Helen Lewis negotiates
the tangled undergrowth of identity politics:
How can I put this? Wee Jimmy Krankie in yellowface is not the hill I want to die on.
Well, err...
Cho’s comments were particularly interesting because she has been accused of “yellowface” herself.
She's a hypocrite? Well! You could knock me down with a feather! How unexpected...
Cho’s defence was simple: “I am from this tribe. And so I’m able to comment on it.”
Ah, That old chestnut.
This argument – about who gets to impersonate whom – keeps coming up, and rightly so. Power in Hollywood largely rests with white men, and their dominant gaze is reflected in the films we consume and the lessons we take from them.
…
But sometimes I feel as though everyone except me has access to a rule book on this stuff.
No, love, there's no book, they are just making up the rules as they go along…
For example, I’m prepared to concede that Janette Tough playing a Japanese man might well be crude, unfunny and reliant on stereotypes, treating racial difference as a punchline (although I’d prefer to see the film before making that claim). OK, then. But isn’t her portrayal of Wee Jimmy Krankie similarly offensive?
Well, I bloody loathed them!
… at this time of year the country’s hippodromes are full of middle-aged men parodying the stereotypical failings of women – silly, bawdy nags – by playing pantomime dames.
…
As someone who considers drag to be ultimately playful and liberating, I do believe that there is a meaningful difference between it and yellowface. But it’s a difference that needs unpicking, and at the moment I feel like a year seven maths teacher: it would be really helpful if people showed their workings.
They can’t show you how they were reasoned into a position if it wasn’t
reason that got them there at all, can they?
" I feel like a year seven maths teacher: it would be really helpful if people showed their workings."
ReplyDeleteFeel the arrogance. She isn't my teacher and if there is anyone I need to account for my attitudes to, it certainly isn't her.
About time they banned Nicola Sturgeon for aping Jimmy Krankie, I'm offended !
ReplyDeleteYou know about 5-7 years ago Margaret Cho used to be funny, but in recent years che seems to have become overwhelmed with her own importance in the world, and has turned into just another one of those humourless fucking LBGT sympathy bores.
ReplyDeleteDon't know most of these. Isn't one of the Krankies Head of Scotland just now?
ReplyDeleteDoes Cho feel the same about Noh Theatre whiteface? If not why not?
ReplyDelete"You know about 5-7 years ago Margaret Cho used to be funny, but in recent years che seems to have become overwhelmed with her own importance in the world..."
ReplyDeleteThat seems to happen to a lot of people when they become famous. Very few remain grounded.
"Isn't one of the Krankies Head of Scotland just now?"
That might be better off if she was!
"Does Cho feel the same about Noh Theatre whiteface? If not why not?"
Heh! That, I'd love to see!