One of my favorite memories as a child is curling up with my mom and looking through the Turner Classic Movies catalog. We'd search for around 20 minutes until inevitably ending up deciding on watching The King and I for the hundredth time. I remember the joyous costumes and songs. As a small child I thought, "What a fun romp!" But as I grew older I became more aware of an unnamed discomfort. At every phrase or use of the word savage my love for this movie dwindled.
The cliff notes synopsis of The King and I goes as follows. A white governess lady goes to Siam (yikes) to teach the children of the King (played by Russian born Yul Brynner in yellow face) and through her compassion and civilized nature everyone becomes a better person. Or I would describe it as a more problematic Mary Poppins. Throughout the film there are several scenes in which the King is shown as a cold, savage, alien, who uses violence and tyranny with this children and his people. Though they are seen as savage their luxurious live is also display. The film is littered with the "classic" hodgepodge of Asian iconography including but not limited to broken Engrish, gongs, gilded tigers, and Kung Fu.
My true struggle with these types of racist insensitive movies. At least for me I still feel a certain fondest for this movie specifically. Not because of the film itself but because of what it represented. To me this film is snuggling with my mom and feeling the ease of ignorance. Becoming aware of racism and imperialism is an ongoing and necessary process that has made me a better person but I somehow still yearn for the ability to watch these awful, racist, nostalgic films.
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