fantasyecho
in
foc_u
I WANT TO SCREAM
Remember my last post about the Gatehouse Gazette's editor being a douche?
In this comment thread, where I've explained why the concept of Victorientalism is so bad, HE DID IT AGAIN:
I agree with some of the thing that have been said here though I haven’t had time to read all of the comments yet-steampunk doesn’t adopt Victorian values and stereotypes without criticism. We’re well aware of the racist and imperialist attitudes that shaped the era’s perception of the East and of Easterners. But shouldn’t we be able to “reinvent” those very attitudes, in a comical way? No one in their right mind would think of Eastern people as constituting much of a Yellow Peril anymore. No one in their right mind would believe that Westerners are racially superior anymore. We know that’s not true. And that’s part of the reason why I think we can safely revive stereotypes in fiction, because everyone understands they’re not supposed to be serious.
You can argue that a sense of “otherness” is still embedded in our perceptions of the East. You can even argue that it is impossible for a Westerner to truly understand the East-though I believe that would be the more racist attitude, as though we’re two fundamentally different people that can’t for the life of them comprehend each other. Besides, it would invalidate every study, be it historical, social or economic of past and present Eastern states. But we should be able to separate that discussion from steampunk. Steampunk doesn’t faithfully reconstruct the past. Indeed, it’s very premise is that it doesn’t.
WHAT.
WHAT?
WHAT IS WRONG WITH SOME PEOPLE.
Mommy make him stop ;_;
In this comment thread, where I've explained why the concept of Victorientalism is so bad, HE DID IT AGAIN:
I agree with some of the thing that have been said here though I haven’t had time to read all of the comments yet-steampunk doesn’t adopt Victorian values and stereotypes without criticism. We’re well aware of the racist and imperialist attitudes that shaped the era’s perception of the East and of Easterners. But shouldn’t we be able to “reinvent” those very attitudes, in a comical way? No one in their right mind would think of Eastern people as constituting much of a Yellow Peril anymore. No one in their right mind would believe that Westerners are racially superior anymore. We know that’s not true. And that’s part of the reason why I think we can safely revive stereotypes in fiction, because everyone understands they’re not supposed to be serious.
You can argue that a sense of “otherness” is still embedded in our perceptions of the East. You can even argue that it is impossible for a Westerner to truly understand the East-though I believe that would be the more racist attitude, as though we’re two fundamentally different people that can’t for the life of them comprehend each other. Besides, it would invalidate every study, be it historical, social or economic of past and present Eastern states. But we should be able to separate that discussion from steampunk. Steampunk doesn’t faithfully reconstruct the past. Indeed, it’s very premise is that it doesn’t.
WHAT.
WHAT?
WHAT IS WRONG WITH SOME PEOPLE.
Mommy make him stop ;_;