Studying cinema through the lens of regional identity must be done under the same clearly defined boundaries of time and place. Prof. Courtney does so when applying her study of how miscegenation was handled by the PCA through the case-study of Jonathan Stahl's Imitation of Life (1934). She even outlines it when lecturing about the importance of authenticity in the role of the myth and tradition of the American south (and its representation) in the film adaptations of Tennessee Williams. The discussion that followed the lecture, however, not only complicated my understanding of the American south itself but also called into question how we can approach the lens of regional identity in contemporary studies in our field.
This question brings in two topics we have previously discussed in class: the appropriation of race and racial symbols by "minority" groups and the reception of those very symbols outside the bounds of "the smiling, ubiquitous construct of a colonizer's gaze," (Rashid, pg. 35). I argue that "the colonizer's gaze" transcends the political sphere that Rashid presents in his article, reconfiguring the term along the lines of whatever dominant ideology is present in the system under discussion. By extending this discourse of identification outside of Rashid's post-colonial lines we see just how skewed a dialogue in regional identity can get.
Reception studies in this topic must then take into account the value and relevance of regional identity during the period in question. Richard De Cordova's article, "The Strange Case of The Bitter Tea of General Yen", shows us how the dominant ideology in the representation of Chinese subjects by Hollywood underestimated the importance of regional identity outside of the English-speaking world. Their "colonizer's gaze" took it for granted that China would ban the film, but failed to take into account the passionate effort by the Chinese nation to ban the film in as many other countries it could. The danger China saw in its representation by Hollywood, via Columbia Pictures, was so strong that threats were made to ban the studio outright from the Chinese market. De Cordova cites the angry reception to the film from Chinese-American groups in Los Angeles, a factor that the studio apparently never took seriously.
This is not the case when speaking of "southern" identity, as Prof. Courtney's lecture and discussion of miscegenation point out. The seemingly endless stream of vaguely worded memos between Universal executives and PCA members resulted in a closely monitored production of Imitation of Life, careful not to directly offend a shared ideology only present in the United States. The memos that Courtney presents explicitly refer to "southern values"; even if the miscegenation would've been scandalous elsewhere, it appears that it was only a problem because it would offend a southern ideology that still retained considerable influence.
The context of regional identity appears to change considerably when dealing with reception studies of Third World groups. What happens when, unlike the examples cited above, the group offended lacks the power to 1) limit the distribution of a disagreeable representation of their identity or 2) influence the production of images or topics sensitive to its ideology? Ian Iqbal Rashid explores this with his love/hate relationship with what Sabu means for him as a man between two cultures. Despite the blatant colonial values that Sabu represented, he was still Indian –his presence, not the ideology presented through him, was enough for the actor to be a welcome representative of a regional identity. In this regard, when a group lacks the power to influence an ideology, their mere representation is enough to be a celebratory cause. Only in future generations, with a change in dominant ideology, can the reception of such an image be questioned, deconstructed, and reconfigured fittingly.
It is therefore important to place any discussion of regional identity within its historical context. Whether it be the "authenticity" of the South or a group's relationship with the institution that represents them, the issues at hand extend beyond cultural boundaries and must therefore develop within a historical framework.
Daniel Loría
No comments:
Post a Comment