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Awkwafina (Shang-Chi) is being accused of cultural appropriation by some, for previous use of a “blaccent” while she was rising to fame
- Thread starter Cheesebu
- Start date
- Entertainment
It takes minimal effort not to open your mouth when you don't know what you're talking about.
Its a bit insensitive to come in with a post about racist stereotypes with a 'Oh, yeah, I dunno what I am talking about' as a defense when someone refutes your point.
Like it just shows an indifference to the topic coming in. You ain't gotta agree, but at least do your homework
User Banned (2 Weeks): Downplaying Concerns of Cultural Appropriation
I feel like her blaccent is mostly unintentional and partially part of the way she grew up/who she hung around and how she clowned around. Like it's a part of her, but now she has to suppress spontaneous blaccent.
Which is fine for me because I find it and her "yell" talking generally annoying, but I do feel a bit bad for her that maybe people are pressuring her to "be more nomal" or "be more quiet asian like we expect".
Which is fine for me because I find it and her "yell" talking generally annoying, but I do feel a bit bad for her that maybe people are pressuring her to "be more nomal" or "be more quiet asian like we expect".
this is quite the benefit of the doubt to give to someone who goes by the stage name "Awkafina"
"If I take your race away, and there you are, all strung out. And all you got is your little self, and what is that? What are you without racism? Are you any good? Are you still strong? Are you still smart? Do you still like yourself?"
-Toni Morrison
Awkwafina knows what she's doing. NObody is asking her to "be more quiet" or "be more normal." They're calling her out because she said she refuses to be part of a minstrel act and yet her entire character is exactly that.
It is utterly ridiculous to give the benefit of the doubt to somebody who speaks this way as a character and drops it entirely when she's talking to the press or in other interviews.
Spontaneous, except she clearly doesn't use it outside of her work. Most of us have a work voice that is a lot more formal than our daily life voice. At no point would I think that formal work voice is someone's spontaneous true voice. So when she puts on an accent for work, I'm going to assume that is not her true voice.
I know it's not quite the same, but if I can share one related experience: I had to work very hard to not "accidentally" get an accent like that. When I first moved to Canada as a kid, most of my friends were black and I learned English basically from talking to them so a lot of my pronunciation came from them too. My friends of course didn't mind that, but I had to basically learn to sound white because...well, people get upset, and path of least resistance and all that. Not really the same thing as this scenario at all, it's just one of those "I'll never find the opportunity to talk about it otherwise" experiences lol
Nowadays it's mostly gone and when I see my friends again they love to give me shit for it and say "Man you got so white" lmao (the joke being that I'm a pretty white Latino to begin with).
Nowadays it's mostly gone and when I see my friends again they love to give me shit for it and say "Man you got so white" lmao (the joke being that I'm a pretty white Latino to begin with).
People keep talking about "the people she hung around / grew up with"
Can someone post these people being mentioned? Are any of them at least black? Because she don't have any pictures of these black friends yall speak on
It would make it worse if these "friends" are non-black, she got plenty of pictures with them tho
Plus her blackccent isnt even accurate. Its complete looney tunes caricature, so Im kinda annoyed that people think thats authentic representation on how we speak
Can someone post these people being mentioned? Are any of them at least black? Because she don't have any pictures of these black friends yall speak on
It would make it worse if these "friends" are non-black, she got plenty of pictures with them tho
Plus her blackccent isnt even accurate. Its complete looney tunes caricature, so Im kinda annoyed that people think thats authentic representation on how we speak
I wasn't going to respond to that quote reply because I knew that person was on some bs. People are too quick to comment in these type of threads.
It reminds me of those Jamie Kennedy skits back in the late 90s, early 2k.
She is basically doing skits. Has she ever actually talked like this in real life on camera?
She's still doing those Nail Salon jokes at comedy shows in 2021.
As a Asian (Indian) American, this thread makes me feel bit uncomfortable. I think Awkwafina should drop the name and the attempted use of the dialect completely and apologize since it is clearly not something she was raised with and uses day to day as seen in interviews.
On the other hand, not sure I am a big fan of the false equivalences being brought out in this thread about what would happen if someone white, black, etc used an Asian accent. Nora is Asian American. She is not Asian. Asian accents exist as a form of broken English because it is not the native language of much our parent's generation. AAVE is not broken English nor is it indicative of someone who doesn't have English as their first language like an Asian accent would be. It's a completely different comparison.
Part of the conversation is missing here and that equivalence that some are making shows that a bit. Nora doesn't want to do the Asian accent because she associates herself with being American (I assume, that's how I feel at least as a Asian American) and using an Asian accent would demonstrate to audiences that English is not her native language and that she is not natively from America, which would be false and demeaning. In the end, she is doing a variation of a clearly American dialect (that leads to no questions of what her native language is) because she identifies closer with American culture than she does her heritage, which is a constant identity crisis that we are facing in this country. Everyone loves to remind us of this. Never Asian enough, never American enough.
Forcing us to use an Asian accent, which is basically broken English in some cases, completely strips our identity and is a constant reminder of how different we are from the rest of America (white and black). A lot of us are just trying to figure out where to fit in as most of us are first generation. This can lead to a lot of Asian Americans "stealing" from both white and black culture, as we don't have as much cultural impact in this country or really our own cultural identity yet. You can see it in this thread with a lot associating us straight back to Asia indirectly rather than Asian American.
Hopefully not offending anyone, really sorry if so. Just wanted to speak about that specific point as it relates to how we identify with the Asian (or Indian in my case) accent (basically broken English).
On the other hand, not sure I am a big fan of the false equivalences being brought out in this thread about what would happen if someone white, black, etc used an Asian accent. Nora is Asian American. She is not Asian. Asian accents exist as a form of broken English because it is not the native language of much our parent's generation. AAVE is not broken English nor is it indicative of someone who doesn't have English as their first language like an Asian accent would be. It's a completely different comparison.
Part of the conversation is missing here and that equivalence that some are making shows that a bit. Nora doesn't want to do the Asian accent because she associates herself with being American (I assume, that's how I feel at least as a Asian American) and using an Asian accent would demonstrate to audiences that English is not her native language and that she is not natively from America, which would be false and demeaning. In the end, she is doing a variation of a clearly American dialect (that leads to no questions of what her native language is) because she identifies closer with American culture than she does her heritage, which is a constant identity crisis that we are facing in this country. Everyone loves to remind us of this. Never Asian enough, never American enough.
Forcing us to use an Asian accent, which is basically broken English in some cases, completely strips our identity and is a constant reminder of how different we are from the rest of America (white and black). A lot of us are just trying to figure out where to fit in as most of us are first generation. This can lead to a lot of Asian Americans "stealing" from both white and black culture, as we don't have as much cultural impact in this country or really our own cultural identity yet. You can see it in this thread with a lot associating us straight back to Asia indirectly rather than Asian American.
Hopefully not offending anyone, really sorry if so. Just wanted to speak about that specific point as it relates to how we identify with the Asian (or Indian in my case) accent (basically broken English).
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In the 1 interview Ive seen of her, she said something like : awkwafina is a character that she did growing up which counters her normal more quiet self
This sucks. I take it she never commented or even apologized in a substantial manner on any of this, despite it having come up already earlier?
User Banned (2 Weeks): Downplaying Concerns of Cultural Appropriation
If its her real accent I don't see the issue. I know multiple Indian people who have a distinct British accent. They just can't speak English without the birtish accent.
It demonstrably isn't. And the fact that you came in here even though almost every page has an example showing this demonstrates that you don't really care. So why post.
We're on page 10 and still got dumbasses giving her the benefit of the doubt even though we got multiple posts on each page explaining why she's problematic. Yall could at least read or watch the videos in the OP before commenting.
it's kind of old news, but the issue does resurface whenever she's in a bigger movie. i think last time it happened was around the farewell where she basically dropped the accent for a serious role.
Here's a good example. Just jumps in and out of the accent for comedic effect. Right at the beginning and at the end.
I think, overall, the point on if she knows or not is somewhat mute. It bothers me if it's unconscious and she's unaware and it bothers me if she's doing it on purpose.
Which is better? I think you can convince yourself that either is better but it's ultimately it's the same shitty coin.
This is... Do you have any guesses as to why most indians might speak with a British accent? Or is it just some strange coincidence? Jfc. It's not comparable to Awkwafina's blaccent at all.
It is not up to other people that decide when and how the victims should feel offended. If a minority claims they are victimized, we should listen to their concern, try to address it and not just dismiss it. Even if the perpetrator is another minority celebrity.
As a Taiwanese that grew up in America, I didn't realize Awkwafina spoke with a blaccent, but I know she was speaking with a fake accent. I don't like that she was speaking with a fake accent instead of with no accent, because for me it reinforces that Asian are the "other" and not Americans.
But now I know that that it wasn't a fake bad accent, but a blaccent...she needs to fucking apologize and own it.
That's one think I always find annoying when discussing American movie or dubbed shows, where the people are obbessed with "accents" and how certain characters of certain race or nationality MUST have an accent. It's especially obvious when the show/game ect. feature a diverse cast, then you have people gong "How come (Obvious not white cast) speak perfect English instead of with a (not america or britsh) accent?
As a Taiwanese that grew up in America, I didn't realize Awkwafina spoke with a blaccent, but I know she was speaking with a fake accent. I don't like that she was speaking with a fake accent instead of with no accent, because for me it reinforces that Asian are the "other" and not Americans.
But now I know that that it wasn't a fake bad accent, but a blaccent...she needs to fucking apologize and own it.
That's one think I always find annoying when discussing American movie or dubbed shows, where the people are obbessed with "accents" and how certain characters of certain race or nationality MUST have an accent. It's especially obvious when the show/game ect. feature a diverse cast, then you have people gong "How come (Obvious not white cast) speak perfect English instead of with a (not america or britsh) accent?
Yeah it's a pretty shit take. Wish people didn't try to "diagnose" awkwafina's racism.
No one wants Awkwafina to use a forced Asian accent, especially one that never came from her formative cultural experiences.
They want her to recognize not only the hypocrisy in designating forced Asian accents as minstrelsy while, you know, performing actual fucking minstrelsy, but that fact that a Black person cannot elevate themselves to Hollywood using an Uncle Roger shtick as their entire identity as an artist, even if they grew up with Asian neighbors. That "she grew up around Black people" excuse goes both ways, but Black people don't get the same opportunities to crib from other cultures in this manner with this level of success. She's a vulture.
Basically, we want all non-Black people to stop treating our culture as an exploitable commodity.
It's not the same at all, but I'm reminded of some Black folk's criticism of Barret's VA in FF7RE. Some posters here were like, "HOW ELSE IS HE SUPPOSED TO TALK?" when there's a whole ass black guy voicing him that has a regular ass voice that could just read the lines without the robert downey jr. filter.
Just be normal, y'all.
Completely agree with you on your last sentence. That is awful and needs to stop. I agree with you 90% on all points honestly, but that last 10%, what my post is about, is still something that makes me feel uncomfortable. I know no one is saying they want Nora to use the Asian accent in this thread. I am talking about those who say "what if XYZ start using an Asian accent". I know that point is influenced by what Nora said, but by expanding on it, people are associating us with being Asian rather than Asian American. What Nora is really saying is she wants to be associated with being American and not Asian. Comparing AAVE and an Asian accent doesn't work here in general, since 1 of them is indicative of a native English/American speaker while the other one is not. That's all I am saying really. My last post does a better job of explaining this so I won't go on and on, but it is a big issue for us. It is difficult for us to navigate, and as mentioned, it does lead to a lot of Asian Americans absorbing from other American cultures (white and black). Nora clearly didn't grow up with it and is using it for comedic effect only so she needs to stop ASAP, but a lot of the above is why some of it can legitimately compound for other Asian Americans.
We don't really have a defined culture in this country to steal/crib from yet. The most I've seen is a loooot of bhangra music in American music, and even then, people are stealing from India directly, not from Indian Americans. Me for example, I grew up in a primarily white town. All I heard my whole life is how I am the "whitest Indian kid" people knew. It was always demoralizing as it was a constant reminder that there is no such thing as Asian American culture, or Indian American culture, yet. We are always compared to how white or how black (depending on where we grew up) we are if we were born here and "sound" American rather than "sounding" Asian.
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while I enjoy playing ff7 remake, barretts voice makes me cringe everytime he talked.
When I say unintentional, I mean that is almost a part of her character now like a bad habit. She turns on that blaccent when she wants to get attention and she almost cannot help it. Her name is probably sentimental to her/has some IP value in her head so she doesn't want to change it even if partially racist in origin (she thought combo naming herself after water company and stereotyped black names would be super funny). Clowns gonna clown lol.
There were 469 posts before you opened your mouth to comment on shit that's don been gone over.
again, that's an awful lot of caping and excuse making that even she herself hasn't made. There is nothing to suggest her use of this accent isn't 100% intentional and very calculated.
you could have done the bare minimum to find any video of her not doing the "accent," but instead you chose to just defend her shitty behavior without knowing anything
She is putting it on every time though because she can do her normal voice in interviews, so I wouldn't say she can't help it. The blaccent is more troublesome and how she doesn't apologise or stop it than her stage name.
I think that's really interesting. Like she has some internalized racism or esteem issues so went the other direction??
There are tons of American accents out there for her to use. Hell, she naturally has one; the voice she uses in interviews and spots is an American accent! She has already assimilated with regards to how she sounds. She adopted the accent in her works to make fun of us, which is why I and others make the comparison.
You're uncomfortable? Good. That's literally the point of the comparison, to show how fucked up and othering what Awkwafina is doing is. Deflecting to the fact that an Asian accent indicates being a foreigner and thus it's not equivalent to jacking fake AAVE- a vernacular that has also resulted in discrimination- is just that, a deflection, and it's one that ironically strengthens the point.
(Although, to me, an Asian accent is not indicative of being a foreigner; I've known people who take on accents from their larger family despite being born here, or living here the majority of their lives. If you live here and call yourself an American, you're an American. What I look like giving a fuck that you have a "non-native" accent, a ridiculous notion given most of us don't know any actual native American languages?)
Y'all mutha fuckas are literally creating fan fiction to explain her behavior lmao.
Y'all just can't help commenting on shit you know nothing about, is it THAT hard for y'all not to say dumb shit? And y'all fake surprise whenever famous white folks put their feet in their mouth.
Y'all just can't help commenting on shit you know nothing about, is it THAT hard for y'all not to say dumb shit? And y'all fake surprise whenever famous white folks put their feet in their mouth.
I could see that as a future job. Internet lawyer.
All they do is jump on whatever forum and defend their clients against internet criticism.
i'm sorry, are you seriously suggesting that someone who posts once every three days or so over four years must be an alt?
I don't disagree with you on Nora at all.
You are missing the point I am making, though, based on the bolded which is unrelated to Nora. The bolded sounds nice and all, but it doesn't work like that in reality, and it shows a completely misunderstanding/lack of understanding what the experience is like for first/second generation Americans of cultures that are fairly new to the country. Honestly your whole last paragraph is very pie in the sky. Yeah I know I am American, thanks. I am glad an accent is not indicative of being a foreigner to you. Most of the country doesn't get that, though. You are actually strengthening my point a bit there as well about the experience an Asian American can have in this country, which most are oblivious to and would rather ignore as not that big of a deal.
Since I am acknowledging that this point isn't really about Nora, and I generally completely agree with you, I don't want to potentially de-rail the thread. Glad to continue this conversation over PM if you would like. Understood if not.
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You should do some research into the history of this particular forum and folks with JAQ Off burners.
Can't belief I am being told I am caping for her when I don't even like her and find small scahdenfreude joy in this coming back to haunt her but I guess that's what I get lol.
To be honest, I would not and did not rule out the possibility that the people she grew up around were non-black but also put on charicature blaccents because they were young, dumb, and racist, but that she was most successful getting something out of it (attention, laughs) so just never gave it up.
Worst of all, it's not even good fanfiction. Just repeats of the same shit that's already been said.
There really is a defense force for anything on this forum, Jesus. Glad the mods are banning accordingly.
Glad I read this thread as it was very informative. I saw the headline in my Google newsfeed yesterday and thought it might be people trying to sabotage Shang Chi but that couldn't be further from the truth.
I've not seen her in very much but went through the first season of her show recently. I found it pretty funny, but I now wonder if some stuff would have made me a bit uncomfortable.
I've not seen her in very much but went through the first season of her show recently. I found it pretty funny, but I now wonder if some stuff would have made me a bit uncomfortable.
