The Assumption of Default
So, today with scarlettina and our friends Sean and Debi we saw Oklahoma! at the Cinerama in it's fully restored glory.
Yes, it's a gorgeous movie adaptation of a classic Broadway musical, everyone is talented, it's funny...etc.
But I couldn't help noticing that it takes place in a curiously ethnically cleansed version of Oklahoma. There's not one non-White face in the entire film. Not one Black, Hispanic, or Native face.
That last really struck me as part of the cruel joke that Oklahoma actually is. The state's name means Red People in Choctaw. They were one of the Five Civilized Tribes pushed there on the Trail of Tears, along with the Muskogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Cherokee - who, by the way, brought 2,000 black slaves with them - hello! Black people! - because the Five Civilized Tribes lived in towns like White people. But, no they had to go, since someone found gold in Georgia, and, hey, while we're at it, let's clear out Alabama and Mississippi too. And when the gold peters out, we'll build large plantations worked by slaves. Because we're Southern Gentlemen. Yeah... right.
Oh, and all that land we promised in the Indian Territory? Just Kidding!! White settlers, railroads, and cattle barons want that land so..... deal with it.
Now, I'm not saying that the story of Curly, Jud, and Laurey needs to be some cry of Native justice. I don't want to be that guy. But it's .... well, ethnic cleansing to at least not admit such people existed there. To make them completely invisible. At the very least, show the reality of people in the broader community.
And, also (still thinking about the complaints of Some People at the Hugos), if a story isn't the "simple" adventure you wanted, but instead talking about things involving "Race", gender, sexuality, or (worse still) Girls (eww!), ask yourself these two questions:
1) what does the absence of these things tell me about what I assume to be the "default" setting for things?
2) what is it about their presence that upsets me? Why does their presence upset me?
Yes, it's a gorgeous movie adaptation of a classic Broadway musical, everyone is talented, it's funny...etc.
But I couldn't help noticing that it takes place in a curiously ethnically cleansed version of Oklahoma. There's not one non-White face in the entire film. Not one Black, Hispanic, or Native face.
That last really struck me as part of the cruel joke that Oklahoma actually is. The state's name means Red People in Choctaw. They were one of the Five Civilized Tribes pushed there on the Trail of Tears, along with the Muskogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Cherokee - who, by the way, brought 2,000 black slaves with them - hello! Black people! - because the Five Civilized Tribes lived in towns like White people. But, no they had to go, since someone found gold in Georgia, and, hey, while we're at it, let's clear out Alabama and Mississippi too. And when the gold peters out, we'll build large plantations worked by slaves. Because we're Southern Gentlemen. Yeah... right.
Oh, and all that land we promised in the Indian Territory? Just Kidding!! White settlers, railroads, and cattle barons want that land so..... deal with it.
Now, I'm not saying that the story of Curly, Jud, and Laurey needs to be some cry of Native justice. I don't want to be that guy. But it's .... well, ethnic cleansing to at least not admit such people existed there. To make them completely invisible. At the very least, show the reality of people in the broader community.
And, also (still thinking about the complaints of Some People at the Hugos), if a story isn't the "simple" adventure you wanted, but instead talking about things involving "Race", gender, sexuality, or (worse still) Girls (eww!), ask yourself these two questions:
1) what does the absence of these things tell me about what I assume to be the "default" setting for things?
2) what is it about their presence that upsets me? Why does their presence upset me?