I think it’s also easy to see when you’re familiar with some original thing that’s been appropriated across cultural boundaries, the appropriated thing becomes more ubiquitous than the original, and people from the other culture don’t realize where it came from. It doesn’t have to be in bad taste for people to find it grating.
The example I’ve seen is imagining the reactions of white Christian conservatives in the US if suddenly the only version of Jingle Bells that got played on the radio was in Hindi. The Hindi version wouldn’t be badly done. The quality would be fine. But people would FREAK OUT. But then again, American culture prides itself on being a “melting pot” while also being aggressively assimilationist, so maybe that’s not a good example for this point.
I think it’s also easy to see when you’re familiar with some original thing that’s been appropriated across cultural boundaries, the appropriated thing becomes more ubiquitous than the original, and people from the other culture don’t realize where it came from. It doesn’t have to be in bad taste for people to find it grating.
Hallowe’en is like this. It’s Irish, but then Americanised Hallowe’en is pushing in.
You know, it’s funny, I actually really enjoy seeing foreign interpretations of American culture. Games like Metal Wolf Chaos, for example. It’s kind of fascinating to see yourself through someone else’s eyes.
Of course, I absolutely understand how someone whose culture is sidelined and commodified to the point that it effectively gets overshadowed by a caricature of itself would feel differently. Just one more reason to say fuck imperialism and fuck capitalism.
I actually really enjoy seeing foreign interpretations of American culture
You may enjoy Pretty Woman from Kal Ho Naa Ho. It’s supposed to be set in NYC iirc
I wanted to check out Jingle Bells in Hindi because of this
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
