Yesterday eve I tried to watch The Lives of Others, an acclaimed 2006 German film. The result is before you: a stream of consciousness about historical memory, the changing times, and white supremacy
Marhaba ya Alon, or should I say kulshi labes? I was a peace corps volunteer in Morocco from 1979-1982. Two years teaching English in a public high school in Taza and one year helping with a textbook project in Rabat. Stunningly beautiful countryside; kind and generous people. climate change and severe drought are destroying huge regions.
The 1619 Project: A New Original Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones has some very important perspectives on white supremacy in the USA, including the history of Native American/African American relations in the 1700’s and 1800’s.
Also very interesting is what happened to the author at UNC Chapel Hill. She is now tenured at Howard University in DC.
This book is must read on slavery and race relations in the USA for 400 years. It blew my mind and I majored in history in college.
I have always suspected this growing up, and is now my belief as I enter my 6th decade in life: “This lack of natural confidence and reassurance must be part of the reason why white supremacy runs so deep in colonizer cultures: portraying other people as worthy and whole may mean a disaster for the colonizer, not only because of what they’ve done but because of who the hell are they?”
Well said Alon. I too, have been angry at how we are forced to relate to only the white experience in films. I immediately thought of the movie about the eartquake and subsequent tsunami in south-east Asia in 2004; The Impossible. The film is following the heartbreaking story of a white family, while the 200,000 brown locals are merely a backdrop. Their deaths are only a set for the film’s most important characters. Sickening.
"where are all the films where black and brown people are presented in the same ‘hold your breath‘ kind of sustained intensity (think Oskar Schindler)? Where and when have we ever got a chance to look at black and brown people - especially non-Americans - as full, legitimate, important beings"
One film made 70 years ago can't change entrenched cultural perceptions augmented daily by endless new productions, commercials, news programs and so on. Surely some films have been made as some books have been written, but they had close to zero impact on wider culture. If the average person doesn't know it, it really doesn't exist
You are entirely right. But my own experience seeing “Panther Panchali” (among others) when very young and its lifelong impact on me—an isolated anecdote, not even a data point—also illustrates your point that routinely seeing such films would change us.
Which is why I’m one of those sinister Jews who promotes “white replacement.” Not that white people should be eliminated, but that it’s long past time for us (I’m Ashkenazi) to get (or get thrown) off the throne and get lost in the crowd, be just a little milk in the coffee. It’s happening, if only “we” don’t blow up the world to prevent it.
Of course. But Western people could see it. “Where and when have we ever got a chance to look at black and brown people - especially non-Americans - as full, legitimate, important beings, personally and politically?” By watching non-American, non-Euroid movies.
You and I have, but rarely is there the same mainstream commercial distribution. I actually came to this trilogy through people and classes that also were into less commercial European film artists. Satyajit Ray himself valued them. Overall, I guess it was the "arthouse cinema" in the day. The audience reach, I think, was far less than even something like "The Lives of Others."
Marhaba ya Alon, or should I say kulshi labes? I was a peace corps volunteer in Morocco from 1979-1982. Two years teaching English in a public high school in Taza and one year helping with a textbook project in Rabat. Stunningly beautiful countryside; kind and generous people. climate change and severe drought are destroying huge regions.
The 1619 Project: A New Original Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones has some very important perspectives on white supremacy in the USA, including the history of Native American/African American relations in the 1700’s and 1800’s.
Also very interesting is what happened to the author at UNC Chapel Hill. She is now tenured at Howard University in DC.
This book is must read on slavery and race relations in the USA for 400 years. It blew my mind and I majored in history in college.
I have always suspected this growing up, and is now my belief as I enter my 6th decade in life: “This lack of natural confidence and reassurance must be part of the reason why white supremacy runs so deep in colonizer cultures: portraying other people as worthy and whole may mean a disaster for the colonizer, not only because of what they’ve done but because of who the hell are they?”
I think that this part is a very big deal, and a huge motivation for colonizer evil
Well said Alon. I too, have been angry at how we are forced to relate to only the white experience in films. I immediately thought of the movie about the eartquake and subsequent tsunami in south-east Asia in 2004; The Impossible. The film is following the heartbreaking story of a white family, while the 200,000 brown locals are merely a backdrop. Their deaths are only a set for the film’s most important characters. Sickening.
"where are all the films where black and brown people are presented in the same ‘hold your breath‘ kind of sustained intensity (think Oskar Schindler)? Where and when have we ever got a chance to look at black and brown people - especially non-Americans - as full, legitimate, important beings"
Pather Panchali
One film made 70 years ago can't change entrenched cultural perceptions augmented daily by endless new productions, commercials, news programs and so on. Surely some films have been made as some books have been written, but they had close to zero impact on wider culture. If the average person doesn't know it, it really doesn't exist
You are entirely right. But my own experience seeing “Panther Panchali” (among others) when very young and its lifelong impact on me—an isolated anecdote, not even a data point—also illustrates your point that routinely seeing such films would change us.
Which is why I’m one of those sinister Jews who promotes “white replacement.” Not that white people should be eliminated, but that it’s long past time for us (I’m Ashkenazi) to get (or get thrown) off the throne and get lost in the crowd, be just a little milk in the coffee. It’s happening, if only “we” don’t blow up the world to prevent it.
agree . Milk in the coffee . Black coffee is for psychopaths and milk on its own kills. Life is a blend
(Black coffee drinker here, lol)
Made in India by an Indian director. Pretty sure he's focusing on western cinema.
Of course. But Western people could see it. “Where and when have we ever got a chance to look at black and brown people - especially non-Americans - as full, legitimate, important beings, personally and politically?” By watching non-American, non-Euroid movies.
You and I have, but rarely is there the same mainstream commercial distribution. I actually came to this trilogy through people and classes that also were into less commercial European film artists. Satyajit Ray himself valued them. Overall, I guess it was the "arthouse cinema" in the day. The audience reach, I think, was far less than even something like "The Lives of Others."
Sadly, yes.