Denying and Defending Racist Themes in the OpenSim
Trigger Warning: Racism and racial violence discussions
This May 25th was the 5th year anniversary of the death of George Floyd. People are still honouring him across the globe and may he rest in power. When we celebrate racist narratives in fiction we contribute to normalizing the continuation of racism and inciting of racial violence that is still happening today. We haven't done better in all the areas we should. In fact America especially is backsliding under Trump.
There are many uniquely creative and beautiful regions in the Opensim that are based on themes from TV, movies and books. And folks who have expertise in those themes usually do a pretty bang up job of recreating something they love.
But what do we do when the old movie we love is just too racist? From what I’ve observed, people deny it or try to reframe it so they don't have to give up that comforting old friend that has been with them all the years. Sometimes we can negotiate to celebrate the good parts while acknowledging the parts that are more problematic. And sometimes there's too much in the problematic area to negotiate without really properly acknowledging it all.
Most old movies, TV and literature have racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic and or ableist overtones. Does that mean we should throw it all out? Absolutely not. It can be a good learning tool. It just has to be looked at in full context and with sensitivity and not simply billed as fun.
With the recent discussions around the Nottaway Plantation main building burning down I remembered there was a region on OSGrid called Tara. I had seen it before and it bothered me because it's a racist story, but I hadn't visited when it was up before and realized it's full scope until it was relaunched after the OSGrid reset and renewal and I saw it pop up again and realized it was still a thing. When I went to look I became aware that it was the full plantation and the whole antebellum Atlanta environment depicting many scenes of slavery. And it was billed by the region creator and owner in her OSG profile as a fun role play:
You are all invited to visit my Role play region on the theme of " GONE WITH THE WIND" ...A full region AnteBellum ... Romantic, funny, where you will dance and chating, exploring and see expositions on Civil War !
the only condition : to wear clothes of 1860 :))
And then furthermore, the pic:
You are Welcome in the County of Tara, the land of Gone With the Wind . Come and have fun , Play, Dance, get clothed like in the Old South in the ATLANTA 's town, Come and see exhibitions about life in 1860 in the houses and everywhere in the huge region.
you can fight on the battle field, Confederate against Union or dance in the twelve oaks plantation, WELCOME TO ALL!
This region depicting a slave plantation, albeit fictional, is billed as a role play for fun and dancing. and she has a collection of NPCs and statue people to show us the characters. Let's look at the first one I noticed at the front entrance of the "big house":
You can show a cleaning task without being this demeaning. But let's be clear, Gone with the wind doesn't really do the reality of slavery either. Margaret Mitchell wrote "happy slaves" not the true horrors of chattel slavery that destroyed African Americans for generations. Maybe this picture is closer to the real history than the film in many places.
And at the back door you will find this bizzare NPC:
This young woman is named "Cosi Biden" and she wears only a bikini with the words "Elect Trump" on it. How is this part of the novel, film or even the era?! It's simply confusing, racist and sexually exploitative.
When I reached out to the region creator I was pretty angry after seeing these depictions and the conversation went poorly. She told me to read a history book and claimed that because she's from France she has "nothing to do with racism or wokeness." She also send me notecards of slave narratives she shares on the region. Only one of the cards worked.
She excuses herself from acknowledging racism because she lives in France. All kinds of Black people and other people of colour live in France. Also it was a country that also had slavery so she doesn't get a pass on awareness. So did Canada, and so neither do I. Because of that, I have read a lot of history books, papers and watched documentaries and interviews. She did send me the Slaves narratives and I did get the other info cards. Only one of the notecards worked out of 9 for the narratives and I have to say in the context of her dismissing the extent of the work's racism it just felt exploitative to tell the story of an actual person who experienced slavery.
And I'll share what I replied to her about the use of the word "woke" because it was too ironic not to:
"You said "wokeness". "Stay woke" was a term that came from the African American racial justice moment in the 1930s. It came up again through Black Lives Matter in 2014 during the Ferguson protests in Missouri after the fatal shooting of a young Black man named Michael Brown by a white cop. It has been appropriated and co-opted by people who want to use it to insult anyone talking about racial justice or anything too "left" leaning in politics. It is often used as an insult for instance when it's pointed out that a book/series/movie/person that someone likes is actually racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic etc because it's more convenient to dismiss the person questioning that thing we're clinging to as "woke". I've had to examine some things I used to love as a kid or a younger adult and let them go, because sometimes things we loved before we were fully aware and thinking about their impacts are in fact full of harmful narratives, stereotypes and ideas."
I also commented and rated her region on Opensimworld and so did a friend of mine. It is way more emotional labor for my friend to engage in this than me. She's an African American woman whose own ancestors lived through all of this. I'm a white Euro-descended settler. Someone came on to play devil's advocate to every point I made on OSW and two people went on to give good ratings to counter my bad one saying they didn't see any racism on the region, and it was just a part of history. I’m thankful no one tried to argue with a Black woman’s lived experience and trauma but no one acknowledged her either. Her offense and trauma were simply ignored by everyone who wanted to save a poor white woman from being criticized for something that needs to be addressed.
I was blocked from seeing that region page again and for speaking out so I can no longer engage there.
Gone with the Wind is a story written by a white supremacist that forwards the agenda of white supremacy. Full stop.
We can't erase history, but we shouldn't role play the racist parts for fun, even when they come from a fictionalized interpretation. That's where folks can learn safely.
Here is a sign she has up saying there is no racism with an accompanying set of notecards:
There is so much to unpack even just about the sign. In a period role play from 1939, right before WWII (during the rise of fascism), when same sex marriage and hell even being caught in a relationship was actually illegal and before women were even allowed to vote. How are you going to keep all that out if you want people to role play in the era of it all?
Her notecard says:
BEWARE : THIS SIM IS NOT A RACIST PLACE !
It's a ROLE PLAY sim, a place where you can PLAY to return in antebellum time (Civil War) - NO RACISM HERE , only a reflect of this Time !
How does one role play in an antebellum slave plantation setting without racism? It was a racist time and a model for torture assuming one type of human could literally own another. If you create a white character you benefit from the horrible history of slavery and I guess get to dismiss and be an asshole to Black people? If you create a Black character you could only ever role play as a slave…think about what you’re offering here maybe.
She has some awareness going on with the sort of shanty town museum area and the notecards and pictures. The notecards need to be updated and maybe reconsidered to respect the real stories. And she kind of wrecks it by only presenting one historian's perspective that "doesn't want to get too political" and say the war was about more than just slavery. I’m aware it was but slavery was such a huge part of it that we can’t take it out of the focus when it makes us uncomfortable.
This would be better as a museum than a role play. It would let her keep the parts she and other fans like. Vivien Leigh pretty much saved the character of Scarlett and made people empathize with her through her great acting. Hattie McDaniel won that oscar because the director gave Mammy way more to do that in the book and Hattie was amazing. Despite the glaring racism in what Margaret Mitchell wrote, the talented cast sold it to a lot of people. And believe me, the book is way more racist and so is Mitchell.
It should be noted that the African American actors had to repeatedly beg the director not to allow the N word in the script. Margaret Mitchell used it over 100 times in the book and demanded it be included in the film for realism. And yes it was used in the era but it also incited violence to use it in works of fiction. If you’re trying to get rid of a racist word, you need to stop saying and printing the word everywhere.
This quote which seems almost out of context with the rest of the apolitical apologist:
“If we are to create a more just, equitable and inclusive future, we must first acknowledge and understand our history,”
Then you need to fully acknowledge it and not whitewash it and deny where the racism bleeds through the romance. And it's countered by this quote after:
GONE WITH THE WIND :
Author of the original work : Margaret Mitchell
“There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization gone with the wind...”
― Ben Hecht
Who's dream Ben?! A dream remembered? Chattel slavery on plantations was the nightmare of people literally kidnapped from Africa and put on boats in chains to be brought to the Americas and Europe to live and work as slaves - beaten, raped, humiliated and denied all human rights for generations of their families.
There are some more quotes:
“Eighty years after its initial release, 'Gone with the Wind' is a film of undeniable cultural significance. It is not only a reference document on the racist practices of Hollywood that have taken place in the past, but also a work of popular culture that speaks openly about the racial inequalities that persist in the media and in society. 'today ",
These racist practices are still ongoing not just in the past.
"Gone with the Wind is indeed about a romance in the Southern United States before the Civil War. It made Hattie McDaniel the first African American to win an Oscar."
None of the Black cast members were allowed to attend the premiere because of segregation. The director had to beg the venue to let Hattie McDaniel in to receive her award and then she had to sit apart from the white cast alone at a table. There were protests about the racist book being made into an also racist film and protests at its opening. At the opening, there was a choice in very poor taste to have a Black children’s choir singing slave songs. Among the children was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. People have theorized that some part of the humiliation of being exploited this way as a child also fueled his activism.
Slavery birthed the KKK and then became segregation and ongoing police brutality against African Americans. The film was pulled from HBO due to its inherent racism. It was eventually added back but with a prologue shared by Jacqueline Stewart, an African American media studies professor from the University of Chicago, to contextualize the intense racism.
Even though the Tara plantation doesn’t depict violence against the people enslaved, there is still cultural violence in slavery and the story just watered down what really happened to people. The idea of “owning people” is an abhorrent violence. There’s a scene where Scarlett’s father is “buying” more slaves. It’s vague but it’s there. Mammy and Prissy, and I think Sam “stay on” at Tara as workers after slavery ends. But consider this. After several generations of slavery a person would only have the marketable skills to keep doing the same physical labor tasks but as “paid work”. And the alternative would have been homelessness in an increasingly segregated world. It’s not a true choice of a “free” person.
The ban on segregation by the way has been lifted by Trump, at least at the federal level. A business in a State allowing it could technically forbid patrons who are a certain race, religion, gender or sexual identity again. America has NOT learned a thing and there is still a disproportionate amount of race based violence (frequently by white police) and an accompanying dissproportionate level incarceration that happens to African Americans.
This region could be a great education region. There is opportunity here for a lot and it's obvious the time and care that was put into all the areas and the landscaping, despite some of the more alarming things which could be removed.
Including more perspectives would be helpful.
I've actually learned a some more about this as a result of this situation so here are some resources:
https://humanities.uchicago.edu/articles/2020/06/why-we-cant-turn-away-gone-wind
I highly recommend the book The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells by Sarah Churchwell. She is an historian and a professor of literature.
If you don't have the means to get it at your library or want a quicker overview there's this interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YkytV4aJy0
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jun/13/gone-with-the-wind-hollywood-racism
And this is an amazing resource for educators as well as folks who want to seek out the counterbalance to problematic literature:
https://libguides.cedarcrest.edu/c.php?g=1058230&p=7750687
I'm not suggesting censorship or the removal of the region, but instead a genuine educational experience that doesn’t want to repackage the discomfort as well as a sensitivity to how racist narratives continue to encourage racism and incite racial violence when unchecked and viewed/read for purely entertainment. Fiction has more power than we realize.
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