(no subject)

[oyceter]

Now I kind of feel bad about being so snarky about the Judith Tarr book. It wasn't bad by any means, it was just the bad parts were so distracting from the good parts that it was very frustrating.

yhlee's got some interesting thoughts on nationality/ethnicity (I can't think of the right descriptive) and writing.

As a reader, I like having sci-fi/fantasy that has different cultural influences. But I also get rather irked when it goes wrong, when it feels like the author has only sort of paid lip service to research or something and ends up perpetuating stereotypics instead of offering an interesting look at the culture. It's a fine line to walk; plus, I'm probably a more touchy reader than most. And I have to remember that something that doesn't feel "Asian" or "Chinese" to me might just be me, because it's not as though I've grown up being entirely Asian or Chinese or whatnot.

Then there's the fun flip side -- I remember reading a Time Magazine article in twelfth grade, in which the author suggested that maybe the multi-colored hair and big eyes of anime characters indicates some sublimated Japanese desire to be Caucasian. I don't really buy into that, but it's interesting, and it made me think. I guess for anime it's hard to tell sometimes -- the guy who basically invented anime and manga in their modern form was highly influenced by Disney. Plus, there are all the pseudo-European fantasy landscapes in so much anime and manga, particularly shoujo.

I think this is why I get a bit huffy sometimes at America-the-conceptual-entity (which I think is different from America-the-political-state or America-which-contains-lots-of-different-people). Obviously, no one in America is forcing other countries to adopt bits of American culture, and of course, globalization, etc. and America itself definitely has lots of other cultures influencing it as well. It's just that sometimes it seems so prevalent that one comment on the superiority of America (which would annoy me anyway) just sets me off. I used to argue with my friends a lot about this in college -- I think I've cooled down about it, but it's still a niggly little annoying thing.

Hrm, now wondering if I have said too much -- I am a total wuss about confrontation and argumentation.

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

My Chinese and Hong Kong friends are always remarking upon the tendency of the older generation to be, indeed, horrifyingly blunt, with "You're fat!" being among the milder things they've quoted to me.

[oyceter]

Very. That's my mom right there ;). I swear, that's the first thing everyone remarks on when I go back home!