Thanks for the tip... Hrm. Debating whether or not to shell out the 10 bucks...
I think a lot of the culture thing is like the internet, where the default mode is set on American or white. I mean, I do that, which is kind of strange when I think about it, because, hey, Chinese. I think a lot of it for me is what I read too -- I read Chinese veeeery slowly, so most of the books I read feature American/European (depending on time period) protagonists, and very rarely do you see people of other races. And then, generally, when they do have a token Asian character, which is really, really rare, I never quite know how to respond, because I can see that the author is trying, which is commendable, but I always have this nidgy feeling -- is it exoticism? Are the differences and the Asian traits overemphasized? And of course it's strange when we do it to ourselves: witness the popularity of nihonjinron (studies of Japaneseness, or why the Japanese people are so special) in Japan. So it was nice in Otherland to have characters that were influenced by their backgrounds, but who in the end felt to me like real people, not like the token black guy or the token Asian female, etc. I had the same feeling with Octavia E. Butler's book Dawn.
So... yeah, I am sensitive to these things. I tried reading Mary Jo Putney's China Bride and nearly threw the book against a wall because I was so frustrated. And it's just strange, because the US is so much the cultural norm -- to be stereotyped, will mention McDonald's, the movie industry, etc. And yet, how much of the population is that? 'm all for globalization, because I think too often believing one is special no matter what the reason is silly. I get too much "Oh we are so much better than the silly Americans" back at home. Makes you think that in the end, people just want to believe their own group is superiod, which comes as no surprise. But yeah, I am sometimes leery of "globalization" too often meaning "we get to influence your culture while you shall remain a mystery to us."
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I think a lot of the culture thing is like the internet, where the default mode is set on American or white. I mean, I do that, which is kind of strange when I think about it, because, hey, Chinese. I think a lot of it for me is what I read too -- I read Chinese veeeery slowly, so most of the books I read feature American/European (depending on time period) protagonists, and very rarely do you see people of other races. And then, generally, when they do have a token Asian character, which is really, really rare, I never quite know how to respond, because I can see that the author is trying, which is commendable, but I always have this nidgy feeling -- is it exoticism? Are the differences and the Asian traits overemphasized? And of course it's strange when we do it to ourselves: witness the popularity of nihonjinron (studies of Japaneseness, or why the Japanese people are so special) in Japan. So it was nice in Otherland to have characters that were influenced by their backgrounds, but who in the end felt to me like real people, not like the token black guy or the token Asian female, etc. I had the same feeling with Octavia E. Butler's book Dawn.
So... yeah, I am sensitive to these things. I tried reading Mary Jo Putney's China Bride and nearly threw the book against a wall because I was so frustrated. And it's just strange, because the US is so much the cultural norm -- to be stereotyped, will mention McDonald's, the movie industry, etc. And yet, how much of the population is that? 'm all for globalization, because I think too often believing one is special no matter what the reason is silly. I get too much "Oh we are so much better than the silly Americans" back at home. Makes you think that in the end, people just want to believe their own group is superiod, which comes as no surprise. But yeah, I am sometimes leery of "globalization" too often meaning "we get to influence your culture while you shall remain a mystery to us."