I actually found this reading quite interesting and could
not help connecting the story of Tarzan to
what we have been discussing during the semester so far. I know towards the end
of the article, it states that Edgar Rice Burroughs only intended Tarzan to serve as a romantic adventure
story and not as some sort of metaphor of society. However, I think that’s what
made this story so popular during its time.
On Tuesday, we discussed Juilianne Hough and her choice of Halloween costume. We discussed how it is not the intent of racism that makes an act racist, but how the audience will perceive the act. Although Burroughs did not have the intention of the story Tarzan having a direct correlation with the culture at that time, people did make the connection with the restrictions and frustrations they endure.
Dime novels had a certain focus on adventure and triumph within America. However, civilization took the stance of natural selection, that successful people were innately born and there was not much hope for you succeeding, no matter how hard you tried. However, the story of Tarzan gave some hope for society. Tarzan supposedly came from the lowest and most uncivilized culture and was able to in the end succeed. He represented a new life and a new birth and a new chance.
Everyone understands that there are certain rankings within society and that the higher classes or rankings sequentially have more power over the other rankings. One thing I could not help but think about is rankings within a certain minority. For example, the society in which Tarzan lived in symbolized the most primitive and uncivilized kinds of people--apes. However, there were also certain rankings within this civilization. It would be interesting to look at these kinds of rankings and how they may interact or view the certain rankings of another group. For example, what about power and ranking within the “weak”?
Are you asking, say, like how a minority group might view themselves? When I was in London I took a class called Black Radicalism, about radical racial movement largely in the 20th century. One thing I found very interesting is that, before these radical movements took place, we discussed how this minority group often associated their view with the dominant culture. In simpler terms, blacks were judging themselves and their racial group by the standards of whites at the time, simply because that was the dominant culture. The dominant culture shaped their whole world view into one that was negative towards their own group. This would change of course, but is that the kind of hierarchies you were talking about?
ReplyDeleteYes, that was essentially my question. I just thought since we were studying the influence of culture and media on white's perception on blacks, it would be an interesting question to look at how it influences black's perception on themselves. What do they think of movies such as Tarzan or The Birth of a Nation, which both depict such a negative view on black and their character. Would they feel ashamed of their culture or be angered towards whites for the inaccurate representation of their culture?
DeleteMarya and Haley, You're both touching on the importance that the concept of "civilization" has played in American history, particularly in constructions of race and masculiniy. In _Tarzan of the Apes_, the scenario of an Englishman raised by apes allows Burroughs to explore questions that consumed early 20th-cenury culture -- about the relationship between nature, modernization, and masculinity. As John Kasson argues, Tarzan epitomized a fantasy whereby white men could reconnect with masculinity through nature. This often involved encounters with nonwhite peoples in which the white man demonstrated his mastery of the nonwhite Other and the wilderness and brought the benefits of civilization. Dixon's _The Clansman_ is another example of this narrative. In fact, I've decided that it would actually help our evolving discussion of the intersection of race, gender, and narratives of desire in popular culture if we watched _The Birth of a Nation_ (D. W. Griffith's film epic of _The Clansman_) alongside the 1918 _Tarzan of the Apes.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'll post a short reading tomorrow to provide some historical context for _The Birth of a Nation_.