4 ms·

Also one movie with him in brownface that oddly enough is actually extremely popular in India and Pakistan (to the point where I was introduced to it on a New Y

Also one movie with him in brownface that oddly enough is actually extremely popular in India and Pakistan (to the point where I was introduced to it on a New Year's Eve party hosted by a friend from Pakistan). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Party_(1968_film)#Racial_criticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Party_(1968_film)#Racial_c...

selimthegrim 3y ago
I have never understood why all my Desi relations were gaga for this movie. All the American born ones roll their eyes without fail.
- lmm 3y ago
  The idea that it's haram (I can't quite think of the right word; not merely wrong but disgusting) for someone to make themselves up as a different skin tone is a distinctly American cultural quirk.
  - vanderZwan 3y ago
    I think it actually makes sense in the context of US history though. As always it starts with the uniquely explicitly race-based slavery, and from there you can draw a direct line to non-white people being systemically "othered" and denied basic human decency one way or another (to put it mildly). In this particular case, the history of Hollywood to deny non-white actors leading roles, but giving white actors roles where they play racist stereotypes of everyone else. Aside from the issues on an individual level that also means "non-white" cultures don't get properly represented, but depicted according to whatever racist stereotype the white actors/writers have about a culture they usually don't actually know much about. So yeah, I am not from the US but I get it. Which again makes the fact that Peter Sellers' apparently hit a positive chord an interesting exception.
    - lmm 3y ago
      > I think it actually makes sense in the context of US history though. Well sure. Most cultural quirks make sense in the context of that culture's history. All part of the rich tapestry of life, as long as they don't try to impose them on other cultures. > Which again makes the fact that Peter Sellers' apparently hit a positive chord an interesting exception. GP was saying it was unpopular with their American-born relations, no?
  - selimthegrim 3y ago
    Ghinaona or kamina, but none of them ever saw it as that

selimthegrim 3y ago

I have never understood why all my Desi relations were gaga for this movie. All the American born ones roll their eyes without fail.

lmm 3y ago
The idea that it's haram (I can't quite think of the right word; not merely wrong but disgusting) for someone to make themselves up as a different skin tone is a distinctly American cultural quirk.
- vanderZwan 3y ago
  I think it actually makes sense in the context of US history though. As always it starts with the uniquely explicitly race-based slavery, and from there you can draw a direct line to non-white people being systemically "othered" and denied basic human decency one way or another (to put it mildly). In this particular case, the history of Hollywood to deny non-white actors leading roles, but giving white actors roles where they play racist stereotypes of everyone else. Aside from the issues on an individual level that also means "non-white" cultures don't get properly represented, but depicted according to whatever racist stereotype the white actors/writers have about a culture they usually don't actually know much about. So yeah, I am not from the US but I get it. Which again makes the fact that Peter Sellers' apparently hit a positive chord an interesting exception.
  - lmm 3y ago
    > I think it actually makes sense in the context of US history though. Well sure. Most cultural quirks make sense in the context of that culture's history. All part of the rich tapestry of life, as long as they don't try to impose them on other cultures. > Which again makes the fact that Peter Sellers' apparently hit a positive chord an interesting exception. GP was saying it was unpopular with their American-born relations, no?
- selimthegrim 3y ago
  Ghinaona or kamina, but none of them ever saw it as that