African-Utopian?
In a Wikipedia article about the movie "The Island," Starkweather is described as "a tall and muscular African-American." This brings up an interesting point I've thought about for a long time.
I just saw the movie on the plane ride back from L.A. America has nothing to do with the movie. Perhaps he should be labeled "a tall and muscular African-Utopian." The clones know nothing about living in America.
Or maybe we should just say he's black.
Or how about disposing with labels altogether? Wasn't that Dr. King's goal--that people would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character?
posted by The Jackal @ 8:48 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Some kind of label is always going to exist. Though I don't know of the book/movie/thing you're discussing here, clearly the author wants to convey an image of the character in question. If the writer says a man is tall and muscular, you and I will visualize a caucasian by default. Others will, by default, imagine other phenotypes. The writer wants to be specific, and so needs some kind of label or description to do that.
Focusing on labels, as the political correctness movement has done, seems (to me) a bit misguided. The "incorrect" labels are a symptom, not the problem.
My own feeling about Dr. King's dream: It isn't about pretending we're not different. Rather, it's about being mature enough to see the superficiality of the differences.
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