Salon.com: Earlier this week, NBC announced several changes to the music for its upcoming live televised production of the musical “Peter Pan,” scheduled to air live on Dec. 4. Allison Williams will play the title role, with Christopher Walken as his nemesis Captain Hook. To refresh the 1954 musical adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s Edwardian novel, the production team brought on original lyricist Adolph Green’s daughter, Tony Award-nominee composer Amanda Green, to bulk up the score with songs selected from the original composers’ back catalogs, and to refresh some existing material. One of the changes answers the question many fans of the musical have had since the NBC production was announced: “what are they going to do about ‘Ugg-a-Wugg’?”
14 comments:
I have actually read multiple articles on the green page about the controversies over how Native Americans were portrayed in this musical. Both the controversial casting of Tiger Lily and how the tribe and culture was portrayed. I think it is cool that the song “ugg-a-wugg” was rewritten, first of all I think it was always one of the worst in the show, but also because there is more to that musical than racism. Some may say peter Pan is not actually supposed to be offensive. (Joke) This is a fun story that I think more children would be into than the show that was picked by NBC last year, so it would be great if it did not have the racist undertone with the Native Americans. I mean the Disney movie was seriously bad enough. Looking back on the renditions of the Native Americans in the story, the movie, the musical, it’s pretty racially insensitive. In the Disney movie the tribe is literally red skinned.
I'm so glad that the producing team on this movie decided to take steps to make "Peter Pan" less racist. I grew up watching this movie. I loved it as a kid, and it still means a lot to me, but there are a whole lot of harmful Native American stereotypes in there that just aren't necessary and at times actually are distracting and hurt the story. There's been a lot of discussion recently of the representation of minorities in the media and in theatre (especially related to the recent casting of a white girl as Tiger Lily in the upcoming movie "Pan"), and I think this is a step forward in addressing them. It would have been easy for the producers to say that they were doing a traditional production and therefore couldn't change anything about the original script, but instead the made the well-informed and progressive choice to actually take into account real Native American history and culture and make it part of this piece of theatre. A lot of old musicals and plays are racist- they're products of their time. I'm not saying they all should be edited, but perhaps there are ways to address this without detracting from what makes them valuable pieces of art in the first place. In this case, it might actually improve the piece.
This was a really interesting piece that gave some insight into what the producers of NBC's Peter Pan were thinking going into this process. i love how honest Jerod is with the writer of the article. I was genuinely convinced that he believes the producers and NBC team are committed to making Peter Pan's racism less blatant. In fact, it almost seems as if, with Jerod's help, this production may even appeal to Native Americans, since the team has made a very clear effort to use real Native American language and culture in the songs. It is also interesting to think of this job of "Native American Consultant." I wonder if the same producers would have hired this man if this production was being produced on Broadway instead of on national live television. My guess is that they would not. I would also be interested to learn more about the legal rights the producers had to alter and rewrite the language in the script. It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out during the live viewing next week.
It is really reassuring to hear that the production team is putting in a lot of effort to be less racist and more considerate to the Native Americans while working on "Peter Pan". As a kid when you watch the Disney movie you do not even think about the racist ideas that are spread throughout the movie but looking back on it now it was clearly not as sweet as we once thought. Updating the classic song "ugg-a-wugg" is not all the production team is using their Native American consultant for. They are cleaning up the whole show in all areas that may need to be addressed for racist content. Personally, I really like how much effort is getting put into this aspect of the show and hopefully more and more show will follow suit.
I'd be interested to see how this conversation went going into the other live action Peter Pan inspired film that is currently being made called "Pan." As far as I can see they've ignored that Tiger Lily is meant to be a Native American in every way except her clothing. They've made her a white character, which, as much as colorblind casting can be a good idea, it makes me sad that someone of that heritage most likely missed the opportunity to have this role. I'm really glad to hear about the upgrades they're making to Peter Pan. One of the things that makes Peter Pan so wonderful is how timeless it is, but Tiger Lily has always seemed to be a sensitive character within this otherwise completely imaginative script. Can't wait!
I think it's excellent that NBC is addressing this, given the problematic obsession with Native American stereotypes that plagues modern culture. There is certainly a kind of fetishization of Native American culture that goes on (I'm talking about the "style" of wearing war bonnets and other stereotypically Native American prints and fringes), that, combined with much of the white-washed casting in Hollywood, creates a very racially questionable atmosphere. Given this situation, I highly appreciate the attempts by NBC to tread carefully around this subject. Recently there has been a few worrying incidents of white-washed casting, most notably Johnny Depp, a white actor cast as Tonto in "The Lone Ranger," and Rooney Mara, a white actress cast as Tiger Lily in the new live action Peter Pan adaption "Pan." NBC provides a refreshing counter point by casting Alanna Saunders as Tiger Lily in "Peter Pan Live," a talented performer actually descended from members of the Cherokee nation. While the story of Peter Pan is still problematic in this day and age, and we won't really know how it is handled until it is performed, I cannot help but respect NBC for taking these preemptive measures.
It always scares me to see change to childhood memories, especially one as dear to me as Peter Pan. I love Peter Pan the way it is and I love everything about it, but I understand that there are some parts of Peter Pan that are racist and that needs to change. It is great that the producers are not just trying to make the show not racist, but actively accurate. Now, I am totally OK with making the play more PC but I am scared about all the other changes they mentioned are appearing in the show. I grew up with the Mary Martin version and am really hoping this new version is pretty close. Yes, I like to see creative things done in theater and with different direction but Mary Martin's Peter Pan is so good.
I think if it doesn't affect the story of the characters or what we should take away from the story of Peter Pan then i have no objections to NBC changing how the native americans are portrayed in the piece. Yes we see that Peter Pan is racist, like many things at the time, but that is just it. They are products of the time and are therefore in the past and should not be looked down upon as art just because of the racist time they were made in. That being said I think NBC is wise to have hired a consultant to bring the Native Americans up to the standards of the todays audiences. Although I liked the tribes portrayed in the Peter and the Starcatchers series ( they were more like island tribes and not american indians) I think NBC will bring some honor to the Native Americans James Barrie put into his tale of a boy who never grows up.
I appreciate the efforts made to make "Peter Pan" more authentic and the process for it sounded really thorough. I found it really interesting that NBC hired a Native American consultant who had more knowledge about Native American culture and who just knew the right people to talk to as far as language went. It's a nice look into how dramaturgical assistance can really clean a show. I am interested in seeing if most Americans actually won't notice the slight changes in rhythm that Jerod was talking about. For such a well known show and song it is hard to believe that people might not notice those changes.
Changing "Ugg-A-Wug" was a really smart move on the part of both NBC and the rights holders. I think, increasingly, people will move away from performing Peter Pan because it is so racist. The community theater in my town performed Peter Pan when I was in high school, and we simply changed the title to "Native Islander" and tried to make it less "Indian". People thought it was fine, but it really didn't change any of the lyrics or references, just what we called the characters, 7 out of 8 of whom (myself included) were white.
I'm interested to see what they do about the racist dialogue. It seems this consultant helped primarily with the music, but Tiger Lily's dialogue is also rather problematic. Ultimately, if NBC does this well, they very well may revitalize a musical that is falling by the wayside due to its cultural insensitivity. If they do it poorly, it will be extremely uncomfortable to watch.
First I have to say when I saw the advertisement for this show over Thanksgiving, I thought it was kind of a parody of itself or something. I mean, Christopher Walken doing a shuffle-stepping Captain Hook in a children's show was just a little too much for me to swallow. But such is the nature of network television entertainment in these times, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. As for the sensitivity consulting, I'm much more curious to hear how Indigenous Americans will react to the show once it airs. It's great that NBC is spending resources on caring about the sensitivities of a perennially ignored cultural group, but I'm skeptical that one could remove the potential offense without changing the subtext of the characters altogether, as Abby points out. Anyway, the show looks lame enough that I imagine not many people of taste will care much, and hopefully the affair will pass without much scandal.
Reading the article and looking at the comments, I agree with everything everyone has said. I think that narratives written for children like Peter Pan often paw the line between being racist or fantastical when it comes to bringing in cultures like Native American. It's obvious to see in the clip the article cites that the song, while obviously containing racist undertones, is trying to convey a sense of the whimsical while also making it entertaining for the kids to watch. But that doesn't qualify the choices of the song as right, and I'm glad NBC has taken the responsibility to change the song and actually hire a Native American to consult on the changes. NBC is taking a step in the right direction with their adaptation of Peter Pan, unlike the upcoming movie version, Pan, which features Rooney Mara, a white actress, in the role of Tiger Lily. It's the little things that show other television and movie companies that keeping racism in old stories is not the right thing to do.
First and foremost, I think it's hilarious that Christopher Walken is playing Captain Hook. I don't know why, but it is. Anyway, that is beside the point. As trivial as the lyric may seem, I think it is an important decision to do away with it. A huge reason why racism, discrimination, stereotyping, etc are still a huge problem in are country is because people who are unaffected by profiling tend to write it off as harmless. For example, it is easy for me and most all of my peers to listen to that song and recognize that it is outdated and incorrect, and therefore we think it is ok to ignore it because "we know better." Yes, we may know better, but to stop racism we must do more that recognize it is there. We must actively eliminate even the most subtle indications of racial profiling or stereotypical terminology. Only once those of us who DO understand how ignorant and stupid is to racially categorize people start taking conscious action against racism will those who really are racist begin to see the fault and disgust in their ways.
I can’t see a way where the song Ugg-a-wugg is not racially motivated. The reduction of indigenous people to “primitive cavemen” is not a new or rare occurrence. Frankly, it still boggles my mind that this song is included when buying the rights of the show even to this day. I appreciate the small changes throughout the years. For example in the late 2000s the show finally decided to change a line. The original line being “Beat on a drumand I will come
And I will come and save the brave noble red skin, Boom boom, Ugg-a-wugg”. The word red skin being said by Peter Pan himself in reference to Tiger Lily. Thankfully the line has since been changed to “ brave noble warrior” or “strong noble brave girl”. However, just googling the lyrics will give you the earlier version.
For this production to do their due diligence in researching and consulting an indigenous composer to aid in ugg-a-wug. To be quite sincere, “Two Blood Brothers” is genuinely a much better song. It is much more mystical and well composed. As an indigenous person I just have to laugh at this absurdity. It’s almost as if when we give platforms for marginalized people to consult on their own identities, you get a better product. Bonkers how that works.
Post a Comment