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| re: Question re: Once On This Island revival - a white Daniel? | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 08:41 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 08:38 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Question re: Once On This Island revival - a white Daniel? - ntjvy 08:12 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
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| I think in the context of race relations today, with segregation illegal and interracial marriage etc legal, and in the situation of The Story of TiMoune, the skin color that is visible to the naked eye (rather than the one define purely by bloodline) is the only one that matters (i mean in terms of the OOTI dark black vs light black issue - I know that wealth and "Grand Homme" background are also big dividing issues and that stems from who you were born to). Nowadays in America you aren't profiled or harassed because someone found out one of your grandparents was black, you suffer the oppression based almost solely on how racists and those concerned with race in the negative sense SEE you and your skin color. But yes, for all intents and purposes of this play especially, I am suggesting that Powell is not black enough to play a black character when his race is very important to the story, because we shouldn't have to look up the actor's racial heritage to understand that. I think many audiences see him in the show and think he is white. That doesn't mean that the racial conflict isn't understandable in the text of the story, but I think it changes it and adds a layer of unwelcomed confusion to the story and its subtext. (And also it's true, at least from my observation, intellectual assertion, and what I hear from non-light black people, that black people who pass as white do not "live as a person of color" in the same ways that obviously black people do. Yes, culturally and personally they have that and identify with it, etc etc, all due to that aspect of life as a POC - but in the context of racial discrimination, no it is just not the same. That doesn't mean it isn't a factor, or that other complicated issues don't come of it (for example people assuming you're white and dismissing your actual racial heritage, or insisting you define and defend your racial identity because it doesn't line up with their assumptions based on the visuals)... but in terms of discrimination or profiling from non-black people, it's not the same. Perhaps this is a good thing for the character of Daniel. But how would it be if Porgy and/or Bess were played by white-passing biracial actors? I would guess not well, even though it's certainly conceivable that they'd have white genes mixed into their family blood line. Now I know that this isn't the same because it is specifically part of the story of OOTI that Daniel is from a bi-racial white/black genetic background, but it's also noted that both of the "two different worlds" on the island are black people. |
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| re: Question re: Once On This Island revival - a white Daniel? | |
| Posted by: ntjvy 09:06 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Question re: Once On This Island revival - a white Daniel? - Chazwaza 08:38 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
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| I think there's some faulty thinking in this, but I think that the first paragraph is the root of our different perspectives. I could not disagree more. In the context of race relations today, it most certainly is not the color that is visible to the naked eye that matters in terms of oppression. I'm actually a little floored by that statement and I think that you are really simplifying the issue. I'm having a really hard time with the idea that you think that racism today is based on skin tone, and trying to figure out how to best communicate it. . . Racism isn't something that is experienced only on a one-on-one basis. It is so much bigger than the "n" word and being followed around in stores and even than police brutality. Institutional racism is a real thing. It is generational and the effects of it pass down generations. (And I might add also, that there are elements of race that go beyond skin tone, including hair texture and facial features. An albino black individual is often still recognizable black, but I digress.) Racism isn't just about discrimination in a personal sense. It's about access to education, wealth, economic opportunity, housing, job opportunities etc and those things are often based upon your parents access and their parents access. In a sense, it's inherited and will continue to be until the government takes *effective* action in leveling the playing field that literally centuries of direct oppression have created and not just eliminating the technicalities that allowed for the oppression. Primary black communities in our country have less access to these things that I metnion than primary white communities (there are outliers, always outliers). It doesn't matter how light skinned a person is, if they haven't had access to these things, due to their race, not their skin color, but their race, than they are experiencing racism. This isn't unusual. Access was denied to the suburbs for black folks for decades through redlining and housing discrimination creating segregated living conditions. It's not by chance that primarily black neighborhoods, that were created due to this discrimination, have lesser quality schools. Doesn't matter what your pigmentation is, if you are forced into a lower quality school because you live in a "black" neighborhood because that's where your family has roots because they were marginalized to it through redlining, you're experiencing racism. If you're very light but you have a "black sounding" name, you're less likely to get called in for a job interview. There are a million examples of this. Of course there's also the flip side if positive culture that can be inherited regardless of your pigmentation also. And what I'm saying is NO, we should not have to look up Powell's background in order to understand. Perhaps we can let his representation of the character, and Arden's choice of it, and the book, guide us into reconsidering our own limited thinking around race, class and colorism. |
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| re: Question re: Once On This Island revival - a white Daniel? | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 09:24 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 09:21 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Question re: Once On This Island revival - a white Daniel? - ntjvy 09:06 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
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| I think you're being a bit myopic in how you're reading what I've written... or perhaps I was unclear, but I was speaking specifically about the way someone is treated based on what race they appear to be. Of course racism is systemic and it and culture are passed down through generations, and effect all those categories of life and existing in society that you detailed. I'm talking specifically about how, for example, a bi-racial person who passes as white could be treated differently in all situations (work application, education, dating, walking down the street, apply for a lease, access to everything etc etc) than a person who appears to be identifiably black. And yes, hair and shape of features, and name... all these and more can be put under the umbrella of "racial appearance" that can signal to a person what to assume your racial or class background might be. Yes, I was simplifying the issue very much - no need to be floored - but I think we have to acknowledge that Once On This Island also simplifies the issues it deals with, and personally I think Arden's casting and aspects of the concept he laid onto the show only serve to further simplify. I think actually we are on the same page except about whether or not Powell's casting gives us a chance reconsider our limited thinking around race, class and colorism (your take on it) or that it reverts back to a commonly portrayed conflict that simplifies and therefor limits the show from telling the story it meant to tell, at least to a degree (my take). But it's quite possible I'm wrong, or that the degree to which i'm right is worth changing or sacrificing for what it might gain otherwise? |
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| re: Question re: Once On This Island revival - a white Daniel? | |
| Posted by: ntjvy 09:33 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Question re: Once On This Island revival - a white Daniel? - Chazwaza 09:21 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
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| If I was myopic it was unintentional. I much prefer what you wrote here than what I understood from your last post, although I still don't agree with it all. Once again, appreciate the dialog. | |
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| to clarify | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 09:02 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 09:01 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Question re: Once On This Island revival - a white Daniel? - Chazwaza 08:38 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
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| I realize that Porgy & Bess isn't a good example because for the story to work we can't think they'd have had the option of what opportunity or privilege might have come to those characters from passing as white to white people, i'm just saying that that is a show where their race is also important to the story, and i could see a scenario where a director casts a bi-racial actor who happens to pass as white and justify it with them being bi-racial and the possibility that that could have been in the character's background. I think that director would be wrong, but I could still imagine it happening. | |
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