Yellowface

[YuheiCarreau]

Another update:

I have recieved a reply to the first message I sent (the one without the two demands attached) from the editor of the magazine. She was apologetic, but since she wasn't replying to the e-mail with the demands I don't know if she's agreed to them.

Anyway, she said the school keeps the playbills from the Bearskin Follies shows and they found a description of the skit pictured:

"As it turns out, we have the program from the 1957 Bearskin Follies, plus an account of it in the March 5, 1957 Student Life. Here's the story.

"The 1957 Bearskin Follies had two skits with an 'oriental' theme - one done by Pi Beta Phi sorority called 'The Chan and Us' and one done by Sigma Chi fraternity called 'Teahouse for Two.' The shot in the magazine is of the Sigma Chi skit. The Bearskin Follies program describes Sigma Chi's skit like this:

"'When two Washington University students touring Japan come upon a venerable debt-ridden Geisha House proprietor, anything can happen. Sorority history is amusingly rewritten when this scheming Tea House technician tries to marry off his daughter to one of the students.'

"Student Life said of the skit: 'Another trip into the Orient was in store for the audience as Sigma Chi ended the show with 'Teahouse for Two.' Using the style of 'Teahouse of the August Moon,' Sig Chi's storyteller, Soror, convinces two young collegians of the talents of his Geisha girls. Soror must resort to threats to get his daughter married off; but the two WU men decide to take the whole bunch back to the U.S. and have Soror-Teas.'

"All of the roles in this skit, including the geisha girls, were played by men."

This definitely sounds like a degrading portrayal of Japan to me, and not one that I want Wash U featuring in its magazines. The SU advisor e-mailed me earlier today to say that she'd forwarded the e-mail with the requests included to the editor and a few others, so I guess I'll have to wait to see what happens there.

[lethal]

"Teahouse for Two" sure sounds like "white man goes to Japan to save them from disaster."

[YuheiCarreau]

Another update: I spoke to the SU advisor on the phone today, and she said she'd call the magazine editor to find out what she thought of my requests. She also suggested that I might have to meet up with the magazine editors once I get back to Missouri. I am a little leery of doing this, since from her reply to the first e-mail I sent (the one without the requests) the editor seemed not to care about the issue beyond offering a "perhaps we should have chosen a different image".

I forsee that if they have any objections to my request, the 2 main objections will be "Well that's how things were done back then" and "We don't really understand how it's offensive". Hopefully things will continue to go well, but now that I have re-read the editor's e-mail I can see little hints of that kind of thinking...

[SunWuKong]

<!--QuoteBegin-YuheiCarreau+Jul 23 2003, 02:46 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (YuheiCarreau @ Jul 23 2003, 02:46 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I forsee that if they have any objections to my request, the 2 main objections will be "Well that's how things were done back then" and "We don't really understand how it's offensive". Hopefully things will continue to go well, but now that I have re-read the editor's e-mail I can see little hints of that kind of thinking... [/b][/quote]
maybe you can find some "blackface" in the school's history and ask them to print pictures of those in the next issue.

[AngryABCGirl]

<!--QuoteBegin-SunWuKung+Jul 23 2003, 10:51 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (SunWuKung @ Jul 23 2003, 10:51 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> maybe you can find some "blackface" in the school's history and ask them to print pictures of those in the next issue. [/b][/quote]
Are there any other Ethnic or Racial Political groups on campus?&nbsp; Maybe they can help.

[kimpossible]

<!--QuoteBegin-lethalweapon+Jul 22 2003, 09:22 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (lethalweapon @ Jul 22 2003, 09:22 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> "Teahouse for Two" sure sounds like "white man goes to Japan to save them from disaster." [/b][/quote]
I think that's being generous. Sound more like drinkin' and whorin' to me. Note the convincing of the 'geisha's talents.' Classy.

[YuheiCarreau]

<!--QuoteBegin-Hello_Hapa+Jul 24 2003, 11:58 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Hello_Hapa @ Jul 24 2003, 11:58 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I think that's being generous. Sound more like drinkin' and whorin' to me. Note the convincing of the 'geisha's talents.' Classy. [/b][/quote]
Yeah, plus according to the article, it's based on a yellowface classic, "Teahouse of the August Moon", which has Marlon Brando playing a Japanese translator for an American GI in love with a Geisha girl.&nbsp; <_<

[krome]

Wow, blackface and yellowface seem to really be recurring themes in frat-life.&nbsp;&nbsp; :angry:

[YuheiCarreau]

Update: I just got off the phone with the SU advisor. She says she's spoken to the PR department and the image will not be in the reprint to the magazine.wustl.edu website. In addition, an apology (of sorts) will be printed in the next edition of the magazine. Seems there's some official protocol for editorial mistakes that has to be followed, and the apology (or retraction) will probably be in very general PC legal-ese. The SU advisor will review it before it's printed, so hopefully she will make it as effective as possible. I think this is as far as I'm willing to take things with the administration, as I don't have the time or patience to squeeze blood from a stone, but I think I will write an editorial to submit to the student-run newspaper about the whole experience.

[kimpossible]

I think that's an equitable solution. They seem responsive enough and the editorial is a nice follow-up.

[BeTheReds]

Well I'm glad you actually got something done instead of sitting on your ass and whining about oppression.

Good Job!

[Napoleon Chynamite]

<!--QuoteBegin-BeTheReds+Jul 24 2003, 11:17 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (BeTheReds @ Jul 24 2003, 11:17 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Well I'm glad you actually got something done instead of sitting on your ass and whining about oppression.

Good Job! [/b][/quote]
Well okay I'm not saying that YW is perfect, and i know you weren't directing your sarcasm at Yuhei but pretty much at YW in general, hehe, but I think whenever a problem was really a problem, the active and devoted members of YW did a good job of handling and acting upon the situation (i.e. Kung Fool, Coble, etc). If people just sit here and whine about something with no action (i.e. the WM/AF thing), chances are it's not really a problem, and our actions (by lack of any type of action) prove that. I actually trust many of the people here to take a stance and fight if they truly feel strongly or passionate about an issue, which is much more than can be said about other forums like YOLK (the worst), AngryAsianMan (is that even a forum?), ModelMinority, AsianGuy.com, or whatever. You and I may or may not agree with the opinions, attitudes, or stances of other YW members, but the bottom line is that they actually outwardly perform for the sake of what they believe. This has been proven and displayed many times throughout YW's relatively short history, even regarding certain issues that are perhaps not huge and newsworthy but just significant enough to stir up strong opinions. Me personally though, I have yet to encounter an issue brought up on an Asian forum that I feel so strongly for to actually take any type of action, I dunno why that is. On a side note, places like RiceBowlJournals, Bjunkyard, Chopstix.net, and GrooveAsia etc are obviously forums created just for the sake of interaction and bullshitting and/or talking about Asian pop stars or whatever, which is fine and a different story.

btw good job Yuhei

[YuheiCarreau]

Udate:

Right now I am writing about this experience for an editorial in my school's student-run magazine. I wrote to the SU advisor, asking if I could see the apology that was to be printed, so that I could present the issue from beginning to end; this is what she sent me:

Note from the Editors

The Magazine received an expression of concern from a student that a 46-year-old photograph included in the coverage of student activities in the Summer 2003 issue was demeaning to people of Asian heritage. That certainly was not the Magazine’s intent.
The photo depicted members of the Sigma Chi fraternity performing a skit at the 1957 Bearskin Follies — a popular annual student musical revue. The skit was a take-off on the 1956 Golden Globe Award-winning movie, Teahouse of the August Moon, starring Marlon Brando, Eddie Albert, and Glenn Ford. A number of such plays, musicals, and movies produced during that era were seen as an attempt to bridge the gap between East and West.
The editors regret any concern raised or offense caused by the use of this picture from our past.

This just seems unacceptable to me. It does not meet two of my conditions, firstly that the apology give a definition of yellowface, and secondly that the editors explain why that image is not appropriate to the context of the article. Plus, it doesn't even mention the fact that in The Teahouse of the August Moon, the film which the skit was based on, is a yellowface film. They call it a 'golden globe winning film' - which is about as absurd as calling Mein Kampf a 'best-selling novel'. I have left the SU advisor a voicemail, and if I can't settle this with the editors, my editorial is going to take a much more critical tone...

[achtungbaby]

<!--QuoteBegin-YuheiCarreau+Aug 21 2003, 12:44 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (YuheiCarreau @ Aug 21 2003, 12:44 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> ...I have left the SU advisor a voicemail, and if I can't settle this with the editors, my editorial is going to take a much more critical tone... [/b][/quote]
Tear 'em apart anyway.

[ism]

<!--QuoteBegin-YuheiCarreau+Aug 21 2003, 03:44 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (YuheiCarreau @ Aug 21 2003, 03:44 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> This just seems unacceptable to me. I have left the SU advisor a voicemail, and if I can't settle this with the editors, my editorial is going to take a much more critical tone... [/b][/quote]
Agreed. "We did something that only one person thinks is wrong" is not an apology. I hope you can clarify the situation and perhaps garner some more support from the rest of the student body through your editorial.