We live in an increasingly post-racial world in which talent, personality and equal opportunity demonstrably drive popular vote in the democratic process. The lessons, circumstances and heroes that brought us to this point are a memory that is revisited every year. February is celebrated as Black History Month in America. In the wake of these celebrations, the popular James Cameron blockbuster movie “Avatar” has brought the race debate back to the fore.
Our increasingly global and interracial world is caught in a raging debate about racist subtexts in “Avatar”. Today's modern-day commentator platforms —YouTube and Twitter — have been flooded with opinions from people who have found the movie to be patronising and a “fantasy about race told from the point of view of white people”. Some people are of the view that it reinforces the white Messiah myth. The tipping point of the race argument in the movie is a line spoken towards to end of the movie, the bad guy telling the good guy, “How does it feel to betray your own race?”
To the objective onlooker, the movie is a stylish story as well as a superb spectacle of animation. The racial undertone which some people sensed was that the white man was required to save the “not up to par” Na'vi people from being destroyed. This analysis is overlooking one important fact. The white man proved instrumental for their survival, but not to help them overcome their own native problems or even to fight a third party enemy. He simply helped them overcome the oppression of his own people, giving them an edge over and insights into overcoming human hegemony. To employ someone from the other side to work for you is not racism, it's good wartime strategy. In that sense he betrayed his race, not the narrow interpretation of his own white race, but the much broader context of the entire human race (or a representation thereof) against which the Na'vi people of planet Pandora were pitted.
Uncomfortable indictment
If there was anything uncomfortable about the movie, it was the implication that a paraplegic man found deeper meaning, fuller expression and greater empathy from a group that was alien.
Popular themes and works of fiction have from time to time become the object of intense scrutiny and interpretation. A mighty blow in the name of political correctness comes to the legacy of Enid Blyton story books. In the past decades, the hugely popular and much-loved author came under similar criticism. Many of her books have references to golliwogs and brownies and some of these are the “bad guys” in her story.
Enid Blyton is not here today to defend the claim that she was racist. To generations of youngsters who grew up under her spell, Enid Blyton created a sheer magical escapist world of goblins, pixies and far-away lands up on trees, uninhabited islands, mysterious moors, and plump farmers' wives who fed young children the most delectable morsels. This was the world into which children loved to enter every day. Beauty, chic or cool didn't earn her praise, but sensibility, stoicness and strength of character were lauded as heroic.
The strong message that Enid Blyton books generate are loyalty, friendship and good, clean fun. Many generations of Indians feel indebted to Enid Blyton for her body of work on which we grew up.
Today, many of her stories have been given a makeover. The brownies and golliwogs have been dropped from the stories and replaced with monkeys. Some people do see these changes as a vandalism of her work.
The word golliwog denigrated from being a favourite children's toy to a racial slur especially in Britain, when Carol Thatcher used that term to describe a black tennis player in an off-air conversation at the BBC.
Rampant revisionism
Many nursery rhymes have come under the critical gun as well — notably “Baa baa, black sheep” and “Humpty, dumpty”. Schools in Oxfordshire, England have changed the nursery rhyme, in deference to equal opportunity, anti-discrimination and good practice. Instead of the traditional “Baa baa, Black sheep”, children in these schools are now taught to sing “Baa Baa, rainbow sheep”.
“Baa baa, black sheep” is a 17th century nursery rhyme that has been in the limelight of controversy for over a decade. A decade ago, the Birmingham City Council in the UK attempted to ban the rhyme, after claiming that it was racist and portrayed negative stereotypes. The council had to later rescind the ban after black parents thought the ban was inane.
Tom and Jerry cartoons, too, have been through an editor's scissors. Most scenes that result in either Tom or Jerry ending up with a blackface have either been deleted or edited with the blackface no longer shown.
Black is a wonderfully expressive colour. It is everywhere today as the universal colour that cuts through race, sex and occasion. It has received a lot of traction lately as a colour that's sophisticated and chic. Black dresses are a clear favourite for evening party wear and black formal attire is a must for job interviews. In India, the black sari is suddenly ubiquitous and has gained ground as being both dressy and formal. It is a favourite of female TV anchors, party hosts and lady executives at meetings.
Our political correctness may want to politely obscure this fact, but some universal truths cannot be changed. Fear can make you turn white as a ghost, fire does have a way of reducing everything to black carbon and black sheep do exist. Rainbow on the other hand, is not even a colour.
