-
Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes Bring New ... -
A Woman's Body Is Not A Plaything - from ... -
How You Can Light for HD... Until You Can ... -
Review: 'Peeples' is a Charming Farce with ... -
Was The Man Behind 'The Lone Ranger's' Mask ...
-
S&A 'Scandal' Recap - An Unexpected Blast ... -
Review - 'Venus And Serena' Is An Entertaining ... -
Review: 'Peeples' Is Essentially A Predictable ... -
How to Read (Black) Classic Films -
Kerry Washington and Craig Robinson Talk ...
-
David Alan Grier and the 'Peeples' Cast Talk ... -
5 Netflix Streaming Titles You May Not Know ... -
Interview: Chicago Native Aims To Match NYC, ... -
Tribeca 2013 Review: Revisting Charles Lane's ... -
Craig Robinson Talks To S & A's Sergio About ...
Exclusive: Trailer for Acclaimed South African ...
Netflix Offerings: 5 Streaming Titles You ...
Netflix Picks: 'Black Butterfly' Deals w/ ...
Review: 'Iron Man 3' Is The Most Entertaining ...
The Mainstream Media's Coverage Of Crowdfunding ...
About That Popular 'Black Films Don't Sell ...Afro-Swedes Protest Depiction Of Black Child In New Film & Call On Diaspora To Denounce
Racial controversy in art coming from Sweden again that's making headlines in Europe; although it doesn't appear to have crossed over to the USA yet.
I say "again" because... remember Makode Linde, the "Swedish Cake" artist from earlier this year? If not, maybe you'll recall Tanya Steele's op-ed on the controversial piece of art, which caused a bit of a stir here on S&A (read it HERE to catch up if you don't remember, or you're not at all familiar).
Today, however, the focus has long shifted from Linde's now infamous blackface - the happy, grinning 'pickaninny' - cake, to controvery surrounding an a recently-released Swedish children's film titled Little Pink And The Motley Crew.
What's the dealio? Well, start with the image above (full poster for the film below).
But given that all of the coverage I found of this was in Swedish, despite Google's translator, I didn't want to misintepret anything that's being said about this, so I'll instead let our friends at the Afro-Europe blog fill you in with what they've been able to determine thus far:
The Afro-Swedes are tired of the racist depiction of blackness in the Swedish children's film Little Pink and the Motley Crew. So Oivvio Polite and Staffan Carlsson launched a website to protest against these representations.
Statement:
In response to the recent controversy over the cultural meanings of the depiction of blackness in the film Little Pink and the Motley Crew, we launch this site to enable the black diaspora and other people of color to express resistance against white refusals to acknowledge that its representation of racial diversity can be regarded as stereotypical and offensive. Since there are very few public arenas for challenging white hegemony, we would like to offer an opportunity for you to have your say in the matter. The strategy is to gather images of people countering the claim that stereotypes can be detached from a history of racist representations.
One synopsis I translated said that the film is about every child's right to be who they are: Angry, dirty, sparkling, joyful or melancholic.
Interestingly, the movie is narrated by Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, whose name and face Americans should be familiar with, since he's starred in several Hollywood movies - most recently playing the villain in the remake of Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
I wonder if anyone has asked him about this; or maybe he figured it's just some small Swedish childrens movie and no one outside of that country would see it, or know that he had anything to do with it, since it's an animated film, and we don't see his face. I actually had to dig a little bit to find out that he was involved. It's definitely not listed on his IMDB page.
The Afro-Europe blog promises to return with a full report on this story, so when that happens, you'll know. I'll also contact the people behind the protest.
A website has been set up to house the protest, where you'll find photos like the one at the bottom of this post. Visit the website HERE, although it's a little bare at the moment.
In the meantime, here's the trailer for the animated film (which is not subtitled), but you get the picture; and the full poster follows; both should tell you much of what you need to know about why Afro-Swedes are protesting the children's movie:
6 Comments
Katarina | October 14, 2012 3:24 PM
Stellan Skarsgård has advised Swedes of African origin to focus with what he considers to be "real racism" instead and believes it is best to ignore them... Nuff said...
ALM | October 11, 2012 10:02 PM
My question is what is the next course of action regarding this? Historically, it seems as if protests and boycotts of media depictions have limited/varying success. Another option is to ignore it, but it seems as if the depictions continue to arise, even when people ignore it. Some people say pray about it, but faith without work is dead. What should we do as a community about this? It must be something that is effective, because often it seems as if the online outrage only gives more publicity to those who craft these images.