“What does it mean to be white? MTV’s White People is a
ground-breaking documentary on race that aims to answer that question from the
viewpoint of young white people living in America today.
The film follows Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and
filmmaker, Jose Antonio Vargas, as he travels across the country to get this
complicated conversation started. White People asks what’s fair when it comes
to affirmative action, if colour-blindness is a good thing, what privilege
really means, and what it’s like to become the “white minority” in your
neighbourhood.”
When I first heard MTV was doing a documentary explicitly
titled White People, admittedly I wasn’t all that interested. The media is
dominated by ‘white’ opinion. If I wanted to know what they thought I’d turn on
the TV. Right?
But after seeing some of the backlash that came with the
documentary’s release, I thought I’d give it a go. Well…it was certainly
interesting.
I’d like to point out that the documentary is only 40
minutes long – not nearly enough time to go into depth about the problems
addressed. Thus, it came across as very ambitious, but very superficial. Within
the first 2 minutes of the film this conversation took place:
Jose: “What are you,
and where are you from?”
Student 1: “I’m white.
I’m Caucasian. That is my heritage.”
Jose: “Yeah I find
that really interesting, ‘cause you know ‘White’ is not a country…When you say
‘White’ what does that mean to you?”
Student 2: “White is
the default. It is the default race.”
Um…what? What does that even mean “default race”? I’m mixed race and I have never thought of my ‘white
side’ as being the default. It’s not as if I’m a picture on Photoshop having
the contrast and brightness adjusted, where you start off with a white girl and
end up with a mixed one? There is no such thing as a “default race” period.
Jose then visits the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in
Wanblee, South Dakota. He interviews Lakota students and two white teachers
living there.
The term “Wasichu” is discussed. It translates to “He who
takes the best meat”, “a greedy white person”, but is now used to simply refer
to white people. One of the teachers states she has never felt attacked by it,
but the fact that the word exists is “rough”. Another says he was never
offended by the term, and he “gets it”. I’m guessing this “getting it” part was
put into the documentary to kind of say “Hey, not all white people are ignorant
to the past. We understand.”
White people have never had to internalise what they have
done in American, but here you can’t escape that. The reservation is near
Wounded Knee, South Dakota, where in 1890, White soldiers slaughtered hundreds
of Lakota men, women and children. It is hard to avoid history like that.
Another statement that really stood out to me was this: “The
skin colour I wear allows me to represent something bigger than myself.” This
was said by a white person, but I feel it applies to people of colour as well.
White people today may not have first-hand committed the atrocities of the past
against minorities, but it is impossible to avoid the history that’s there.
I have a lot I want to say about this documentary, but I’m
pushing the word count here. If you’ve watched this, I’d like to hear your
thoughts.
Omg wow, I haven't watched this but I will now! But yes, the "defualt race" thing doesn't sit well with me. It's constantly shoved in our faces I guess and it's at the point where we can do nothing but ignore it, sadly. Good review - very easy to read!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe someone actually referred to whiteness as the "default" race - I always think about the way society tends to consider certain identities as default - in the sense that we don't acknowledge them as different, or notice things like whiteness unless we are thinking critically about race, because whiteness is presented as the norm in basically all dominant media. But I find it interesting that someone would acknowledge that by actually overtly identifying themselves as the "default". It's basically like they were asked what race/heritage they identify with and responded with "the normal one".
ReplyDeleteI have watched the doco, and I have to say, Im pretty shocked with the words that they used 'what does white mean to you'. - "The default" and "The norm" "The good thing". I find all those statements to be absurd, I am white and a lot of my friends are from different parts of the world (India, Congo, France, China). I don't feel as the 'default' around them, but as part of a group, no matter where you're from or what colour you are, you should be respected equally. Great post and good film choice.
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