Cultural Icons

Cultural Appropriation or Cultural Exchange and

Appreciation?

Definition of Cultural Appropriation

The use of a culture’s symbols, artifacts, genres, rituals, or

technologies by members of another culture

Katy Perry dressed as a geisha during the American Music Awards in 2013

Selena Gomez wore a Hindu bindi during

the 2017 MTV Movie Video Awards

Legal mechanisms that could be used as a defence to cultural appropriation

○Fraud

○Copyright and trademark protection

○Anti-discrimination

○Human rights legislation (cultural protection)

Siems (2019) identified some processes as the example of cultural appropriation. They are imitation to inspiration, sports to hobbies to arts to clothes and customs. Some legislature procedures such as copy right and trademark protection, anti-discrimination and human rights legislation. The four types of cultural appropriation are exchange, dominance, exploration and transculturation. There are limitations to the applicability of the law. In Lilian’s work, the practice of parodying in YouTube is common.

There are unethical appropriation: denying the origins of a cultural phenomenon, treating it disrespectfully or diminishing its (the phenomenon’s) use in the source culture.

Special Topics

- Intertextuality

“Sooner or later, everything old is new again"

- Stephen King

Parody: a form of imitation with critical distance

○Duplication

○Distortion

- Often confused with satire

- Satire: focuses on social conventions

- Parody: focuses on aesthetic conventions

●Parody transforms not just imitates

●A form of participatory culture

○“Folk” culture

○Resistance / response