----------------------------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