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Cultural Appropriation: Commodifying Black Culture

White privilege and the Saviour complex in the Band Aid 30 song

In Cultural Theory and Popular Culture John Storey (2012) briefly discusses the notion of whiteness as an invisible racial category and why this attributes to privilege. He quotes Richard Dryer (1997, in Storey, 2012, p.183) who argues that “The claim to power is the claim to speak for the communality of humanity”. Dryer (1997) supports this by pointing out that when a racialized persons speaks he/she is considered to be speaking for their entire race. This analysis is also useful when recognizing the impact of privileged narratives and, in this post, the discussion will focus on the negative and stereotypical narratives about Africa. More specifically I will look at the ways in which the new, or rather recycled, Band Aid song entitled Do They Know It’s Christmas perpetrates the white saviour complex while maintaining the generalized and racist view that sees Africa as a monolithic entity that is diseased and impoverished. The song also contributes to an ‘us’ and ‘them’ narrative whereby the well-intentioned artists led by Bono and Bob Geldof work to save Africa from Ebola by presenting Africans as helpless and whites/Westerners as the heroes that come to their aid.

Analyzing the song lyrics would be a task of its own, therefore here the discussion will be centered on the lyrics that perpetuate negative stereotypes and reinforce the saviour complex. The first 4 lines of the song celebrate the joys of the approaching Christmas season while the 5 line states “But say a prayer and pray for the other ones” suggesting that Christmas will not bring the same joy to West Africans because of the Ebola crisis. Another set of lyrics proclaim “There’s a world outside your window and it’s a world of dread and fear/ Where a kiss of love can kill you/ And there’s death in every tear” (Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, 2014). Here the “other ones” refers to West Africans but, considering this is a song dedicated to raising money for Ebola treatment, it is also referring to Ebola patients. The problem here is that all West African citizens are being lumped together as victims of Ebola. Furthermore the song suggests that everyone in West Africa will not be able to enjoy the festive season as a result of their diseased condition. This notion is not unique in that the images of Africa that prevail in Western media are of starving women and children who are helpless in the face of such poverty. While poverty is a condition faced in different countries in Africa and while Ebola is rampant in certain parts of West Africa and has already claimed up to 5000 lives, the situation is not as hopeless as it seems. Nigeria, a West African country that was also hard-hit by Ebola, was able to pool it’s resources and has successfully halted the spread of the disease. This shows that the disease can effectively be dealt with even without a Band Aid 30 song that calls West Africa a “world of dread and fear” (Geldof & Ure, 2014).

In addition to the negative stereotypes presented through its lyrics the Band Aid 30 video begins with an image of the corpse of a black woman, evidently a victim of Ebola, being carried out by two people in hazmat suits. This image is juxtaposed with that of the various celebrities, that took part in the song, coming out of their expensive cars and being photographed as they walk into the studio to record the song. The presentation of the video reeks of self-righteousness by showing (mostly white) artists doing their part to raise Ebola awareness. The irony of it all is that the song has no information about the spread of the disease itself and is only appealing to affect by showing images of Ebola patients and by suggesting that there is only sadness and death in West Africa this Christmas. Here the white saviour complex thrives in that fans of this song will feel that by donating their 3 pounds to this cause, they have done their part to bring joy to West Africa and, in effect, are saving Africa.

The overall intention of the song is a good one- to raise awareness about a disease that is taking a lot of lives. However it is presented in a manner that is perpetuating negative stereotypes and is privileging the Western narrative that regards all Africans as helpless and troubled people. The chart-topping success of this song proves that most people agree with the message and may even have the same view of Africa. As such this song should be challenged along with the narrative it presents.

References

Geldof, B. and Ure, M. (2014). Do They Know Its Christmas? Published by Warner/Chappell Music Incorporated. Accessed on 20 November 2013 on http://www.metrolyrics.com/do-they-know-its-christmas-lyrics-band-aid-30.html

Storey, John (2012). Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader, 6th edition. Harlow: Pearson Education.

Romance Novels and Femininity

Desire, Lack and Consumer Culture

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An analysis of Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory leads John Storey (2012) to observe “…desire is the desire to find that which we lack, our selves whole again, as we were before we encountered the Imaginary and the Symbolic” (p.104). Lack, here is described as “…always a non-representable expression of the fundamental condition of being human” (Storey, 2012, p.103). He explains “The result is an endless quest in search of an imagined moment of plenitude” (Storey, 2012, p103). The neoliberal capitalist model perpetuates this lack and as such sustains consumer culture. Corporations capitalize on this ‘lack’ by using advertisements and slogans to sell ordinary products and then attaching meaning to them. Another way that this lack is perpetuated is through significant price reductions that coincide with holiday seasons and culminate in sales such as the Black Friday sale. These sales are lucrative to corporations due to the fact that people purchase a lot more goods when items are on sale.

The desire for goods is nearly inescapable in the 21st century neoliberal world. Popular culture and media is filled with advertisements on billboards, television, radio and magazines trying to entice people to buy goods. Whether it is electronic items or items of clothing being sold, advertisements will start off by showing a ‘lack’ and then demonstrating how a certain product fulfills this lack. The person in the advertisement will either start off expressing a need or sharing a problem they may have and a certain product will solve that problem and fulfill this need. This model is very common in advertisements and is very successful due to the fact that it markets the product as though it were a necessity, thereby perpetuating lack. In order to fulfill this desire that has been made apparent, consumers will rush to purchase the item being sold in order to reach what Lacan calls “an imagined moment of plenitude” (Storey, 2012, p.103). Through advertisements corporations and firms are able to sell more goods by convincing people that they need these goods.
Corporations also perpetuate lack through sales such as Black Friday. The irony of Black Friday is that it comes after Thanksgiving Day which is supposed to symbolize being grateful for what you already have. The sales that come with Black Friday however encourage people to purchase as much as possible since goods are only that cheap for a limited amount of time. Making a good cheaper adds to the element of desire in that it seems alright to buy a new iPad with updated features, for example, even though you have one that works quite well. It seems as though there is no better time to purchase it and it goes from being a frivolous purchase to an affordable one. Corporations profit from such price reductions because consumers will be willing to buy a lot more when the price of each good they are buying has been reduced.

The mechanisms of such sale tactics contribute to the growing dissatisfaction that people have when they are unable to afford certain products. Additionally there is a hierarchy established in that people that can afford certain goods are considered more sophisticated than those who can’t. In addition to that, the success of consumerism further erases the means of production and the marginalization that takes place in the manufacture of such goods. Mass-produced goods require cheap labour which, for large corporations, means jobs are exported and workers are exploited in order for firms to prosper. The growing attachment to goods leads to a detachment from the stages of production a good goes through. Buying cheap clothes doesn’t necessarily make us think of who worked to make it and how little they were paid to do so. Oddly enough consumer culture is so pervasive in that even being aware of how little we are being told about the production of everyday goods doesn’t stop us buying them. However being aware of this might help us separate our wants from our needs which would be a step in the right direction.