It comes as no big surprise that since the recorded history, there have always been those civilizations who believe themselves to be above others. As we move forward in time, we find more ways in which these “superior peoples” find ways of boasting their power or increasing it. The “Imperial Imaginary” by Ella Shohat and Robert Stam focuses on how the Europeans and Americans have found ways to use media, in this article mostly film, to exert their dominance over “third world countries”, show historical events in their favor, and keep their homelands prideful.
It’s something that many of us have seen, however may have overlooked time and time again. How many of us have gone to see a movie that falls in the historical fiction genre only to see the U.S. shown as the “good side” and their enemies the evil, corrupted country? Or how many times have the Europeans or Americans or some other advanced culture been shown as the saviors to an underdeveloped country?
Even within a movie such as Independence Day starring Will Smith and Bill Pullman, we see the Americans being shown as a dominant culture, saving not only themselves, but also the entire world from being wiped out in a matter of hours. Do you remember towards the end, the clips of every other culture being shown, stereotypically as always, waiting for someone to save them, then suddenly the U.S. blows up the mother ship and everyone is rejoicing. If an entire world saw such a huge ship, where was their response? Or was the U.S. the only ones brave enough to attack?
I find this an example to reinforce the ideas of the article, seeing as how I am quite sure many of us have not seen movies such as The Real Glory or Trader Horn. However, that is only one idea that the article focuses on. The article also speaks of racism and entertainment being intertwined. The very idea of it may cause a person to become uneasy, or for some of us to say, “we’ve moved past that in modern times”. But one thing I think we need to realize is that we have not come that far within these 90+ years. We still have entertainment and racism being hand in hand and bringing flocks of audiences to the theaters. However, we’ve just changed our ways of doing it.
Everyone remembers the movie Friday. But do we realize how it is a “stereotypically black movie”? Everything from the clothes the characters wear, the way they talk, their neighbors, and even parts of the storylines are following the stereotypes we place on a culture. Are stereotypes not synonymous with racism? Have we not just made it softer or given it a new name in order to make it acceptable? Many people are still running to see such movies in order to gawk at them, laugh at a culture, and most importantly, “study” a culture. I use the term “study” very loosely in the previous sentence. Those who run to these movies see a culture they may have not had much interaction with and learn their preconceived notions of people whom they’ve never met. “Study” enough of these films and you’ll begin to believe that everyone within a certain culture is the same. Instead of displaying someone within the Bronx Zoo or using them for “quasi-sadistic experiments” film makers are taking what they think they know, and may possibly know for a small percentage of a population, and displaying it for an entire world, who may not be as knowledgeable or as able to separate fact from fiction.
I think once we get past the big words, the endless list of actors and movies we may not have heard of, and look at the article more in-depth, we will see, that we have not progressed as far as we think we have. Much of the article still applies today, especially towards the end where they briefly touch upon the idea of a globe symbol being used to show dominance in the media world. We need to all take a look at the article as more than just an article addressing the history of film and anthropology, we need to see it as the present, and possibly the future.
