The Fondness Is Mutual

I may be wrong, but I think I see a certain pattern across multiple East Asian cultures.  The last time I was in China, I noticed that in many high-visibility advertisements, glamorous models tended to look white-ish, so to speak; in some cases, the makeup, etc. seemed to suppress Asiatic traits and possibly simulate European ones.  Moreover, many of them looked like they were probably mixed-race, East Asian and Cauc Asian, if you'll pardon the pun.  And again last night, when Daniel was showing me the video for Gangnam Style, that wacky Korean rap that somehow hit the American charts with a vengeance about a year ago, I noticed the same thing: many of the "sexy ladies" in the video had brown, red or blonde hair, in spite of their obvious East Asian profiles.

So I shared this observation with Ian - the idea that somehow "white" seems to be "in" in East Asia.  I don't consider this trend good, by any means; the hint of inferiority complex that it would imply seems unfortunate, and the idealization of Things White seems like an extension of the cultural/military/economic hegemony of Western society, and of one Western power in particular.  But Ian reacted  to my theory with an entirely different, and surprisingly upbeat, perspective of his own:

"I think that someone should thank them for thinking we're so great."

And that's what he means: not that he concurs with anyone who thinks that white people are the cat's meow, necessarily, but rather he feels it would be ungracious to fail to be thankful for the implicit compliment. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Ian would apparently like to gratefully acknowledge the flattery, not out of any kind of chauvinism, but because you're supposed to thank people when they express admiration for you.

(April 1, 2014)