>From: Loretta J. Williams, Racial Justice Working Group
Natl Council of Churches
I had the opportunity to preview the opening and
closing (20 minutes each) and three out of the seven hours of
programming that will be broadcast worldwide by PBS as
Christopher Columbus and the Age of Discovery beginning October
6th. I share my impressions so that we can better prepare
ourselves to shape public discussion of this major tele-event.
I'll do the positives first: 1) it's a humungous
undertaking; 2) with great cinematography; 3) and haunting
music; 4) various stories are told along with that of Columbus,
and indigenous people in Latin America today are shown as
actively resisting some of the inroads; 5) there's useful
footage and text on the horrors of the silver mines and sugar
cane plantations; 6)it comes across that different things
happened to different folks; and 7) it's gossipy enough (ex: the
captain of the Pinta, was the real hero, yet he lived in
Columbus's shadow) to hold the average viewer's attention.
There are some good and truthful sections which will
make it difficult for some of the public to notice that it's all
cast ideologically to say it was all worth it. And in the
closing minutes of the series, the wise white scholar says 'yes,
there's some protest out and about, but, folks, let us go out
and celebrate the great man, Christopher Columbus'. It is
important that we help people sort this through.
Overall, the series is a glorification of white males.
Disproportionate time is spent romanticizing about what
happened for the white invaders. Yes, some voices and what
comes across most vividly, due to choices made in this age and
time by the producers, is the message that wise white males,
courageously playful while young, erudite when older, really do
know best. Mauricio Obregon, establishment Columbian historian,
subtly transmits this message. He is abundantly aided by the
long sequences in the three shows where we watch today's crew
of muscle-bound sailors joyfully pour buckets of water over
each other, push each other off the replica of Columbus's ship,
cook and eat supper together, sleep in sleeping bags on the deck
-- aren't we having fun, boys! All this in the context of
telling us that a small fleet of brave men were the vanguard
bringing European society - culture, values and religion - to the
"new world".
Prof. Obregon does tell us how the King and
Queen of Spain forced the citizens of Palos, Spain, to provide
Columbus with two ships to make his initial voyage. We see the
church. We hear the words imposing the penalty for misdeeds.
And we are told how by the fourth voyage Columbus has become
persona non grata to the imperial rulers. Some of the
warts-and-all of Columbus are signalled. But some of this is
done in throw-away-lines. While a map is on screen, the
narrator does say that Columbus sailed south initially because
he knew the route from earlier voyages of Africa. That strand is
not adequately followed up. Yes, there is a line in setting up
the love story about the Canary Island's being Spain's outermost
territory, still being colonized when Columbus arrived. But this
line, too, is surrounded with so much fluff that it's quickly
gone from mind.
The problem is the proportion of the good to the bad,
and the juxtapositioning of visual images which lionize Spain..
To mention some of the latter:
the Muslims did it
Why did Columbus sail? Because the Muslims were
pushing the Church in Constantinoble. (I oversimplify - but
so does the series, and that's what comes across.)
the Iron John syndrome: paeans to male bonding
We see an awful lot of men playing at being
adventurous. The ex-submarine commander who choses to command
one of replica ships, the sun-bronzed guitar player, the hardy
males relearning the fine art of rigging, the veterinarian
cooking for "the animals": the laughing boys being boys. We have
a lengthy discursion into Columbus' reputed liaison with the
widow who ruled the Canary Islands. This is preceded, by the
way, by the salacious ribbing of a young crewman today on the
boat crossing in 1990 the route that Columbus took. Surprise,
surprise -- the girlfriend of one of the new Columbus's sails
out to meet him on a modern craft, he and she swim out to meet
each other, Esther Williams style, between the old and the new
boats, as the crewmen whistle, hoot and fantasize.
Speaking of women, can't they talk?
During the three hours, no woman spoke. All
the analysts were male. And then there are the sequences
showing men in pubs...
We do see women in folk dress (quaint! quaint!), and
as ornamental accompaniments to male elites.
Blacks can only talk about black matters
Prof. Franklin Knight, the one
African-American male, (woman of color? -- heavens, no!) speaks
only about Jamaica slavery, not the broader placement of the
issues. His segments are good, but..
religion as solace
Admittedly, I haven't seen the 5th hour which is
titled "The Sword and the Cross", but in the over 50% that I've
seen there's little direct analysis of the religious
justification for the slaughter, massacres, enslavement, etc.
'The Virgin Mary helps us sail today, just like she did back
then..' -- that's the slant in the segments I've seen.
the promiscuous horse was the villain
Yes, the reintroduction of horses did change
ractices, and history. But the horse as the villain in the loss
of land by indigenous people, rather than the European settlers
and their bequeathal of genocide???
Do watch for the subtleties of language. One narration
in this segment speaks of the Indians who lived in an area
as "exploiting" the land. What defeated the Indians, by the
way? 'More than the battles, it was the extermination of the
buffalo.' The language about indigenous folk dying from disease,
too, seems to have no human actors. It just happened.
the glorification of western white heritage
There are words by the narrator which speak
of the "disappearance" of the Indian, but little analysis
visually or in text that speaks to the destruction of cultures
and religions of the people indigenous to the land. Mainly we
see contemporary white folk dressed up in quaint, playful folk
costumes in various white countries. Thus when the viewer does
see people of color a mindset of "costume" has been established,
and the contrast of anger, not cute playfulness or patriotic
fervor of people of color, will turn some off. The producers of
the series could have made other choices. But, then again, the
narration in here speaks of today's modern pluralistic
America...!
yet another contribution to onward and upward
Eurocentrism
Samir Amin defines Eurocentrism as that which
claims imitation of the Western model is the one and only
solution to everything. 'Sure, there were some bad things that
happened, and the soil of the Americas did help Europe out, but
it's that brave yet tormented Christopher Columbus... and,
after all, how grateful Africans were for the new foodstuffs
from the Americas! The narrator talks about the "debt Africa owes
to America".
I must stop now -- responsibilities and deadlines prevent
my going on to other problems with the 50% of the series that
I've seen. This series will be broadcast around the globe
starting Sunday night, October 6th. Watch it. Record it.
Use it to educate, organize and mobilize..