Racial and ethnic stereotypes in movies and music?
Jul 3, 2012 1:12:45 GMT
Post by morwen9 on Jul 3, 2012 1:12:45 GMT
I'm a fan of old musicals, especially Rodgers and Hammerstein and operettas, as anyone who's read my thread in the Classical Crossover subforum would know, and my favourite is The Desert Song by Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel.
The Desert Song is a guilty pleasure for me, like most operettas, mostly because of the corny plot, but also because of the racism and religious prejudice, reflecting 1920s attitudes. As a Chinese Australian, perhaps I'm more sensitive to stuff like that. (The only thing the librettists got right about Islam, for example, was the thing in the stage script about shoes being covered during prayer. So they did some research.) Their "Muslim" characters pray to the Prophet Muhammad instead of God and drink. And also, the two most significant Muslim male characters are portrayed as oversexed. And so's the one significant Muslim female character, who even wears a skimpy outfit in both the stage and 1929 movie versions.
And the whole plot is based on this idea that Arab/Muslim (conflated in the plot and script) men are "exotic" and menacing kidnappers who steal White women that the same White women fall in love with and then marry when it's revealed they're actually European. Not to mention that whole White saviour idea...
The story is basically Valentino's movie The Sheik in Morocco, with a rebellion! The same sort of story (kidnapping and stalking) is in the song "The Sheik of Araby", released the same year as the movie (the only version I've found with both verses is one by classical singer Peter Dawson. That's actually another one a CC (or maybe jazz) singer should cover, because it's usually done as an instrumental from what I can see on Youtube) The thing is, I love The Desert Song (Mainly because of the songs) and The Sheik of Araby (the chorus is catchy, although very Stalking Is Love: "I'm the Sheik of Araby/Your love belongs to me/At night when you're asleep/into your tent I'll creep." (What, he's going to sneak in and watch her sleep?)
I'm not saying that the musical should be held to the same standards as 19th century stuff, but the thing is people still watch stuff like this and the white saviour stuff and Orientalism is still here and I find it very interesting. (Avatar anyone?Aladdin as done by Disney?) Anyone want to discuss this?
ETA: About The Sheik of Araby: I think I might cover that.
ETA 2: The fantasy novel I'm working on now is inspired by The Desert Song
The Desert Song is a guilty pleasure for me, like most operettas, mostly because of the corny plot, but also because of the racism and religious prejudice, reflecting 1920s attitudes. As a Chinese Australian, perhaps I'm more sensitive to stuff like that. (The only thing the librettists got right about Islam, for example, was the thing in the stage script about shoes being covered during prayer. So they did some research.) Their "Muslim" characters pray to the Prophet Muhammad instead of God and drink. And also, the two most significant Muslim male characters are portrayed as oversexed. And so's the one significant Muslim female character, who even wears a skimpy outfit in both the stage and 1929 movie versions.
And the whole plot is based on this idea that Arab/Muslim (conflated in the plot and script) men are "exotic" and menacing kidnappers who steal White women that the same White women fall in love with and then marry when it's revealed they're actually European. Not to mention that whole White saviour idea...
The story is basically Valentino's movie The Sheik in Morocco, with a rebellion! The same sort of story (kidnapping and stalking) is in the song "The Sheik of Araby", released the same year as the movie (the only version I've found with both verses is one by classical singer Peter Dawson. That's actually another one a CC (or maybe jazz) singer should cover, because it's usually done as an instrumental from what I can see on Youtube) The thing is, I love The Desert Song (Mainly because of the songs) and The Sheik of Araby (the chorus is catchy, although very Stalking Is Love: "I'm the Sheik of Araby/Your love belongs to me/At night when you're asleep/into your tent I'll creep." (What, he's going to sneak in and watch her sleep?)
I'm not saying that the musical should be held to the same standards as 19th century stuff, but the thing is people still watch stuff like this and the white saviour stuff and Orientalism is still here and I find it very interesting. (Avatar anyone?Aladdin as done by Disney?) Anyone want to discuss this?
ETA: About The Sheik of Araby: I think I might cover that.
ETA 2: The fantasy novel I'm working on now is inspired by The Desert Song