Blog Talkback: The Chico Marx Effect

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missthang

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During his Presidential campaign, Barack Obama asked for a new, freer, and more open conversation about issues of race, saying, "I have never been so na?ve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle," and "that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds." Unfortunately, the only new element that seems to...

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I'm going to start this off by mentioning I'm of Italian descent on my mother's side. I think the main issue is this: Every group gets ribbed in pop culture, and sometimes by others outside the group. I think the real sting is when it's compounded by discrimination in the actual culture- whether the character in question is a clown, villain or a hero in x-face. In this context, I don't think a group that enjoys some sort of white christian privilege can really complain. I mean, the US was also at war with Germany and Italy in the 1940s and there weren't internment camps for US nationals with those backgrounds.

The point about Dora is really one of the future of pop culture- that a franchise doesn't need a white (usually male) character to do well. Hollywood movies will be the last ones to come around (40 years passed between Valerie the Pussycat and Princess Tiana), but facing an audience raised on multicultural characters will change things.
 
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