'Cannibals' round on Disney film

[emad]

Associated Press in Dominica
Tuesday February 15, 2005
The Guardian

The chief of Dominica's Carib Indians has attacked plans to portray the group as cannibals in the Disney sequel to the 2003 blockbuster, Pirates of the Caribbean.

Dominica's government has said the US studio is planning to use the tiny island as a location.

Several hundred Dominicans have applied to be extras, including some Caribs.

Carib chief Charles Williams said recent discussions with Disney producers revealed "there is a strong element of cannibalism in the script which cannot be removed".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1414698,00.html

[LinuxInsurgent]

1. i have to agree...

in Puerto Rico, the Arakak-Taino Indians lived there...and were rivals of the Caribs, who lived in other Caribbean islands.

I don't think we would take kindly to portraying Tainos as cannibals...and I'm sure Dominica doesn't like the portrayal of the Caribs as cannibals.

Disney...scrap the cannibalism.

[Postmanx]

2. By all means

Let's scrap everything anyone may ever find offensive.

Forget all about artistic freedom, or the idea that cannibals may make for good storytelling, someone is trying to make a name for himself by protecting the rights of the poor Carib extras who are being hired to portray cannibals.

[Nimrod]

3. I am NO fan of Disney

At all. But I do think this is stepping over the line between "understandable outrage" and "just plain silly".

[LinuxInsurgent]

4. you're right...

let's start portraying Caribbeans as big-lipped pickaninnies...after all...the Caribbean is still populated by, you know...nigras...

Hey...all for artistic freedom, right? I mean...everyone knows that watermelon eating pickaninnies are great for a storyline..

and damn to hell all those uppity black intellectuals who are trying to make a name for themselves for protecting the dignity and honor of Caribbean blacks.

Onward Art!

[KittyWampus]

5. Does The Storyline NAME The Cannibals As Caribs?

edit... if the story is named pirates of caribbean... then even if it doesn't name any specific group it does locate them in space.

[Postmanx]

6. Hey, its Disney's dime

Right now, Disney has the right to portray any group however they like. The movie-going public determines the validity of Disney's choice.

As for artistic freedom, who are you to trivialize it? The first amendment serves as a protection for unpopular speech, not that which offends none.

[LinuxInsurgent]

8. that's why I say

let the watermelon pickaninnies be portrayed...

Free speech is wonderful, eh?

It's great to have absolutely no sense of responsibility to the people portrayed in movies...

And then we question why Americans have such warped senses of "the others" in the world.

[Postmanx]

9. How much censorship do you think we need?

[LinuxInsurgent]

11. well..no censorship

just be sensitive about the people you use as subjects in your movies...and try to make a portrayal of them as balanced as possible...otherwise, you do a disservice to them, and to the American Public, who will be left with a horrible stereotype as representation of the true natives of Dominica...Americans already suffer from a major dearth of knowledge about the rest of the world...why fan those flames?

I mean..by all means, go ahead and portray Dominicans as cannibals...but then I don't want to hear a peep from the U.S. if we in the rest of the world start portraying Americans as drunkard Rednecks, with Confederate flags, Bibles in hands, atop an Imperialist Tank, with Horns on their heads. That characterizatiosn would be equally "half-true, half-stereotype" as the characterization of Dominica's Caribs as cannibals.

By the way...were Caribs ACTUALLY cannibals? Can someone find out?

[Lorien]

12. Actually, they were

there was a sequence taken out of Disney's Fantasia that shows Pickaninnie centuarettes eating watermelon. I have copies of some of the drawings from that sequence (good drawings, but racist as hell).

Eisner is a jackass, especially when it comes to scripts. I'm not surprised that he's holding firm on yet another horrible script decision . He ruined ten years worth of animation scripts and eventually destroyed that entire department, and now he's going to do the same for our live action films. :eyes:

[ashmanonar]

17. maybe eisner's a repug plant?

they put him there to destroy disney's movies? O.o

[LinuxInsurgent]

18. oh yeah...

remember the old Tom and Jerry cartoons...with the Mammie character?

"THOOMMMASS!

and whenever Tom would splash his face on some fruit...he'd come out looking like a pickannie, with a big watermelon smile...

that's the point...that was THEN...I'd hope that Disney today would be a little, itty bit more sensitive to the communities..

but hey...bring on the American arrogance...we on the Third World got our own visions of Americans.

All's fair in art, no?

[ashmanonar]

19. where are you at in the 3rd world? n/t

[LinuxInsurgent]

22. I'm actually in the First World,

Rhode Island to be exact...

but I'm not from this country...

[ashmanonar]

23. ahaaa.

i see.

[LinuxInsurgent]

24. ahaa...

you see what?

Did I lose my national identity in living by the U.S? I didn't know that was part of American national laws...

[ashmanonar]

25. dude, settle down.

it doesn't mean anything. in fact, i don't think "i see" means anything either anymore. so i don't see. there. happy? :dunce:

[LinuxInsurgent]

26. I don't see right back at ya

:toast: :hi: :thumbsup: :pals:

[ashmanonar]

27. lol

:toast:

[LinuxInsurgent]

28. you see...

if Free Republic posters could reconcile their differences this easy...then the world would be a nicer place.

Long Live DU!

[ashmanonar]

36. yep.

YA HYA CHOUHADA DU! YA HYA CHOUHADA DU!

:D

[w4rma]

29. Slander of a culture of people is mearly "offensive" to you?

Americans need to learn about other cultures. Not be misinformed about other cultures. There is too much fear of folks who don't live in America going around. And that fear is being exploited by those with power.

[Ediacara]

10. But....

Unless there has been some new news, the Caribs were cannibals..... I can understand say... white people not wanting to be portrayed as slave owners, but that doesn't mean that a cinematic depiction of white slave owners would be inaccurate, just as a cinematic depiction of Caribs as cannibals would not be inaccurate. If however, there is new data showing that the Caribs were not actually cannibals, then by all means, change the script.

[LiberallyInclined]

20. Exactly.

if the Caribs were cannibals, then what's the problem?

[DulceDecorum]

30. Regular churchgoing Chrisitans are cannibals

Ask them about that flesh-eating, blood-drinking,
sacrament they have called communion.
And if anyone tells you that that is NOT really flesh or blood,
then they blaspheme.
It is flesh and blood all right.
Just ask the person leading the ceremony.

Lets see Disney drag THAT into the limelight.
And get stomped into the ground.

[mudderfudder77]

32. I eat the flesh,

But I don't drink the blood - it's a germ magnet. So i've got no problem with Disney wanting some cannibals.

[LiberallyInclined]

34. only to the whacked-out Catholics.

Real christians don't believe in transubstantiation.

and real heathens like me don't believe in god or christianity, or catholics.

[mudderfudder77]

31. They like many, many, many other cultures

have cannibalism as part of their history. So whats the problem?

[ashmanonar]

7. it's called a movie, people.

it's fiction. the first "pirates" made complete and absolute fun of pirates (in a roundabout way), which is funny BECAUSE they're pirates...what does it matter that they're making some cannibals? it's a story.

if you remove everything that's ever contentious in movies, we'd have crap for movies (not that we don't...:/)

complaining about depicting some people in a movie as cannibals...please.

if you're really worried about stuff that's in movies, how about stopping hollywood from making horrible action movies that are full of violence and gunfights?

[egoprofit]

13. agreed

:thumbsup:

[galledgoblin]

14. I love that movie

they should just hire people like me to be cannibals. ^_^

[ashmanonar]

16. LOL.

welcome to du!

[egoprofit]

21. welcome to DU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your first post!!!!!!!

;-) :toast:

[GregW]

15. This is the same filmmaker who portrayed lemmings ...

... as having some sort of primal, mindless urge to throw themselves off cliffs into the sea.

It's just flat-out not true - was entirely fabricated

http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/lemmings.htm

[Tummler]

33. Compromise: the Carib Indians in the movie eat delicious carob snacks

... rather than other Caribs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carob

[truebrit71]

35. What's next? Not offending germans by never portraying them as nazis?

Much ado about nothing methinks....

[kiraboo]

37. I hate Disney. Let them do what they will.

Nobody in my family will be watching the movie.

[MadHound]

38. This is strange, since the Caribs WERE cannibals.

In fact the English word cannibal derives from the name Carib. Granted, the Carib tribe didn't eat much human meat, it was done as a religious war ritual(and the Carib were a very warlike tribe). So it isn't like Disney is lying about this matter, they're not.

I fail to see what the big hubbub is about, a movie studio is wanting to depict the acts of a particular set of people truthfully. As somebody said earlier, what's next, not portraying Germans as Nazis?