Soc. 3251W Race, Class, and Gender

The film The Color of Fear (1994) directed by Lee Mun Wah opens a discussion on issues surrounding race in the United States. I imagine the goal was to observe the interactions between people of different racial backgrounds to see what is said about the racial inequalities that many face today. It features what seem to be ‘representatives’ of various races that characterize a large population of the United States. Set up as a group discussion about race in the United States, the following question is posed as a point of discussion: “What is presented to me as an ‘American’ does not look and act like me.� This is an example of why many of the people in the room whom were not white did not feel like they were only American.

For example one man, Victor Lewis, said he insisted on being referred to as Black or African American – but not just American. This is an interesting point raised, as media plays an extremely important role in our self perceptions whether we like to believe it or not. Media may not have been on his mind when he used the word “presented,� but media is a powerful form of representation that seamlessly tells us how we might view a particular notion about ourselves or our country such as “What does it man to be American?� How do the media portray the typical “American?�

One of the most poignant comments made came as a response to a question from David Christensen, one of the White men. After debate over his repeated statements that he doesn’t believe racism really exists around his life and that he feels all the others in the room are viewing things too negatively, he asks “What can I do to help you?� The response comes from Lewis, one of the African American men who says “what I need is for you to understand yourself [as white] – I don’t need help from you.� The claim is that Christensen’s problem is that he doesn’t see a problem because has failed to problematized the “White� category and the hegemonic structures that many fail to see on a day to day basis. I found this to be a really important point because what is considered the ‘norm’ or majority in a society seems to rarely be investigated more closely. The subjects of close investigations seem to rely more on minorities.

Afterwards, I thought about the people that were selected for the film and wondered about what series of questions they must have needed to answer in order to be ‘chosen.’ I doubt they were randomly selected for the purposes of this film. Assuming they were carefully selected, what were the criteria for this? Does it represent an accurate sampling of representation? I felt as though the film was trying to capture the ‘overall feelings’ that surround racism and wonder if that’s really possible. As a documentary, it doesn’t literally claim that it’s trying to do so; however the way which it was filmed suggests so.