Black lives matter, monument defacement and media erasure: unpacking the ethics

How this is done must not be up to local and city councils, but ultimately should be led by those who are most affected, encouraging all of us to listen and bear witness to the lived experience of racism. It should not involve a measurement of how much shame ought to be obscured or how much a statue serves public utility, but should be the result of an inclusive conversation.

Rethinking Media Erasure

The Black Lives Matter instance has also raised a number of questions about non-tangible works, such as films and television of the past that include problematic racial representation. The 1939 classic film Gone with the Wind has this week become a touchstone both for anti-racist activism and for those angry about what they see in simple ways as the effect of "political correctness".

The decision by HBO Max to continue streaming Gone with the Wind, albeit with an introductory warning, is a well-considered result. However, to again ensure an educational opportunity is not missed, we might go beyond just including a disclaimer at the start, and look better to how our digital, interactive technologies can build directly upon key scenes without the need to delete, remove or hide that which is offensive today.

The recent Fawlty Towers example is a useful one. In the episode that has been the subject of so much controversy over the past few days, we likewise have the opportunity to educate those who might have missed the parodic inferences of the elderly major who, out of touch already in the 1970s, used racial slurs unthinkingly. In its context, his language was meant as an obvious contrast against the sophisticated cosmopolitanism of waitress and art student Polly. What that episode teaches, of course, is not that there are two different ways to think about race, but that Basil, who was initially surprised by the major's racism, later allowed his own anti-foreigner sentiments out while concussed and medicated. There is a lot that episode says about submerged, unconscious and unthinking racism and how it can rise into outright abuse and deliberate insult and injury. If read in the right way, such an episode gives us opportunities to think about the direct connection between unconscious bias, police brutality and custodial deaths. Drawing those links out with overlays, interruptions, subtitles, and instant links to explanations by people genuinely affected may prove to be the ideal solution for the 2020s. With some care, we can go beyond just warnings and disclaimers or total erasure and develop sensible educational solutions.

Again, this is not to suggest that all media in all circumstances must circulate as part of 'free speech' alongside the occasional warning or adaptation. Rather, there are more recent examples that are offensive not because they do the same thing as earlier texts, but because they have occurred so recently they were already out-of-step. For example, Chris Lilley's use of blackface across several series to depict a troubled Australian teenager of Tongan heritage was not just something for which we ought to have higher expectations. Rather, it was actively injurious to Pacific Islander teenagers who suffered ridicule and stereotyping as a result of this awkward humour. There is a difference between recognising Gone with the Wind or Fawlty Towers instantaneously as dated and learning more about the historical context, and broadcasting a 2014 series that centres on a white comedian wearing blackface.

Art, sculpture and parodic entertainment provide powerful opportunities for learning in many different context. It would therefore be a shame to ignore those opportunities by hiding the things that make us uncomfortable about our shameful pasts.

As we begin to discuss these issues in public with a renewed depth, education, listening and thinking must remain at the centre of how we look for life-saving solutions without the chaos of outrage. This involves re-thinking the role of monuments and how watch film and television At the same time, it requires that we listen intently to the voices of lived experience and rely on the leadership of those affected.

These approaches will, of course, make many people uncomfortable. That is good: this is a damaged society, and lives are at stake in a serious and urgent way. The extent of the problem is so serious that our discomfort helps us all to realise there are no easy, relaxed solutions.