Thoughts on Ethnic Notions by Quin Lewis

  Ethnic Notions, Race: The Power of an Illusion

    I watched this piece with a group on Monday in the common room of Braun, which made watching more communal. From my personal experience and growing up in the South, the oppression and media surround the Black community has been taught to me in a distant way. Not to say that the impact of the history is lessened or any less valid, just that my knowledge about this subject needs to be examined and broadened. 

    The style of the cartoons of exaggerated black caricatures made me realize how easily these stereotypes are passed down onto children as well as adults. Though it didn't shock me when the iconic Bugs Bunny wore blackface and sang in a stereotypical "Black" voice because it made me reconsider what media I was given and consumed as a child. Bugs was a character I had seen every Saturday morning on the family computer and while he made us laugh, Bugs was also normalizing these grotesque depictions of black and indigenous people, all of whom were either the antagonist of the episode or the butt of a racist joke. It makes me question what other media I have absorbed and unknowingly influenced my thinking of race. 

    The film did a fantastic job at analyzing this media and showcasing how saturated these "scripts" are in American culture. The showcase of these not-so-distant "artifacts" and the analysis shows the importance of speaking about this ongoing issue of discrimination and racist ideas. We must know what did wrong to make it right.