Artistic Science

feministinthekitchen:

spaceaudyssey:

getonmyswan:

feministinthekitchen:

Two more aspects of the inauthenticity and general appropriative Orientalist racism of Katy Perry’s AMAs performance I’d like to point out:

Above: the detailing on Katy Perry’s “traditional kimono” as it has been called shows that it is a ridiculous mashup of Chinese and Japanese styles. Japanese kimono do not have the type of collar that is on Perry’s costume — cheongsam do, and cheongsam are Chinese. If Perry’s performance is supposed to be an authentic homage to her ~love for Japanese culture than this is a colossal fuckup. And if you think that Chinese and Japanese cultures are interchangeable then you are racist.

Perry and her dancers repeatedly make this gesture with their hands while bowing throughout the performance. Japanese people do not put their hands together to bow like this, ever, and to my knowledge people from other East Asian cultures don’t either. What it is is a namaste, a form of greeting in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (ie South Asia). This is another colossal fuckup if Perry is trying to show her appreciation for Japanese culture because it shows she doesn’t care if she does something that many people in the west widely associate with Asian customs but actually has nothing to do with Japan.

click the link amen amen

Oh my god. Is everyone just going to pick on EVERY LITTLE THING that she’s doing wrong??? She might not have the costume right, she may not have the moves right, idk. But don’t get in a big heap about it. IT IS NOT A BIG DEAL. The whole world is NOT going to generalize asian culture just because she did. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s her designer’s, and her choreographer’s fault , NOT KATY’s. Maybe she is confused, but it’s not necessarily racism. She could have done a whole heck of a lot worse! She could have done Asian eyes, walked around in a sumo wrestling suit, sang in a Japanese accent, but SHE DIDN’T! She also could have worn the Japanese flag as a short dress. This is NOTHING compared to any of that. And not everyone is going to know EXACTLY what EVERY SINGLE Asian culture does and does not do, as well as other cultures around the world. I’m not proud to say that and I know it’s not a good thing. It may be ignorance, but that’s just the way it is sadly.

that is the way it is but it doesn’t have to be! but it will continue being so if appalling people like you keep telling people like me to shut up. you’re a racism apologist, have a great day

(Source: ponzischemes, via sagittarean-deactivated20141215)