I'm so sorry you're facing the stupidity of the "heartland". America's melting pot, so widely touted, is a melting pot of Europeans at best, especially in the interior places, like Ohio. It's one of the reasons I much prefer living on the Pacific Coast, where the cultures are more diverse, the people more sophisticated in their xenophobias. Alas, even here racism's ugly hand touches us, as it does everywhere the world over, even in the most cosmopolitan and integrated of cities, but it is nothing like what one finds in the small towns of middle America, with their homogeneous populations.
Hang in there, Drel. Speak your courage when you can. In fact, I think you should submit this essay to your local or college newspaper. It's eye opening, beautifully written, and it makes me long to experience those things with you (well some of them-marketplaces and operas and mooncakes, not brothers and commutes and thinning congee.)
(That icon is hardly appropriate! How dare Itachi enjoy my suffering! >.>)
*shrugs* I hadn't expected it, I guess. I thought that Auckland would be bad - I'd rather have Auckland's experience HERE. I mean, I expected this when i was in Auckland, and was pleasantly surprised.
Here - well, the internet is just as bad too - the furor of angry POCs at the all-white casting of a movie adapted from a cartoon series inspired wholly from the whole range of ASian cultures and countries, and being told to stfu, because a fantasy world WOULDN"T have ASia in it, so it's perfectly fine to cast white characters as the main characters, and Asians as extras.
I'd attended a Chinese New Year celebration in this Uni, and cannot stand it. The Chinese were performing FOR white people, and ... it just felt. Wrong. It wasn't a celebration. It was a performance.
(The icon was because in your suffering, you managed to write something beautiful. Sorry that wasn't clear >.>)
I'm not surprised you had it easier in Auckland: it's a bigger city and it's part of the Pacific rim culture. There simply are more Asians around in that part of the world.
The stupidity of the Avatar casting continues to amaze me. But we are talking about a Hollywood that makes whole movies about a skinny black man who dresses in a fat woman suit-where the entirety of the comedy hinges on making fun of women, fat people, and blacks. Don't let their idiocy sour you on Americans, just boycott the movie.
That cultural performance thing is an interesting dilemma. What you wanted was a celebration to partake in, but I imagine the students that put it on felt they were doing outreach, teaching the non-Chinese about your culture. I remember feeling terribly torn at a performance of traditional Ainu dance when I was in Hokkaido. Is it exploitation, or is it education?
(Lol. >.> I even wrote a Ko-fic, but i think I want to make it longer. I don't mind the icon - but it was just weirdly appropriate in the utterly wrong way. :P)
Auckland, a couple years back, was NOT full of ASians. It's the main city of NZ now, and has the biggest university of NZ, with a world class (well it had better) education for most things. So it's not strange that a lot of Asians have turned up there in recent years.
Avatar now has an Asian main character, assuming the news of Dev Patel playing Zuko is right
( ... )
*HUGS* People are. Total. Idiots. Everywhere but in coastal areas, and TV is most definitely included. For a civilized country we still have horrible stereotypes in our tv casting. This is a big part of why I don't watch much tv or live-acton series, no matter how my mom or fringe friends pimp them to me.... I'm really sorry that you're having to go through this personally.
The middle of America sucks in my opinion. Come to California and let's all point and laugh at the rest of white America together. With tacos and egg rolls and beer.
White people look at me, and assume that I can't speak English. I've had it happen twice already, and both are professors.
*sigh*
I don't know - I didn't get this problem in NZ, and most certainly not in Peterborough/Toronto. It's just. annoying, upsetting, all on top of fail-cake.
Haa! I was reading up on the Bear controversy (I don't think I can read her NOW) and found the whole load of horridness and pantlessness going on, and from there found Yeloson's LJ, and the remyth project. Damn some of them are good.
I don't think my entry here can be counted as one, because there's no... myth here, no story, but it's because of them.
I doubt I can add much other than my agreement to the other comments. I haven't ever been to the "interior" of the US and the way you talk about it, I don't think I'd be all that interested.
The imagery you use and the events you describe are beautiful, though. Even if perhaps they aren't the most wonderful things to experience. *hugs* I'm sorry so many fangirls are morons and so many Americans are bigots.
On one hand, I know this is excluding people who did grow up as second generation immigrants, or even longer, or those who are biracial.
However, a white guy coming into any sort of racial discussion, or a cultural celebration, and wanting it to be all about him/them, oggling at us like we're Others and exotics...
It's not just them. It's also the people who assume that an asian face = no English, who think that our culture is fun and cool but the Asian people are not.
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It was hardly this bad in Auckland.
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Hang in there, Drel. Speak your courage when you can. In fact, I think you should submit this essay to your local or college newspaper. It's eye opening, beautifully written, and it makes me long to experience those things with you (well some of them-marketplaces and operas and mooncakes, not brothers and commutes and thinning congee.)
*hugs tight*
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*shrugs* I hadn't expected it, I guess. I thought that Auckland would be bad - I'd rather have Auckland's experience HERE. I mean, I expected this when i was in Auckland, and was pleasantly surprised.
Here - well, the internet is just as bad too - the furor of angry POCs at the all-white casting of a movie adapted from a cartoon series inspired wholly from the whole range of ASian cultures and countries, and being told to stfu, because a fantasy world WOULDN"T have ASia in it, so it's perfectly fine to cast white characters as the main characters, and Asians as extras.
I'd attended a Chinese New Year celebration in this Uni, and cannot stand it. The Chinese were performing FOR white people, and ... it just felt. Wrong. It wasn't a celebration. It was a performance.
Reply
I'm not surprised you had it easier in Auckland: it's a bigger city and it's part of the Pacific rim culture. There simply are more Asians around in that part of the world.
The stupidity of the Avatar casting continues to amaze me. But we are talking about a Hollywood that makes whole movies about a skinny black man who dresses in a fat woman suit-where the entirety of the comedy hinges on making fun of women, fat people, and blacks. Don't let their idiocy sour you on Americans, just boycott the movie.
That cultural performance thing is an interesting dilemma. What you wanted was a celebration to partake in, but I imagine the students that put it on felt they were doing outreach, teaching the non-Chinese about your culture. I remember feeling terribly torn at a performance of traditional Ainu dance when I was in Hokkaido. Is it exploitation, or is it education?
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Auckland, a couple years back, was NOT full of ASians. It's the main city of NZ now, and has the biggest university of NZ, with a world class (well it had better) education for most things. So it's not strange that a lot of Asians have turned up there in recent years.
Avatar now has an Asian main character, assuming the news of Dev Patel playing Zuko is right ( ... )
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The middle of America sucks in my opinion. Come to California and let's all point and laugh at the rest of white America together. With tacos and egg rolls and beer.
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*sigh*
I don't know - I didn't get this problem in NZ, and most certainly not in Peterborough/Toronto. It's just. annoying, upsetting, all on top of fail-cake.
I totally wanna go to California! It's warm!
... it also has forest fires. T_T
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I don't think my entry here can be counted as one, because there's no... myth here, no story, but it's because of them.
(And Avatar's Fail Casting)
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The imagery you use and the events you describe are beautiful, though. Even if perhaps they aren't the most wonderful things to experience. *hugs* I'm sorry so many fangirls are morons and so many Americans are bigots.
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On one hand, I know this is excluding people who did grow up as second generation immigrants, or even longer, or those who are biracial.
However, a white guy coming into any sort of racial discussion, or a cultural celebration, and wanting it to be all about him/them, oggling at us like we're Others and exotics...
It's not just them. It's also the people who assume that an asian face = no English, who think that our culture is fun and cool but the Asian people are not.
Just. Yeah.
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