Sara Santini
HCOM 225
05/07/2014
Final Project Paper
Reflections on
Stereotypes, Cultural Ownership and Political Correctness in
Literature and Film
I took the Literature, Film and Culture course this semester in order to
satisfy a requirement of my exchange program to have a course that will teach
me something new about American culture. The texts and video materials that
we analyzed gave me a possibility to draw a parallel between various viewpoints
of different groups of people living in the US. They also made me notice that after
each movie or book, always the same questions were raised, regarding the
possibilities of solving racial and ethnic tensions and injustices through art. One
of them is definitely this one: does the use of stereotypes enforce or deconstruct
their existence in the society? It is a question so often asked and there is most
definitely not a specific answer to it. But stereotypes definitely make a good part
of the thread those stories were weaved out of. On the other hand, they are so
present in our daily lives, and they are based on reality, so why are they
necessarily regarded a bad thing? Stereotypes themselves aren’t bad, but
intolerance, fear and hatred that are linked to them (but exist separately as well)
are.
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The second question that I found interesting analyzing these films and
texts is the question of cultural ownership – how far can an artist go out of his
cultural domain or experience? Can author speak of what doesn’t come from
their experience or cultural heritage? Does that diminish the value of the work of
art? Can a certain taboo word or topic be discussed only by the members of the
group it belongs to, or shouldn’t we consider it to be a part of our shared cultural
pool? If we’re already striving to achieve unity and end the prejudices of this
society, shouldn’t we stop labeling and dividing the culture and discuss its
ownership so badly?
That makes me arrive to another question that I found very interesting,
not only in this class, but during my studies here in the US – the question of
political correctness. It is not a new thing for me, we insist on being politically
correct back in my home country as well, but not so intensely as here. And
somehow I don’t think that it always necessarily brings good to the issues it is
trying to protect. I sometimes have a feeling that it hides away the issue by not
mentioning it, rather than addressing and resolving the source of it.
These are some of the opinions and thoughts I’ve been having throughout
this course, and the questions that have been raised in me during this semester. I
don’t believe that they can be simply answered and resolved, just like anything
else in life. That’s not the intention of my essay. Since there is so many examples
and arguments to provide in discussing each one of them, I am going to keep
myself limited to the sources and materials we used in the class, and I will try to
discuss some impressions I had related to these topics after viewing or reading
each one of the materials we had in class.
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The first reading we did over the course of this semester was The Color
Purple by Alice Walker, and I must say it was the one I enjoyed the most. What
draws me to it is surely the authenticity and pure truthfulness of her writing. I
feel that the realistic and simple approach to the storytelling used in this novel
(even the fact that it is an epistolary one, written in the form of letters) brings
the reader very close to the story, leaving no space for stereotypes and critique. I
got so drawn into the pains and struggles of Celie and other characters that I
believed the story so much, never even wondering about its authenticity.
Through a bit more reading, I found out that Alice Walker based Celie’s character
on the stories she knew about her grandma’s life. I am sure that the fact of the
story coming from the author’s personal heritage definitely gave it all those
qualities I just praised it for. Could a white person with no such ancestry have
written an equally moving novel? Maybe, why not? But I feel in that case, that
fact might evoke a lot of critique and people would question the novel’s
truthfulness. Even though I’d disagree, because I believe it is good to discuss
problematic stories no matter what, I still often feel that artists should stick to
telling us about what they know from their experience. Even when I was
watching the Steven Spielberg’s movie The Color Purple, I couldn’t help but
complain all the time about him watering the story down and making it too
simple and comical for the audience to swallow, in order for the movie to pay off.
I felt that this way the story from the book lost most of the raw intensity and
impact it hand on me. But on the other hand, I would gladly argue that this lack
of the truthfulness has nothing to do with the gender, race and background
Spielberg is coming from, I would say it comes from the demands of Hollywood
movie productions. Maybe even an African American film director, despite their
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past and African American heritage, would have to simplify the story and
sweeten it in order to make a proper Hollywood movie. But I still wish the movie
kept the harsh, simplistic realism the book has.
"It is important for movies to have a message, without which there
is little point in making a film." This is a quote by Alan Parker, a famous English
film director, a quote that brings me to the next movie we watched in class –
Come See The Paradise. The main two issues this film is dealing with is the
treatment of the Japanese Americans in the US, and the fight for worker’s rights
(or any fight for a change and a greater cause, as a matter of fact). In this case,
Parker doesn’t have much connection with the topics he is discussing, nor with
the culture (him not being Japanese nor American), but on the other hand he is
tackling some important and untold stories (for example the one of the
relocation camps that, although it is now part of the past, represents a principle
still present in the society today). Even though I might be critical of the film’s plot
that is in a big part also a love story, in order to be not harsh or too demanding
for the viewer, I still admire the choice of important topics and stories rarely
told.
Similar thing goes for the next movie we watched – Crash. The film deals
with the state of today’s US society and its failure to communicate due to too
many prejudice and stereotypes present in it. Considering that there are so many
characters in the movie, coming from different cultures, traditions, social classes,
the author surely couldn’t speak from his experience and have the intensity for
example Alice Walker’s work has. That is why in his storytelling he had to lean
on stereotypes and using typical characters and situations we see in the movie. I
wouldn’t say they diminished the clarity of the message the author was trying to
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convey, but it most definitely took a toll on the movie’s quality, making it just a
regular, solid Hollywood story of racial tensions and hatred (still, compliments
on making one!) I felt that the attempt of covering such a complex and broad
problem with one simple film script lead it to being too general (opposite to the
personal story of The Color Purple). Comparing these two examples leads me to
an opinion that viewers link better to personal stories of the characters rather
than general ones, and that they get attached to the characters following them
throughout the story, which lets the author have more possibilities to impact the
viewer/reader. (Of course, this statement of mine is kind of a generalization as
well, but I think that these two factors – personal experience and focusing on
character development – contribute greatly to the uniqueness of the stories
being told, and my likeliness to believe and remain touched by them.)
That is exactly why I felt I got so much out of reading Diana Garcia’s poem
book When Living Was A Labor Camp. The authenticity of her stories and the
vividness and the clearness of the images she created in my head couldn’t have
come but from her own heritage and experience. Especially during her reading of
the poem, she managed to convey the emotions she sings about to me even
clearer. Someone who didn’t live through all of it couldn’t have done that so well.
Garcia didn’t leave her poems at the romanticized depiction of the life of
Hispanic Americans; she often gives her poems a strong political context and a
social background, which makes them even more impactful. She doesn’t use
stereotypes to depict what she sings about, no! Her characters, even though
sometimes typical, are still breathing, coming from her own memories in life. All
this leads me to thoughts how every artist should address certain issues or give
their viewpoint on the society or human life, but at the same time still keep to the
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domain of what they know – the true strength of a work of art will come from its
uniqueness.
The next movie we watched was Lone Star. ‘’Yeah, it's always
heartwarming to see a prejudice defeated by a deeper prejudice,’’ says one of the
characters from the movie. The film plot deals with reconciliation and making
peace between the past and present, history and reality, partners, family
members… Also, it deals with the position of Hispanic Americans in the US, and
the plenty of prejudice the people have on many different questions. The good
thing about the film is that it offers an interesting perspective to the viewer –
how it is not so simple to judge and make definitive statements about things. It is
better to leave the history behind us and go on creating life anew, in the future,
just like the protagonists do in the ending. That ending is undoubtedly one of the
most provocative parts of the film, but I see it as a great director’s move to
unease the viewer and make him think and wonder about the meaning of the
film. I see that as an example of how un-stereotypical, unconventional
storytelling (that doesn’t just slide through our mind, entertain us and
disappear) sometimes has to use shock, taboos or some even more unexpected
and ‘politically incorrect’ means to strongly convey a message. And I personally
don’t see anything wrong in it.
Smoke Signals is a movie characteristic for having an entirely Native
American crew dealing with a film that covers the story of the members of Native
American culture in the US. That definitely gave them legitimacy to deal with
these issues, but at the same time the amount of stereotypes in the film proves
me wrong on saying that an artist speaking from their own experience won’t
need to use stereotypes in storytelling. The stereotypes didn’t make the movie
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lose any of its adorable qualities for me, but it left me with a question: would
there be objections to such stereotypification if the storytellers were not of
Native American origin? I am most certain it would, just by observing some other
examples in the cultures (how can white Tarantino make a n-word filled film
about rebelling black slaves?).
This might seem a bit too extreme, but I feel that sometimes insisting on
that sort of political correctness makes the society even more dishonest, and it
creates an even greater awkwardness and taboos around the problematic
questions. Especially in the arts, this question doesn’t comply with the idea of
artist’s license. Of course, there should always be respect for differences and
delicate questions, but, especially in art, I feel a bit of political incorrectness gives
the artist the freedom they deserve to unsettle the viewer’s mind in order to
convey a message. Especially if we’re aiming to erase all the differences and
create a unity in the society, we shouldn’t be drawing that type of lines and not
mentioning certain issues because that just increases the gap and creates
awkwardness even more. The world is not correct, and that needs to be solved,
but it can be solved only through addressing those issues openly. The attempt of
being politically correct just to be nice ends up in dishonesty – I sometimes feel
that by treating problems in a politically correct way, we don’t solve them – we
just hide them beneath the mask of that dishonesty that pretends to be
politeness.
In the end, I come to the final reading material we had in the class – Wang
Qun’s book of short stories A Voice In Every Wind. These stories blend in all that I
have mentioned before – the feeling of the personal experience that the stories
are based on definitely draws the reader in, leaving him to struggle with the
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main protagonist or follow his paths and the situations he’s in. Being an
exchange student myself, it was even easier for me to connect with the character
and the stories. But then, after me as a reader opening up and sinking into the
book, the subtle giving away of the political context and background that
increases over time, left an even greater impression on me. And, as in some
previous examples, it is so hard and unnecessary to search for stereotypes and
complain about them – the feeling of the stories coming from the unique
experience of the author gives them a unique charm that lingers in the reader for
a while after the reading.
Even after all these observations I made, I don’t see any final solutions or
answers to the questions that appeared in my head during this semester, and
there probably shouldn’t be a specific one. All the questions I asked in the
introduction still remain unanswered, just as I expected they would, because
there is no such thing as a right answer to such topics. They will remain open for
debate and discussion. But I think that anything that raises discussion is a good
thing – it makes people think and ask questions to themselves. Be it through all
those stereotypical, or be it through ‘socially improper’ ways, I think it is a lot
better to talk about the issues, than to remain silent. At least like this, we
acknowledge the existence of these stereotypes and problems, and over time and
discussions (I hope), people’s opinions will change and some of these issues will
come closer to a resolution.
I like any reaction I can get with my music. Just anything to get
people to think. I mean if you can get a whole room full of drunk,
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stoned people to actually wake up and think, you're doing
something.
Jim Morrison
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alice Walker, The Color Purple
Steven Spielberg, The Color Purple, DVD
Alan Parker, Come See The Paradise, DVD
Paul Haggis, Crash, DVD
John Sayles, Lone Star, DVD
Alexie, Sherman. Smoke Signals, DVD.
Wang Qun, A Voice in Every Wind
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