Students at the University of Michigan began a violent protest after composer Bright Sheng showed the class the 1965 film Othello starring Laurence Olivier, who appears on the screen in thick black makeup. As the acceptance movement continues to demonstrate a complete lack of acceptance, the professor was fired from the university, writes elamerican.com .
At first, the plan was that the music students of the university would have the opportunity to learn about the process of transforming a classical literary text into an opera from one of the most famous professors of the music school, the Chinese-born composer Bright Sheng.
But when Professor Sheng played the 1965 Shakespeare film Othello starring Laurence Olivier in the first class of this fall's undergraduate composition seminar, the entire class became a lesson about something else entirely.
Students were outraged that in the 1965 adaptation, the main character appeared on screen in thick black make-up.
After the class, student outrage forced Professor Sheng to apologize in a terse email for showing the film, and after weeks of threats, open letters and canceled classes, the university announced on October 1 that the two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and MacArthur -awarded professor Sheng " voluntarily " withdraws from teaching. According to the university's official reasoning, this was necessary because the professor's departure will create a positive learning environment.
Kim Broekhuizen, a spokeswoman for the university, said that "music history provides lessons that still apply today, including how white performers in blackface as part of American popular music were both a product and a means of supporting racist stereotypes."
He added that, in his opinion, lessons similar to what happened should, however, contain the appropriate context and should always be presented carefully and sensitively. Of course, regardless of all this, the professor is still not allowed to teach.
Source: hirado.hu
Photo: elamerican.com
