Representation of Race and Ethnicity

The Olympic ceremony scene begins with a woman driving home with her mixed race son and in a red mini cooper. The reason why this is signification is that is represents British culture as this car is seen as something totally British in other people’s perspectives of England. When they get out of the car you are able to see the child who is playing on a portable console which allows audience members to identify with this as most other young children share the same interests. They are made to be seen as a happy family and this is contradicted by the article from the Guardian by Rick Dewsbury where he blatantly suggests that finding a happy mixed racial family who belong to the middle class is highly unlikely in England and therefore raised many eyebrows of readers. He discusses further on to subliminally suggest that black men are not educated and are unable to support their families and often leave their partners after impregnating them. This is a negative connotation of the race and ethnicity of black men and is extremely different to the opening ceremony of the Olympics in 2012. The article could relate to Alvardo’s theory of black people being pitied and possibly even dangerous. Fanon’s theory of black people wearing white masks is also being reinforced in the article due to the fact that Dewsbury states that it would be too much of a challenge for the organisers of the Olympics to find a middle class white family so they had to settle for a mixed raced family that is apparently “unlike to live in such a set-up”.