Can White With Black Be Helpful and Artistic?

The article  titled White by Richard Dyer, was relieving to read. It was an article of whites on whites. There is a section of the article that really makes a very good point that it is more difficult to define what white is in terms of race. In other words, we are so used to seeing a white representation that its easier to see items that stand out from that norm; however, white is also able to be broken down into other sub cultures. The author uses the example of The Godfather film to make the point the characters in that film are not white, they are Italian Americans. I feel that I liked the section of where the author did an analysis of the film Night of the Living Dead. In this critique, Dyer made a very valid point about how the protagonist of the film was black but the  zombies all were white. This helped viewers see which character to cheer for to either live or die. In addition, Dyer does point out some very interesting points to having whites play zombies. For example, the fact that they need to have trauma to the head demonstrates that they are brain dependent. 

I find the topic of race very interesting. In addition, as a white man, I find it a difficult subject to discuss. Over the course of this month, I have read articles that focused on race and the things that the white culture has done to the races around them. This article brings up the good point of does the movie industry have to be color blind? I think not. I don’t, however, feel that is on the bases of what a particular race is able to achieve to fulfill certain role. For instance, I think it was wrong that director Spike Lee said that only a black person could direct a movie about black people. Also, I am discussing the face of actors not crew or other movie creators. For example, in the article, is mentioned that race was what one could use to be able to define who was or was not a zombie. To film directors, race could be viewed as aesthetically pleasing. For example, in the film “O”, even though was a terrible adaptation of Othello in my mind, still was beautiful love scenes with the African American skin color against the white skin of the woman. Now, the question to raise is that a form of racism? I don’t honestly know....

Images from http://videodetective.com/photos/522/021928_15.jpg