A Personal Analysis of Cultural Appropriation
By Dr. Rolando M. Ochoa
I have been hearing of and then reading about the
term, Cultural Appropriation, for some time now.
However, after reading about the latest controversy
surrounding a new movie, Alina of Cuba: La Hija
Rebelde, about Alina Fernandez, the daughter of
the late dictator, Fidel Castro, I decided to do
further research on the meaning of appropriation and
analyze it in more detail.
My research revolved around the backgrounds of some
of those participating in the making of the movie.
The movie’s director is Miguel Barden, who is from
Spain; one of its writers is Jose Rivera, who is
Puerto Rican; another writer is Milo Cruz, who is
Cuban. The Director chose the great actor, James
Franco, an American of Italian extraction, to play
the role of the dictator, Castro. Many people
complained that the role of Castro should have been
played by a “Latin” actor. One of the more outspoken
personalities complaining about this selection is
John Leguizamo, who is from Colombia and also a
great actor.
In my opinion, no one should make a movie where
Castro is a main character unless that movie shows
him for what he was. He was a traitor to Cuba, a
tyrant of the worse kind, an assassin, a liar, and
the destroyer of one of the most prosperous
countries in the world before 1959. I am hoping that
the director and the writers do not get swept up by
the WOKE tendencies in Hollywood and just make
Castro look like a “normal” head of state.
I also believe that a director must choose an actor
to play a part, not because of ethnicity,
nationality, or race, but based on individual talent
and the ability to “become” that character in the
movie. Eddie Murphy, who is African American played
a white Jewish old man in the barbershop scene in
the film Coming to America. Al Pacino, who is
of Italian descent, played Tony Montana, a Cuban, in
Scarface. Both actors did a superb job in
their roles.
Actors who always play only themselves in a
monotonous fashion, show little creative talent and
have even less artistic importance. There are many
actors in this category unfortunately.
Eddie Murphy in the lower right side as a white
Old Jewish man
The great Oscar winning actors and other actors who
have given remarkable performances have played
characters totally different than themselves. Let me
give you a short list:
·
(1995) Tom Hanks played Forest Gump and he is
not handicapped
·
(1989) Dustin Hoffman who is not handicapped played
a handicapped person in Rain Man
·
(1983) Ben Kingsley played Gandhi and he is
not an Indian
·
(1975) Andy Garcia, who is Cuban, played an Italian
in The Godfather series
·
(1962) Natalie Wood, who was not Puerto Rican,
played one in West Side Story
·
(1957) Mario Moreno (Cantinflas), who was Mexican,
played a Frenchman in Around the World in 80 Days
·
(1963) Elizabeth Taylor, who was not Egyptian,
played Cleopatra
·
(1983) Meryl Streep played a Polish woman in
Sophie’s Choice and she is not Polish
·
(2001) John Leguizamo, who is Colombian, played a
French man, Houri de Toulouse-Louttec in Moulin
Rouge. (Did any French actors complain?)
There are many examples that clearly document that
great acting should never take a back seat to
political correctness and the avoidance of Cultural
Appropriation.
The Oxford Dictionary
defines Appropriation as:
The action of taking something for one’s own use,
typically without the owner’s permission. (Fidel
Castro did so all the time)
The same dictionary defines Cultural Appropriation
as:
The unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of
customs, practices, ideas, etc., of one people or
society by members of another and typically more
dominant people or society
You, the reader, should make up your mind about this
issue, so I offer how Wikipedia describes cultural
appropriation in several quotes. Some in favor of
the concept and others do not approve of it:
“Those who see this appropriation as exploitative
state that cultural elements are lost or distorted
when they are removed from their originating
cultural contexts, and that such displays are
disrespectful or even a form of desecration.
Cultural elements that may have deep meaning to the
original culture may be reduced to “exotic” fashion
or toys by those from the dominant culture. “
“Kjerstin Johnson has written that when this is
done, the imitator, "who does not experience that
oppression is able to 'play', temporarily, an
'exotic' other, without experiencing any of the
daily discrimination faced by other cultures.".
“The academic, musician and journalist, Gret
Tate, argues that appropriation and the fetishing of
cultures, in fact, alienates those whose culture is
being appropriated.”
“The concept of cultural appropriation also has
been heavily criticized.
Critics note
that the concept is often misunderstood or
misapplied by the general public, and that charges
of cultural appropriation are at times misapplied to
certain situations, such as trying food from a
different culture or learning about different
cultures.”
“John McWhorter,
a professor at Columbia University, criticized the
concept in 2014, arguing that cultural borrowing and
cross-fertilization is a generally positive thing
and is something which is usually done out of
admiration, and with no intent to harm the cultures
being imitated; he also argued that the specific
term "appropriation", which can mean theft, is
misleading when applied to something like culture
that is not seen by all as a limited resource.”
“In 2018, conservative columnist,
Jonah Goldberg, described
cultural appropriation as a positive thing and
dismissed opposition to it as a product of some
people's desire to be offended.
Additionally, the term can set arbitrary limits on
intellectual freedom, artists' self-expression,
reinforce group divisions, or promote a feeling of
enmity or grievance rather than of liberation.”
My Own View
I am a member of a non-dominant culture, namely,
“Cubans in exile”, and I do not have any problems or
feel offended if someone uses some of the elements
of my culture, or impersonates a Cuban as long as it
is done with respect and displays the truth. Not all
Cubans sound like Tony Montana (Al Pacino) in
Scarface, although of course some do.
If this new movie,
Alina of Cuba: La Hija Rebelde,
tells the truth about Fidel Castro and the
oppressive regime that has enslaved the Cuban people
for over 63 years, I have no problem with who plays
Fidel Castro, and that actor does not have to be a
Cuban.
He just has to show the viewers who the dictator
Castro really was.
Notice I did not say “Latin” actor here. There is no
such category as a Latin person. They do not exist!
Latin is a language, one that is now almost extinct.
It is not a nationality nor a race. Who am I? First,
I am a human being; secondly, I am a man.
Then, I am a believer in God. Then there are
my personal labels. I was born in Cuba, my ancestors
were born in Spain, and now I am an American by
naturalization. By the way, I am not brown. I am
white.
The world would be a better place if we stopped
grouping people and designating a label of any kind
to them.
Instead, we should accept each person for who
they are as an individual, not as a category,
whether cultural or otherwise.