Race and Pirates

[oyceter]

I ended up buying Beverly Tatum's "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?", despite already having borrowed it from the library because a) I wanted something to read in line while I waited to get a seat for Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and b) I want to financially support books like these and authors who tackle the subject of

Comments

[cija]

The movie is incredibly racist

- I haven't see it yet, but that's the impression I got from the previews I saw, except nobody else who'd reviewed it had mentioned that so far (that I know of), so I thought maybe I was imagining it, or it was weird preview editing that made sense in context.

It is really fucked up that I so frequently see something -- like the previews for King Kong, or for PotC2 -- and think, That looks really racist, but it can't be or somebody else would have already said something, so I'd better be quiet.

-- Did they not even have Anamaria from the first movie? I thought she'd be a recurring character -- that's really disappointing if she's not.

[oyceter]

That looks really racist, but it can't be or somebody else would have already said something, so I'd better be quiet.

Yeah, I know! And yet...

So no, the racism isn't imaginary, it isn't weird preview editing, it doesn't make sense in context. It's just totally random.

And yeah, they don't even have Anamaria! She was cool, too.

[pinkdormouse]

I hated the cannibal island part, and may have to rant about it in more detail later.

On the other hand I liked Tia Dalma, though not as much as I would have liked them bringing Anamaria back with her own ship to help the guys out. I didn't notice her accent that much, probably because Anamaria had an accent in the first film and I was thinking 'oh, Anamaria-replacement character'.

After ranting repeatedly about not enough black characters in the first film, I wasn't expecting many in this one, and actually thought I saw more than before. I may be wrong on that -- I'll have to rewatch both to compare.

But you're not at all wrong for noticing, and you should post. People need to have it pointed out to them.

[oyceter]

The cannibals were awful. And then I laughed at a lot of it. And then there were more cannibals, and it was awful. And then I had so much mental dissonance that I thought my head would explode.

I think Tia Dalma annoyed me because after I started noticing the portrayal of characters of color, the entire voodoo witch savage lives in swamp thing really irked me, especially for the one main character of color.

[pinkdormouse]

It'll be interesting to see what they do with Tia Dalma in the next movie -- she's definitely listed as being on the cast. There've been lots of mentions by people on my LJ thread and on other posts about Tia and Davy Jones owning identical pendants, and theorising what's behind that, so I hope that she does get a big plot thread.

I want Anamaria back too, though.

[lavendertook]

Me too. But if Zoe Saldana took a look at this script and bailed I'd respect that totally. I wonder what the reaction to the protests on Dominica were among the various production members and cast--did anyone care? Did Disney execs do their damnedest to keep it from reaching them?

[rachelmanija]

Argh. And I was looking forward to it, too.

I don't think it's wrong to point it out. I don't know if you saw King Kong, which has the Island of the Crazed Black Savages. I remember thinking, "Well, I guess they were in the original movie, and I don't think Peter Jackson is racist, but... Island of the Crazed Black Savages!"

[rilina]

I do think I saw some commentary about this in reviews of King Kong. I haven't seen any commentary on race in reviews of Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

[pandarus]

In King Kong's favour, though, it did have the smokin' hot and pretty damned fabulous Hayes, played by Evan Parke...but he got killed by the big ape half way through the movie, so maybe that doesn't count. The Crazy Black Savages DID strike me as fairly !!!! - it was a minor relief that they seemed to be no racial type known to man, but people of colour they certainly were.

Crap. I'm sorry to hear about the new PotC movie, and I can readily believe it, because I remember seeing the trailer and thinking ???? about the whole cannibal thing just from the clips. And I'm particularly sorry to hear Annamaria isn't in it! Damn - she was one of the more interesting supporting characters, & I'd been assuming she'd be back.

[oyceter]

I know, I was sad about Anamaria as well =(. Especially since it seemed like a lot of the other pirates with personality were back this time 'round.

[pinkdormouse]

I should have said more about my issues with the cannibal island part of the story in my review, and maybe I'll post about that at some point. I may just bundle it up with the Multiculturalism Yay post I've been planning ever since a business contact pissed me off with her rant on 'immigrants' (ironically it dawned on me afterwards that I'm nth generation English, while I'm sure she's mentioned in the past that half her ancestors are Finnish -- may have to drop that into conversation if she does that to me again). It just feels odd me ranting about race so much, when the family members doing our genealogy research are yet to find any branches of the family tree not originating in Yorkshire or Norfolk.

[oyceter]

Hey, all voices are good voices! Tatum writes about racism and how it hurts everyone, no matter what color they are, from the awkwardness that white people feel in talking about race to aversive racism and etc. It's a very, very, very good book, and she's very thoughtful and compassionate.

Um, which is not to pressure you to post on it, but just to say that I very much do look forward to reading lots of people writing about race.

[pinkdormouse]

I'll see what I can come up with.

Sometimes I feel like I'm kind of the opposite to a lot of people with my background (I grew up in a small all-white community, although the village started to get a bit more mixed after I went to university) talking on the internet. I love diversity -- I want to celebrate everyone's background, including my own.

And while I still refer to her by her Greek name, Hestia, I'm far more in touch with my goddess of the hearth/home at the moment and kicking myself for being a bit disorganised about going up home for the well dressings. I don't think the British identity is getting overwhelmed by the latest influx of new people, I think it's the people already here who can't be bothered to think about where their traditions come from at the end of the day. Everyone's ancestors were immigrants at some point and we ought to be all Multiculturism Yay!, rather than panicking about some imagined fate that will only happen through neglect

[hysteriachan]

I haven't seen the movie yet, and I don't really know if I will--for the most part, people I know have been enjoying it, but the first one didn't make much of an impression (and I see few enough movies that I try to make sure I'll be seeing things I really enjoy or learn something from). But from what I remember of the first one, I can't say I find this all that surprising. :/ It's amazing what earns general acceptance if it's done in the name of "fun that hurts no one", whether that subliminal claim is true or not.

I really appreciate that you do make posts like these, and that they remind me to pay more attention to the way the world actually is.

[oyceter]

The sad thing is, I would have liked it! Ok, it was overlong, but it was really funny. Except, you know, the whole racist bit, which basically left a bad taste in my mouth that never went away.