Richard Dyer
White (1997)
Author: Richard Dyer
Genre: Non-fiction (Western film/art)
Book Summary:
This study, written by one of today’s top film studies scholars, Richard Dyer of the University of Warwick in Great Britain, explores the interdisciplinary representation, primarily visual, of White imagery in western film, art, literature, political cartooning and Christian iconography. The book investigates the evolution of the concept of “whiteness” through its importance growth and into its manifestations of supremacy by observing many of those manifestations in the said disciplines. The book goes on to examine the various forms of white (whites of dark skin such as Mulattoes, Hispanics, Asians, darker-skin Caucasians, etc.) and how they are perceived. An elaborate argument surrounds around Christian iconography, where the author argues that Jesus and Mary, being middle-eastern Jews, were most likely much darker people than their graphic representational iconography, which over the years grew to be that of fair, blonde, light-skinned, halo-surrounded images. The book goes on to talk about lighting techniques as mirrored in early photography, early cinema and western body-building muscle-culture such as Italian cinema of the 1950s, macho cinema stars, such as Johnny Weissmuller (the original Tarzan), Stallone in Rambo: First Blood and Schwarzenegger in his early Mr. Universe days and early films, such as Conan the Barbarian. The book also discusses largely the negative, menacing Aryan white supremacy concept of in Fascist and Nazi philosophy, and its solemn consequences. The two penultimate chapters deal respectively with the British Granada TV flag mini-series, The Jewel in the Crown (1984) and its balancing, or their-lack-of, of British imperialism in India and the unmitigated hopeless effort to any kind of cultural bridging, as well as the stifling role of white women at the end of the British empire rule in India. The last chapter, named white death, in particular the incongruity of sheer fearfulness of westerns of death with, simultaneously, radiance transcendence of death images of whites, lay people or Christian iconography alike.
Geographical Setting: Worldwide
Time Period: Last 2000 years
Appeal Characteristics:
A great read for anyone interested in western cultural in general and film imagery in particular. Many B & W and colored plates which enrich the reading and support the text with strong visual images. The language is intended for popular diverse readers, thus unjargon-like and unburdened with film lingo or academic terminology, which might be off-putting for someone who is not in the field of film studies, yet interested in subject. The historical overview is elaborate and well-written, the arguments are interesting and well supported by filmography and bibliography alike. The author’s wide knowledge of western culture in general and film in particularly is awe-inspiring. The examples given of the various disciplines are excellent and the concept of representation is widely explained and exemplified throughout. On the whole this is a fascinating, impressive and comprehensive study.
Read-alikes: Readers who enjoyed White for its wide observation of Western culture, art, iconography, some literature and largely film, would also enjoy: Matter of Images: Essays on Representation (2002) a later work by Richard Dyer, discussing the concept of representation and its negative and positive manifestations in our society and particularly in film. Toni Morrison’s Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination (1992) is concerned with the largely-ignored hefty influence of Black culture in White America in a broad range of in literary, cultural views, assumptions, readings, and misreading. Edited by Mike Hill Whiteness: A Critical Reader (1997) includes essays such as: Introduction: Vipers In Shangri-La: Whiteness, Writing, and Other Ordinary Terrors, by Mike Hill; White Looks: Hairy Apes, True Stories, and Limbaugh's Laughs, by David R. Roediger; and The Whiteness of Film Noir, by Eric Lott. Critical White Studies: Looking Behind the Mirror (1997) edited by Richard Delgado (Editor), Jean Stefancic, similarly to Dyer, though in a primarily social and less artistic context, discuss the concept of what is it to be or “pass as” white in western society. This book was also an Honorable Mention for Outstanding Books Awards, Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America, 1997. Paul Willemen’s Looks and Friction: Essays in Cultural Studies and Film Theory asks and answers questions about subjectivity, language, pleasure and issues of national identity in film. Bell Hooks’ Black Looks: Race and Representation discusses the minute development of African-American representation in general American culture. Hooks discusses the issue from the “Black” point of view, which presents an interesting venue from Dyer’s “White” argument starting point.
Red Flags: suggestive sexual motifs, body-building imagery, graphic violence imagery, mild Nazi propaganda images, suggestive racist imagery.
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