I'm working on a project that falls under Washington DC's Chinatown zoning overlay and has a bunch of signage requirements that go with it. This is an example from the design guidelines of what the city thinks is a good and appropriate sign in 2012:
http://i43.tinypic.com/vctboz.jpg
― spiced with KNOWING THAT YOU'VE PAID YOUR BILLS (I DIED), Monday, 30 January 2012 16:00 (twelve years ago) link
(insert comical gong sound)
― You got to ro-o-oll me and call me the tumblr whites (Phil D.), Monday, 30 January 2012 16:01 (twelve years ago) link
It is food you eat with chopsticks don't you see?
― mh, Monday, 30 January 2012 16:03 (twelve years ago) link
lol DC Chinatown
― tinker tailor soldier sb (silby), Monday, 30 January 2012 16:15 (twelve years ago) link
Home of the Verizon Center! And Fuddrucker'a! And, apparently, one apartment building filled with elderly immigrant Chinese.
I would describe that Ming's signage design as more as stereotypical than racist, in that it doesn't carry any genuinely negative imagery. Ain't nothing inferior about chopsticks. They're used daily by a couple billion people. The typeface is also ugly as sin and stereotyped, but it is based on the look of calligraphic brushstrokes, which seems legit, although very poorly done.
You seem to associate these things with truly racist images, like exaggerated "r" for "l" accents, comical slant-eyes and buck teeth, but taken as themselves they just look like crappy design to me, not racism.
― Aimless, Monday, 30 January 2012 20:55 (twelve years ago) link
I could care less
― frogs you are the dumbest asshole (frogbs), Friday, January 27, 2012 7:17 PM
http://www.incompetech.com/Images/caring.png
― am0n, Monday, 30 January 2012 20:56 (twelve years ago) link
aimless otm
xp am0n otm
― Autumn Almanac, Monday, 30 January 2012 20:57 (twelve years ago) link
btw that type face even has a name, 'Chinesey' or 'chop suey' or something.
― Autumn Almanac, Monday, 30 January 2012 20:59 (twelve years ago) link
sometimes i make up imaginary american chinese restaurants by mixing & matching common name elements, like
lucky gardenpanda moonfortune housebamboo palace
so - is that racist?
― i think this is serious (elmo argonaut), Monday, 30 January 2012 21:23 (twelve years ago) link
Usually the English name isn't even a translation of the Chinese right next to it.
― Autumn Almanac, Monday, 30 January 2012 21:24 (twelve years ago) link
Like it'll say 'Fortune Garden' in English but the Chinese is actually 'Pork Restaurant' or something.
― Autumn Almanac, Monday, 30 January 2012 21:25 (twelve years ago) link
fail to see how that Chinese ad is any different from the Mexican ones with mariachis etc., I dont see Chinese people having a problem with it outside of maybe "come on, this isn't what our restaurant ads look like"
― frogs you are the dumbest asshole (frogbs), Monday, 30 January 2012 21:28 (twelve years ago) link
have you asked your chinese friends their opinion?
― mookieproof, Monday, 30 January 2012 21:31 (twelve years ago) link
I don't have any Chinese friends.
― frogs you are the dumbest asshole (frogbs), Monday, 30 January 2012 21:32 (twelve years ago) link
oic
― mookieproof, Monday, 30 January 2012 21:34 (twelve years ago) link
I used to work with an impro troupe that did a show in the country, where they got into a load of dreadful stereotypes with varying responses:
Italian accent with-a words-a ending like-a this-a and godfather hand gestures – uproarious laughter
French 'haw' noises and cheap gags about bread sticks – uproarious laughter
Chinese 'velly solly' gags – DEAD SILENCE
It seems to be down to whether the culture is *perceived* as a minority; to view e.g. the Chinese as a 'minority' in this day and age is condescending and absurd imo. Sorry if this ends up as another giant clusterfuck but I seriously dgi.
― Autumn Almanac, Monday, 30 January 2012 21:37 (twelve years ago) link
the chinese are indeed a minority in washington, dc
― mookieproof, Monday, 30 January 2012 21:39 (twelve years ago) link
Sorry if this ends up as another giant clusterfuck
lol no you aren't
― I spend a lot of time thinking about apricots (DJP), Monday, 30 January 2012 21:40 (twelve years ago) link
French and Italian people are white, traditionally
― Number None, Monday, 30 January 2012 21:40 (twelve years ago) link
"there are a billion people in your country, why are you mad that I called you 'slanty-eyes'"
― I spend a lot of time thinking about apricots (DJP), Monday, 30 January 2012 21:42 (twelve years ago) link
Personally, I think it has something to do with the fact that I have never once seen an Asian person act in this way
― frogs you are the dumbest asshole (frogbs), Monday, 30 January 2012 21:43 (twelve years ago) link
how many asian people have you met tho
― iatee, Monday, 30 January 2012 21:44 (twelve years ago) link
True, but I've never seen a French person wear a stripy jumper, clutch a wicker basket full of baguettes etc xp
― Autumn Almanac, Monday, 30 January 2012 21:45 (twelve years ago) link
where I live there's a huge Hmong population and the only stereotype about them that really rang true is that they're all really, really good at pool
― frogs you are the dumbest asshole (frogbs), Monday, 30 January 2012 21:46 (twelve years ago) link
well obviously that's a racist thing
― Autumn Almanac, Monday, 30 January 2012 21:47 (twelve years ago) link
well I wouldn't laugh at this either but the image itself is kind of funny
― frogs you are the dumbest asshole (frogbs), Monday, 30 January 2012 21:47 (twelve years ago) link
aimless otm, re: stereotypical vs. racist
still, even stereotypes that don't rely on "genuinely negative imagery" can be effectively racist when they reflect an overall tendency to reduce perceived "others" to cartoonish types
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Monday, 30 January 2012 21:54 (twelve years ago) link
the Chinese as a 'minority' in this day and age is condescending and absurd imo
omg lol
― i think this is serious (elmo argonaut), Monday, 30 January 2012 21:56 (twelve years ago) link
So, is this where I should mention the all white production of Hairspray being performed in the Dallas suburb of Plano, TX?
― EZ Snappin, Monday, 30 January 2012 21:57 (twelve years ago) link
wait waht
― I spend a lot of time thinking about apricots (DJP), Monday, 30 January 2012 21:58 (twelve years ago) link
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/mixmaster/2012/01/at_plano_childrens_theatre_the.php
― EZ Snappin, Monday, 30 January 2012 21:59 (twelve years ago) link
wtf
― Autumn Almanac (Schlafsack), Monday, 30 January 2012 22:00 (twelve years ago) link
It just came across my twitter feet and I actually did a face palm. Now I have to clean my glasses.
― EZ Snappin, Monday, 30 January 2012 22:00 (twelve years ago) link
EZ has Twitter feet.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Monday, 30 January 2012 22:02 (twelve years ago) link
it explains my horrible typing.
― EZ Snappin, Monday, 30 January 2012 22:03 (twelve years ago) link
haha i did not know enough (ie, anything) about 'hairspray' to recognize the problem
― mookieproof, Monday, 30 January 2012 22:03 (twelve years ago) link
how they weren't going to bow to "political correctness"
This tells you all you really need to know, tbh.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Monday, 30 January 2012 22:04 (twelve years ago) link
it's a pretty huge problem
in some ways, it's more problematic than doing an all-white "Porgy and Bess"
― I spend a lot of time thinking about apricots (DJP), Monday, 30 January 2012 22:05 (twelve years ago) link
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 30 January 2012 22:05 (twelve years ago) link
Rodenbaugh said they might do To Kill a Mockingbird with an all-white cast or Othello or The Wiz (three shows I mentioned to him that feature African-Americans either in prominent roles or as a majority of the cast).
― spiced with KNOWING THAT YOU'VE PAID YOUR BILLS (I DIED), Monday, 30 January 2012 22:11 (twelve years ago) link
an all-white "The Wiz"
let's just ponder that for a while
― I spend a lot of time thinking about apricots (DJP), Monday, 30 January 2012 22:12 (twelve years ago) link
incisive! daring! innovative!
― Aimless, Monday, 30 January 2012 22:12 (twelve years ago) link
He was probably just trolling the reporter at that point, or some twisted one-upsmanship. "Oh, we'll do that too!". "And that one!".
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Monday, 30 January 2012 22:13 (twelve years ago) link
Raisin in the Sun!
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 30 January 2012 22:15 (twelve years ago) link
"might get together with a certain mayor and do a version of West Side Story where we just eat tacos for dinner"
― spiced with KNOWING THAT YOU'VE PAID YOUR BILLS (I DIED), Monday, 30 January 2012 22:16 (twelve years ago) link
someone inform The Corner of this brave display
― mookieproof, Monday, 30 January 2012 22:17 (twelve years ago) link
There was a good episode of Strangers With Candy where they do an all-white A Raisin in the Sun, and the school's black students are trees on the set.
― polyphonic, Monday, 30 January 2012 22:19 (twelve years ago) link
but guys guys is it racist?
― teaky frigger (darraghmac), Monday, 30 January 2012 22:25 (twelve years ago) link
Golden Raisin In The Sun
― EZ Snappin, Monday, 30 January 2012 22:28 (twelve years ago) link