La, Raymond
996901844
ASA 4
Spring Quarter, 2014
Michelle Carlson
TA: Dennis Somera
Modern Yellowface, Harajuku Culture, and the Construction of the Asian American Woman
American pop culture recently received flak for cultural appropriation. Artists such as Katy Perry and Selena Gomez were criticized for superficially incorporating Asian images into their music. However, cultural appropriation and cultural tourism – and its consequences – are commonly seen in relation to traditional culture; this lack of attention towards visual representation of modern Asian subcultures – in relation to Asian Americans – dismisses the potential impact of these images. A visual analysis of Avril Lavinge’s “Hello Kitty” and Gwen Stefani’s appearances with the Harajuku Girls reveals that the use of Japan’s Harajuku subculture in American pop culture perpetuates Asian American stereotypes. Specifically, these acts contain characteristics of the submissive “lotus blossom” stereotype and the invisibility that comes from this stereotype. These characteristics result in an insidious formation of race; Avril Lavinge and Gwen Stefani’s cultural tourism constructs the concept of an American that excludes the Asian body through contrasts between themselves and the background Asian body. This racial formation relies on the idea that the two artists have become part of the Harajuku culture, yet they are clearly distinguishable from the homogenized Asian body.
The “lotus blossom” stereotype is an Asian American female stereotype that portrays them as feminine, submissive, and desirable romantic interests for the white male protagonist (Tajima 309). Although the stereotype is the production of films fetishizing the “traditional Orient” culture, the stere...
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Although concerns about cultural appropriating cultural objects such as bindis, war bonnets, and kimonos have been receiving more attention, the effects of cultural tourism of modern Asian subcultures has been relatively ignored. This lack of attention may be due to the assumption of modernity as Western or a lack of an object that bears significant cultural meaning to the ethnic culture as a whole. However, if the potential effects are left ignored, cultural tourism of modern Asian subcultures may perpetuate harmful constructions of race. The visual analysis of Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavinge’s cultural appropriation of Harajuku culture reveals that it not only reaffirms Asian American female submissiveness and Asian American invisibility, but it also constructs meanings of race and whiteness that excludes American cultural citizenship from Asian Americans.
The Asian women interviewed in this film spoke candidly about their experiences in the entertainment industry. This film shows a comprehensive look at media stereotypes of Asia and Asian American women since the silent era. One point that the film brought up was that many white women played Asian women in early Hollywood films. One actress who frequently played an Asian woman was Katherine Hepburn. I can’t imagine how insulted I would be if I was an Asian actress who was losing roles to an American woman.
In modern day society, popular culture has gained equal status to world issues and politics. Music, movies, and literature have started cultural revolutions and challenged the straight-forward thinking many individuals have accepted in the past. But while popular culture can advance new ideas and create movements, it also has the ability to challenge advancements society has made. Imani Perry’s essay, The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto, focuses on hip hop and its negative impact on women and body image.
Lee, Robert G. 1999. Orientals: Asian American in Popular Culture. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
The Effects of African American Culture Appropriations on the Minority Black Culture The black culture is the minority culture in this instance and in most cases, it is dominated by the white culture which has imposed its ideas on them (Stuckey, 2013). When two different cultures come together, different types of cultural appropriations occur. These include transculturation, cultural dominance, and cultural exploitation. The appropriation between the white and black cultures, resulting in the African American culture, is defined by cultural dominance and exploitation.
To begin, this cultural practice primarily serves white western female liberation. Women of color only engage in the culture when they are a consumed as a “type” or eroticized as exotic. As pointed out by the author, students
In the article “What is Cultural Appropriation and Why is it Wrong? By Nadra Kareem Nittle and article “The Difference between Cultural Exchange and Cultural Appropriation” by Jarune Uwujaren. It talks about how cultural appropriation and about people wearing and using other cultural things such as the style of the clothes. It is usually known as borrowing but now it is not just borrowing since people who wear things/ objects with meaning and significance from other cultures do not even know the meaning. However, in cultural exchange it is much different when someone uses or does something that other cultures do for example, we celebrate Cinco de Mayo in the U.S, but it is the Latinos that live in the U.S who are celebrating and they are proud
The purpose of this study is determine why and how African American music that’s is so deeply rooted into the community is being culturally appropriated. This is a topic that has been the on the foreground of race for years. Activists and celebrities like Adrienne Keene, DeRay McKesson, Azealia Banks, and Jesse Williams helped bring the issue into the national attention. Most of the world or better yet the appropriators have very little knowledge of what the word actually means. In order to understand the problem we must first understand the word Culture and Appropriation. Culture being defined as the beliefs, ideas, traditions, speech, and material objects associated with a particular group of people. Appropriation the action of taking something
These lyrics from one of the first hip hop women band in United State introduce clearly our subject. Usually when the people think about women in Hip Hop culture, they think about sex, they think about women half nude in music videos, we just have to remember the conteoversial music video of Nelly for his song Tip Drill (2003). Women's studies students protest against misogyny in this video who shows women as sexuel object simulating sexuel acts and men throwing money on women's breats. This case is common in Hip Hop culture, specially in Gangsta Rap in videos of 2pac, Notorious Big, 50 Cents, etc. Patricia Hill Collins, Tricia Rose and bell hooks (Hill Collins Patricia : 1991, Rose Tricia : 1994, hell hooks : 2003) spoke about the perverse effect of women's nudity in Hip Hop culture and compare Hip Hop to pronography. They all agree to say that the Hip Hop culture is a male and machist world, where women are used to reinforce the apparent masculinity of rappers. These authors studie rap music through the gender and the race in United State, because women in video music are always black, almost the same happens in France not really with rap but R&B which is a part of the Hip Hop Culture. All the singers of R&B in France have arabian origins, whereas american R&B is more heterogenic. The quetsion is why all the women are black in american video rap music ? And why all the R&B french singers are arabian ? Can we see a postolonial and esclavagist heritage ? These two image, black female seen as a "bitch" and the arabian woman called the "beurette" in France show two different feminities, but how these "myths" involved in the development of a group identity? And what they reveal about the society ?
The Linfield Gallery is currently hosting an exhibit titled, “Alterations” by Wendy Red Star and Kaj-anne Pepper. The work of these two artists demonstrates the many ways in which cultural identity is expressed and perceived through a mixture of costumes, rituals, and traditions. The costumes, created by Wendy Red Star, mimicked those of traditional Crow dance outfits for males, which are now viewed as a form of women’s fashion. This exhibit is the first time that Red Star and Pepper have displayed their work collaboratively, and I feel that there is a strong connection between these two artists. They both illuminate different aspects of cultural identity and individuality through unique forms of creativity and entertainment.
John Mayer was recently under fire for his representation of Japanese culture in his music video “Still feel like your man”. The video contains many stereotypical japanese ideas including dancing panda bears, bamboo trees, women dressed in geishas, some being caucasian, and samurai fights. The video also has a lighting similar to the famous red-light district in Tokyo. The portrayal of asian culture in his music video is very stereotypical, not to mention culture appropriating, but Mayer believes otherwise. When discussing the controversy about his music video culture Mayer said “Part of cultural appropriation is blindness. I'm on the right side of the line because it's an idea for the video that has a very multiethnic casting, and nobody who is white or non-Asian is playing an Asian person”. Mayer has failed to recognize that there is a big issue with the way he portrays this culture. By having these stereotypes, he further creates a misunderstanding and misrepresentation for the japanese culture.
Though many of these stereotypes seem unwarranted, some stem from a historical background of Asian discrimination. For centuries Asians were viewed as “oriental” because of the apparent difference between Western and Eastern cultures such as choice of clothing and pronunciation of native languages. In doing so, many individuals were mystified by the mysterious and foreign Asian customs. Consequently, Americans treated Asians as if they belonged to a lower social class. With the ongoing disparagement of Asians, women faced much of the prejudice; “the few women who did emigrate to America were harassed through legislation and stereotyped as prostitutes or objects of white male sexual fantasies” cite. As a result, the perceptio...
To understand cultural imperialism is to understand the diaspora of man across the globe along with the socially darwinistic interactions that follow. Modern homo-sapiens left the plains of Africa a mere sixty-thousand years ago. Today mankind populates six continents hundreds of islands with a seemingly endless ethnic diversity. But what comes of a culture that is antiquated on a global scale that comes to interact with a more advanced civilization. The Americas prior to 1492 where home to millions of indigenous people with wide spread and diverse cultures speaking over two-thousand languages. With western colonization of the Americas came disease and enslavement of the indigenous peoples. The enslavement, genocide and oppression the natives faced under the Europeans lasted for over five hundred years. Even the birth of civilized nations did little to stop the oppression as the United States military famously marched millions of natives to reserves in Oklahoma in what became known as the trail of tears. The innate nature of mankind is rather troublesome and largely counter-productive. We are extremely social animals yet instead of
The K-pop fandom community enables the displacement of its member’s cultural identity. The process of displacement of the K-pop fan’s culture is not limited to the physical sphere of the K-pop fandom. The actual displacement of cultural identity happens because the members of the K-pop fandom community transcend the physical
Cultural Appropriation versus Multiculturalism In today's society, there are many different cultures that individuals identify with. Culture is very important to many people and is something that helps define who we are. When different cultures are respected and appreciated, it is a beautiful thing, it can bring individuals in society closer to one another. Ideally, this understanding of one another’s cultures can lead to multiculturalism.
Did you know that most of the cartoon shows that are on television come from Japan? Japanese popular culture has made a huge hit all over the world. There are many forms of popular art in Japan. Some know forms are anime, music, and manga. These are the most notable ones and are also what makes up most of their fan base for pop culture. Some other forms include cosplaying, contemporary art, and fashion. Cosplaying is short for “costume play” and it means to dress up as a character from sources like anime, manga, film, and games. There are a few places in Japan where people usually cosplay, including Akihabara, Harajuku and Shibuya. In present day, it is almost impossible to not see some form of Japanese pop culture in our country. There are even festivals and conventions held just for it which happens in many places over the world every year. Most people who attend these events will often cosplay as a character from something most people would know. Japanese pop culture is also one of the biggest exports of Japan. Japanese popular culture is the most attractive part of Japan, which has created a big impact around the world.