I am wondering whether any list-members have also viewed and reacted to a
TV commercial for Land Rover that has recently begun to air in the US on
several cable stations: CNN, Home and Garden TV, the Travel Channel,
maybe a few more. It shows a crowded "festival" street setting in some
vaguely southeast Asian looking area, replete with exotically dressed
people, and a procession in progress with an elephant bearing a litter
with some concealed dignitary inside. All action stops when a Land
Rover, shiny and magnificent with darkly tinted window obscuring the
occupants, wends its way through the choked street - the exotic
"orientals" fall aside in awe. There is a brief shot from the inside of
the vehicle of the staring faces of the locals only inches from the
tinted glass, but brightly visible to the Land Rover occupants who are
not pictured. Then the view switches to the curtained litter atop the
elephant, from which a brown-skinned be-ringed hand suddenly extends to
signal right-of-way to the Land Rover. The caption is a single word,
"Respect".
Yes, we know to expect vulgarity from advertising, but I was
nevertheless a bit stunned by this commercial. With all the subtlety of
a sledgehammer, it reduces "orientalism" to just about as succinct a
30-second spot as one could imagine. Has anyone else seen this and had
similiar reactions to it?
Just curious...
Carol Medlicott, UCLA Geography
