Re: Concern about racism and sexism in Supertuxkart 0.9
Vincent Lejeune dijo [Thu, Apr 30, 2015 at 09:26:23PM +0200]:
> The poster by itself is not really about sexism, but rather about
> cultural appropriation:
> First Sara is white in what appears to be a native american like outfit.
> Then she is in front of a religious building (the pyramid) and wear a
> feather halo.
> It seems that feather is a sacred symbol for native american culture.
> I might be wrong though since I dind't find anything saying that no
> native nation used elements in religious ceremony that could be seen
> as sexualizing in my european eyes,
> yet Wikipedia's entry on Aztec and Maya women tells that it wasn't the
> case ; and IMHO mixing religious symbol and potentially sexualising
> clothes is not respectfull.
> I think it is as equally offending to have a nun wearing a bikini top
> in front of a christian church for instance.
> On the other hand, the poster isn't bundled with the game, or at
> least, it doesnt really need to be packaged. It's more marketing
> material.
Umh, let me address this particular point. I am Mexican, and I believe
I am conscious about the importance of our original cultures, and the
respect they deserve.
While the poster does not strike as the most cautious possible, I do
not see it as culturally offensive. It does not attempt to set a scene
portraiting what were the cultures really like; the portrait it paints
is similar to so many fantasy recreations (think i.e. Disney's "book
of the jungle" depiction of the monkey king — And that's way more
detailed and involved).
I would take far greater offense at, say, a movie like Mel Gibson's
"Apocalypto", which attempts to give an air of authenticity to
something that's 100% fictional. None of SuperTuxKart's settings
attempts to be faithful to reality (10m tall bananas?), and I don't
believe anyone would think it is a game about any of the over 60
cultures indigenous to my country.
Oh, and FWIW: Several local cultures didn't assign a taboo to
breast-showing. In many cases, particularly in the cultures that lived
in the warmer climates, the norm was for the woman to go bare-chested.
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