Contrast the way that two texts you have studied are constructed to appeal to particular audiences. Both plays and films, although different genres, can be effective in bring an issue into focus by appealing to particular audiences. No Sugar, written by Jack Davis in 1985 is a social realist play that depicts the isolation and disempowerment of Aborigines during the 1930’s. Various dramatic conventions have been employed to highlight the negative effect of the Eurocentric, hypocritical and dominant ideologies of the Anglo-Saxon society on the Indigenous population.
It depicts the struggle and discrimination that is shown to the Aboriginals during this time and sets out to appeal to the audiences of the 1980s who have just experienced a paradigm shift from the racist, bigoted views of the 1930’s to the newly egalitarian ideologies and celebration of Aboriginal culture. The Help is a film that depicts the hardship that African American women face as house maids to the white American population. Directed by Tate Taylor in 2012, this feature film is also constructed to appeal to modern audiences who will criticise the unfair treatment of the African
Americans during the early 1960s, when the film was set. In No Sugar, Davis criticises the paternalistic and racist attitudes of those in positions of power which are based on the assumption that Indigenous Australians are an inferior race. The officials believe that the “Incompetent savages” need to be helped to take their place in Australian society. Condescendingly, they believe that this involves lessons in basic hygiene. Mr Neville believes that Aborigines should be shown how to use handkerchiefs and toilet paper, and be given rations of soap.
The soap symbolises the assumption that Indigenous Australians are dirty people. Additionally, the comment about Aborigines needing help to take their place in Australian society makes the assumption that the Aboriginals are out of place and that Australia is the White peoples land now. In the context of the 1980’s, when the play was performed, Australians were beginning to celebrate multiculturalism and so Davis encourages this audience to recognize the hypocritical and racist treatment that was the normality, and even seen as heroic in the 1930’s.
Similarly, The Help addresses the discriminatory and racist assumption that blacks are “dirty” and “diseased”. Hilly Holbrook, the antagonist, has been constructed in the film to reinforce the need for segregation between the coloured help and the white population. She fights to put forward an Initiative in which every white home is required to have a separate bathroom for the coloured Help. She argues: “It’s just plain dangerous. They carry different diseases than we do”.
This use of dialogue and the antagonistic characterisation of Hilly is employed to appeal negatively towards the dominantly galitarian and unprejudiced audience of 2012 and may encourage the audience members to challenge the bigoted views of Miss Hilly, and to see the irony and hypocrisy in the initiative she has put forth. Both The Help and No Sugar are constructed effectively to bring to view the dominant issues about disempowerment and racism. During the 1930’s, racism against Indigenous Australians was normalised which becomes evident in the powerful characterisation of the Sergeant.
His Eurocentric and hypocritical values are highlighted when he tells Frank: “Take it from me, I been dealin’ with ’em for years. I got nothin’ against ’em, but I know exactly what they’re like. ” By stereotyping the Aboriginals, this racist statement is used to justify the standard, oppressive treatment used towards them during this time. He then goes on to explain how: “Natives are best kept to themselves. ” This hypocrisy just shows how the government controls every aspect of Aboriginals lives until the Aboriginal actions don’t line with European, paternal values. Comparatively, The Help is a film also conveying the issue of racism.
After the bus scene in which Abileen, one of the black aids, runs home to learn that civil rights leader Medgar Evers has been shot and killed by the KKK. In a dimly lit dining room scene Minny is speaking to her about the ordeal that has just shaped the nation. The dim lighting symbolises the dark period in history as a glimmer of light for the African American race is dampened. A distraught Minny explains: “We living in hell. We trapped. Our kids are trapped. ” Her poor use of syntax symbolises the lack of education that she, as a black woman, receives and shows the unfairness of her racial status restricting er from such a basic privilege.
The dialogue itself has a much deeper meaning and represents the imprisonment of the African American’s in the white society. This scene has been constructed to appeal negatively towards the more modern and tolerant audience in the hope that it challenges their perspective on the way that people should be treated. Davis encourages us to adopt a post-colonial perspective to focus on the lack of power and rights of the Aboriginal community in Moore River in the 1930’s. Aboriginals are seen as inferior and so are controlled under the European values and deologies.
In Act Four Scene Two, Mary, a heavily pregnant Aboriginal woman, is being forced to work in a hospital against her will. When she refuses, Neal, the white superintendent of Moore River Native Settlement proves us of his power over her. “You’ll work where I think fit, digging graves if I say so. ” This statement shows the absolute power that Neal has over Mary and represents the dominance that the Europeans have over the Indigenous Population. The audience is reminded that he has full control over what she does, and is allowed to punish her f she disagrees: “Neal raises the cat-o’-nine-tails.
Blackout. A scream. ” This incredibly powerful stage direction highlights the pain and trauma that Mary experiences. Davis’ clever use of blackout lighting emphasises the scream and positions the audience to feel horror and disgust at what has been done. Mary’s low level on the stage symbolises her vulnerability towards this overpowering, predatory man. This powerful imagery of the heavily pregnant woman encourages the audience to want to reject Eurocentric, racist ideologies and values and to protect and care for the oppressed Aboriginal woman.
In this way, Tate Taylor has also incorporated that same issue of empowerment of a particular social group over the other. Under segregation, black women were so excluded from good jobs that 60% of those who were employed in 1940 worked as maids. With so few other choices, their wages were as low as $139 in current dollars for a six-day week in 1935, and their white bosses could treat them awfully. Skeeter, the protagonist of The Help, confronts her mother about the letting go of her old house maid, Constantine. She cries: “.. So you just threw her away?
She taught me kindness and self-respect and ou just threw her away like a broken appliance. ” As the audience can see, the maids are objectified and worked until they are no longer needed. It dehumanises these women who sometimes work their entire lives with a family to be kicked out with nowhere left to go and this appeals to the empathetic nature of the modern and accepting audience. The Help and No Sugar, although different genres, are both constructed in a way that appeals to a multicultural, tolerant modern and egalitarian audience.
They both convey the issues of racism and disempowerment among minority groups such as Aboriginals or African Americans between the 1930s to the early 1960’s. No Sugar highlights the negative effects of paternalistic and Eurocentric ideologies on the Indigenous population and depicts the cruelty shown to them if they don’t conform. Similarly, The Help encourages the audience to empathise for the ill-treated and objectified Negro women. These two texts are constructed to contain various dramatic and film conventions to highlight the issues presented. As shown, plays and films can both be effective mediums in presenting a particular issue to different audiences.
