Yr Colonial Fantasy?

Like my previous blog, this one was also sparked by my Digital Art class (yay for class overlap!). We had a visiting artist last week who did a lecture about his work, which includes elements from LARPs (Live Action Roleplaying, like we talked about with “First Person”). Although this presentation was astoundingly boring, he did talk about how LARPs are evolving beyond the fantasy/sci-fi genre. He briefly touched on Colonial Williamsburg, which intrigued me because it seemed like a very problematic premise, like living out a colonial fantasy. I went to their website to find out more, and it turns out it’s a lot more complicated than that.

According to their website:
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation operates the world’s largest living history museum in Williamsburg, Virginia—the restored 18th-century capital of Britain’s largest, wealthiest, and most populous outpost of empire in the New World. Here we interpret the origins of the idea of America, conceived decades before the American Revolution. The Colonial Williamsburg story, “Becoming Americans,” tells how diverse peoples, having different and sometimes conflicting ambitions, evolved into a society that valued liberty and equality. Americans cherish these values as a birthright, even when their promise remains unfulfilled… in this historic place, we help the future learn from the past.

Because of the importance placed on the audience, Colonial Williamsburg seems to exist somewhere between a LARP and a play. The “actors” or “roleplayers” (however you think of them) are known as “interpreters”. Although I think its great to examine the idea of America and our colonial past, the whole thing really weirds me out, particularly in regard to race. Most of the black interpreters play slaves and can be seen doing slave activities, i.e. cooking, cleaning, serving white interepreters, or even working out in the fields. If you think of it more in terms of a LARP, what does it mean for all the black participants to roleplay as slaves and servants? And in terms of a play, many dramatic roles for black actors tend to be slaves, criminals, etc… Also, I’m unclear on how far this roleplaying goes. If they call themselves interpreters, it seems as if they view themselves as interpreting actual history. So then, are there whippings, or beatings, or other brutalities inflicted upon slaves? I worry that slavery will be portrayed as less brutal and dehumanizing than it was, but I also think that depicting that and having the black interpreters have to deal with that would be awful. Plus, although there is a whole section on the site about the black experience, there are very few mentions of Native Americans.

I don’t know, the whole thing just rubs me the wrong way, especially when I saw pictures of little black kids dressed up as slaves. Has anyone been there? What was your experience?

You can peruse their website at www.history.org