Trying to be white?

While my previous blog was focused on the representation of race in film and television, today I’m exploring the representation of race in a different kind of media – one that is relatively new compared to other forms of media and fast growing in popularity: the blogosphere.

Blogs have become an increasingly popular form of media because, regardless of knowledge and experience, it is widely accessible to anyone and everyone to have their voice heard – whatever topic they may want to discuss. On many popular blog websites, such as Blogspot and Xanga, topics range from food to photography, architecture to graphic design, health and beauty to games and technology, while some blogs are simply popular for the blogger itself. An example is the famous Perez Hilton, who, while famous for his celebrity gossip blog, is also famous simply for his unique personality and personal style.

In Singapore, the most famous blogger in the country is Xiaxue (shia-shwair), who receives more than 40,000 unique views on a daily basis, and has received countless awards for her blog in multiple areas: its design, content, or viewership and popularity in general. While she blogs about relatively ordinary events of her life, such as her holidays, the events she attends, and her political views (with a paid advertorial every so often), she has been the subject of controversy many times simply because of her appearance, as up to only recently she had bleached, long blonde hair for years, and constantly wore coloured contact lenses ranging from blue, green and brown.

Recently, she made a blog entry about the criticism and hatred she receives simply for the way she chooses to look. It is blogged about in a humorous way that makes fun of the comments she receives, though these types of comments have existed for a long time. Much of the criticism and hatred she receives is due to the idea that people think she is “trying to be white”, because she is Singaporean therefore Asian in ethnicity, and that supposedly makes it unacceptable for her to bleach her hair blonde. To me, it shows intolerance and ignorance of other races and ethnicities when this kind of criticism and hatred is directed at a public figure simply because of their appearance. Unless there were ever written rules that dictate which races are allowed to appear in certain ways, nobody should be trying to dictate how Asians, or other non-white races, appear.

Several comments argue against the criticism and hatred Xiaxue receives, such as whether white people are trying to be black when they tan, or the reverse of Xiaxue’s controversy: whether white people are trying to be Asian when they dye their hair black. Interestingly, there has rarely ever been any criticism towards white people trying to be Asian, if any, even if they explore Asian culture. An example is Gwen Stefani. Several years ago in 2004, during the release and promotion of her Harajuku Girls tour, she incorporated many elements of Japanese culture into her music and visual styles, even hiring a Japanese Harajuku girls entourage. No criticism for “trying to be Asian”. Nor have many white celebrities with black hair, whether natural or dyed (Katy Perry and Megan Fox are two examples) been criticised for the same. The popular notion is that white people are able to appear however they wish to appear, yet Asians do not receive the same open-mindedness. As for the notion that some white people naturally have black hair, some Asian and other non-white people also have naturally blonde hair. In my opinion, in the end, there are exceptions to the appearance of people in every race, but moreover, people should have the choice to choose how to look regardless of their ethnicity, and the amount of flexibility and open-mindedness applied to one race should be applied to all.

Eroticizing the orient.

The western trope of the “erotic exotic female” is exploited as a fetish desire for the white man in the film Losin it (Curtis Hanson, 1983). This Tom Cruise film exploits the idea of the “erotic exotic” as an escape from the bustling busy city life into a nostalgic primitive time of pleasure. In Michael O’Shaugnessy and Jane Stadler’s reading Ethnicity, Ideology and the Media, they point out the prevalent stereotype of the “non-white woman as powerfully sexually attractive”. O’Shaugnessy and Stadler further describe the erotic exotic orient as dangerous and as more daring than white women. This idea is conjured from historically powerful oriental figures such as Delilah and Cleopatra who portray powerful fetish oriental women in earlier films.

In Losin it there are four young teenage boys that cross the US border into Tijuana, Mexico. The three older boys are on a quest to lose their virginity while the youngest of the four is heading into Tijuana to obtain illegal fireworks. The scene where the three older boys arrive to a block of brothels, the brothels all seem to be designed with oriental themes from different ethnic cultures. There was an overwhelming emphasis on the exotic oriental exploitation with sexual innuendo to arouse young white males.

There was generally white females working at the brothels but yet were performing a form of blackness or oriental culture to convey the eroticism of exotic cultures. This sort of makes reference to earlier films when white people used to paint their faces black to play devious or evil black men. Also in minstrel shows of the 60s white people painted their faces black to perform black comedy skits. This to a great extent has to do with the Eurocentric performance of other ethnic groups through their own eyes which is completely distorted and most of the time negative.

References

O’Shaugnessy, Michael and Stadler, Jane (2002). Ethnicity, Ideology and the Media. In Media and Society: An Introduction. Second Edition. Pp. 260-283. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Print.