And if you are following the actual Yoga teachings, that would be one thing.
If you are just doing generic stretches and workout routine, and called that Yoga, that would be more along the lines of cultural appropriation.
The way I read Desert Dog’s comment was that having Scarlet Johansson was a positive thing, yet that wasn’t enough to buy the film because her presence wasn’t enough to make the movie worth owning.
For a glaring counter-example, note that Western-style business clothing – and specifically, the neck-tie – has been adopted nearly universally. Neck-ties, more than any other one item of clothing, need to be banished to Hell. Why on earth did the rest of the world want to culturally appropriate this abomination?
(Stilettos might be another example. Didn’t the Chinese do away with their ancient practice of foot-binding?)
Correct. The setting itself is not particularly Japanese, although because the originals were Japanese productions everyone speaks Japanese. It’s more that the live-action movie put the emphasis on the action rather than ask the questions of the originals, while not short on action themselves,
such as
How much can humans replace their body parts by implants and cyborg prosthetics before they are merely ghosts in the shell?
Ah. Well my point was more that it’s an example (among several with Johansson) where parts of the Internet have claimed that she should not have been cast. In this case, for being a white woman in an adaptation of an anime that revolves around ideas like the questions DesertDog mentioned. I haven’t actually watched it, as I’ve seen the 1995 movie and haven’t gotten around to the other series adaptations.
This is generally the case with almost any cultural activity. Emigrants make it better known and cultural diffusion occurs. Appropriation is sometimes sour grapes, although there are some genuine cases of injustice and failures of acknowledgement.
What if the person dressing up like a Native American for Halloween happens to be descended from a union of a Native American and a White settler?
Then it’s half wrong? I don’t know how that would work. It would probably still be offensive to other Native Americans I would expect.
I’m not saying someone should ignore sensibilities at Hallowe’en. But I would suggest that it is not always in the same league as aggressive colonization or stealing a nation’s cultural patrimony or sacred relics to display in local museums, which can clearly sometimes qualify as cultural appropriation. I’m not qualified to say which items should be copied and returned, it’s likely a complex and case-by-case decision.
Exactly. Sometimes they’re celebrating that part of their heritage, like what my sisters were doing for Halloween when they were little.
One of our great-great-grandmothers was Native American from some PNW tribe. We’ve never been clear on which tribe.
It’s not for me to dictate what you or someone else should find insensitive. I think one should be considerate and careful in choosing a Hallowe’en costume.
If I were to go to Mexico and buy a large sombrero and wear it around there, I do not think anyone would care. Mexicans are friendly and wise people. If I were to act like an idiot and loudly shout Speedy Gonzalez quotes or other stereotypes, however, I might get beat up or worse. If I saw some student dressed so on Hallowe’en in Canada, my initial assumption is they wanted an easy costume. If they were behaving in an insensitive way, the problem might be the behaviour much more than the costume. Wearing anything is not a licence to offensive views.
Something like blackface has a long history many find offensive, including myself. So making this choice now is not sensitive nor wise, nor likely an innocent error. Still, if I put on a sombrero and someone was offended and could cogently say why, I would respect that and remove it. They feel how they feel, maybe for good reason.
I’ll have you know that in my family (Jewish) we have both. My father has what would be casually called an afro, with super tight super curly hair that stands straight out - and with a dark tan, he has been mistaken for African American. I (like my mother and maternal uncle) have a jewfro as described and depicted in the image.
But as a big fan of Cowboy Beebop (yes I own the anime) I never considered Spike Jewish. Doesn’t mean he couldn’t be, but it didn’t appear important enough to the creators to make it evident in any way, and therefore I see no importance to an pro/con reading of his religion/ethnicity UNLESS it becomes an issue in the new adaptation.
The world of Cowboy Bebop is explicitly multi-cultural, so a mix of races in the casting makes sense to me. I’d be more concerned about whether the specific actors have the chops to play the archetypes. Or rather the script I suppose: Spike is interpreted pretty differently in the English and Japanese dubs.
Radical Ed will be especially difficult to play well, without annoying the audience. They will probably tone some of the inarticulate weirdness down and emphasize the tech-geek aspect.
Re: the OP. While I find the concept of cultural appropriation to be problematic and vulnerable to attack, post 89 by Acsenray shows this to be a rather weak example.
It’s going to be hard to cast as well. Where would one find a seven-foot ex-basketball pro, Hindu, guru, drag queen, alien! Maybe they could get Carrot Top.
Well, yes. But I am talking about the development of pure yoga-as-exercise, which is itself not a centuries-old practice. It was a new development in India, then deliberately exported to the West.
You could say “adopted”, or you could say “mostly imposed by colonial masters”. You weren’t going to get work as a native civil servant in the Empire (or L’Empire) if you didn’t suit up.
Here, let Johnny Clegg explain…
Talk about typecasting…
I agree with the yoga as exercise part but from your own link it is a century old.
Not sure what is meant by deliberately exported to the West ? Can you please explain this ?
I see a lot of analogy in yoga and alchemistry. A lot of chemistry principles (IIRC the periodic table itself) comes from early alchemists. Newton was a alchemist.
Using the knowledge gained by alchemists (selectively) into science is not an endorsement of alchemy. Neither is the practice of Yogic postures or exercises, an endorsement of Hinduism.
Yes, that’s why I said “not centuries-old”
Indians established yoga schools in the West and actively promoted it at expos and World’s Fairs and the like. And themselves trained non-Indian instructors/disciples.
So yoga-as-just-exercise wasn’t something that Westerners copied without cultural context.
Nope, the periodic table does not come from alchemists. Neither Lavoisier nor Dalton were in any way alchemists.
Newton was a twat.
Sure.
Errm, hate to ask, but … who exactly are you arguing with, that said this?
Thats not my understanding. Richard Hittleman (Richard Hittleman - Wikipedia) was the first to promote Yoga as an exercise in the US. Prior to Richard, Indian Yogis did visit the US but the Yoga they taught was in the religious context.
Richard Hittleman, as the name suggests, was born in NY, a westener and propogated yoga through TV.
So can you please cite where you got : "Indians established yoga schools in the West and actively promoted it at expos and World’s Fairs and the like. "
One of the original Chemistry founders and the Experimental Method, Robert Boyle was an Alchemist. The discoverer of Phosphorous was an alchemist. Early periodic table had the Alchemist symbols of the elements, A lot of properties of the elements and the observation that there were groups of elements that demonstrated similar properties comes from Alchemy. Early Chemistry was heavily influenced by alchemy.
No argument there. Drawing the analogy between Chemistry and “Yoga as an exercise”.