On Orientalism and Weeaboos

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Hi naturalplastic,

The issue isn't interest in anime or in Japan, but problematic attitudes and behaviors toward Japan and Japanese and other Asians. In an earlier post in the thread, I posted links to examples from Asians where others engaged in problematic behavior towards them. A lot of this has roots in Orientalism, the belief that those in the East are mystic, exotic, and inscrutable, as well as backward; Asian-Americans are treated as perpetual foreigners in the United States. The subject does take some time to absorb. The first post on this page gives a good intro:

http://weeaboo-stories.tumblr.com/

Western culture has a solid history of reactions to hegemony. Craftsman as a reaction to Victorianism, Modernism as a reaction to Realism, that sort of thing. It's that group that is so disenchanted with the mainstream assumptions of good and proper that they gravitate whole heartedly toward the Other. It's all fine and good and even healthy for a society to absorb and celebrate other influences, but ethical problems arise when actual people who are 'other' due to genetics (ie they look just different enough) become objectified and appropriated in the process.

Thanks, Edenthiel.

"White-washing" is another one:



In the live-action Mulan, replacing Li Shang with a Roman dude is definite white-washing. Jeez.