Fantasy and imagined racism
Cries about supposed racism in the new 'King Kong' are disgusting and surreal. Where do you draw the line between racism and fantasy? It's about a GIANT GORILLA. Andy Serkis, the actor who modeled Kong's movements in the new movie, prepared for his role by studying gorillas, not black humans. The story is fantasy. It's a story about "ooooh, wouldn't it be neat if..." and "gee, do you think it would be possible for..." Fantasy is about transporting normal humans (the audience) into a context where their human strengths, weaknesses, and inclinations are tested by forces never before encountered.
In the 17-19th centuries, global exploration also tested human strengths, weaknesses, and inclinations in ways that had never before been encountered. If the challenges to human character portrayed in 'Kong' parallel those challenges to human character that were faced by European explorers three hundred years ago, that doesn't make the story of 'Kong' racist. Give me a break. If anything, it makes 'Kong' an engaging and potentially valuable exploration in itself.
Is every exploited character in every story representative of 18th and 19th century African slaves? Is every fictional character who suffers representative of 'minorities,' or 'the poor'? Are some stories very racist, and some stories just mildly racist? How do we determine which are which? By how offended we feel? By how offended some stranger feels? What are the key dimensions of a story that allow us to look into the heart of the storyteller, to determine if he is a racist? If Kong had been a giant albino ape, would that have made the movie ok? Maybe if the characters didn't have to travel to an island by ship (a la 18th century slave traders), maybe then the story wouldn't be racist. Maybe if the heroine were fat and unattractive, and if Kong were a giant American bald eagle, then it wouldn't be racist, and we could enjoy the fantasy without guilt. Where do we draw the line? Please, tell me, so I can appreciate art and entertainment without worrying about whether or not I should be offended.
Jerks.
1 Comments:
And Star Wars Episode I was, like, TOTALLY racist. You had the Asian-like aliens of the Trade Federation, the Jewish-slash-Italian junk shop owner, the black-like Jar Jar Binks... Offensive stereotypes left and right! People who make movies need to be more sensitive to how their fueling of these stereotypes is a barrier to the end of prejudice against minorities... Or aliens... Or something... Because, as we all know, George Lucas is a very evil and recist man, and... uh... Yeah! We should all be very insulted, on behalf of all those poor minorities who are being made fun of even if they don't know it! Now let me tell you about all the ways in which Episode III was anti-Bush...
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