We've come a long way.

[pasithea]

So.. Someone linked to this horribly racist commercial from the 50s ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCKxWQCs3f0 ) and it really bothered me. Perhaps in part because they labeled it 'possibly racist'. "POSSIBLY"!?!?! How about OVERTLY?

But then I stopped and thought about it. This person is an idiot. Lots of youtube commenters are idiots... BUT this commercial was on prime-time TV in the 60's. That's within the lifetime of many of my friends and definitely during the lifetime of most of our parents. A black man or woman would have had an impossible time trying to get into a good university in that same time frame. A major political party choosing between a woman or a black man as their candidate for president would have been nearly inconceivable.

So... I think, rather than holding on to the anger and disgust, I should focus on the positive. Yeah, there are still a lot of ignorant cretins in the world but ... we've come a long way.

Comments

[paka.livejournal.com]

Wow, the amount of thought and skill that went into animating that thing is pretty impressive, and it's complete stereotyping claptrap.

I think civil rights and recognition is always a two-edged sword (I'm talking too much today; it's a slow day, forgive me). I think there's always a danger of buying into dualism, that either things are racist as hell or that everything everywhere has been resolved. Sure, we have a Black guy running for President, the renewal of the Voting Rights Act, and so on, but you look at how things were allowed to get out of hand during Katrina or the Jena stuff, and we still have a long way to go as a society. I'm not sure what the best way is to address this sort of thing realistically, without going too negative, or burning out because of how much is still left to do.

[yetanotherbob.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what the best way is to address this sort of thing realistically, without going too negative, or burning out because of how much is still left to do.

Agreed. But given the social norms of the time, it's almost progressive. There's a slippery slope of using that as an universal excuse, but there's also a danger of being angry about the word choice and racism in Huck Finn. And such worries lead to losing sight real threats (Katrina, etc) or worse yet, whitewashing and acting as if our past didn't exist.

In this case, yeah, the Jello is racist, and has no major redeeming features. In short, it's mindless claptrap, just like what you'd expect from a 50s commercial. But in the same breath, it isn't demonizing or otherwise encouraging hateful acts. The audience is supposed to sympathize and cheer for the baby at the end. And how many asians, real or otherwise, would you see on TV in 1950s? Ironically enough, and this is where I say it's almost progressive, but I'm coming to a belief that overt but harmless racism is a necessary stage to acceptance. That without Amos and Andy, or Blazing Saddles, there wouldn't be an acknowledgment even of differences and similarities. Which leads to awareness that yes, despite that, they're still human, people to like. And from there, only then can true understanding begin.

Let's put it this way: Would you rather hets be outraged and spill ink over flamingly gay characters in TV shows and movies, or would you rather them laugh at the overcharacterizations but support equal rights and research into combatting AIDS?