Althouse: "So Disney's making a movie romanticizing the colonization of African land. #PrincessOfNorthSudan."

May 14, 2015

"So Disney's making a movie romanticizing the colonization of African land. #PrincessOfNorthSudan."

And: "White folks got til I wake up to make #PrincessOfNorthSudan disappear."

45 comments:

clint said...: That seems in remarkably poor taste.

The government of Sudan carried out a campaign of genocide against the people in southern Sudan, leading to the creation of a new, independent nation of South Sudan.

"North Sudan" is a name that comes with all the baggage of Darfur on its back. Bad, bad idea.

Like carrying out the same plot in southern Germany and calling it the Baroness of the Fourth Reich.

If you want to make up fake African countries, go the Marvel route. Wakanda carries absolutely no baggage at all. (Until you start to get into the exploitation of third world nations for mineral rights...); 5/14/15, 12:31 PM
Mountain Maven said...: Disney should have made a flick romanticizing Ethiopia which was only briefly colonized by the Italians during the 1930's and 40's.
You can make an argument that the more an African country was influenced by its colonization the better it turned out. e.g. Kenya. Of course that can be undone quickly, like in Rhodesia.

Since they don't teach history anymore I'm not surprised that the Disney screenwriters knew little about Africa; 5/14/15, 12:38 PM
Alexander said...: Now hold on.

I want to hear more about this novel idea that Africans have a continent, and that continent is Africa. And that people from one continent shouldn't go around claiming land, refuge, or citizenship in places that rightfully belongs to the people from another continent.

Tell me more - is this continent-level specific, or does the same approach apply on a sub-level... say, nation states, or even cities? How about Walgreens?

This is truly a spectacular time we live in. I for one applaud PantheR for his position on human right to disassociation.; 5/14/15, 12:39 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/14/15, 12:46 PM
tim maguire said...: Though he’s confident the land belongs to his family, it’s unclear who the legal owner of the land is.

It belongs to whoever's army can hold it.; 5/14/15, 12:48 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Africa doesn't need any honky-help when it comes to the grim business of stealing each other peoples' land & murdering the inhabitants.

The residents are perfectly accomplished in those arts all by themselves, thank you very much!

Take a bow, Shaka!; 5/14/15, 12:52 PM
campy said...: "White folks got til I wake up to make #PrincessOfNorthSudan disappear."

Or else what? You'll call us racists?; 5/14/15, 12:55 PM
SteveR said...: How can anyone make sense out of that crappy story?; 5/14/15, 12:59 PM
Tibore said...: Eh. Let him try to actually occupy that land.

Either he'll somehow manage to survive the armed militias from Sudan and corrupt government from Egypt, or one of those militia groups will immediately make him that year's leading candidate for the Darwin Award.; 5/14/15, 12:59 PM
Rick said...: campy said...
"White folks got til I wake up to make #PrincessOfNorthSudan disappear."

Or else what? You'll call us racists?

Good news. If extremists are making so much of something so inconsequential meaningful racism must be declining pretty quickly.; 5/14/15, 1:01 PM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: And yet nobody complains about the cable company colonizing suburbia, planting its little flags all over the place.; 5/14/15, 1:02 PM
traditionalguy said...: That area is the literal birthplace of civilization by tribes that started farming millet and raising goats in the Yemen area and needed order imposed by a religion myth and a military tyrant who owned it all with a few helpers.

From there"civilization" spread to into Egypt, Mesopotamia and Syria that each built their own Empire based on conquered slaves doing the work and 1% getting the wealth..

But the northern USA settled by Calvinists worked the exact opposite way by protecting an individual's "rights to own title to property." That is why we need our lawyers, Judges and courts so much.

So any middle class american is in for a wake up call if he expects to find a legal system in Upper Egypt that protects his private property right not based on tribal overlord murder gangs.; 5/14/15, 1:04 PM
Tank said...: Diversity is their strength?

Funny, you don't hear that as much as you used to.; 5/14/15, 1:04 PM
Emil Blatz said...: Take my word for it, nobody is lusting after the Sudan.; 5/14/15, 1:30 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: Obviously he won't be able to run the place. He don't have no AK-47.; 5/14/15, 1:39 PM
Anonymous said...: From the article: is basic American history: go to unclaimed land, take it as your own.
No one white lived there = no one lived there.

Man, that must be the story of the whole movie industry, too. Some white dudes showed up in SoCal in the early 20th century and appropriated all the movie-making resources, and have been churning out blinkered white male privilege otherizing narrative movies ever since. When, oh when, will we have content quotas imposed? Or at least reparations for all the pre-existing technology and expertise these bastards arrogated to themselves, which we all know were just there. No work, no talent, no innovation, no risking of wealth necessary to make a film industry. Just plant your flag and roll 'em. (Guess Bollywood, China, Nigeria, etc. got there before the white dudes could steal all the stuff needed to make movies.)

Don't like what's on offer? Don't buy it. Don't watch it. Think whitey's products are offensive and full of shit? Hollywood doesn't cater to my tastes or values (or functioning brain cells) either, friend, so that's what I do.

Better yet....make your own damned movies.; 5/14/15, 1:53 PM
SteveR said...: The good thing is Mecca is straight east so it will be simpler for everyone.; 5/14/15, 1:56 PM
Shanna said...: Eh. Let him try to actually occupy that land.

Reading the article, it looks like he just went over there last year and planted a flag. So, any movie about this sounds like it would be about a goofy person and their ridiculous plan, not 'colonization'. Because he hasn't actually colonized anything. Or maybe the movie would be about how a family moved to a new place and made friends with locals? I'm not really sure.

Or am I reading this wrong?; 5/14/15, 2:01 PM
Mary Beth said...: His IndieGoGo for this has raised $4k so far. It tells the story better than the Buzzfeed article. The money is going to Hakanami Inc.; 5/14/15, 2:17 PM
buwaya said...: North Sudan, seen narrowly, is where the late 19th century Dervish wars took place. Gordon at Khartoum, Kitcheers Campaign, Churchills "River War".

More broadly, "Sudan" was the whole southern Sahara/Sahel, as it was often called by the French.; 5/14/15, 2:17 PM
Rick said...: Shanna said...
Or maybe the movie would be about how a family moved to a new place and made friends with locals? I'm not really sure.

I'm envisioning the family having some trauma [daughter's autistic? Dad's emotionally unavailable but makes this grand gesture after a divorce?] which motivates them to go to Africa and interact with the locals who turn out to be wonderful.; 5/14/15, 2:18 PM
buwaya said...: Ah I see.
Well, the international border, or at least the line on the map, which is probably ignored by the locals, gives the place to Sudan.
The area may or may not be in the stamping grounds of the nomadic Hadendowa tribe (Kiplings "fuzzy wuzzies").; 5/14/15, 2:26 PM
Brando said...: "Good news. If extremists are making so much of something so inconsequential meaningful racism must be declining pretty quickly."

This is how racism ends--not with a bang or a whimper, but with the ever sillier complaints of those who need racism to justify their own existence.; 5/14/15, 3:05 PM
Unknown said...: They should remake Khartoum As a musical.; 5/14/15, 3:30 PM
Shanna said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/14/15, 3:34 PM
Shanna said...: Rick:
I'm envisioning the family having some trauma [daughter's autistic? Dad's emotionally unavailable but makes this grand gesture after a divorce?] which motivates them to go to Africa and interact with the locals who turn out to be wonderful.

Maybe? Either way it seems like people are jumping the gun criticizing this.; 5/14/15, 3:35 PM
Scott M said...: Best response on that feed...

Disney: *makes first black princess a frog for 99% of the film*
POC: Give us an African Princess!
Disney: lol ok; 5/14/15, 3:50 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Getting upset about land no one wants...; 5/14/15, 4:31 PM
befinne said...: I expect that this will not be about colonialism but about a guy who goes somewhere he has no place being, no knowledge of how to function there, and has to be rescued by friendly locals. Disney couldn't get the rights to Obama's life story so, this instead.; 5/14/15, 4:53 PM
n.n said...: Which wave? The glamour and notoriety of selective historical accounts is a universal myth.; 5/14/15, 5:12 PM
Paco Wové said...: "It tells the story better than the Buzzfeed article"

An odd story. A scam disguised as a joke, or a joke disguised as a scam?; 5/14/15, 5:24 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: He'll have to fight Samuel Baker and James Bruce for it.; 5/14/15, 6:23 PM
Quaestor said...: I really like the to-duh-lee tarded girl with the caption. It would be redemptive to discuss why right-thinking people should despise her.; 5/14/15, 7:56 PM
Henry said...: From the link at the link:

Folsom is best known for her ... alternate history telling of a publicist that convinces filmmaker Stanley Kubrick to work with NASA in order to fake the moon landing.; 5/14/15, 9:39 PM
Bill said...: Vaguely reminds me of the recent Astrid Lindgren kerfuffle.; 5/14/15, 9:46 PM
Rich Rostrom said...: A lot of people commenting on this don't know the most important basic facts about it.

1) Nobody lives there. As in zero inhabitants. Total vacancy. Bir Tawil is completely barren desert that not even Bedouin nomads could make any use of.

2) The area is not legally claimed by any sovereign state. Egypt claims the border runs due east-west north of Bir Tawil; Sudan claims the border curves south of Bir Tawil and then north across that east-west line. Sudan disclaims title to Bir Tawil to strengthen its claim to the area north and east; Egypt refuses to claim Bir Tawil because that would strengthen Sudan's claim.

Bir Tawil has nothing to do with colonialism, or Darfur, or South Sudan. (And Darfur and South Sudan are separate issues.); 5/15/15, 12:24 AM
Carl Pham said...: Can Halle Berry be in it and show off her ass in sheer harem pants? If so, then it's A-OK with me.; 5/15/15, 12:30 AM
Clyde said...: They need to lighten up.; 5/15/15, 4:25 AM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Perhaps if the Disney film included genuine American Black Folk singing about shooting one another, and having sex with their girlfriends, it would pass ethnic muster.; 5/15/15, 6:08 AM
Aussie Pundit said...: Disney makes a movie about an eccentric guy who thought he created a make-believe kingdom for his daughter.

Sounds like an innocent, quirky family drama.

Twitter is outraged. Why? Because "white people", that's why.; 5/15/15, 6:08 AM
Tibore said...: "Shanna said...

Reading the article, it looks like he just went over there last year and planted a flag. So, any movie about this sounds like it would be about a goofy person and their ridiculous plan, not 'colonization'. Because he hasn't actually colonized anything. Or maybe the movie would be about how a family moved to a new place and made friends with locals? I'm not really sure."

You read the article properly, but I think my critique was a bit opaque. What I was ridiculing was his attitude that the entire thing was perfectly legitimate and valid, that it had the backing of the Egyptian government, etc etc. My own post was less based on a presumption that he'd actually move there - it's pretty damn doubtful he'd even try - and more a pointed observation that any attempt to substantively demonstrate any perceived validity regarding his claim would absolutely fail in the real world.

In short, I was saying that everything he was claiming was hot air. My attitude was "Yeah, let him try", not "He's going to do it and fail". I think it's manifestly obvious the whole exercise is an extended lesson to his daughter about the world and not any real desire to exercise his claim by moving there and establishing a nation.; 5/15/15, 9:29 AM
Shanna said...: I think it's manifestly obvious the whole exercise is an extended lesson to his daughter about the world and not any real desire to exercise his claim by moving there and establishing a nation.

So he isn't even moving there? That's kind of a different movie, then.

I also didn't know the two things Rick mentioned, so it especially doesn't seem like he is colonizing anything or that we will get cute scenes with locals or elephants.; 5/15/15, 9:45 AM
CWJ said...: Rich Rostrom,

Good comment. I remember seeing maps with the border drawn along different lines. Indeed, the map at the link shows exactly that. I suspected that this guy's new country was exploiting the border dispute in some fashion. Thanks for the information.; 5/15/15, 11:19 AM
Rusty said...: Blogger Terry said...
Perhaps if the Disney film included genuine American Black Folk singing about shooting one another, and having sex with their girlfriends, it would pass ethnic muster.

Didn't Spike Lee make a film about just that?; 5/15/15, 1:08 PM
Unknown said...: Joy amongst the perpetually aggrieved: another excuse, no matter how trivial, to impute perfidy to an entire race. And call THEM racists.; 5/15/15, 11:24 PM