Did anyone hear about that Australian blackface skit....?
In an effort to try to improve Australia's reputation, I've decided to discuss what happened with the Blackface routine that appeared on our TV a few days ago.
If you haven't heard about it, you can read about it here.
You can also see the skit here.
What I am about to say is merely my opinion and impications drawn from myself and what I observe around me. If you disagree, feel free to say so.
Now, can I just start by saying that Australians possess a very different attitude towards things, particularly racism. Our humour is also different.
Firstly, I'm not saying that the skit was funny, or particularly inspired. We like to take the mickey out of things. It's a big part of our humour and we really enjoy making fun of other people. It's not nasty, condescending, or meant to be offensive in anyway. It's just how we act, with both our comedy and our everyday life. We just naturally don't take offence if we know none was intended, as is clearly the case with this skit.
Secondly, as I said, we have a different attitude towards racism. We don't see it as an issue, which can come across as racism towards others, because we don't mind satirising it. I can tell black jokes to my black friends and they don't see me as racist, because they know I don't mean it.
Thirdly, no part of the humour that was supposed to come from that skit was to be drawn from the colour of the performers' skin. It had to do with the fact that when they did it back in the 80's, they were ALL painted black. This time, the one who played Michael Jackson was painted white. Ha ha. There was also a nostalgia factor involved.
The show it was on (Hey, Hey, It's Saturday) was aired from 1973 to 1999. It was massively popular and became such an icon of Australian TV and Australia itself over those years. Half of our celebrities were in some way tied to the show, with a good portion of them getting their first "big break" on the show. Ten years after it's last show, they announced there were going to be two reunion shows. They drew about 2 and a half million viewers each, which is about 10% of our population.
Fourthly, we have a shocking track record of how we treated our own indigenous race. We started off with the traditional, "Here, you have these beads, and I'll just take from here to the horizon." We moved on to stealing their children and forcing them to live with white families to try and assimilate them (trying to get rid of their culture). Shockingly, this continued all the way into the 1960's. Our government only recently officially acknowledged these acts with an apology. There is still a 10 year gap between their life expectancies and ours.
I've said all I wanted to say. Discuss.
In an effort to try to improve Australia's reputation, I've decided to discuss what happened with the Blackface routine that appeared on our TV a few days ago.
If you haven't heard about it, you can read about it here.
You can also see the skit here.
What I am about to say is merely my opinion and impications drawn from myself and what I observe around me. If you disagree, feel free to say so.
Now, can I just start by saying that Australians possess a very different attitude towards things, particularly racism. Our humour is also different.
Firstly, I'm not saying that the skit was funny, or particularly inspired. We like to take the mickey out of things. It's a big part of our humour and we really enjoy making fun of other people. It's not nasty, condescending, or meant to be offensive in anyway. It's just how we act, with both our comedy and our everyday life. We just naturally don't take offence if we know none was intended, as is clearly the case with this skit.
Secondly, as I said, we have a different attitude towards racism. We don't see it as an issue, which can come across as racism towards others, because we don't mind satirising it. I can tell black jokes to my black friends and they don't see me as racist, because they know I don't mean it.
Thirdly, no part of the humour that was supposed to come from that skit was to be drawn from the colour of the performers' skin. It had to do with the fact that when they did it back in the 80's, they were ALL painted black. This time, the one who played Michael Jackson was painted white. Ha ha. There was also a nostalgia factor involved.
The show it was on (Hey, Hey, It's Saturday) was aired from 1973 to 1999. It was massively popular and became such an icon of Australian TV and Australia itself over those years. Half of our celebrities were in some way tied to the show, with a good portion of them getting their first "big break" on the show. Ten years after it's last show, they announced there were going to be two reunion shows. They drew about 2 and a half million viewers each, which is about 10% of our population.
Fourthly, we have a shocking track record of how we treated our own indigenous race. We started off with the traditional, "Here, you have these beads, and I'll just take from here to the horizon." We moved on to stealing their children and forcing them to live with white families to try and assimilate them (trying to get rid of their culture). Shockingly, this continued all the way into the 1960's. Our government only recently officially acknowledged these acts with an apology. There is still a 10 year gap between their life expectancies and ours.
I've said all I wanted to say. Discuss.
