Ideologies of multi-culturalism on TV

In this post I’d like to address the place of race, or rather ethnicity in a TV advert that I’ve been shown recently. It’s a channel one indent from 2007 I believe and one that I’m sure most of us have come across. If not here’s the link,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L4yj5q0n8w

This ad was raised in another course, FTVMS 211 where we were considering the text in terms of how live-ness can be constructed and reconfigured through mediation, although while watching I couldn’t help but notice its relevance to THIS paper.

What stood out from the get go, was the obvious intent of the texts creators to include a message of Bi- or even multi-culturalism in relation to Aotearoa. The theme of ‘one’, often carried through this channels promotionals would here be consistent with ideas of togetherness as a nation and the bundling of cultural identities to portray a multi-cultural NZ image. We are shown a Truckie with a koru tattoo, a Polynesian family, Pakeha farmers and businessmen, a Maori family on the sea shore, a handful of TVNZ personalities also of various ethnicities and at the centre of the short narrative – an inter-ethnic couple with their son; the person who says “one” at the end of the countdown.

Like all high budget texts, this will have been highly planned and constructed, right down to ethnic casting I’d presume. The messages linking NZ with multi-culturalism in this ad are hard to miss!

And why not produce such a message? As NZers or at least Aucklanders, celebration and recognition of diversity is something that I’d think we’re all happy to accommodate and spur along. Although consider for a second if this were not your personal opinion. What if the messages that I have taken this ad to convey are ones that disgust or annoy you? Perhaps cultural diversity isn’t something you want for Aotearoa... An undesirable point of view as far as I’m concerned, although an opinion none the less, and one that I’m sure is held by at least some people around the world.

What I’m attempting to draw attention to here is the idealism behind texts, especially those produced for a national audience and by a governmentally funded and controlled channel such as One. The national ‘reality’ of multi-culturalism that is being ideologically pushed here, is a reminder that every text has a perspective, a subjective point of view, norms and preferred ideas that are chosen to be important. To be specific, it isn’t simply “multi-culturalism” that is promoted here, rather peaceful and even enjoyable co-existance. Although not all existence along ethnic lines in NZ, is completely peaceful – again it is an ideal, a preference comparable to the Benneton ads previously studied in this paper.

This message is valid, absolutely. Although what is important is that such happy-go-lucky ideologies don’t cloud the actually shape of NZ ethnic relations and situations, which aren’t so cheerful ALL of the time right?