Journal #25
“I just don’t believe that when people are being unjustly oppressed that they should let someone else set the rules for them by which they can come out from under that oppression.” ---Malcolm X
Those who are not oppressed do not understand the degrees of prejudice and unjust that the oppressed deal with. It's often easy for them to say, "Our ancestors did that, we're sorry, but get over it." However, this does not break the chains that continue to hinder these minorities from moving on. We aren't asking for those to apologize for their ancestors' faults, we are asking them to break down the unjust and oppressive walls that they have built to keep us from moving past it. One of the ways that the oppressed allow others to represent them is through "whitewashing."
The media and television have been depicting a variety of indigenous people and races in a very conventional way. The term is called "whitewashing." Whitewashing is a term coined by pop culture that is used to negatively depict the media's portrayal of ethnic characters. What this means is that film or television will cast a predominantly white actor to play the role of an indigenous character. An example of this is the new upcoming Netflix series called, "Death Note." Death Note is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and was later made into an animated series of its own. The main character, Light Yagami, is a Japanese high school student, as well as all of the characters in the series. Therefore, the assumption goes that the actors would be Japanese as well. However, Netflix has other ideas. Light Yagami will be played by Nat Wolff, a Caucasian male, not to mention that almost all the cast will also be white. The problem with this is that the white population deems this as a way to popularize Japanese culture without really acknowledging them as a group. The unequal representation of them in a series created by their own people, does not allow them to organize and be able to voice themselves to the public. This is where the stigma that American films are becoming more diverse comes from. It's not that the oppressed are not able to be represented, it's that they're not being able to represent themselves.
Those who are not oppressed do not understand the degrees of prejudice and unjust that the oppressed deal with. It's often easy for them to say, "Our ancestors did that, we're sorry, but get over it." However, this does not break the chains that continue to hinder these minorities from moving on. We aren't asking for those to apologize for their ancestors' faults, we are asking them to break down the unjust and oppressive walls that they have built to keep us from moving past it. One of the ways that the oppressed allow others to represent them is through "whitewashing."
The media and television have been depicting a variety of indigenous people and races in a very conventional way. The term is called "whitewashing." Whitewashing is a term coined by pop culture that is used to negatively depict the media's portrayal of ethnic characters. What this means is that film or television will cast a predominantly white actor to play the role of an indigenous character. An example of this is the new upcoming Netflix series called, "Death Note." Death Note is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and was later made into an animated series of its own. The main character, Light Yagami, is a Japanese high school student, as well as all of the characters in the series. Therefore, the assumption goes that the actors would be Japanese as well. However, Netflix has other ideas. Light Yagami will be played by Nat Wolff, a Caucasian male, not to mention that almost all the cast will also be white. The problem with this is that the white population deems this as a way to popularize Japanese culture without really acknowledging them as a group. The unequal representation of them in a series created by their own people, does not allow them to organize and be able to voice themselves to the public. This is where the stigma that American films are becoming more diverse comes from. It's not that the oppressed are not able to be represented, it's that they're not being able to represent themselves.
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