oyceter | (no subject)

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I have been very bad about posting about race and anti-racism lately, and even worse with following discussions online.

But basically, my response would be what Deepa says. Yes and yes and yes. And that is precisely why I've found so much comfort in immersing myself in Asian mainstream pop culture, even though that pop culture has a lot that could be changed. It is just so good to find something that's focused on POC, to have other narratives and other stories, to have an entirely different default to draw upon.

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Someday I might write about how, whenever I mention the main reason I'm in an Asian country is interest in said country's language/culture/mythology/history/current place in the world, the immediate and automatic response from (Asian) younger people is a shocked, "But WHY?" And how I couldn't quite put my finger on why that made me so sad until I read

deepad's entry.

It's such an amazing piece. It should be required reading.

And that is precisely why I've found so much comfort in immersing myself in Asian mainstream pop culture, even though that pop culture has a lot that could be changed.
Yes, yes, yes.

And now I know why you've stopped doing this as much. This is my first time, and I'm staggered just trying to deal with some of the comments on my own LJ. I haven't even ventured out into Willow and Bear's post.

But, just so it's out there--your posts have been one of the main catalysts that prompted me to step out of lurkerville.

immersing myself in Asian mainstream pop culture

It makes me sad, cause while I long for the idea, there's not really a lot of options to immerse into asian american, or, more for me personally, multi-cultural American POC culture.

I suspect you'll soon be able to identify most of the stuff I wrote about here:

http://community.livejournal.com/sex_and_race/296541.html

Hey, I'm not a member of that community so I can't comment there, but thanks for that! :)

I had this epiphany, and I'm still not sure it's really an epiphany or just...my brain being weird, but it's about some Western assumptions/models in characterization I grew up with and was working with for a very long time, and I realized that the Japanese stuff I've been reading and watching doesn't follow that model at all. And I want to talk about what that means and what assumptions could be made from that, but I'm not there yet.

And now I'm angsting over making my lead a PoC again. GAH.

Aiiieeeee, yes. I mean, I do think it's much better now than it was when I first lived there, where anything foreign was automatically better (there's still that attitude, but less now, with a growing movement for goods and media made by and about Taiwanese people). And I'm glad that I've been seeing a increase of an interest in the Chinese, like the increasing appearance of classical Chinese instruments in pop music ballads or historical movies, no matter how bad (*cough*CurseoftheGoldenFlower*cough*), although I'd like to see more of an interest in things by yuandiren (aboriginal Taiwanese) and Hakka and etc. too.

Oof, yes. I feel bad for being so unengaged these days, but sometimes, I cannot take the sheer amount of stupidity. Although I am trying to write a post about this in my head, haha. We'll see how that goes...

And thank you! That always makes me feel better, and I'm glad for my own selfish sake that you did step out, because that means I got to know you!

Gah, I know! And there is a big difference between pop culture made where the POC group is the majority as opposed the the minority.

*nods* No, I think manga (at least that is mostly what I read in terms of Japanese works) does have some very different models, which is partly why I was a fan of it in the first place. But I'm always unsure of how much that can be generalized to cultural differences vs. genre differences vs. different literary traditions and etc.

Hey, if you feel like running something past me, email!

Yes! That, exactly. I might just post my mini-thoughts about it and see what happens as people weigh in.

I might just do that! It's in deeply embryonic form, though-- it's something I started ages ago, and my old MS word file, with THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of words on it is gone, which is driving me crazy, and so I'm basically starting again from scratch. And my current thinking is it's going to be a journey, which means I'll throw lots of cultures around, and I keep thinking, 'oh crap, I'll be one of those people who writes thinly veiled versions of actual areas and pussies out by never doing any research and not respecting the cultures she's stealing from.' But at the same time, I really do want to do a lot of mixing and borrowing, and...::headdesk::

Oooo, sounds interesting. but yes, do let me know if there's something you want me to look at (although I will be fair and warn you that I am horrifically bad with timeliness...).

What a coincidence, so am I!

There is. Once when I did a meme about PoC icons, it was interesting to separate out (though I didn't count) how many 'white' icons I had vs. 'majority culture' icons.

I KNOW. I haven't read Deepa's post yet, but I will, when I get back home from school but...

I just realised how lucky I am to have grown up in Singapore, where I am the majority group, where my stories are MY stories, where I watch Chinese/Taiwanese/HK tv serials without worry about being seen as OTHER, where I can discuss with my friends what this show was about without worrying that they don't have the same cultural background as I do...

Lately the Avatar movie thing has drawn me thin, and I've realised that playing in Naruto RPs with other people brings sharply into relief the fact that I am a minority - the only one out of two actual Asians in the entire RP, and the only person who has NOT grown up in America. I also wonder if there is a lot of cultural appropriation going on in RPing, especially when the mods insist on it being Japanese and correct, and yet tell me they don't picture the characters are wholly asian, but as mixed blood, or whites, because of the eyeshape or hair colour. And two characters use WHITE actor Played-By icons.

But it seems like no one really thinks I have anything to be offended about.

Re: the Naruto RP: Aiiiiieeeeeee! It feels like the Avatar casting, where they're all, "The leads are white, but you Asians can be extras."

But yeah, it made a real different to me growing up in Taiwan, and I think that is a big reason why I wasn't politically racialized until fairly recently. Which is a minus, because social justice. On the other hand, if asked, I would still choose growing up in Taiwan, because even now I feel like I am faux Chinese or something, and ... yeah. It is complicated. But yes, I miss being in Taiwan and having a different pop culture and everything.

NarutoRP: It does feel a bit like that, yeah! And yet I don't dare bring it up to the mods because it feels niggly and 'i just feel..." rather than actually have anything concrete to complain about.

Taiwan: Yeah... my roommate who is Taiwanese - she says that she would not give up her childhood for anything - if she has kids she'd bring them up in Taiwan, and MAYBE send them to Singapore (For the English but still having a mostly respectful Chinese education) before sending them to anywhere else for university.

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