Saturday, September 19, 2015
Keep Your Hands Off of My Kimono, White People
AMERICAN THEATRE: On Wednesday, American Theatre announced that Muslim-American playwright Ayad Akhtar made our Top 10 Most-Produced Play list and Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights list, becoming only the third playwright of color to occupy the top spot. That same day, a 14-year-old Muslim American boy living in Texas was arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school, because, as he’s brown and named Ahmed Mohamed, teachers and police assumed it must be a bomb. In a state where anyone can openly carry a gun, he was put in handcuffs.
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I loved this piece. There are so many articles about racism and lack of diversity in theatre that I read and I support without fully understand the situation. I thought this author did a really excellent job of explaining why this production (and productions like it) was offensive and what it meant to their community. Basically, the problem with racism and underrepresentation is that the majority of white people end up using these other cultures as props. Instead of giving other cultures the respect they deserve, some people steal the color and fun and love from another culture and exploit it. They don’t respect the richness and depth of a whole history of people, they just want something that will sell tickets. I think the author could have talked about how little minorities are cast these days, and how little work is being produced and written by/for minorities. Diversity is so important to the growth of humanity, equal contribution to the arts is essential.
As Burke said, this piece does a fabulous job of explaining the concept of cultural appropriation. Whole cultures and histories reduced to ideal images and props without any real interest in the members of that community or their lives. Cultural appropriation is horrific and in exists everywhere around us. That "indian" high school mascot with the headband and the machete, that's cultural appropriation. So are the white girls who watch way to much anime and, in the process of demonstrating their love of Japan, reduce the Japanese culture to a few stereotypes. These topics were extremely well discussed in the article.
The author also touched on institutional racism with her story of the arrest of a 14 year old Muslim American boy. Stories like his have been gaining traction other the last year. Since Micheal Brown's death in Ferguson last year, discussion about racism in America has entered mainstream media and conversations. Similar events around the country and the creation of groups such as Black Lives Matter have kept this conversation alive. This article is one of four on this blog this week discussing the Mikado. Those articles are accompanied by others covering sectionalism in the UK and an art installation gone wrong. I am very happy that these issues continue to be talked about even on a log about the "real world".
Instead of just broad casting news feed from CNN or Fox about racism in America, it was like a breath of fresh air to read an article about this issue by analyzing the problem at hand and why it is a problem. in today's theatre we see and know that not everything is equal and that in terms of jobs and wage there are still problems. Thankfully there are many plays and shows beginning to break the ties of everyone has to be white in this piece because it takes place in Europe or everyone has to be black in this piece. Sometime it is an artistic choice but I'm really trying to point out shows such as the new show hamilton. It is almost common knowledge that the continental congress and founding fathers were old white men back in the late 1700s. But what hamilton does is break those facts that we know and look at the person as a character. Some of the founding fathers are black and hispanic, not because it is historically accurate but because the writer chose to make it that way. He wanted to have people look at the personalities and persona of the founding fathers as characters, what would best show their feeling and emotions. who could, no matter of race, display what a character such as Thomas Jefferson was feeling at that point of time. If we stop thinking that everything has to be accurate in art and start treating other cultures and races with respect we might begin to break and resolve some of the issues addressed in the article.
This article does a great job of highlighting the problems with cultural appropriation both within in outside the world of theater. I especially loved when they mentioned the message that comes along with cultural appropriation, “You are not important enough to be respected. You don’t deserve a voice onstage. You are nothing but objects to us.” Its so important to remember this perspective when producing a play, because perpetuating dangerous stereotypes can be really harmful to minority groups. I'm so glad to hear that the yellow-face production of The Mikado was cancelled, and I hope other groups who have the same intentions take note. Outside of the theatre world, about a year ago my school had a huge issue come up with cultural appropriation. The class officers picked a Native American theme for a dance, and the whole senior class was supposed to come dressed up as this theme. This issue split the entire class in half as people argued whether or not the theme was offensive. Some people said that "it was just a dance" and that we were overreacting. Eventually the school board found out and they were forced to change the theme, but it just goes to show the lack of education there is about cultural appropriation. No matter how small it is, it's never "just a dance" when it comes to issues of racism.
Theatrical cultural appropriation is not new. Since before the "minstrel shows" of the 19th and early 20th centuries, white actors and theater artists have made the regrettable decision that exploiting the nuances of another ethnicity is the best way to make their art palatable to audiences. As a white theater artist, reading articles like this is always a educational experience, a handbook of sorts, detailing exactly what not to do. Like it or not, American theater has a checkered history when it comes to racial matters. Coming to terms with this is just the first step to rectifying the chronic illness that is the casual cultural appropriation of the American theatrical world. Perhaps it's because of the racial homogeneity of "elite" directors and producers, or simply the uncomfortable backdrop of historical precedent, but there is definitely an environment in regional and commercial theater that needs to change. Perhaps this newest generation of theater artists will be harbingers of change, perhaps change is already in motion, perhaps change will take a few more years. Either way, myself and many others will quietly work towards a more respectful and inclusive theatrical scene.
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