I can think of lots of famous examples. Many of the plays of Shakespeare, from MacBeth to Hamlet to Romeo & Juliet. The Last Mohican. Songs of Hiawatha.
And then there is the author whose works introduced me to Westerns, growing up in Holland. Not well known here but much more in Europe: Karl May. Yes, a German. He wrote Westerns, and stories of that pattern set in Arabia, China, Albania, Africa...
Also of course, many SF writers do this. Consider Larry Niven, appropriating the culture of the Kzinti.
If we never culturally appropriated anything, Italians wouldn't be eating tomatoes or Germans eating potatoes, both brought over from the New World by the conquistadors.
Zorro might get a pass, because he was Spanish, though living in California.
Rather cranky about it, too. (The being pure Spanish, I mean; not being in California. Did NOT care for these jumped-up Mexican thugs. Yes, the attempted hijacking to make him "Mexican" is annoying.)
Can you imagine how well that would go over with Mexicans? I'm just thinking of the tear they went on when cartoon network tried to cancel Speedy Gonzales. That went over like a submarine with screen doors.
Your reference to Zorro came at the right moment! We'll be watching "The Mask of Zorro" (1998) with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones very soon.
You can bet I'll be watching for cultural appropriation and other such evils!
And when you ask the people who are supposed to be offended by cultural appropriation, they think it's great.
Ask a japanese person if it's okay for people to wear kimono's, they say yes.
Ask a Mexican person about Zorro, it's cool.
Ask a black person about shaft, they don't care.
It's only the idiots on X that care.
If it weren't for some cultural appropriation, we wouldn't have MMA. It's mixed martial arts. We wouldn't have Karate, Kung-Fu, David Caradine couldn't have played a shaolin monk.
Absolutely. Hell, the first time this nonsense hit the news, the Japanese flipped right the hell out. Because the first gift they give is either a kimono or a tea set.
... Okay, it helps that Japan wouldn't have a culture if they didn't incorporate every single culture they laid eyes on that caught their fancy. Start with their language (IIRC, it was Korean before they modified it) and end with the JRPG's fondness for Latin and Gregorian chant.
Well done.
Thank you. I was on a tear and it needed to be said.
I can think of lots of famous examples. Many of the plays of Shakespeare, from MacBeth to Hamlet to Romeo & Juliet. The Last Mohican. Songs of Hiawatha.
And then there is the author whose works introduced me to Westerns, growing up in Holland. Not well known here but much more in Europe: Karl May. Yes, a German. He wrote Westerns, and stories of that pattern set in Arabia, China, Albania, Africa...
Also of course, many SF writers do this. Consider Larry Niven, appropriating the culture of the Kzinti.
If we never culturally appropriated anything, Italians wouldn't be eating tomatoes or Germans eating potatoes, both brought over from the New World by the conquistadors.
Hell, Italians wouldn't even have pasta, IIRC.
Did you see someone screaming about how Europeans had appropriated tempura? I'm still not sure if that was a deliberate parody or not.
(Tempura was invented by Portuguese monks in Japan. Japan is positively American in their "that's shiny, I'm gonna copy it!" response. )
No, of course not! It's okay if "they" do it and not okay if "we" do it.
It's hard to tell what's a parody and what isn't these days. See also: The Babylon Bee.
Well said, Declan!
People like me when I'm angry. Who knew?
Zorro might get a pass, because he was Spanish, though living in California.
Rather cranky about it, too. (The being pure Spanish, I mean; not being in California. Did NOT care for these jumped-up Mexican thugs. Yes, the attempted hijacking to make him "Mexican" is annoying.)
Can you imagine how well that would go over with Mexicans? I'm just thinking of the tear they went on when cartoon network tried to cancel Speedy Gonzales. That went over like a submarine with screen doors.
IIRC, the hijackers for "Zorro is a Mexican superhero" are on the side of the "Speedy Gonzales is racist" group.
Not sure how the "we are pure Spanish nobility" high class Mexicans shake out, honestly. There's been enough revolutions it might work for them.
Your reference to Zorro came at the right moment! We'll be watching "The Mask of Zorro" (1998) with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones very soon.
You can bet I'll be watching for cultural appropriation and other such evils!
Note to self: look up Mr. Moto.
And when you ask the people who are supposed to be offended by cultural appropriation, they think it's great.
Ask a japanese person if it's okay for people to wear kimono's, they say yes.
Ask a Mexican person about Zorro, it's cool.
Ask a black person about shaft, they don't care.
It's only the idiots on X that care.
If it weren't for some cultural appropriation, we wouldn't have MMA. It's mixed martial arts. We wouldn't have Karate, Kung-Fu, David Caradine couldn't have played a shaolin monk.
Absolutely. Hell, the first time this nonsense hit the news, the Japanese flipped right the hell out. Because the first gift they give is either a kimono or a tea set.
... Okay, it helps that Japan wouldn't have a culture if they didn't incorporate every single culture they laid eyes on that caught their fancy. Start with their language (IIRC, it was Korean before they modified it) and end with the JRPG's fondness for Latin and Gregorian chant.