be educated about why these are bad and get a history lesson at the same time.
So that's why it is important to accept the racism, acknowledge it and learn from it, not to try and hide it away. History and context are all important in learning. Please feel free to comment below with your own thoughts.
References
Santayana, George. The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress. New York: C. Scribner and Sons, 1918. Print.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewb0ZspDtvs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bWyhj7siEY
I agree- The first step towards moving towards a more egalitarian society is realising how racist we already are. This is on both an individual and structural level.
ReplyDeleteYou can still enjoy those things, just as long as you recognise and acknowledge when and where they are problematic (which you just have :P) This makes it a little tricky with shows marketed towards children, as they are obviously unable to critique such texts, but I think the focus should be on creating more new, positive representations of different racial groups etc. rather than removing old classics. Content creators have a responsibility to the future, but there's not too much we can do about the past, and actively viewing these texts can be a big learning curve for how far we have come so far.