Why these three people won’t be watching ‘Blood Diamond’ or ‘The Wire’
by guest contributor Christopher Chambers, originally published at Nat Turner’s Revenge
Overheard among the stacks of booze at Liquor King liquor store in Franklin Park, NJ, Route 27 outside of Princeton, December 9, 2006:
Man #1(30-ish white guy, casually dressed but appearing to be a professional, shopping for some sort of Christmas or football party): “You guys going to the movies tonight?”
Man #2(30-ish white guy with dark features, dark mustache and goatee): “Yeah, maybe the Mel Gibson thing about the Indians or Mayans.”
Man #1: “Yeah, ‘Apocalypto.’ What about ‘Blood Diamond?’”
Man#2: “Maybe. But’s it’s, like, in Africa. Looks depressing and, like, it’s about Africa, so I don’t know. I don’t have any clue. So?”
Woman (Man #2’s wife or girlfriend; 30-ish short white woman with long brown hair and a ski headband, Rutgers University sweathood): “It got good reviews [Blood Diamond]. The other thing looks pretty violent. I think it [Blood Diamond] looks interesting.”
Man #1: “OK ‘Blood Diamond’ is pretty violent, too [laughing].”
Man#2: But yeah, it’s Africa, so who cares? Is it gonna blame people for buying diamonds [laughing]? I like DiCaprio’s stuff. If he wasn’t in it, and that girl [Jennifer Connelley]…sheesh remember what a hottie she was? I think she’s a good actress. If they weren’t in it I wouldn’t even think about it, OK?”
Woman: [giggling] Hottie? I think she’s like an activist or something now, right?”
Man#2: “Like Angelina Jolie, probably. That explains it [chuckles]. Let’s see ‘Apocalypto’ because it has more action and I can’t take the other stuff because that’s too violent [query: what’s the difference between action and violence? answer: sobering reality]…[pause, shopping cart rolls, then…] She [Woman] likes ‘Deadwood’ and ‘The Wire’ and that has got some crazy stuff.”
Man #1: “Yeah, I’ve seen ‘Deadwood’ a couple of times, but I can’t get into ‘The Wire.’ It’s like [voice lowers], all these black people. I don’t even recognize the actors. I think Will Smith’s wife–Jada Pinkett–plays a crackwhore in it. She [?] says the dude from ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ who started the fight is in it. But yeah, it’s like, too real. All these black guys and then there’s stuff about politics and that’s confusing if you don’t really follow it.”
Man #2: “You see these people on tv and I just surf to another show if the game is over. I think it’s a black show.”
Woman: “They call it [The Wire] the best show on tv. Um…it’s hard to get people to watch it ’cause it’s about real things but I think they [?] see unfamiliar things and just watch something else, ya know?”
Man #2: ” ‘Blood Diamond’ looks depressing. We need Will Ferrel during Christmas [chuckling].
I think another experiment would entail showing a trailer to HBO’s current movie special “Tsunami” to sets of viewers–one white, one black, and track who tunes in. The two principal characters are black Britons on Christmas vacation, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Sophie Okonedo. The movie’s set in the wave’s aftermath; they are searching for their daughter, lost in the carnage that was once a posh Thai beach resort before the morning of December 26, 2004. I smell Emmys, but hey, middle America wants to see Emmit Smith dancing again, not people of color in a TV drama. And don’t get me started on Blood Diamond. Nobody saw Hotel Rwanda either. Maybe if Lindsay Lohan, or, to be fair, Beyonce, were in it, people would actually buy tickets to the film?
If this little slice of life doesn’t encapsulate and elucidate on the role of race and ignorance in the entertainment industry–and I include books–in our pop culture and our entrtainment tastes, then please school me otherwise with your comments.
Note:
I hereby certify that the conversation above did in fact occur and I have transcribed it to the best of my recollection. I merely pretended to browse the cabernets as the threesome wandered about, talking. I saw them later in the checkout line. I am not ascribing anything racist or similarly base to these people. They are a reflection of reality, in my opinion.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Y. Carrington wrote:
Yeah it’s reality, and it’s racist. I have no problem saying that. And it’s normal, commonplace. This is how white folks talk when we’re not around—or when they think we’re not around.
Besides racism, what I also heard (I could hear those words, literally) was a deep fear of consciousness. Subtext: If I gotta stretch my brain cells at all, that’s just too much damn work. I rather have shit fed bite-size to me, preferably by big stars in pretty clothes. Who wants to have to think about all the ugly things in the world when you can have fun?
Could any of these folks be a manager, or a professional, or hold any position of authority over others? I shudder to think.
Posted 13 Dec 2006 at 10:24 am ¶
ChrisChambers wrote:
On my iown blog, a commenter called these folks “fratboys.” I think that’s a little to facile. In addition to their age (30–ish) they “looked” like your average educated, professional people, or managers of some sort. White collar white people. I am positive they would rave that they are not racists and are proponents of diversity–all of the feelgood buzzwords.Another commenter stated your point as well that too many people of all groups in this country are too much into escapism.
Posted 13 Dec 2006 at 10:48 am ¶
ChrisChambers wrote:
PS–what I found funny and a little scary is that they injected actors of color who they knew (or who are thrown at them) ilike Jada Pinkett or Isaiah Washington nto these shows, the similar to how a lot of obtuse people will say “all Asians look alike.” They don’t extend their minds because they don’t have to. They have that luxury.
Posted 13 Dec 2006 at 11:05 am ¶
Lyonside wrote:
>They don’t extend their minds because they don’t have to. They have that luxury.
There’s a definition of privilege if I’ve ever heard one.
That conversation seems so familiar - it’s the reason I gravitate to the indie films when I can (although yeah, I have my escapist trashy moments). Some as just as vapid as any big Hollywood movie, but some of them actually have something to say. If there’s no BNS (big name star) in them, the better.
Pop culture in general scares the hell out of me. This just proves the “pablum for the masses” nature of it.
Posted 13 Dec 2006 at 11:45 am ¶
Jay wrote:
On my iown blog, a commenter called these folks “fratboys.” I think that’s a little to facile. In addition to their age (30–ish) they “looked” like your average educated, professional people, or managers of some sort. White collar white people.
I don’t see much difference. Frat boys in college often end up in very cushy jobs because they have the social network to do so. Why do you think we call it the “good ol’ boys network”?
Posted 13 Dec 2006 at 11:47 am ¶
Rob wrote:
I always had an inkling that “stuff” came out as soon as the minorities were gone. In my own experience, I’ve had white male friends “infiltrate” white circles and confirmed it.
“Trust me, when the cats are away, the mice will play.”
I’m not surprised at all.
Posted 13 Dec 2006 at 2:21 pm ¶
My Name Is Nobody wrote:
I hope that just because some white people talked/thought that way, we are not stereotyping all white people to behave in a similar way “as soon as the minorities are gone”. Some white peopple will actually be interested in seeing Blood Diamond, even!
Posted 13 Dec 2006 at 3:51 pm ¶
Nina wrote:
Y. Carrington, I love your term “deep fear of consciousness” That sums up the conversation perfectly.
Posted 13 Dec 2006 at 5:15 pm ¶
Rachel wrote:
There are a whole bunch of white folks in Manhattan like that. Then, they are the first folks to diss southerners, and laugh at the first 3 or 4 n-words that Michael Richards throws around.
Then, they follow it up with, “I’m not racist; I love everybody.”
Okay, racists and racism are really ticking me off lately. I think it was that episode of the Real World that got me fired up.
Posted 13 Dec 2006 at 8:15 pm ¶
Jenn wrote:
Agh.
And with that, my brain started melting out of my ears.
Posted 13 Dec 2006 at 10:54 pm ¶
thejoyprincess wrote:
>
Wow! The Wire creator was right…..
Posted 13 Dec 2006 at 11:23 pm ¶
Koko wrote:
What did the creator say?
Posted 13 Dec 2006 at 11:40 pm ¶
dcase wrote:
I often hear these kinds of conversations among the students at my university. Maybe I’m jaded, but I’m not especially bothered by an episode like this; I actually find this sort of ignorance rather amusing. The classic thing is the ” voice lowering” when talking about minorities. This behavior is so ingrained in that part of the population that i when have students in office hours ,(and even professors) do it when they are talking to me about something race related.
Posted 14 Dec 2006 at 12:21 am ¶
thejoyprincess wrote:
@Koko
The Wire creator and at least one other writer have been quoted as saying they believe part of the reason why more whites don’t watch the show is because the cast is largely black.
They also tend to believe that the second season had the highest ratings thus far because “it was the whitest season.”
Posted 14 Dec 2006 at 1:11 am ¶
kiwi wrote:
Yes, it’s like it’s ok as long as the racist attitudes are kept ‘quiet’ (i.e. not shown in mass media) and spoken in hushed tones or around one’s own house. Insert redneck ‘dang its my dang house and I’ll say what I dang like’ quote. But as long as this mindset continues to be propagated, racist dispositions will continue to endure, even if you have to scratch just below the surface. Based on my observations as a white (Irish) New Zealander.
Posted 14 Dec 2006 at 3:24 am ¶
eric daniels wrote:
Not surprised really, I always have said I would rather deal with David Duke than whites like these he listened in on. Because unlike Duke, Metzger, and other white power types, these whites determine your group prospects, jobs, and promotions. These people vote republican and let this adminstration kill nearly 9,000 of their fellow Americans in 9-11, The Iraq war, and the attemped Genocide (that’s what it is) of Katrina.
Who would you rather deal with?
Posted 15 Dec 2006 at 9:52 am ¶
Ann wrote:
“Who would you rather deal with? ”
Give me DD and the gang anyday.
I would rather deal with the wolf thaat bares it’s teeth, as opposed to dealing with the sly, conniving fox that uses guile and trickery.
Posted 19 Dec 2006 at 1:15 am ¶
DJ wrote:
I have noticed that people tend to do strange things when speaking about minority groups. I myself am white and believe that seeing movies like Blood Diamond is important to bring reality to light. The media likes to make things light and fluffy all the time and so I like when a serious movie comes out to remind people that life is not as wonderful as TV and movies make it look. I hope that these ignorant people have not made people think that all white people feel and think the way they do.
Posted 14 Jan 2007 at 1:30 pm ¶
kim wrote:
DJ:
The very important reason that films which explore other peoples’ land and culture are important to view, and to be exposed to, is that gaining a new view, or perspective, on how others live and what the sociopolitical landscape and history are, helps to move one away from having a ‘me-centered’ world:
Who is the minority population in the film? What are the criteria one is working from when using the term?
After viewing a film, and digesting it, we must also be willing to be changed in fundamental ways if the film had an impact; nudged us; disturbed us; excited or repulsed us.
Artistic expression has a place in life, and our lives are the better for it, when we keep our eyes open, our ears at the ready, our palms up.
For you: Sade ( song title,”Pearls”)
“There is a woman in Somalia
Scraping for stones on the roadside
There is a force stronger than nature
Keeps her will alive…
There is a woman in Somolia
The Sun shows her no mercy
The same sky we lay under
Burns her to the bone…
Long as afternoon shadows
It’s gonna take her to get home
Each stone carefully wrapped up
Pearls for her little girl…”
**************
DJ: Just a note, lest I seem to be rebuking you. I know the core of your statements, and understood your sentiments. I agree with those sentiments.
Posted 14 Jan 2007 at 2:30 pm ¶