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salineaSo yesterday, I went to the movie theater (to watch Princess and the Frog, which was good, btw, nice songs); and I saw an ad for one of those big historical dramas that French cinemas like so much, called "L'Autre Dumas" (The other Dumas); about Alexandre Dumas; and his relationship with one of his writing collaborator/ghost writer Guillaume Maquet. Gerard Depardieu plays Alexandre Dumas.
In case you're wondering "so, what?", this is a picture of Alexandre Dumas:
Dumas was a little bit Black, you see. Grandson of a Black slave from Saint Domingue aka Haiti. Yeah.
Funnily enough I never learned that one in any of the classes at school.
For added irony, the French word for "ghostwriter" is the same word as the French N-word. (Yes, people keep using it widely in the media without wondering if it might offend anyone). So all the synopsis are talking about it as the relationship between (white) Alexandre Dumas and his "N-word" with a heavy connotation of "and his slave". (One article I saw, not about the movie, but about a book on the same subject re-edited for the occasion uses the sentence: "L’ironie de l’Histoire veut qu’à l’heure où la France s’apprête, en 1848, à abolir l’esclavage trime dans les soutes de Paris un nouveau type d’esclave, le « nègre littéraire »." = "The irony of History wills that at the time when France, in 1848, is on the verge of abolishing slavery, a new type of slaves is working in the holds of Paris." Yeah, really. Ghostwriting = exactly like slavery! *facepalm*). Which, interestingly, back in 1845, was exactly the sort of word games a Pamphlet against Dumas on the subject of ghostwriting by Eugene de Mirecourt, who really liked to use racist language against Dumas, and for which Dumas even got him condemned. Which, it gets worse, according to the wikipedia is even where the etymology of this particular use of the word "nègre" in French comes from. Oh, for fuck's sake!
Are they really making a movie about Dumas and ghostwriting without addressing the context of racism that shaped the whole controversy? Or are they going to address the controversy blindingly ignoring the irony of what the fact having a white actor playing a biracial historical figure means about racism in contemporary France? Either way, this is full of fail.
ETA: Two articles in French criticising the whitewashing as well.
In case you're wondering "so, what?", this is a picture of Alexandre Dumas:
Dumas was a little bit Black, you see. Grandson of a Black slave from Saint Domingue aka Haiti. Yeah.
Funnily enough I never learned that one in any of the classes at school.
For added irony, the French word for "ghostwriter" is the same word as the French N-word. (Yes, people keep using it widely in the media without wondering if it might offend anyone). So all the synopsis are talking about it as the relationship between (white) Alexandre Dumas and his "N-word" with a heavy connotation of "and his slave". (One article I saw, not about the movie, but about a book on the same subject re-edited for the occasion uses the sentence: "L’ironie de l’Histoire veut qu’à l’heure où la France s’apprête, en 1848, à abolir l’esclavage trime dans les soutes de Paris un nouveau type d’esclave, le « nègre littéraire »." = "The irony of History wills that at the time when France, in 1848, is on the verge of abolishing slavery, a new type of slaves is working in the holds of Paris." Yeah, really. Ghostwriting = exactly like slavery! *facepalm*). Which, interestingly, back in 1845, was exactly the sort of word games a Pamphlet against Dumas on the subject of ghostwriting by Eugene de Mirecourt, who really liked to use racist language against Dumas, and for which Dumas even got him condemned. Which, it gets worse, according to the wikipedia is even where the etymology of this particular use of the word "nègre" in French comes from. Oh, for fuck's sake!
Are they really making a movie about Dumas and ghostwriting without addressing the context of racism that shaped the whole controversy? Or are they going to address the controversy blindingly ignoring the irony of what the fact having a white actor playing a biracial historical figure means about racism in contemporary France? Either way, this is full of fail.
ETA: Two articles in French criticising the whitewashing as well.
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Date: 6 February 2010 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 6 February 2010 09:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 6 February 2010 11:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 7 February 2010 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 6 February 2010 09:37 pm (UTC)Also, isn't it common knowledge that Dumas' grandfather was black? I remember knowing it as a kid - or did I just read weird stuff? o.O I know I've seen the photo you linked very often, at least.
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Date: 6 February 2010 09:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 6 February 2010 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 6 February 2010 11:08 pm (UTC)Very much so, yes :(
(btw, icon love!)
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Date: 6 February 2010 10:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 6 February 2010 11:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 6 February 2010 10:17 pm (UTC)My mother also didn't know, despite loving quite a few of his books. Suffice to say, she wasn't very impressed by the fact that nobody ever seems to mention it.
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Date: 6 February 2010 11:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 6 February 2010 10:35 pm (UTC)There is not enough facepalm for this. Seriously? What made them think it was a good idea to do it this way?
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Date: 6 February 2010 11:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 6 February 2010 10:36 pm (UTC)The rest of it sounds pretty fraught, yeah... and I didn't know that about the French word for "ghostwriter" -- going to go ask B if he knows the word.
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Date: 6 February 2010 11:15 pm (UTC)Yeah, that word :( now that I know where it comes from, I can't believe it's not considered horribly racist and I boggle that it is so frequently used in media all the time. Just. Argh.
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Date: 6 February 2010 10:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 6 February 2010 11:17 pm (UTC)I never heard of Langston Hughes :( *goes google*
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Date: 6 February 2010 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 6 February 2010 11:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 7 February 2010 01:18 am (UTC)The rest of it is obviously also fail, but I find it interesting how many of us did not know that fact, whereas there are plenty of authors (although perhaps not French ones) with whom race is one of the first things that comes to mind.
So many layers of race issues.
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Date: 8 February 2010 08:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 7 February 2010 01:41 am (UTC)But still, it's really sad that such a thing seems to be treated as an embarrassing secret of sorts. I think it's pretty cool he's not white. WTF Depardieu.
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Date: 8 February 2010 08:16 pm (UTC)Well, wasn't much fond of Depardieu in the first place so XD
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Date: 7 February 2010 02:02 am (UTC)That movie sounds like so much fail that I'm afraid to even look at it. :(
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Date: 8 February 2010 08:18 pm (UTC)yeah, well, yeah :(
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Date: 7 February 2010 02:04 am (UTC)But yeah, that's pretty heinous, :[
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Date: 8 February 2010 08:19 pm (UTC)Yeah, yeah it is :(
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Date: 7 February 2010 06:43 am (UTC)*snerks* I had to make a site for him back in the day, for a web design class in high school. For the layout, I'd vectored this image, then photoshopped Dumas's face over the king's and given the cows musketeer ensembles. They were credited as "les trois moooo-squetaires." XD
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Date: 8 February 2010 08:21 pm (UTC)HOLY FUCKING COW. Err, did you get a good grad?
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Date: 7 February 2010 10:13 am (UTC)C'est impressionnant à quel point les gens peuvent... oublier ce genre de "détails".
Ca n'a rien à voir avec l'histoire, c'est de la mythologie, mais je suis sûre que si quelqu'un, un jour, écrivait une version de l'histoire d'Hercule qui tienne compte du fait qu'il était bisexuel et que son arrière-grand-mère était noire, il se ferait accuser de réécrire une histoire politiquement correcte, alors que c'est du canon.
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Date: 8 February 2010 08:23 pm (UTC)Hahaha, je savais pas du tout ça pour l'arrière grandmère d'Hercule. Et oui, les gens diraient totallement ça :(
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Date: 7 February 2010 10:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 8 February 2010 08:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 7 February 2010 12:28 pm (UTC)Je suis en train de lire Ces noirs qui ont fait la France, du chevalier de Saint Georges à Aimé Césaire de Benoît Hopquin. Alexandre Dumas n'est pas dedans mais son père est mentionné dans plusieurs chapitres. C'est une série de portraits d'acteurs, musiciens, écrivains, politiciens, soldats révolutionnaires, héros de Verdun ou tirailleurs de la 2nde guerre mondiale. C'est souvent "rage-inducing". (1)
(1) Je lis vraiment trop d'anglais, trop de sources en anglais et aucune en français. Il y a une belle bibliographie à la fin du bouquin.
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Date: 8 February 2010 08:29 pm (UTC)Le bouquin m'a l'air très chouette!!
(1) Je lis vraiment trop d'anglais
I know the feeling.
trop de sources en anglais et aucune en français.
:( ça dit tout.
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Date: 7 February 2010 08:16 pm (UTC)I had no idea about the word for "ghostwriter", I must admit. You'd think it'd at least be worth thinking over before using, though I know US customs and strictures can't be imposed on France. (Is that a word that's used much?)
This sounds like it could have been such a fascinating movie, but it's being done so, so incorrectly.
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Date: 8 February 2010 08:33 pm (UTC)About the literary use of the word "nègre", it's almost always use in the context of ghostwriters, which is relatively frequent about political literature and the like, with non professional writers who are famous people and are expected to make books which they don't necessarily have the skill to do. So, hmm, sort of.
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Date: 7 February 2010 08:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 8 February 2010 08:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 7 February 2010 09:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 8 February 2010 08:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 8 February 2010 07:18 pm (UTC)They'd probably just whitewash it anyway. Sigh. :(
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Date: 8 February 2010 08:39 pm (UTC)