I know, I know, it’s been a little while between posts. My excuse: life.
Now on exchange and settling into the US of A, classes have begun and I’m ready to do some learnin’.
It seems blogging has become quite popular in every course I’ve done lately, from writing classes at home to my multimedia comm class here at UW so I thought I’d return with a little cultural comparison.
Unfortunately I was not in the country to witness the ‘triumphant’ (jks guys) return of Hey Hey it’s Saturday in September and the follow up reunion show on October 7, but from what I’ve seen it doesn’t look like I missed much.
Looking back, I remember loving this show as a child. It was colourful and entertaining and the dirty jokes went over my head, but watching it now I wonder whether it was actually any good. Was it better suited to the era that it ran in? Were we entertained differently? Maybe it’s just me? It wasn’t so long ago that it ended, surely not much has changed.
Either way, I was pretty horrified by the most recent episode. While it has sparked debate and a “chorus of criticism” (which redeems us a little bit) it’s a wonder how the following sketch made it onto the show at all:
(here’s the link to the Gawker article that inspired the post.)
I know ‘blackface’ might not be as familiar to Australians as it is to Americans, but I would like to think my country isn’t so naive as to think the performance appropriate for a 21st century skit with no comedic appeal. Blackface was a comedic routine in American and British theatre that presented a caricature of African Americans, it played on and encouraged racist stereotypes and today is and should only be used as commentary on CHANGING social behaviour.
I’m unsure whether I should share this with my class or not because basically, I’m embaressed. I’m embaressed that the audience laughed. I’m embaressed that those men were doctors. I’m embaressed that Daryl said that as ‘an American’ Harry would find it offensive as to imply that none of us agree, and I’m embaressed that it was allowed to occur.
This is the second most recent performance of black face I have seen though the response evokes a different reaction. The first was on an episode of Mad Men during the wedding of Jane and Roger Sterling.
I think this is a fair comparison because a) Mad Men is a period drama, the performance was in the context of the year 1963. b) Even with the performance based in 1963, a disapproving Don Draper is noticable. c) The Hey Hey performance was only a few nights ago the cackle of appreciation of the audience members is shockingly similar. Finally, Mad Men, through including the scene, highlighted just how offensive and ridiculous such a performance is.
As Jane sickeningly giggles her way through her husband’s serenade, I’m uncomfortable but I laugh at the situation. A bunch of rich white couples sincerely enjoying a performance we now SHOULD find outdated and insensitive. Don takes the moral high ground and leaves (let’s ignore his sexist behaviour for the moment), he chooses to act as many of us would have. It’s a representation that was never accurate to begin with, it was basically slapstick racism. As soon at those one glove wearing, sad excuse for an act entered the stage my immediate thought was ‘this is not going to go down well’. I expected ‘boos’ to ensue, but alas they were treated with the same welcoming applause and laughter as they would have recieved in the 50′s.
What is even more disturbing is as we are such a comparatively young country, we have a long way to go in terms of social and racial equality. Yes we are a western nation, but we are closer to Asia than any other western country (New Zealand aside) and we have one of the most diverse populations in the world. We have seen how long it took for America to vote a Black president into office, does Australia have to wait the same amount of time to achieve the same or at least change it’s attitude? In general, we have a hard time treating our own indigenous people with the respect they deserve (it is rightfully their land), so how can we move forward if we are so willing to repeat mistakes of the past, whether they be ours or those of others. Our past is just as shameful as America’s after all.
I know this mistake is only a small moment amongst many but it revealed something about Australia that I didn’t think I really had to worry about. It’s not the image I want to have of my home, and it’s not something I want others to see.
Instead of focusing on what I’m sure we agree was a very poor choice of casting, what about taking a look at the interview that follows? Daryl Somers is the consummate professional here — the two men address the situation, and Somers gives HCJ a chance to explain in his own words the history of blackface in the US and why it’s such an insult. Nobody calls anybody a racist (it’s the American media that started chopping up the interview and calling us that), HCJ thanks Somers for allowing him to give his opinion, we move on. It’s an open and honest dialogue that, had Somers not brought it up, would never have gone to air. If Americans want to judge us on an episode of Hey Hey (and I beg them not to, ’cause that show’s fucking awful), why not the way Somers handled it?
What we have here is obviously a cultural dissimilarity — while blackface in Australia is in very poor taste (and I agree that it shouldn’t have gone to air), it is so much worse to Americans as it represents a time in their history they’ve put so much effort into moving on from. It was a stupid skit that should’ve never gone to air, but I’m sure there are many people in Australia who DON’T have such a grasp on blackface as an old American artform, and exactly what it represents to them.
I would also like to put this to you — Robert Downey Jnr’s in Tropic Thunder. Thoughts, comments?