Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
People
The most striking issues with Black Narcissus (1947) are the constant references to the local people as ‘primitive’. People have used words like ‘savage’ since the dawn of colonisation to justify the barbaric methods of displacement and oppression utilised by colonising countries. According to the Dictionary of Race, Ethnicity and Culture (2003), the word ‘primitive’ has replaced the word ‘savage’ but still has ‘derogatory connotations’ (pp.231-232).
Shortly after they arrive, the sisters pay people to attend the school and dispensary they’ve set up. As the schoolroom becomes crowded with children, Sister Ruth says, ‘what can you do with them? They look very stupid to me. Remember, they can’t speak a word of Hindustani or English’ (Black Narcissus, 1947). The way Sister Ruth correlates stupidity with an inability to speak the languages the sisters speak belies the attitude that colonised people should speak the language of their colonisers.
Prior to colonising countries all over the world, English was only spoken in Britain (Simon and Simon, 2023). However, as a result of English schooling, the language came to be associated with education, and according to Migge and Léglise (2007), the ‘linguistic decolonisation of both European and non-European cultures is hardly complete’ (p.1). This highlights the lasting effect attitudes like Sister Ruth’s have had on global cultures and languages.
One of the main characters on the receiving end of the convent’s overt racism and classism is Kanchi. Sister Clodagh judges for her open sexuality and Ayah beats her for stealing a ‘brass chain from the church room to put around her dirty neck’ (Black Narcissus, 1947). People expect this sexuality from the Indian teenager, but assume the white nuns are ill or mad when they display any hint of sexuality.
However positive you may feel about the innovation in terms of the filming of Black Narcissus, you cannot deny the frequent use of brownface is distracting. Despite managing to cast Indian actor Sabu in the role of Dilip Rai, apparently no other Indian actors could make the casting and instead, we have white people in brownface for several of the main characters, including Toda Rai, Ayah and Kanchi. Guy Aoki (2015) explains that ‘having white actors play other races, often in ways that mock, is as old as the film industry itself’ and ‘racism is certainly a factor contributing to the casting of white people to play other races’.
This seems to be the case for Black Narcissus. For example, in one scene, Sister Ruth responds that ‘they all look alike to me’ when told the people are not black. This is a shocking admission that makes the entire viewing uncomfortable today.
Place
Approximately five minutes into the film, Mr. Dean describes Mopu to the sisters at the convent in his letter. He explains that it is in ‘the back of beyond’ and the palace is ‘called a palace but there may be a slight difference between your idea of a palace and the general’s’ (Black Narcissus, 1947). This condescending description further serves to other the community in Mopu and emphasise the supposed superiority of the British in the final years of their rule over India.
The entire film is shot at Pinewood Studios and in West Sussex in a private gardens with the appropriate types of plants. The crew didn’t film any of the scenes on location in the Himalayas. This is a creative feat by the cinematographer, Jack Cardiff and art director, Alfred Junge. Although by today’s standards, the use of matte paintings and miniatures is glaringly obvious, the ability to transport the audience to India using these methods was extremely innovative and exciting at the time. The creative duo reportedly took Technicolor to ‘delirious new heights’ by creating ‘an otherworldly atmosphere that reflects the psychological arc of the film’s characters’ (Criterion, 2018).
On the other hand, this filming off location paired with the rampant racism displayed throughout suggest further categorisation of India and its people as other. The concept of filming something set in a remote, mountainous location in a studio in Buckinghamshire is one that is distancing, firmly placing the Indian characters as being ‘over there’ and the British ones, especially at the end when their mission has failed, as ‘over here’.
Another scene in the film emphasises difference between the sisters’ experiences at home and their experiences in the palace. Sister Bryony suggests something ‘unhealthy in the water’ is causing the women’s spots. Mr. Dean quickly rebukes this but the insinuation that Britain is clean and India is dirty still remains – another attitude firmly rooted in colonisation.
Religion
The holy man lives on the mountain, seemingly never moving, even to eat. The local people mythologise him, bring him offerings and in general, he offers comfort and a source of pride. However, Sister Clodagh does not replicate this respect. She focuses more closely on property boundaries and asks Mr. Dean if he can be relocated somewhere else. This shines a light on Christian attempts to displace local religions and pedestalise their own as the predominant religion in the respective region.
Sister Clodagh’s question of the general ‘turning out’ his uncle, the holy man, is an imperialist attitude – instead of respecting him in the same way as the locals do or simply leaving him alone to continue doing what he has done for a long time, she wants to forcibly remove him. This could suggest she is uncomfortable with any ‘competition’ in the religious sphere, believing as she does in Jesus Christ and God. We can also see this in the battle between the horns and drums in the village and the bells of the palace. The former are unfamiliar to the sisters so they attempt to drown them out with the ringing of the bells.
Sexuality
The palace at Mopu previously housed the general’s harem and you can see evidence of this in some of the images dotted around the building. There is a clear juxtaposition between the sexualised Indian women and the ‘pure’ nuns in their symbolic white attire. This distinction is again showing popular and derogatory stereotypes of the period.
However, as the film progresses, we see that Sister Clodagh was previously in a relationship with a man whom she believed she was going to marry. These flashbacks are often interspersed with images of Clodagh in the present with a smile on her face. She evidently has fond memories of this time in her life despite the unfortunate ending and we see a new side to her that audiences wouldn’t necessarily associate with a nun.
Mr. Dean acts as the great temptation and we see flirtations between him and Sister Clodagh despite the latter’s loyalty to the convent and vows to God. Sister Ruth’s religious dedication also unravels but to a greater degree as she becomes obsessed with the attractive caretaker. We see her become more visually dishevelled, with her facial features becoming more distorted and sinister. She develops red rings around her eyes, hinting at a mixture of sleeplessness and psychosis. Similarly, when she resigns from her position as a sister, she dresses in a red dress with bright, red lipstick. This highlights her burgeoning sexuality in pursuit of Mr. Dean. It also evinces the increasing danger she poses to herself and those around her.
While the Indian women, particularly Kanchi and those depicted in the murals are chastised and judged for their open sexuality, Sister Ruth is portrayed as being mad or ill. These are usually temporary states, suggesting this sexuality is not in Ruth’s nature as a white woman. Sister Clodagh represents abstinence in the face of temptation, as she leaves Mr. Dean to work in a different convent despite clearly harbouring some feelings for him.
It seems strange and discomfiting that these white women yearning for Mr. Dean is set against a backdrop of open racism. While it is recognisable that Black Narcissus contributed a great deal to the cinematic landscape, the handling of the subject matter is regularly uncomfortable and distracting.
If you’d like more film essays, read about disfigurement and spectacle in Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face.
Sources
- https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5697-the-lush-technicolor-of-black-narcissus?srsltid=AfmBOor-YWnvxap9V5Wv6jfe08jZcfBmunpD02rXPJy_BvvVD2oVOxWP
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20151006-when-white-actors-play-other-races
- https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00292388v1/document
- https://sk.sagepub.com/ency/edvol/dictionary-of-race-ethnicity-and-culture/chpt/primitive
- https://www.folger.edu/blogs/collation/that-which-we-call-primitive/
- https://academic.oup.com/hwj/article/doi/10.1093/hwj/dbx053/4785934
- https://metalib.ie.edu/ayuda/PDFs_PIB/The-Nation-and-Its-Fragments-Colonial-and-Post-Colonial-Histories.pdf
- https://www.simonandsimon.co.uk/blog/why-is-english-the-universal-language
- https://www.itv.com/watch/black-narcissus/CFD0058
- https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/black-narcissus
- https://letterboxd.com/film/black-narcissus/