Is Miss Saigon Racist?- Page 2

[Aigoo]

Posted: 7/11/05 at 9:31pm

Erm. It's Asian. Learn to spell your race right.

[gymman]

Posted: 7/11/05 at 9:38pm

That's the point--it is racist.
Post-colonial studies have been focusing on this academically for 25 years.
The way in which native peoples see themselves is very different from the way that the master race sees them. There is nothing new here...just want to point that out.

[nodaybut2day2007]

Posted: 7/11/05 at 9:41pm

I think you need to put spoiler in the title. There are still some people who havent seen the show and dont want to know what happens in the end, thanks.

[gymman]

Posted: 7/11/05 at 9:46pm

People don't know "Madame Butterfly"? Geez--I would think that any fan of theater would know that!
I had to laugh at a "spoiler" for "Rent"--yeah, Mimi Lives!

[South Florida]

Posted: 8/20/16 at 12:22am

Roxy, your legendary assholitude goes back a decade.

[South Florida]

Posted: 8/20/16 at 12:42am

If after careful evaluation the Asian populace finds it somewhat racist then it must be to a degree.  I bet that was unintentional, and insensitive, it's a bummer the incredible music gets somewhat overshadowed by this debate.

[¿Macavity?]

Posted: 8/20/16 at 1:15am

I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound rude, but why revive an 11 year old thread to call out Roxy? It just seems a little odd.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/20/16 at 1:47am

Anecdotally, I have two close female friends who both moved here from Asia (Thailand and Japan) in their late teens and who both worship Miss Saigon.  They like it more than me--and are not big musical fans otherwise.  Would I, as a white guy, tell them that they were just supporting a racist view and should be ashamed?

Playing Devil's advocate, Pacific Overtures, a musical I adore, is a show written by a group of white American men-only one (Weidman) having any previous knowledge of Japanese culture before they came to the project.  Sure, it doesn't present the Mme Butterfly stereotypes in any major way--and yet nearly every review mentions how Next, the finale, is a scary moment because it shows how the Japanese have decided to not remain true to themselves but rather do the Americans one better (I don't agree with that view of the number, but it's a common one).  Why doesn't it get called out on cultural appropriation?  Should the fact that it's been very successful in Japan be discussed as some internalized racism??

I find the main argument by one member here rather simplistic and, frankly, racist.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/20/16 at 2:37am

gymman said: "I think your point about trivializing is crucial here--for me, that's what leads to the concept of racism in the piece (and let's face it, in the source material as well.)"

Much more in the source material.  No one involved in Madama Butterfly had any interest in Japanese culture (aside from the "Oriental" popularity of the time)

Shoenberg/Boubil (And Maltby Jr, who never gets his due for the show--this wasn't a case of Kretzmer translating, badly, Boubil's old and new lyrics, but a full on collaboration with Maltby) bent over backwards to try to address all issues.  And failed--I agree with that.  Bui Doi is one of my most loathed numbers in any stage production I've ever seen (and, apparently, is virtually the same in the new production--if you're going to show real images of "bui-dois" it might serve you to actually offer some of the ticket money to charities addressing those issues).