Oh, you didn't. I was mainly trying to couch my own response so that any lurkers out there would not misread. ;-)
I think so much is based on the context of the time period. In the 1960s and 1970s...colorblind casting was sort of rare. If persons of color were cast - their race was constantly referred to.
Song of the South...could be read more than one way, depending on your point of view - much like Huckleberry Finn. At the time...it was actually fairly progressive. Now, it comes across as racist as it may well have to various people back then.
The story was about an old man, Uncle Remus, who told morality tales to a bunch of children black and white. It wasn't until I read social criticism of it years later that I saw the racial undertones. As a six-seven year old child, I merely saw an old man telling morality stories or parables about animals. It's not all that different than Cinderella. I saw it as a tale about a bunch of animals who help a poor girl obtain her dreams, by working together - it wasn't until years later that I saw the other message - my focus was on the mice defeating Lucifier the cat - when I saw it as a child.
I think people forget that they bring their own perception to the work. We interact with it.
Gone with the Wind - same deal, it is quite racist actually. But as a child I just saw a romance. As an adult I saw the racism.
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branchandroot
Re: LOL
Date: 2013-01-22 01:34 am (UTC)I think so much is based on the context of the time period. In the 1960s and 1970s...colorblind casting was sort of rare. If persons of color were cast - their race was constantly referred to.
Song of the South...could be read more than one way, depending on your point of view - much like Huckleberry Finn. At the time...it was actually fairly progressive. Now, it comes across as racist as it may well have to various people back then.
The story was about an old man, Uncle Remus, who told morality tales to a bunch of children black and white. It wasn't until I read social criticism of it years later that I saw the racial undertones. As a six-seven year old child, I merely saw an old man telling morality stories or parables about animals. It's not all that different than Cinderella. I saw it as a tale about a bunch of animals who help a poor girl obtain her dreams, by working together - it wasn't until years later that I saw the other message - my focus was on the mice defeating Lucifier the cat - when I saw it as a child.
I think people forget that they bring their own perception to the work.
We interact with it.
Gone with the Wind - same deal, it is quite racist actually. But as a child I just saw a romance. As an adult I saw the racism.