#(i've seen some ad that's really bad about treating whiteness as an unremarkable default and only signally out poc) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

general-sleepy · 4 months ago

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Finally watching Overlord with AD. Already noticed an interesting choice of wording, with the narrator using "Nazis" and "Nazi soldiers" instead of "German soldiers." You could argue it's less technically accurate, but serves a purpose, and it's a reasonable decision in the context of the story. Audio description is cool.

Edit: They use a combination of "Nazis," "Nazi soldiers," "Germans," and "German soldiers." The choice is still significant.

#so far boyce (the only prominent black character)#is the only character whose race has been explicitly mentioned #which is usually a problem #(i've seen some ad that's really bad about treating whiteness as an unremarkable default and only signally out poc)#but on the other hand there have been two minor black characters #one who was described by the most prominent unique trait “bald”#and one who was immediately given an name and was never time to physically describe #the other white male characters are given quick descriptors #“scrawny” “fresh-faced” “dark-haired” and “blond”#(the last of which does imply race)#the “scrawny” (tbh i'd've gone with gangly) soldier is quickly named rosenfeld and he calls attention to the implications of that name #it's true that there are people who will consciously or unconsciously equate “fresh-faced” and its implications of innocence with whiteness #but i don't know if that's a fault or in the control of the ad itself #boyce is of average height and build with no striking physical features like scars or a distinctive haircut #“dark haired” would have been the only non-racial description available but also applies to another character #and it's impossible to deny despite the movie's general stance of colorblindness #that it is significant that the hero of this ww2 movie is a black soldier and the plot doesn't center on his race #so in whole it's interesting #the choice would in a vacuum be problematic #but in context is i think probably the best choice for smoothly providing the necessary information #which is the purpose of media accessibily tools like ad #like i said #ad is really interesting

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