Monday, January 22, 2007
Race, Class and Shilpa Shetty
Celebrity Big Brother locks B-list celebrities in a house, then films them as they get cabin fever and revert to a Hobbesian state of nature.
The current series features Shilpa Shetty, Indian film star and sex symbol, who's been bullied and taunted with comments about her cooking and last name, chiefly by housemate Jade Goody. Goody, a previous contestant with no discernable talent, has nonetheless displayed a remarkable skill at pig-headed racism, calling Shetty "Shilpa Pappadoom" and telling her to "go back to the slums". Indians are up in arms, and many Brits are too: they voted Goody out of the House two nights ago. Goody has made a tearful apology, but it hasn't been enough to save her sponsorship deals and perfume line. If you have a few minutes, here's what the controversy's about:
It's cut-and-dried: ignorant, racist Brit picks on defenseless Indian, who just wanted her to stop using all the Oxo cubes. We all know what side we're on, right?
Well, yes and no. Goody's a worthy - and easy - target. She's not as pretty, not as smart, not as polite as Shetty. Worst of all, she was stupid enough to say what many white people think. To fight racism, her kind of ingrained hatred needs to be analyzed closely, because there's more going on.
Here's Goody talking about Shetty:
She oozes resentment. Shetty is "posh" and a "queen", while Goody is "common". In fact, Goody is worth £8 million today, but she maintains the class hatreds of her youth. She grew up in Essex with her amputee, Muslim, bisexual mom, while her dad died of a heroin overdose a few years ago. Shetty occupies the whole floor of an apartment building in an exclusive district of Bombay; she's a highly-paid entertainer, and grew up wealthy: she speaks 7 languages and has a black belt in karate. She lives according to her princess nickname:
Adopts rich people's causes too - Shilpa Shetty
In one clip, Shetty asks "Why do they hate me?" In Pulp's signature song Common People, Jarvis Cocker describes what it's like for poor people to be the object of slumming:
Class trumping race
Goody's racism is abhorrent; the anger, I'd argue, is legitimate. She has no reason to feel sorry for a woman who was born into privilege, rather than acquiring it by fluke, the only way for a worker to become wealthy. Anti-racists and socialists need to channel that class anger into a political movement against racism, towards its real source in capitalist exploitation.
In the absence of such a movement, we're left with two unpalatable alternatives. 1) the racism that capitalism loves to whip up - and gain TV ratings from, apparently. Or 2) a liberal response, claiming Shetty is a victim like all Indians. She is and she isn't. The liberal left can talk about race - in a superficial way, as if it were only nasty comments. It doesn't understand capitalism or its ugly little brother fascism. The Nazi BNP channels class resentment into hatred of foreigners, as if people of colour were responsible for their exploitation. (Though I'm also a little tired of how the BNP becomes another stick to bash working class people with. The great unwashed masses suddenly become intolerant unwashed masses too. The BNP's activists and funds are drawn from the middle class - working people are not, and have never been, the kernel of fascist movements.)
I'm not judging the reaction of South Asians in Britain who empathize with her treatment. But they're identifying with her colour, not her class. Shetty's situation is different; as Germaine Greer argues, she's playing the situation to her advantage - all because she has the capabilities that a professional upbringing and career provide her.
Finally, it's far too easy to sympathize with the beautiful sex-symbol from India, feeding rescue-fantasies of all the men eager to save her (apparently she received 2000 wedding proposals alone when she set up an email address.) I understand why poor Indians support Shetty. But I don't like it when highly-paid professionals get the emotional support of people who live in a country where there are millions far worse off.
If Celebrity Big Brother wanted to confront racism, they should have brought a working class Indian woman into the house. Why not one of the Gate Gourmet workers? Why not Brinda Karat? (I suppose she'd have better things to do.) Goody would have been forced to challenge her racism as an irrational hatred, and not sublimated class resentment. But perhaps that's too much to expect from a show devoted to humiliating celebrities.
Further: it turns out Alexander Chancellor makes some of the same arguments as I do - but without any understanding of capitalism.
The current series features Shilpa Shetty, Indian film star and sex symbol, who's been bullied and taunted with comments about her cooking and last name, chiefly by housemate Jade Goody. Goody, a previous contestant with no discernable talent, has nonetheless displayed a remarkable skill at pig-headed racism, calling Shetty "Shilpa Pappadoom" and telling her to "go back to the slums". Indians are up in arms, and many Brits are too: they voted Goody out of the House two nights ago. Goody has made a tearful apology, but it hasn't been enough to save her sponsorship deals and perfume line. If you have a few minutes, here's what the controversy's about:
It's cut-and-dried: ignorant, racist Brit picks on defenseless Indian, who just wanted her to stop using all the Oxo cubes. We all know what side we're on, right?
Well, yes and no. Goody's a worthy - and easy - target. She's not as pretty, not as smart, not as polite as Shetty. Worst of all, she was stupid enough to say what many white people think. To fight racism, her kind of ingrained hatred needs to be analyzed closely, because there's more going on.
Here's Goody talking about Shetty:
She oozes resentment. Shetty is "posh" and a "queen", while Goody is "common". In fact, Goody is worth £8 million today, but she maintains the class hatreds of her youth. She grew up in Essex with her amputee, Muslim, bisexual mom, while her dad died of a heroin overdose a few years ago. Shetty occupies the whole floor of an apartment building in an exclusive district of Bombay; she's a highly-paid entertainer, and grew up wealthy: she speaks 7 languages and has a black belt in karate. She lives according to her princess nickname:
To be rich in India is never to have to lift a finger. Shetty is constantly attended by a retinue of servants, including a full-time hairdresser. If that seems excessive, it's worth pointing out she cannot so much as set foot outside her home without being mobbed. Budden may snipily call her "Princess" but the truth is Bollywood stars are royalty in India.
She was educated at prestigious schools: St Anthony's Girls' High School in Chembur, and Podar College. She was famous in India first as a model - she got her break from Limca, a soft drink company. To this day she is known as "the best body in Bollywood", and is considered a style icon for the clothes she wears.
Adopts rich people's causes too - Shilpa Shetty
In one clip, Shetty asks "Why do they hate me?" In Pulp's signature song Common People, Jarvis Cocker describes what it's like for poor people to be the object of slumming:
Cos everybody hates a tourist,That's why they hate her: she's a tourist. She's getting a half-million pounds to show up these ignorant hicks. And as any person of colour knows, when someone wants to target you, race is the first thing they'll pick on. Goody's too dim to figure out that what she resents is not Shetty's race but her class.
'specially one who thinks it's all such a laugh,
and the chip stains and grease will come out in the bath
You will never understand
What it feels to live your life
With no meaning or control
And you've nowhere left to go
Class trumping race
Goody's racism is abhorrent; the anger, I'd argue, is legitimate. She has no reason to feel sorry for a woman who was born into privilege, rather than acquiring it by fluke, the only way for a worker to become wealthy. Anti-racists and socialists need to channel that class anger into a political movement against racism, towards its real source in capitalist exploitation.
In the absence of such a movement, we're left with two unpalatable alternatives. 1) the racism that capitalism loves to whip up - and gain TV ratings from, apparently. Or 2) a liberal response, claiming Shetty is a victim like all Indians. She is and she isn't. The liberal left can talk about race - in a superficial way, as if it were only nasty comments. It doesn't understand capitalism or its ugly little brother fascism. The Nazi BNP channels class resentment into hatred of foreigners, as if people of colour were responsible for their exploitation. (Though I'm also a little tired of how the BNP becomes another stick to bash working class people with. The great unwashed masses suddenly become intolerant unwashed masses too. The BNP's activists and funds are drawn from the middle class - working people are not, and have never been, the kernel of fascist movements.)
I'm not judging the reaction of South Asians in Britain who empathize with her treatment. But they're identifying with her colour, not her class. Shetty's situation is different; as Germaine Greer argues, she's playing the situation to her advantage - all because she has the capabilities that a professional upbringing and career provide her.
Finally, it's far too easy to sympathize with the beautiful sex-symbol from India, feeding rescue-fantasies of all the men eager to save her (apparently she received 2000 wedding proposals alone when she set up an email address.) I understand why poor Indians support Shetty. But I don't like it when highly-paid professionals get the emotional support of people who live in a country where there are millions far worse off.
If Celebrity Big Brother wanted to confront racism, they should have brought a working class Indian woman into the house. Why not one of the Gate Gourmet workers? Why not Brinda Karat? (I suppose she'd have better things to do.) Goody would have been forced to challenge her racism as an irrational hatred, and not sublimated class resentment. But perhaps that's too much to expect from a show devoted to humiliating celebrities. Further: it turns out Alexander Chancellor makes some of the same arguments as I do - but without any understanding of capitalism.
