I came across this video while searching for more information on the Central Park Five and I think this is a very poignant representation of our discussions we have been having in the last two classes.
This satire video was created by MTV’s Look Different campaign to highlight the issue of white privilege. MTV strategically placed facts throughout the video in a humorous way to help inform us on how real this issue is and how it impacts the lives of the black community.
As you can imagine, there has been extreme backlash towards the video with some arguing that MTV went too far. Those who provided such backlash also argued that white privilege and racism is not a joke. However, an article from The Daily Mail, who believes in MTV’s video purpose, quotes The Huffington Post’s Black Voices saying the video was “painfully honest and all too real”.
This video stung me in the sense that I don’t really know if I agree with MTV or if I thought its humor masked the real issue being discussed. It is definitely a very vivid representation of white privilege and is meant to have some degree of exaggeration. Nonetheless, I’d love to hear some of your comments about whether you think MTV’s video was a good representation of white privilege or if MTV took the content too far?
I believe that the use of satire to discuss such a topic is a risky move. While a successful use of satire can do a good job at explaining the problem that is at hand, an unsuccessful use of it can instead be very detrimental. For example, SNL’s “The Day Beyonce Turned Black” does a good job at criticizing the backlash that came following the release of the Formation music video. It expressed the clear message that many people were misinterpreting a song that was supposed to be empowering to the black community. In contrast, I think MTV’s White Squad video may be a time where satire was not used as well as it could have been. While I thought this video does a good job at explaining how white privilege often causes job inequality, housing inequality, and a wide variety of other obstacles, I still feel the video is missing something. I assume MTV wanted audiences to watch this video and be reminded of how illogical it is that people of color are being held back because of their race. However, this message is not completely clear and as a result may have been misinterpreted by people. In the end, I would praise MTV for starting a campaign to tackle issues regarding race, gender, and sexual orientation, while also suggesting that they look at other methods besides satire.