Ethnic Notions

This movie was very troubling. If you didn't find it troubling, you trouble me as well. This films dealt with the evolution of derogatory depictions of African-Americans from the Civil War up to the present day. It also dealt with the psychology behind those who enjoyed these grotesque forms of comedic entertainment known as "minstrels." It was argued by many in the South that the Blacks were animals who enjoyed servitude to White Masters, and were meant to be domesticated by the Whites. When Slavery was abolished by the Constitution, the backlash hit the blacks which depicted the Freedmen as wild rampant wild animals, as seen in "Birth of a Nation."

All this seems like a horrible, yet past ordeal. It is quite horrible, but unfortunately it can't be said that it's passed. This movie made me think of a different film I saw at the Orpheum about 5 years ago, called the "Confederate States of America." It was a strange satire of America told through a mockumentary about the Confederacy winning the Civil War and continuing to the present day (not a great film, but at least a noble effort). It was meant to be very dark comedy, and products such as "nigger hair cigarette" and other racially charged products were joked about surviving to the present day. Some instances like these were so ridiculous, the audience couldn't help but give uncomfortable laughs. In the credits, these products made reappearances with captions that told when they were actually from. I was highly to disturbed to find a good chunk of products, including "nigger hair cigarette" were actually sold as recently as the 1970s. I think this fact illustrates perfectly the point of "Ethnic Notions," which is that this stereotyping will take a very long time to completely wear off this society.

This film made me think a lot, and proved to be very troubling in thought as well as the simply disgusting images. I wish the we had a bigger discussion on this as the class, but we are short on time, so I can't complain.