I mean seriously, leave her alone...I know she photographs well and gives you that NatGeo look for your portfolio and all, but the poor woman is out there every day, getting more paparazzi than Salma Hayek by flocks of voluntourists and aspiring travel writers - and for no pay.
I'm amazed to see these people who come to places like Vietnam and seek out the oldest, poorest most withered woman in traditional clothing selling fruit on the street to take her photo and send it back home - carefully cropping out any semblance of modern life from the background along with it any sense of an honest portrayal of a complex and dynamic world.
What bothers me about this is the idea that 'real' culture only exists in places that are completely isolated from the modern world, which for most places is simply the past. I don't expect my German friends to go gallivanting in lederhosen, and I certainly don't want to wear those shoes with the big buckles on them, and yet we expect for everyone else to stay nice and 'virgin' so we can go 'explore' and 'discover' them again and again. Face it people, the age of exploration by Whitey is over - if you want to see something, do an image search; if you want to learn about traditional culture, go to a museum; if you want to go observe at a captive living thing, go to the zoo - You can go to Angkor Wat, you can go to Tibet, but you're going to have to wait in line because there are French families in fanny packs out there right now getting their photos taken. However the idea that the world is poorer, less interesting or less complex now, is insulting and unimaginative - so many new things are just beginning.
As someone trying to understand gay identity and community, which in most places is a new, urban, and global phenomenon, I'm constantly asking myself, "Is this person too wealthy/urban/educated/westernized"? But this begs the question - is 'real' Vietnam poor/rural/uneducated? Does real Vietnam not speak any English or know what's happening in the world? Is real Vietnamese culture too weak or fragile to survive contact with the West? My Vietnamese friends would disagree...
For other foreigners (especially Europeans), the idea of a gay guy from Texas is a delightful and hilarious novelty. Upon explaining to some Kiwi yesterday that Austin, Texas has one of the highest rates of gay-establishments-per-capita in the States, he quickly responded: "Yeah, but that's not, like, real Texas."
Screw you. Who are you to tell me what 'real Texas' is?
3 comments:
yes yes....as discussed....I totally agree.....these all 'poor' people hunt for picture and the attempt of authenticity and exoticism are just way too much, exaggerate....seriously how about the other half of the world?
tal cual.
i like this ranting side of senor hockaday. i feel like we needed an excited crowed to yell "no!" after every rhetorical question you posed and some dramatic music. Bravo bravo
Well said. Venture forth, sir.
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