There is the sexism test that says in a piece of theatre or in literature, you need to have two women talking to each other about something other than a man. Now a guy (actor and playwright Dylan Marron) has created versions of popular films that eliminate all the dialogue that is spoken by white people. Not surprisingly, not much is left. He says it seems that the default position is that the characters are white, if the material doesn't spell it out otherwise. In our actual society, it seems to be less and less an issue -- children like mine don't really think of themselves as "people of colour". At least, I don't think they do. When we talk about race, they don't seem to find it a dividing line or a place of limitations. It doesn't occur to them that people will see them differently if they think they're "black" or "brown" or whatever term we might use to describe them. Am I a Pollyanna to see it like this?
On a similar note, I saw a report on the news last night that focused on these stickers that people are putting on their cars. They look like the ICBC designation for "L" or "N", but they have a "C" on them and at the bottom it says "Chinese driver" or something like that. We were all shocked and appalled to see such a thing, but then the reporter went to a shop that was selling the stickers and the Asian girl who was behind the counter said that mostly Chinese people were buying the stickers and they thought it was funny! Then they surveyed people on the street and the Caucasians were shocked and thought it was racist but the Chinese people agreed that it was funny. A sociologist at UBC (who was also Asian) said that he thought it was people taking the sting out of a stereotype, just as people have done for ages (like "Hunky Bill" using that term for his restaurants, for example). The world is changing, I guess. At least, here in our diverse community. Maybe not in Mississippi -- who knows? I haven't been there. In South Carolina, they took down their Confederate flag.
No comments:
Post a Comment