It's that time of year, when historical films come out centered on the story of Christ. Tonight's special, which I'm watching because I like Billy Zane just that much, and frankly it's something different to consume, is Barabbas.
A scene just watched has me wondering about a particular type of exoticization which always seems to crop up in biblical histfic, or Roman, and even in periods across the millennia - the scene which is set by kicking off with a large troupe of scantily (or un-) clad "Africans", dancing suggestively. This scene appears here - it appears in The Ten Commandments - it appears in I, Claudius. It comes up so regularly it's going to cause my lunch to come up one of these days. When Africans are used strictly as window dressing, it is a disheartening reminder that Hollywood still hardly sees beyond the white folks. (And, yes - the guy playing Jesus isn't what you'd call melanin-enriched either; heck, Billy Zane is not exactly overwhelmingly "ethnic" looking. The female lead is *milky* white.)
I had serious issues with a scene of literal miniaturization of black people - in cruddy jungle tribesman costumes, of *course* - in The Artist not long ago; and not least because it was not long ago. I don't particularly forgive racist attitudes in 1930s moving pictures, but at least I know the context in which they were created (a recent re-watching of Gone With the Wind was as ever cringe inducing almost throughout).
The Artist had no excuse for its sickening moment, and throwing around a few half-naked gyrating bodies doesn't have any excuse either.
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