I think it’s getting worse. I used to hold my tongue and nod along with everyone else. The problem is I’m tired of not seeing folks of color in films. I’m tired of picking “good” YA texts for the classes I’m teaching and seeing white privilege reinforced on every page. I’m tired of not seeing the lives and experiences of my former South Central Los Angeles students represented in the books we read.*
I’m pretty sure my students might be getting tired of me: I’m a bit of a broken record when it comes to race and politics of representation when discussing literature, popular media, pedagogy, NCLB, relational aspects of connecting with students.
Sometimes (often), I fret about whether it might be best to let it slide. For one class, let the “race-thing” not be brought up. For one movie, don’t let the first thing you say when you walk out of the theater be, “Well, that’s gotta be the whitest movie ever made.”**
But.
But I just can’t. It feels irresponsible not to.
Case in point: tonight I saw Wreck It Ralph. It was fun. The videogame references, the unexpected plot developments, the playful short film before the feature: it was better than its marketing campaign led me to believe. But then…
See, here’s the thing: I’m pretty sure every character is white (except for ancillary villains shown in a bad-guy support group at the beginning of the film… hmmm…). Ally pointed out that title character Ralph might possibly be something non-white. And that’s good, right? I mean he is the protagonist. Except that the attributes we learn about our hero is that he has halitosis, a penchant for making bad decisions, and oafish strength. Not exactly the apotheosis of a young person’s role model.
And then there was the police brutality. Without giving away anything in the plot, there is a part of the film where Ralph is detained. Though he’s already restrained in the sweetest possible way, the two cop-like figures take to physically accosting him. This is done for laughs. Like the part where Ralph can’t move so the cop tasers him in the face: funny, right?
I know. It’s just a movie. Let it go.
But.
But I just can’t. I think about the ways these humorous scenes slowly reinforce lessons about social behavior and normality for the packed theater I sat in. Mix the giggles from this scene with the giggles about the use of the word duty/doody and it’s not quite clear where the line is drawn. And if Ally’s right and Ralph IS supposed to be non-white … well then, congratulations, Disney: you just got America to laugh at police beating up a person of color.
This turned into a frustrated rant. Sorry. I am actually genuinely interested in a pedagogical issue here: when is it our responsibility as teachers to “turn off” the critical lens? Ever? Does it ever interfere with our other content responsibilities?
*This week, my class is reading and discussing David Levithan’s Boy Meets Boy. I really like this book. It also, however, makes me wonder about the politics of queer identity in YA. Who gets to be gay in YA texts? Is this also a marginalized white privilege? (Future blog post about this at some point.)
**Film in question, by the way, was the Perks of Being a Wallflower. Seriously though, EVERY character was white. Seriously.
Thank you for writing this and to answer your question. Once you open your eyes/turn on your critical lens you cannot not or should not ever turn it off. Though I haven’t seen wreck it Ralph, I agree with much of what you described from the countless examples found in mainstream media. As an immigrant Asian youth growing up in the 80s and 90s, I often found myself denying my Asian ancestry, despite my failures at hiding my obvious phenotype giveaways. I sought to be like the white male heartthrobes on the television screen, in hopes of one day wooing my own Molly Ringwald. But I digress, you point to several more “sophisticated” or subtle means by which race is hidden just below the surface. Unfortunately it reinforces the same racist ideologies in different packages.
Antero,
Thanks so much for this reflection. Your closing question about when, if ever, it’s appropriate to turn off the critical lens particularly resonated. One of the questions I regularly return to as an educator is the dilemma of which, among many valuable perspectives, should be taken in a given learning situation. Any given text (or event, object, etc) can be read from a critical perspective, from a historical perspective, from a design perspective, from an environmental perspective, from an aesthetic perspective, from a systems perspective, etc etc. The list goes on. Of course these perspectives aren’t mutually exclusive, but it is no small feat to have a discussion with 5th graders that really hits even one of those in a way where it feels like things really sink in, let alone manage to achieve an elegant synthesis of so many valued perspectives in a pedagogical moment. Add onto this a little neurosis around feeling guilt if I *don’t* raise the critical perspective since I’m a white dude, and I personally end up in a somewhat complicated position. It always fels like something important gets excluded, and so hard to figure which is most important to attend to. So, I don’t have any answers, just more questions. But it’s good to be asking them.
On the same page Antero. It’s trying being the person of color pointing out that people of color are excluded from what we just watched or read. However, I’m over coming home with a mouth full of blood from biting my tongue all day. It’s important to always let it be known that there is exclusion or stereotypes being reenforced by what we’re consuming.
I agree with Cliff. There is no going back. It’s like the Plato’s Cave. I use to kid myself that I could voluntarily enter the cave and forget about the critical lens and just watch or listen to media and not question it, accept the shadows on the wall as truth. It’s not possible. That’s the power of knowledge.
If it’s really addressed as the “race-thing” then it needs to be brought up more, almost like clockwork. It should never be labeled or treated as such. It’s not a “race-thing,” it’s a genuine problem of hegemony, privilege, access, economics, education, voting, etc. etc. etc.
I know it can be difficult being the only one in the room that sees a need to dialogue about these things. So keep up the good and necessary fight.
My comment on my friends page “I saw “Wreck it Ralph” and I think he is reaching for something that is almost there but he skims the surface. I joked to my friend after the film about there being no people of color in the film, cause there aren’t any… except for some vague background characters. It can be seen as a film on race but it would have two sides to it. One. Ralph and the little girl he helps are the “Other” and they are feared in the film. Ralph lives in the ghettos of his game, literally the pile of bricks outside the apartment building. Now if it were about race then it would be sad, because the lesson of the plot would be, “Be happy you are in the ghetto, that is your place in life. that is what you are born to be” And with the little girl (Spoiler alert) She learns to accept that she is a glitch but she ends up being the true princess of the game. The king was manipulating the citizens into thinking she was lower than dirt. In her story the lesson is, “Be happy for who you are and what makes you different because one day you shall use your uniqueness to rise above the people who have kept you down.” I actually loved the movie. But I don’t see him as being black. His character is an obvious rip on Donkey Kong. And it sucks that whoever Ally is associates Ralph with being non-white when Ralph is obviously built like a bumbling monkey villain. He should ask Ally if only “Non-Whites” can play that role and why she made that assumption.”
In response to what you said on the Facebook Comment: I agree with you about the film not showing any variations in color. My comment is why Ralph could be the non-white. Why should he be seen that way?
I think the only time someone non-white will take the lead in a film, especially one like Wreck it Ralph which is supposed to please the widest audience possible is when it is popular and makes money. White is the default in Hollywood. Then when they do include a person of color they are are represented as the stereotype of their culture. The two biggest black stars (Will and Denzel) are usually given ‘angry black man’ roles, Jamie Foxx is staring in his next film as a slave and the Nina Simone film is receiving backlash because of the casting. Flight, Django Unchained, the Nina Simne film and 42 (the Jackie Robinson biopic) are some of the highest profile films coming out with blacks as the leads (outside of TP films) and all four are made by white directors. It’s a double edged sword when someone else is telling your story. It sucks to see people of color excluded from media and it hurts even more to see when they are there and treated as a stereotype. It’s like choosing the lesser of two evils. I think the only time when we will have balance is when the people of color are allowed to tell their stories. And if audiences are willing to vote with their wallets.
I saw Wreck It Ralph this weekend, too, and didn’t even make it to the parking lot before my rant began on the “hilarious” comment by the glitch girl comparing herself to a “cute little homeless lady” when she shows Ralph where she lives underground. As usual, Disney drew lots of laughs–lots by little kids, most disturbingly–for their signature storylines blending the pleasure of humor with the seeming oblivion of storytellers who just don’t get it. I mean, how can they not get it? How does homelessness draw a laugh? How does the exclusion of race go unnoticed. (cf Ralph Ellison) Sigh.
No matter how uncomfortable it makes us in the classroom, I don’t we can stop helping kids read these texts critically. So, as I know from experience, our course evals may tank once in a while for being “that teacher.” But if we don’t help people (kids and future teachers in particular) read films, other media, and print texts for the “genuine problem of hegemony, privilege, access, economics, education, voting, etc. etc. etc.” (see Daye’s comment above), how do we help them do so in the world?
But then I’m becoming increasingly unpopular at Thanksgiving dinner.
(And in the interest of full disclosure, one of my daughters begins working for Disney this weekend as a youth activities counselor (think Julie on the Loveboat for kids). Yes, she’s aware of Disney’s insidious habits and is especially bothered by gendered expectations Disney fosters. Add my other daughter who’s majoring in Ethnic Studies to the mix, and we’re feeling pretty conflicted at our house on a regular basis.)