I have a few problems with Kiri Davis' video experiment.
- The video has obviously been edited, but has it been edited to show only the results Ms. Davis wants to show?
- Ms. Davis only shows black children being interviewed. I am very interested to see if a survey of children from other races would also choose the white doll. What happens if you add a third doll of Latino or Asian complexion?
At face value the video does show that the message preached by Toni Morrison, and Bell Hooks still applies to us today. Even Yang's American Born Chinese reminds us of the cultural dominance whites hold over other races. Yang exaggerates the way Chinese American youths view themselves with the characterization of Chin Kee
Another theme, quite prevalent in both texts, is the search for self-acceptance. Yang and Morrison show that the dominance of white culture causes the children to never truly accept who they are. The man behind the counter look down on Pecola, it must be because she is black, not because he is taller than her. He uses short language with her, it is not because she doesn’t speak, it is because she is ugly…
“The distaste must be for her, her blackness…”(Morrison 49).
2 comments:
I really enjoyed how you analyzed the video. I never would have thought to ask the particular questions that you did. The editing of the video is a possible issue; one really can't tell if these kids were forced to say somethiings or not. Gotta love technology, right? And for your other question whether children of other races would chose the white doll as well - excellent question. In our Americain society, we tend to focus too much on the black and white while there is plenty of discrimination going on against asians, latinos, and so forth...
I agree with most of what you say, especially about the video. The questions you ask about the video are valid and quite important to ask. The one question I have is, "Is everyone, both black and white, really still in the same mindset as that presented in The Bluest Eye?" My hope is that we are not. Even though the video portrays us as still believing the same lie that white people are superior or more beautiful, I would question whether that is really true.
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