Post #861 by aquarj on Fri, Apr 19, 2002 7:11 PM

I really don't get ANY of the points that the Easter Islanders want to make.

Thejab seemed to be one of the only people to point out something that was one of my first thoughts too. Namely, in what way do the current Easter Islanders take part in the cultural tradition that the moai represented? From the books I've read, the natives themselves were the ones who toppled and destroyed statues as a rather extreme show of disrespect for the traditions they represented. So are these icons cherished now, or still disrespected by the natives?

And nobody seems to know very much about the traditions themselves, since many details were lost in the turmoil that the island's population experienced as a result of their own self-destructive history (even if it was helped along more recently with exploitation and infection).

And there's the part about "take action now to prevent their sacred culture from being commercialized.." Yes? And?? If there are commercialized versions of the moai iconography then this is bad because...?? And when the natives themselves sell reproductions of the moai, does this work toward some more noble end that doesn't count as commercialization? Perhaps it's about money and they expect some kind of international copyright on the icons?

And what's the issue with hiring bare-breasted natives for a movie? Should female extras have been outfitted in matching t-shirts, to go for that extra authentic look that the natives are so concerned about?

The part I really don't get is the hypersensitivity about cultural stereotypes. I'm nordic and german by ancestry, so I guess I should get all pissy every time anyone shows anything that's even slightly a caricature of vikings, blondes, krauts, pale-skinned people, or anyone named Hans. Picket the movie Fargo for portraying the singsongy scando-american way of talking.

Are people really that insecure about their own cultures, so that if someone else [mis]appropriates the cultural images, they're truly offended? In the old beach flicks, there's usually this girl from sweden or somewhere, who only says "ja ja ja" all the time. I can almost imagine someone today seeing that, and protesting that it makes scandinavians look braindead. The reasons don't have to be complicated - the point is that it's just done in a light way that you have to be utterly humorless to get hung up on. Unfortunately, I think there're a lot of humorless people, and way too much catering to their whining.

-Randy