I'm a great believer in color-blind casting (I haven't figured out exactly how I feel about the Huck Finn thing, though, very confusing) so I don't agree with Albee's choice, however...
Regarding Albee's view of the South, it's hard to have an accurate view of the South. Obviously there is racism everywhere in this country and the North doesn't have a moral high ground to stand on, but the experience Darby and I had in the South was really very shocking to us. We lived in Memphis for 3 years while he got his Masters at Memphis State, and I couldn't wait to get back to NY. A major reason for this was the quantity and quality of racism we encountered that was beyond anything I had ever experienced anywhere.
I know that there was racism in the town I grew up in, when black families started to move into one of the more expensive areas, petitions were circulated to try and stop them. So I know there were racist people around me, but I never actually heard anyone make a racist comment directly to me. In Memphis, I couldn't escape from the racism. It was so incredibly common for people I didn't know that well to spew ugliness beyond what I would have imagined expecting me to be right there with them. I got to a point where friendships were based on people not being that bad, because if I avoided everyone who was racist I would literally have had to go into isolation. I understand that our experience is not the entire South, you prove that to me, but if Albee had any kind of a similar exposure to ours, without any counter-balance it might explain his behavior. Not make it right but explain it.
When I was in high school I read Gone With the Wind just to see what all the talk was about, and on the cover blurb about Martha Mitchell it said that she didn't even know that the South had lost the Civil War until she was 11 (or some similar age). I read that, and laughed because how it was so ridiculous, and how could anyone think that was a good thing. Then I moved to Memphis and sadly it all made sense.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-05-22 07:42 pm (UTC)Regarding Albee's view of the South, it's hard to have an accurate view of the South. Obviously there is racism everywhere in this country and the North doesn't have a moral high ground to stand on, but the experience Darby and I had in the South was really very shocking to us. We lived in Memphis for 3 years while he got his Masters at Memphis State, and I couldn't wait to get back to NY. A major reason for this was the quantity and quality of racism we encountered that was beyond anything I had ever experienced anywhere.
I know that there was racism in the town I grew up in, when black families started to move into one of the more expensive areas, petitions were circulated to try and stop them. So I know there were racist people around me, but I never actually heard anyone make a racist comment directly to me. In Memphis, I couldn't escape from the racism. It was so incredibly common for people I didn't know that well to spew ugliness beyond what I would have imagined expecting me to be right there with them. I got to a point where friendships were based on people not being that bad, because if I avoided everyone who was racist I would literally have had to go into isolation. I understand that our experience is not the entire South, you prove that to me, but if Albee had any kind of a similar exposure to ours, without any counter-balance it might explain his behavior. Not make it right but explain it.
When I was in high school I read Gone With the Wind just to see what all the talk was about, and on the cover blurb about Martha Mitchell it said that she didn't even know that the South had lost the Civil War until she was 11 (or some similar age). I read that, and laughed because how it was so ridiculous, and how could anyone think that was a good thing. Then I moved to Memphis and sadly it all made sense.