TED Talks are the pinnacle of bourgeois cheesepuff and self-back-pattery—a ‘roided up NPR with visuals. As a prole, I’m supposed to be floored by the priesthood coming out from behind the Veil of the Holy of Holies to radiate their revelations to me. Their videos are mildly interesting at best, but this one I couldn’t ignore since it involves books, and Natick, a city close to where I grew up, and one in which I worked a good few years (what’s up, Sam Goody?).
I also couldn’t ignore this because, given what I was expecting, it wasn’t completely terrible.
She found something she didn’t like in her life, and in the general marketplace of books, and fixed it herself by…fixing it herself. She didn’t whine about privilege* or to the government for taxpayer money, at least as far as I know. Good for her.
Her classmate’s instinctual objection to Grace’s desire to play Dorothy in the school play was understandable, though elementary school plays can bend a little since it’s about the kids and their experience in acting, and not so much historic or artistic accuracy. The Wizard of Oz was about an Anglo family in early 20th century, agrarian Kansas—though the Gales could’ve been Chinese, they weren’t. Having a Chinese girl play a white girl is silly…just as silly as having and blue-eyed Heidi play Dorothy from The Wiz. The Wiz was specifically utilized black culture in Harlem as its backdrop, and having our Heidi play Dorothy’s role breaks the coherency of the narrative: The Wiz would be about something different.
Regardless, I got a little lost when Grace finger-wagged at the end. Kids (presumably American kids…she might get laughed out of Chinese schools if she tried to diversify them) don’t “need” diverse books, they just need to be taught not to be dicks.
* As a young Asian female of reasonable attractiveness, living in America, Grace is literally one of the most privileged classes in the history of the world, not just present day. I don’t fault her for it and I don’t expect her to “check” any of it.
7 Comments
I agree that it’s a rare TED talk that is worth my time. Once or twice someone pulled a Snowden and showed stuff we weren’t supposed to see, and I like that. As for how Grace handled her ethnicity as a child, that was the same story for my few Amerind ancestors. I’m not complaining about being left off the Indian rolls in Oklahoma; that was their choice to make for me and I don’t believe I’ve lost much. However, it’s fun to pull that one out when folks start talking crazy.
So a few of your ancestors kind of broke from the pack, you mean?
To be fair, children don’t need books at all, let alone diverse ones.
“But how will they learn about….stuff?”
Did I just give a librarian a heart attack somewhere?
Chances are, a librarian had a hard attack when you posted that comment, right?
Um, oh, probably.