Katy Perry as “Geisha” at AMA sparks a serious discussion on multiculturalism, political correctness, authenticity and appropriation.

Only in my dream.

This post could also have been titled, “Why women of Asian descent, especially those with the ‘privilege’ of living in the West, are fucking tired of seeing images of Geisha representing US when so few of people that look like ME (if I were younger and needed a role model in pop culture, on the stage, in celeb magazines, in my formative years) are properly represented on TV shows, in the movies, on the stage, and heck yes, even in gossip magazines.”

Or simply, “That is not a fucking Kimono (& I’d have been less stabby if this many people were not calling it an ‘authentic’ performance)”

Or, how about this? “Dear stupid, cherry blossoms, rice paper screens and umbrellas do not ‘authentic’ Japan make”

Or, we could have gone with, “Stop saying it is AUTHENTIC when you clearly have no idea what the heck you are talking about.”

Or, “That is not a ‘traditional Japanese dress’, Stupid. Authenticity has nothing to do with it.”

Or, “Dear Katy Perry, thank you for giving the ‘traditional Asian’ dress a sexy high slit. Now it’s a lot easier for me to run to serve my masters.”

I chuckled at this one myself: “Katy Perry ventured into fashion design for hostesses at pretentious Asian fusion restaurants”

To be honest? I give up.

Let’s just stick with a caption contest, shall we?

 

Thank goodness my team did not make me tape my eyes.

 

I’ll go first.

Thank goodness my team did not make me tape my eyes.

 

Ok. Your turn.

4 thoughts on “Katy Perry as “Geisha” at AMA sparks a serious discussion on multiculturalism, political correctness, authenticity and appropriation.

    1. Absence Alternatives Post author

      Hey you need to help me sort this out. So I saw the preview for 47 Ronin with keanu Reeves and I was like, meh. But I wasn’t upset. Shouldn’t I have been? Talk about cultural appropriation and Reenforcing stereotypes… I guess it has a lot to do with representation? The movie has a large Japanese cast after all…

      Reply
  1. Micael Chadwick

    Made me think of “Some people have difficulty telling the difference between something great and something they’ve simply heard of.” (Arthur Golden, though I don’t know how “authentic” his Geisha is either…)

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.