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He doesn't really address the "dancing monkey" issue at all - just dismisses it. His entire career IS founded on surprising Chinese people that a foreigner can
by pekk 14y ago
He doesn't really address the "dancing monkey" issue at all - just dismisses it.
His entire career IS founded on surprising Chinese people that a foreigner can do this or that. The main goals expressed in this answer are to keep pushing up the bar.
The success of this IS founded on negative, dismissive stereotypes about foreigners as something like animals. This is why it is so funny when he talks like a person in Chinese. Animals can't talk like people! Amazing!
Note that nothing like this is even vaguely possible in the US for a Chinese person. It is just a person. Tons of ethnic Chinese have naturalized and been fully American for generations. Most people are used to the idea of ethnic Chinese being American, or a Chinese immigrant naturalizing. It is not socially acceptable to talk about a Chinese person like a funny, ridiculous animal.
I guess it is true that it is Western bias to think that Westerners are not funny animals, but so what?
- Jack000 14y agoI don't think there is a stereotype of foreigners as being lower class. There is a sort of repressed persecution complex, but "dismissive stereotypes about foreigners as something like animals"? No (at least if you're white) DaShan's popularity is enduring - you get over the novelty of his skin color pretty quickly. After that you find he is genuinely funny and skilled at his craft. "Dancing Monkey" suggests that the audience is laughing at him rather than with him, which I do not think is the case.
- gruseom 14y agoNothing like this is even vaguely possible in the US for a Chinese person That is not a fair comparison. You're talking about the US after more than a century of significant Chinese immigration and many generations of Chinese Americans. Needless to say, there was significantly more xenophobia earlier on.
- liulu 14y ago>>Animals can't talk like people! Amazing! Whoa that's quite a ridiculous accusation of Chinese being racists, a gross generalization too I only remember Dashan's performance quite vaguely because I was really young when he was still enjoying a lot of media exposure in China (naturally not anymore nowadays), but my family were and perhaps still are quite fond of him and I never feel there's negative side to it I think his popularity in China could very well be attributed to the fact that him being from the (then) economically much superior western countries and so invested in the traditional Chinese culture at the same time. It brought a sense of identification and pride to a lot of Chinese people. Remind you he became famous in 1988, one of the most turbulent years in China's history, and there was a huge debate on whether China should be westernized going on at the same time But "negative, dismissive stereotypes about foreigners as something like animals"? That's so 1800s to Chinese