Race affects you--why The Last Airbender was important
A friend of mine posted that the recent Hollywood blunder, The Last Airbender, renewed their interest in social politics. A friend of theirs commented that they disagreed: they didn't believe that the casting of TLA could actually be seen as racist. It got bad fast, but I came in a couple hours later and added this:
@[Name of person] For what it's worth, I disagree. Race is always an issue, whether we (people of colour and our allies) say so or not. And so: why shouldn't we say so?
Every time a little black child sees a film where all the black men are drug-dealing thugs and the black women are hookers, what does that tell them about their heritage, about their family and friends? We internalize media messages. When there are no positive representations of black people, what does that say? Indeed, sometimes there are no representations of black people, full stop--what does that say?
What all of that says to me as a young black person is that, despite the struggles of my forebears, despite the senseless deaths and the political murmurings, despite the strides we have made as a society, me and my people are still second-class citizens.
I would urge you [the person I wrote this in response to] to read and reflect on "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." I wish I could make it required reading for everyone. When our media and government tells us that we are unworthy, we take this within our own selves and let it govern our views, our behaviours and actions. Race affects so much of what happens to us every moment of every day. It's just far more invisible to white folks than it is to the rest of us.
A couple of further points made that I have thoughts on: first, my friend pointed out that it looks a lot like the director of TLA--a person of colour (POC)--is participating in the oppression against POC, and I agree. Just the other day, a larger-bodied person tried to fat-shame me on the bus, in front of hir friends. In the call-out, ze even acknowledged that they themselves were fat. It is not at all uncommon for us to police the communities we are a part of, and I think this stems from some sort of internalized hope or wish that we will be acceptable if we help in the oppression of our fellows.
For a famous (and possibly inflammatory, sorry) example, think of a literal one: the Jews engaged by the Nazis to police the Jews in the ghettos. Jews who were treated better because the helped the Nazis to oppress their own people.
Next point I want to expand on is the hyper literal idea of harm. When my friend said that this film was harmful to POC, their friend responded by asking (rather sarcastically) whether lynchmobs (ouch--really?) stormed out of theatres and murdered POC after watching TLA. This is a straw-man argument: physical harm is not the only kind of harm there is.
The argument often paired with this one is that TLA is fantasy, fiction, and no one will really assume from it that all dark people are bad guys and all white people are good; but we live in a society that constantly reinforces just that message. In churches, on television and in magazines, even into the halls of Congress--there are those who would tell you to believe just that. They may not phrase it that way, but that is the message at the root of what they say. To pretend that a movie is not just one more reinforcement is disingenuous; it's a hurtful lie.
@[Name of person] For what it's worth, I disagree. Race is always an issue, whether we (people of colour and our allies) say so or not. And so: why shouldn't we say so?
Every time a little black child sees a film where all the black men are drug-dealing thugs and the black women are hookers, what does that tell them about their heritage, about their family and friends? We internalize media messages. When there are no positive representations of black people, what does that say? Indeed, sometimes there are no representations of black people, full stop--what does that say?
What all of that says to me as a young black person is that, despite the struggles of my forebears, despite the senseless deaths and the political murmurings, despite the strides we have made as a society, me and my people are still second-class citizens.
I would urge you [the person I wrote this in response to] to read and reflect on "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." I wish I could make it required reading for everyone. When our media and government tells us that we are unworthy, we take this within our own selves and let it govern our views, our behaviours and actions. Race affects so much of what happens to us every moment of every day. It's just far more invisible to white folks than it is to the rest of us.
A couple of further points made that I have thoughts on: first, my friend pointed out that it looks a lot like the director of TLA--a person of colour (POC)--is participating in the oppression against POC, and I agree. Just the other day, a larger-bodied person tried to fat-shame me on the bus, in front of hir friends. In the call-out, ze even acknowledged that they themselves were fat. It is not at all uncommon for us to police the communities we are a part of, and I think this stems from some sort of internalized hope or wish that we will be acceptable if we help in the oppression of our fellows.
For a famous (and possibly inflammatory, sorry) example, think of a literal one: the Jews engaged by the Nazis to police the Jews in the ghettos. Jews who were treated better because the helped the Nazis to oppress their own people.
Next point I want to expand on is the hyper literal idea of harm. When my friend said that this film was harmful to POC, their friend responded by asking (rather sarcastically) whether lynchmobs (ouch--really?) stormed out of theatres and murdered POC after watching TLA. This is a straw-man argument: physical harm is not the only kind of harm there is.
The argument often paired with this one is that TLA is fantasy, fiction, and no one will really assume from it that all dark people are bad guys and all white people are good; but we live in a society that constantly reinforces just that message. In churches, on television and in magazines, even into the halls of Congress--there are those who would tell you to believe just that. They may not phrase it that way, but that is the message at the root of what they say. To pretend that a movie is not just one more reinforcement is disingenuous; it's a hurtful lie.