Cultural Appropriation — advanced seminar for extra credit.

[catsidhe]

Definition: It is Cultural Appropriation when one culture takes characters and stories from another culture and

1. use them ignorantly and insultingly in different contexts, or
2. retell those stories, in such a way as to ignore, negate, or even reverse the understanding of their meaning

This is made even more insulting when the appropriating culture (or representative; i.e., the author) turns around and lectures the original culture that that culture had it wrong all along, and the reinterpretation is, in fact, the correct and authoritative version. Or that the appropriation was done without knowledge of any any adverse interpretation, and therefore as an act without deliberate insult, it is therefore not insulting, just shut up and stop whingeing about it, if it's not important to me then it shouldn't be important to you, can't you see your accusations of insensitivity are hurtful to me?

Thesis: most classic Western movies are examples of Cultural Appropriation, in that they take the very concept of the Native American and contextualise them as The Other, barbarians and natural forces to be survived, conquered or annihilated; individually interchangeable.

Thesis: the Disney film Pocahontas is an example of Cultural Appropriation. (White Anglo America telling Native Americans about the history of early English/Native American Interaction, and the Native American rôle in it.)

Thesis: the Disney film The Little Mermaid is an example of Cultural Appropriation. (Taking a Danish fairy story, removing it from context, and then giving it a happy ending and sequels, which negating the point and moral of the original story.)

Thesis: the Disney film The Hunchback of Notre Dame is an example of Cultural Appropriation. (Taking a classic French novel of romance and tragedy, and giving it not only comic relief, but a happy ending (!) and sequels (!!), implicitly telling lovers of the Hugo original, ‘it's OK, but it could be better if we just change the ending completely and undo most of the tragedy, and add talking gargoyles clowns.’)



Discuss.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_zombiemonkey/]

I think most of human culture is an appropriation, and often not a very considerate, sometimes even directly malicious appropriation at that. The human tradition of myth and legendry is one long pastiche of a pastiche, with little regard for the sanctity or integrity of the original. Religion is without doubt highly antagonistic cultural appropriation.

Consider: A small group of dissident Jews appropriate myths to create a need for a messiah at a specific time in Judea for the specific purpose of delivering them from oppression. These dissident's beliefs are later appropriated by Gentiles to make the belief system accessible to non-Jews. These Gentile's beliefs, alongside the early Jewish beliefs are later appropriated into the backdrop of another belief system that tells them they're both wrong. Even later, certain Americans start believing the Bible was written in English for white Americans. They launch global terrorism/jihad on anyone who disagrees with 'their' religion.

I don't know that this is right or wrong, I think it is rather an integral way that human beings approach fiction or belief. It causes problems, it foments enmity, but it also enables the relevance of tales to a new audience. Few stories ever remain static, even when free from external appropriation.