Lindsey Flicker
15 March 2011
Crossing Cultures: The Color of Friendship
The Color of Friendship is a Disney movie based on a true story of an African American family who take in a South African foreign exchange student. Ron V. Dellums, a Congress man in D.C., is the father of Piper, who was the one who wanted to bring in a student from Africa. She hoped she could learn a little more about where she came from. It was the peak of minority rule in South Africa at this time. When her and her family realized her new guest, Mahree, was white, they were all surprised. Mahree grew up in a wealthy white family in South Africa. Where she is from, blacks are nothing but servants and criminals. She was just as shocked, and horrified, to find her host family was African American.
After their rough start, they were able to see that they were not as different as they thought. Once in America, Mari saw a whole new prospective of race. Her father was a policeman in South Africa so she lived her life fearing most blacks, thinking they had no rights, were not wealthy, and were all bad people. Certain books, movies, television shows, and other media was banned from them by the government. The South African government was keeping them ignorant so they could run it the way they desired. Coming to America, she had a complete culture shock.
Mahree was much like Marji in the story Persepolis. She was living around all this hate and rules that she did not understand. There was war in Iran, just as there was an uprising in South Africa. Marji was sent to live in Austria, away from home. She meets a girl her own age, and finds a whole new culture. They do not have the same background she has a hard time understanding where this girl is coming from. Mahree and Majri go to places where their look on life is different from most of the people they come in contact with. They learn new ways of life, and it makes them more understanding people.
With the event of Mahree coming into her life, Piper also learned some things. She was appalled by how her new guest could feel about blacks. Piper grew up in a culture where there were no longer slaves, African Americans had rights, and were not looked down on for their skin color. She could not believe how this South African girl could feel the way she did, about people that looked just like herself.
It was not Mahree’s fault she felt blacks were inferior. She grew up being told that’s how the world works. Just the same, Piper grew up in a place with equal opportunity. She knew it was not like that everywhere in the world, but she was confident she could do what she wanted, regardless of her skin color. “Growing up “right” has always been a highly managed process for girls in order for particular forms of gender relations to be maintained. Female adolescence has typically been represented as risky business that must be carefully navigated, usually with the help of professionals, to ensure that girls make a successful transition to normative adult womanhood.” (Harris) Their parents brought them up the way they thought was right. What is “right” for someone, may not be agreed as “right” for everyone. That was very clear in this movie. Both girls believed they were taught what was right. Unlike Piper, Mahree was not taught much at all about any other race but her own, and that it was superior.
Once they spent some time together, they realized they were not all that different. Both young girls, they had similar interests and hobbies. Piper was able to understand how things were in Africa, and in turn, teach her new friend that your skin color doesn’t define who you are. Mahree was able to see that there was a lot going on, outside of her sheltered life. In the end, the experience helped both girls to mature and learn. It was a good twist to see the difference between two, very different, girls’ coming of age experience.
Bibliography
Harris, Anita. "The "Can-Do" Girl Versus the "At-Risk" Girl." Harris, Anita. Future Girl. Taylor & Francis, 2007. 15.
Satrapi, Marji. Persepolis. New York: Patheon Books, 2007.
The Color of Friendship. Dir. Kevin Hooks. 2000.
With relation to this movie, I think there are still a lot of stereotypes concerning African Americans. In the case of Mari, she had been taught that blacks were usually poor or servants but after staying with her African American family for some time she found that to be very untrue. I think this also needs to be the case with some portions of the United States. Many of us know that there are still prejudices going on today and for most of us it takes personal experiences to change our thoughts, just like for Mari. Most have a preconceived notion as to what their thoughts are about someone of a different race and this is what leads to the segregations. I believe if people were a little less judgmental and based their thoughts on their own personal experiences there would be less stereotypes and prejudices.
ReplyDeleteIn some cases, in the United States today, there are still those prejudices even with whites who live in America who for some reason would have to live with an African American family. Not so much about the African Americans being slaves but how they should not be better off than white people. There are also some white people who are still racist and would think it strange for a African American family in America to be doing so well with a nice house, a good job and lots of money. I just dont think it would be as extreme as when Mari came from another country where it is drilled into their heads that African Americans are inferior.
ReplyDeleteI think that this movie is a good example of why foreign exchange student programs are great. I believe that people of all ages benefit, especially younger people. In the case of Mahree, she grew up thinking that all people with black skin were always servants to the white people and were considered to be inferior. By her living with Ron Dellums' family she was introduced to different ideas and cultures. She became more knowledgeable of other groups of people, primarily black people. The whole experience opened her mind. I think that the most important part of being an exchange student is learning more about different groups of people and becoming more open-minded.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the example from the movie on how the girls' perspective change once they were introduced to a different scenario is a great one. For without them going through this experience their thinking would probably continue on to be the same. I believe this could also be applied to aspects not only consisting of race and nationality. Aspects like religion, sexuality and so on could fit this situation. Sometimes it takes going through or living through a certain life style to be able to accept it. I think back to the readings from Growing Up Gay/Growing Up Lesbian. In the reading it brought light to how the it can take a person coming out to get the people around them to change their mind set on homosexuality. This can be looked at as a "sad" thing that it might take a situation like so to open some people up, but nevertheless it often happens that way.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this movie says a lot about getting to know someone and their culture before making judgements. Unfortunately, still in the United States, there is some prejudices against African Americans. This movie goes to show that if you get to know someone and their culture, it helps to understand them so we do not have to have those prejudices in our society. Mahree had all these thoughts about how ALL African Americans were bad and should not be treated equally, but once she lived with Piper and her family, those thoughts changed. Thats why I believe if you get to know someone and their "growing up" lifestyle our society could have less stereotypes on different cultures. This movie is a great example
ReplyDelete