Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

18 FILM AND RADIO GUIDE Volume XII, No. 5 passing remark. In JoJuunj T remain the hero, delivering a message to a man named Molineaux, is described as uncertain whether the idea had penetrated the recipient’s “thick skull.’’ Had the author stopped there, she would have done the cause of intercultural harmony a service. But the writer went further and added a label ; her complete phrase is “the wild Irishman’s thick skull.’’ This is an example of the all-too-ready characterization of the Irishman as dull-witted, thick-headed. The author would have done better to omit the group label. An older example of the uncomplimentary treatment of the Irishman appears in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Mr. Higgitibothu/n’.s Catastrophe. This characterization partakes less of the nature of the stereotype in the sense that the Irishman is not portrayed here as dense of wit. Nevertheless, his is an unsympathetic role. The plot of the story hinges on a rumor that "Mr. Higginbotham of Kimballton iras murdered i)i his orchard at eight o’clock last night by an Irishman and a )iigge}-." Had the rumor turned out to be wholly unfounded, this story would have made a fine lesson in the need for combating rumors about the misdeeds of persons belonging to minority groups. Unfortunately, the climax of the story finds Mr. Higginbotham, several days after the inception of the false report, saved just in the moment before being hanged by an Irishman. The leaks of a poorly concealed conspiracy had caused the rumor. For the more familiar stereotype of the Irishman, Butler’s Pigs Is Pigs offers a sorry example. The humor of this story, *Meisan(l, Joseph, 'rraditioiis in .\meriean IJterature, The Modern Chapbooks, New York, 1939. which is very funny indeed, depends upon the obtuse interpretation of the shipping rates by an express company’s agent, IMike Flannery. All the complications of the plot arise from Mr. Flannery’s attempt to collect expressage on guinea pigs, or “dago” pigs as he sometimes calls them, at the rate charged for bona-hde porkers instead of the fee for pets. The fact that the author is manifestly sympathetic toward his character fails to cancel out the effect of the stereotype. If the Irishman appears as stupid, members of other groups play more sinister parts. There is a “swarthy Greek” cast in the role of a hold-up man in Scott Fitzgerald’s Pusher-i)i-the-Face. There is a “Mexican-looking” hoodlum in Jack London’s A Raid on the Ogster Pirates; this character is the only one in the gang to whom any particular nationality is ascribed. Such characterization is in line with the Columbia group’s findings in magazine fiction, revealing a negative presentation of the concept that nice people are AngloSaxons. There are also the Jews of fiction and the drama, drawn as sly money-grubbers and misers. Fagin of Dickens’s Oliver Tirist has vanished from the schoolroom. since the novel is no longer on the approved list; but Shylock is still with us in Shakespeare’s play on the pound of flesh. Although some schools have dropped 7’he Mercluoit of Venice, its continuance in four editions on the textbook list seems to indicate that this drama still maintains a degree of i)opularity. Some have it that the sixteenth century bard was the victim of the popular i)rejudice then existing against Queen Elizabeth’s physician, the Portu guese-Jewish Dr. Roderigo Lopez.* However, whether or not Shakespeare can be shown to have been bound thus by the limitations of his time, there is a palpable danger of presenting to young minds a play which portrays the Jew in a stereotype l)erfectly finished in every detail. Shylock hates Christians. “7 hate him for he is a Christia)i.” "But yet I'll go in hate to feed upo)t The prodigal Christian.’’ Shylock is a usurer. “Antonio. Or is your gold and ■River eices and ranis? Shylock. 7 cannot tell; I make it breed as fast.’’ Shylock is a miser. “Launcelot. My master’s a very Jew ... I am famished in his service.” Shylock loves money more than his child. “Shylock. How now. Tubed! what news from Genoa? has thou foiDwl my daughter? Tubal. 7 often came where I did hear of he)', but cannot find he)'. Shylock. Why, there, there, tho'e, there! a diamond gone, cost nie tiro thousand ducats in Frankfoi't !” Shylock is crafty and treacherous. (Before the bargain is made) “Shylock. If he should break his day, what should I gain By the exaction of the forfeiture? A pound of man’s flesh taken from a man Is not so estimable, profitcdile neither, A.s flesh of muttons, beefs, or goats.” (After the bargain is made) “Salarino. Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his flesh: what’s that good for?