YouTube Clip at the Olympics and
article by Rick Dewsbury
All races and ethnicities are shown in a positive
way as they are all coming together and shown equally dancing and singing
together, well known British musicals and songs.
We also see how all races and ethnicities have
changed over time as they show at the beginning mainly white British people but
over the years that they show have passed more races and ethnicities are shown
part of the British culture. Also usually we wouldn't really expect the main
characters that would be representing British people and the Olympics to be a
black or mixed race person. The Olympics try to go against that stereotype. So in
some ways this could also relate to Alvarado’s theory of racial representations
that they are just pitying the black community by making them main characters
for once.
They also try to break the typical stereotype
of the all white suburban style home with having a black husband and white
middle class wife, showing them living a happy lifestyle. However the article
by Rick Dewsbury had stated that the “multicultural equality agenda was so
staged it was painful t watch”, and also he talks about the suburban family as being
an educated white mother and black father to be living together with a happy
family is such a “set up” and also a “challenge”, it questions the readers into
thinking maybe are these statements true? Are they really forcing this storyline?
But also in some ways this relates to
Frantz fanon’s theory of wearing a white mask in some ways. For instance, in
order for black races they somewhat have to mix with a white family to fit into
the good middle class stereotype of living good, e.g. wear the white mask.
WWW: Some great analysis here - I really like your interpretation of the mixed race family in the opening ceremony and the link to Fanon.
ReplyDeleteEBI: Your point about the black community being pitied in the opening ceremony is interesting but needs more explanation. Do you mean patronised? I think there's an interesting idea here but you do need to push ideas through and discuss them in as much detail as possible.
LR: Do you think the Olympics has permanently changed the representation of non-white people in British media or was it just a one-off event? Explain your answer.
Personally, I think that the Olympics has made a huge change of the representation of non-white people in British media, it had given everyone in the UK a chance to be a part of something creative and positive towards all cultures and races. It made people feel equal and as one whilst they sat and watched the ceremony and all Olympics games. However, in my opinion I feel that the Olympics will not permanently change the representation of non-white people within the British media because I don’t think that the British media will change its ways overnight and try to constantly show positivity and less stereotypes for the future about non-white people but it has made a change in the media within that month by treating all cultures equally.
ReplyDelete