Visits

Friday, September 20, 2019

Aladdin

Way back when, in the now but dimly recollected 1990's, I took part in a church performance of the passion play, a theatrical dramatization of that period of time from the arrest of Christ to His crucifixion and resurrection. 

I had never before done any acting, and in fact had always energetically avoided such pursuits given a lifetime of shy reclusiveness. But in this case, mine was but a minor part (if I remember correctly, I was a seller of fruits and vegetables), safely tucked into a crowd of other minor players, our mission being to create a general hubbub, as one might find in a public marketplace or among rubber-necked spectators. It all seemed safe enough. 

Before each performance (there were three a week, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), each of us would sit in a chair to receive the application of make up, as is typically done in theatrical performances in order to accentuate facial features for the benefit of an audience viewing the play at a distance--lipstick, eyeliner, and such-like. 

As part of this cosmetic effort, those of us who were light-skinned would be slightly darkened (and our blond of red hair covered) in order that we might appear as suitable as possible for parts we were playing--to whit, the parts of Middle Eastern people from the region of Judea. 

Christ Himself, or, rather, the Minnesotan of Scandinavian descent who was playing Christ, had his skin darkened such that he might appear more like the historical Jesus rather than the light-skinned, blond-haired character who appears in so many western depictions and is so objected to by literalist critics. 

Well, it seems now that we were all guilty of a great sin. We--white people--had darkened our skin, an outrageous, bigoted, racist insult to all people of color. This comes to mind, of course, with the news of the unforgivable act of the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, who darkened his skin as part of a costume party portrayal of Aladdin, a fictional character from The One Thousand and One Nights, an Arabic classic from the Islamic Golden Age.  

Horrors!

Trudeau is now apologizing profusely, prostrating himself before the Pharisaical judges of the PC age. If it is possible, let this cup pass by me, however not as I will, but as you will. 


But … hold on … aren't we getting just a bit ridiculous here?  Did Trudeau mean to insult Aladdin (again, a fictional character)? Did he mean to insult Arabs? Or Arabic literature? Or dark skinned people in general? Is this why he darkened his skin in order to appear as Aladdin. Did I have my own skin darkened in the passion play to ridicule Middle Eastern people?

Think about it. 

Our society judges on the one hand that the depiction of Jesus as a Caucasian, for all appearances, is racist and wholly inappropriate, while on the other hand it damns the man who would darken his skin in order to more faithfully portray a figure. 

What's up with that? 

I'm not talking about blackface here, the intentional ridicule or disrespect on the basis of skin color alone. That's a whole entire horse of another color, so to speak. I'm talking about what seems to me a quite natural inclination to portray a part faithfully or realistically. It seems to me not an insult but a compliment of sorts, a desire to become the actual character, dark skin and all. 

It seems, to be brief, that this sort of thing has gotten out of hand. It has become absurd. Presumably, if I were a political figure, someone would dig up an old photo of me as the Middle Eastern first century fruit and vegetable seller and demand my resignation.

Is this really who we want to be?  

No comments: