Charlotte Rampling: Power, privilege and prejudice

They often say that ‘life imitates art’ and ‘art imitates life'. This is particularly so with the recent remarks by the Oscar winning renowned actress, Charlotte Rampling.

In an interview to the French media about Black and white actors questioning that there was no Black actor being nominated for the Oscars, Rampling retorted, ‘That was racist towards white people.’ Explaining her position she went on:

One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list... These days everyone is more or less accepted.”

In Rampling’s post racial world inequality is only a state of mind.

Rampling’s ramblings reminded me of a role she played in a somewhat dark thriller back in 2005, called ‘Heading South’. There were many subplots to this story, but at its core were three white European female sex tourists who would travel to the poverty stricken Island of Haiti looking for sexual favours from young Black men. These relatively wealthy middle aged women could use their power, privilege and prejudice to exploit young handsome Black men to serve their emotional and sexual needs, much like white men do when they go to places such as Thailand.

In the film the women barely question their elevated privilege much less care about its demeaning effect on those who participate in the social/sexual power game. Rampling’s own character feels obliviously superior in her domain with her young Black lover until her relationship is challenged by a younger more beautiful white woman.

For us all, the biggest challenge in tearing down privilege, power and prejudice is that it is often not even recognised until the individual is negatively directly affected by it.

That the Hollywood film industry has always been, to a lesser or more degree a racist institution is undeniable. PhD studies, articles, Black character portrayals have clearly highlighted the ‘white superiority DNA' in great detail.

Even when Hollywood has tried to make amends –Morgan Freedman’s Oscar in ‘Driving Miss Daisy’- or Octavia Spencer’s Oscar winning performance in the ‘The Help’, the balance of power was still bitterly clear.

I also remember, just a couple of years ago watching Daniel Day Lewis's Oscar winning role in film about Abraham Lincoln, which was about him and the battle to end slavery. In a near three hour film Black people –African Americans, barely featured. The biggest cameo role given to a Black actor was afforded  to a Black servant who slept with her white boss as a 'gift' for voting against slavery.

Now after the 2nd year of an all white Oscar’s, Black America is fighting back.

Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith’s wife said she’d be boycotting the Oscars. Others followed, many white actors felt very embarrassed that the Oscar's were a whitewash.

Black actors have pointed to the Oscar Academy itself, arguing that this rather secret institution has a membership that is largely male, elderly and white. That’s one reason they argued that we continue to get great Black performances from actors such as Idris Elba’s, Will Smith and David Oyelowo? overlooked.

Some people have suggested this is nothing more than a storm in a Hollywood teacup and that we shouldn’t get too preoccupied about it. But what the Oscar’s and Rampling’s response highlight is that prejudice cannot be challenged without power. Rampling’s comments that ,  ‘We all are more or less equal now’, does not sit well with those female  A list actresses who have recently complained about being paid less than their male contempories, and not getting significant acting  roles after the age of 40. Furthermore, in a male dominated film world without categories specifically for women, actresses like Rampling  might not even see themselves nominated.

Black America is right to be outraged, but along with calls for boycotting the Oscars, Black America needs to better demonstrate  its spending clout at the box office to get better attention.

In the end, Charlotte Rampling was forced to backtrack on her statement, using that old line that she was misinterpreted. No you were not Charlotte, your privilege and prejudices were rightly called out.

Simon Woolley