Another Big Brother race row exploded this week as Emily Parr directed a racial slur at fellow housemate Charley Uchea.
Anyone who follows the television show will be aware of the controversy that followed last year when Shilpa Shetty was subject to racial bullying.
With that in mind it seemed obvious that any racial disharmony this time round would be dealt with in the most serious manner and when Emily was removed from the house there could be no complaints.
However, I think that I may be alone in expresssing sympathy for this naive young woman. Emily seemed to be making a misjudged attempt, as a middle class white woman, to speak to a young black female, on what she thought was her own level. It backfired... badly.
It is obvious that she used the word so comfortably that it must have been part of her vocubalry but labelling someone as a racist is a serious allegation.
The word in question has become so fashionable, mainly due to the popularity of rap music, that it may be part of the language of many young people. both black and white. While what Emily said was wrong it was not intended to cause harm.
As much as Emily would like to think that she is an intelligent and street wise young woman she has a lot to learn and her comment was plainly stupid.
But calling her racist is a step too far.
Saturday 9 June 2007
Emily meant no offence but had to go
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
The N word is never acceptable but feel that Emily was not being racist but was made an example of because of last years CBB fiasco.
I agree that, as the previous post put it, the N word is unacceptable and Emily obviously should not have used it. I believe Emily when she said that the word is okay to use in her particulsr circle of friends, and granted the word may be used heavily in Rap music or amongst people who decide it's okay, however, what we need to question is why a section of the world/community feel it necessary to revert back to history and use negative representations and connotations of a culturally specific group of people. The world has changed, and yes so has our vocab/slang etc. New words are formed continually, so for me, appropriating an archaic racial slur into the 21st century seems ridiculous. I'm not suggesting here that Emily has a monopoly on derogatory language, just that times have changed and we can refer to people in a different way than what is presently being put out there. I have no idea why the N word is used in rap music, but it would be an interesting research project!
That said, Emily has been made an example of and was obviously not thinking at the time that Millions would be watching her comment, particularly after the previous CBB events. Maybe Emily is a victim of being caught up in a language divide or perhaps she thought she was exempt from being penalised on account of having black friends and all!?
Agree 100% with your comments Mishel. You expressed yourself very well.
I am in agreement with your post regarding this incident Leigh-Ervin. I think that you are right in saying that Emily is not necessarily a racist for using that word but proabably naive and thoughtless. Unfortunately, it is not only rap artists that continue to promote the use of that word as it is commonly found in films also. As a teacher of Media and Film Studies I am increasingly concerned by the utterance of that word in the dialogue of actors and actresses both black and white in films. Films such as Pulp Fiction and more recently Smokin Aces feature the N word frequently. This is especially concerning as it is films like these that achieve a kind of cult status with young people,particularly men.
I feel that those film producers who fund films such as those mentioned above are being irresponsible by continuing to include this word in their scripts. If say for example it was a film about slavery such as The Color Purple then it would be used to establish realism. However, it has no place in modern films.
Thanks for the comments Mishel and Heather, your blogs are both fantastic by the way!
Post a Comment