“What? Nobody got shot?”: Representations of Caribana violence
“What? Nobody got shot?”
Representations of Caribana violence in the Toronto print media
Research Project, April 10, 2007
Group members:
Shane Bentham
Franciene McLeod
Edward Minnis
Nassim Shirvani
The festival of Caribana is marking its 40thanniversary in the city of Toronto this year and it has become quite the cornerstone of a typical summer of fun within the city. This is deservedly so because, coming from modest origins, Caribana is now the largest outdoor festival in North America, and generates well over 200 million dollars in local revenue. It attracts over two million people from all over the world, to the point where hotel rooms are often booked out a year in advance for the next parade (Trotman 177).
Caribana is often pointed to, usually by the government and the festival organizers, as a symbol of successful multiculturalism, of what is possible for a diverse city like Toronto. Despite this however the annual festival and parade has a perceived aura of fear and imminent violence. The Toronto Star reported that a staff sergeant ”addressed some 30 officers about to start their shift [at Caribana], he told them that [it] was not quite the festival they had heard about. He suggested they had nothing to fear.” (Barahona A9) Is Caribana really so dangerous that the police who manage the parade are scared for their lives and require a pep talk just to walk the streets? Or is this merely the effect of the mainstream media that wishes to paint this predominantly black cultural festival with a negative brush? This essay will argue that the Toronto media goes out of its way to represent Caribana as a violence plagued bacchanal despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
August 2nd, 2009 at 8:29 am
Pride has never has a homocide where millions of people gather each – just like Caribana – but unlike Pride looking at pure stats, statistically Caribana party-goers are more prone to be violent.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
@ Seth. You missed the point. (or proved the point) Completely. We are talking about representations of violence.
The gay pride parade is used as a counter point to highlight how violence is portrayed in the media. It is pointless to compare the two as festivals because they are different kinds of events.
The point is not which festival attracts a more violent crowd, the point is how ‘the story’ of Caribana can not be told without some mention of violence, whether or not any violence even took place.
The question is why does the media work to portray Caribana as inherently violent even when nothing happens?