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November 1994, Week 4

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From:
Gloria Monti <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Gloria Monti <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 26 Nov 1994 17:23:54 CST
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----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> >Yes, I agree with both P. Feng and Christopher White, that the
> >representation of Pilipina women was rather stereotypically incorrect.
 
        I too am glad that Peter Feng & Christopher White broke the
silence surrounding the representation of the Asian woman--a silence
which also surrounds the racist & homophobic representation in
*Pulp Fiction.*
 
> Was that character actually an example of a stereotypical Pilipina woman?
> I'm in the U.S. and I'm not aware of *any* Pilipina stereotype unless they
> were lumped into an Asian woman stereotype of demure and subserviant (two
> things that that particular character was not). Perhaps because of the
> greater proximity, there is such a stereotype of Pilipina sex workers.
> What is it that people find offensive about the character? Is it her
> "performance" in the bar? I saw it as an humorously surprising way to get
> the attention she craved, by doing what she knew how to do? Is it her
> hen-pecking ways? I see it as a common, non-ethnicly specific stereotype
> particularly attached to trailer-dwellers.
> I am genuinely curious about why this character bother people.
>
        The woman is always screaming and she speaks in broken English.
I hope that's enough for you.  If not, read Robert Stam & Louise Spence's
essay: "Colonialism, Racism, and Representation: An Introduction."
*Movies and Methods.*  Vol II.  Berkeley: U of California P, 1985.  632-648.
        As for the ping-pong ball scene in the bar, that was merely
offensive.   Do I need to go into the entire history of women used in
topless bars as objects of men's lascivious gazes?  Put yourself on the
other side for a change--a historical change, that is.  Put yourself on
the side of the spectacle.  Read some Laura Mulvey too.
 
Gloria Monti

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