Black. White., Episode 1 (Minh's Take)

What have you gotten me into ... not only am I writing on a blog for the first time, but I'm also doing homework on reality TV within a community of knitters (which I must confess is not my usual crowd).  I was perfectly happy reading about the joys spinning and knitting, when you had to be a downer and bring race to the table.  What happened to the good old days of being able to veg out in front of the boob tube and not deconstruct?  Maybe this is the reason why I watched the season finale of Project Runway instead yesterday.  Cate might have a different theory on that.

I am glad that you created a separate forum for this topic though. Your comments went from about 30 per post to 12. I know the readers of mamacate probably don’t frequent the site to participate in deep conversations on race; I know I don’t. I do wonder though, if you kept it over there, how long would it take before people started to get uncomfortable and feel obligated to post a comment (whether watching the show or not) before others assumed that they were racist. 

So … I just finished watching the first episode on tape, and I think I am hooked.  In no particular order are the thoughts that I have pooped out.

Initially, I thought that it was strange that they had (non-hidden) cameras following them around most of the time.  Obviously, the mere presence of the cameras will affect how people will treat you.  I wonder what they told the bystanders what the reality show they were taping was about … maybe strange skin disorders. Beyond that, I wonder how the people on the show who have been exposed as having socially undesirable ideas about race (like the guy who wanted to wash his hands after shaking hands with black people or the guy at the bar talking about the dark invasion into white neighborhoods) are reacting to having their faces on TV basically being labeled as racists.  I guess they didn’t guarantee anonymity to anyone.

First impressions to the cast of characters:

Renee – I can’t get a good read on her.  I think she will take away the least from this and will end up being the head teacher in this whole experiment.  It might be too soon to tell though. 

Brian – He’s trying, but its hard work!  Although he does a good job explaining how some forms of covert institutional racism manifest themselves (not getting hired for a job, or getting slower service,) he has a hard time explaining how it plays out visibly in everyday life. It’s tough to verbalize a lifetime’s worth of experiences in a few sentences and then to try to find examples of subtle racism in EVERY interaction that they have with people on the street. So far, this tactic seems to have entrenched Bruno’s views of a colorblind utopia even further.  If he continues to expend energy trying to educate him, I will be amazed at his vigilance. 

Nick - He appears to want to not think about race at all, and this is why he’s “gonna be himself,” and not role play as a white boy. Although his optimism around race relations appears genuine, I can’t help but think that he doesn’t want to act white because it will take away his masculinity.  Maybe I’m selling him short.  In any case, he is going to be called a Wigger by episode 3.  That’ll be fun.

Bruno – The guy we’re supposed to hate.  He’s obviously going in with an agenda.  To show that his way of thinking and living, “joy in/joy out, passion in/passion out, positive energy in/positive energy out,” is a superior one. He represents the American Dream.  Your rewards will be proportional to the work you put in.  Beneath his “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” attitude, he also has a “can’t we all just get along” good guy philosophy with a side of “suck it up and take it like a man.”  I don’t want to write too much on him, because it is all too obvious.

Carmen - She is crazy.  She will be affected the most by this experience.  Mostly because she will learn that her ideology (“I’m a liberal”) does not match her words or her actions.

Rose -  She is the person everyone in the Pioneer Valley (Bill O'Reilly's version of liberal hell) is supposed to relate to.  She 1) acknowledges that race and racism exist. 2) Respects the differences that are there even if she doesn’t fully understand them. 3) Has a genuine interest in learning about the “black” experience.  However, I don’t like her.  I can’t explain at this point, maybe she enunciates too much?  Hey, not all analysis needs to be meaningful.

Comments

[Minh TV-ologist]

forgive the large font. I'm not really yelling, I just have no idea what I'm doing. You should be happy that I was even able to get the post onto the blog.

[mamacate]

Very happy. Thanks for letting me rope you into this. Wanna recruit any other tv-ologists? Kathy? Hmmm?

Anyway, interesting. You read my take on Nick--I think he's dealing with some emotional fallout from the whole "act white" thing that he can't quite articulate (he is after all, a guy--no, wait, that's another post!).

Do you think you don't like Rose because she annunciates, or do you think she's smug in a pioneer valley sort of a way? (Speaking as a smug pioneer valley white girl myself here.) *fake austrian therapist voice* Tell me more...

Big font is from copying and pasting. Typepad's default font is ludicrously small (it's run by people younger than YOU!), so I increased the font size, and anything you c&p in will be embiggened. Nothing wrong with that.

I actually did think about the political act of moving this discussion over here, but in the end decided to play a little white privilege and keep my blog focused on the critical social issues of inane fiber acquisition and the production of highly imperfect objects by an overeducated knowledge worker. Oh well. You're certainly right about the comments--I always get fewer when it's not about knitting or kids--but the number of comments is also influenced by the interval between posts.

Glad you're here. Because everyone wants to talk about race with knitters, right?

[mamacate]

Oh, also, yes, I know why you watched project runway (so did I). But hey, I can be a downer and bring race to that too! Santino's mom is black? Who knew?

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled program...

[maryse]

i may have to watch this after all.

[Kat with a K]

If you had kept it on your main blog, it wouldn't have been a group thing, so that aspect of moving it is good, at least.

Minh, I wondered about the camera thing too but forgot about it by the time I posted. I don't have a read on Renee yet either, and maybe not really Carmen - the women seemed to get the least focus in the first episode, but from the preview it looks like we'll be seeing more of them.

Also, Cate, "the critical social issues of inane fiber acquisition and the production of highly imperfect objects by an overeducated knowledge worker" is one of the best phrases I've read in quite a while.