I hate to be the PC police on this -- I really do -- but at least in America we avoid the term "Oriental" as too charged with negative and alienating racial and cultural connotations. "Oriental" historically has simply meant different, weird and mysterious, and, depending on the speaker's point of origin, may variously refer to someone of Middle Eastern or Asian descent. That cuts quite a broad swath! The point, in the end, is to launder our language of such tainted, value-added, useless and just plain dunder-headed terminology. I think you're trying to say, with no particularly bad intentions, that she looks "exotic" (that is, not familiar to you) and, perhaps too, that she looks kinda Mata Hari-ish or some such. Seems to me that's just closing your eyes and mind to her real distinctiveness and blotting out her glamour with some corny and hackneyed label. At this point in history, we global-minded fashionistas can do a lot better than that. If all else fails, look with the eyes of a child...
Mr. Cabral, check out the classic Marlene Dietrich film "Shanghai Express" and you'll find in Dietrich's female sidekick -- played by Anna May Wong -- the West's standard-issue portrayal of the Oriental Diva. That was then (1932), and this is now. Is it too much to ask that we move on from this hoary cliche of Asian women?
Oriental means different things in different parts of the world. It seems mainly in America does it have negative connotations. The rest of us see it as a collective term for the east of Asia and a collective/descriptive term for characteristics, culture and countries from the far east of Asia where the exact country is not known. No different to using the term "Asian" to describe collectively the far east and the Indian subcontinent. So do we ban Middle Eastern and Pacific Islander etc as well? All these terms are used proudly and successfully in business as well, to indicate certain areas of trade etc.
Mr Jose, I think the use of the ter oriental is questionable. But Europeans would always argue rather than let people tell them to stop using racist outdated terms.
In this bloggers home country (Portugal), the word "oriental" has no negative meaning. It only reffers to the orient. There are racist words connected to the origin of people but, in Portugal, "oriental" is not one of those. Actually is one of the most PC. Before criticizing you really should try to see the world through the blogger culture.
I hate to be the PC police on this -- I really do -- but at least in America we avoid the term "Oriental" as too charged with negative and alienating racial and cultural connotations. "Oriental" historically has simply meant different, weird and mysterious, and, depending on the speaker's point of origin, may variously refer to someone of Middle Eastern or Asian descent. That cuts quite a broad swath! The point, in the end, is to launder our language of such tainted, value-added, useless and just plain dunder-headed terminology. I think you're trying to say, with no particularly bad intentions, that she looks "exotic" (that is, not familiar to you) and, perhaps too, that she looks kinda Mata Hari-ish or some such. Seems to me that's just closing your eyes and mind to her real distinctiveness and blotting out her glamour with some corny and hackneyed label. At this point in history, we global-minded fashionistas can do a lot better than that. If all else fails, look with the eyes of a child...
ReplyDeletethank you very much for your english lesson but your´re just making things less simple that they really are
ReplyDelete"diva" is the noun, "oriental" the adjective (of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Orient)
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Mr. Cabral, check out the classic Marlene Dietrich film "Shanghai Express" and you'll find in Dietrich's female sidekick -- played by Anna May Wong -- the West's standard-issue portrayal of the Oriental Diva. That was then (1932), and this is now. Is it too much to ask that we move on from this hoary cliche of Asian women?
ReplyDeleteOriental means different things in different parts of the world. It seems mainly in America does it have negative connotations. The rest of us see it as a collective term for the east of Asia and a collective/descriptive term for characteristics, culture and countries from the far east of Asia where the exact country is not known. No different to using the term "Asian" to describe collectively the far east and the Indian subcontinent. So do we ban Middle Eastern and Pacific Islander etc as well? All these terms are used proudly and successfully in business as well, to indicate certain areas of trade etc.
ReplyDeleteMr Jose, I think the use of the ter oriental is questionable. But Europeans would always argue rather than let people tell them to stop using racist outdated terms.
ReplyDeleteIn this bloggers home country (Portugal), the word "oriental" has no negative meaning. It only reffers to the orient. There are racist words connected to the origin of people but, in Portugal, "oriental" is not one of those. Actually is one of the most PC. Before criticizing you really should try to see the world through the blogger culture.
ReplyDelete