Thursday 14 February 2013

Cultural costumes

To answer the question " Why should people be careful when selecting Halloween costumes or party themes?": People should be careful when selecting Halloween costumes or party themes because as we read in the article "'We're a culture not a costume' this Halloween", there are so many stereotypes and generalizations about cultures that can be offensive and/or racist. Cultural costumes are becoming more and more common at Halloween. When people wear those costumes they are supporting stereotypes that are sometimes offensive and/or racist. People should put more thought and consideration into who will be seeing them in that costume and if it could be offensive to anyone. If you can think of anyway that the costume could be offensive towards anyone, even if it's something small, it's better to play it safe and choose another costume to wear. Cultures shouldn't have to be generalized as one stereotype or costume. There is so much more to a culture than just the label society has given it. Even though this does answer the question of why people should be careful when selecting Halloween costumes, in my opinion, people are making too big of a deal out of this, I think you should be whatever you want for Halloween, most people are wearing the costume because they like it, not because they're trying to offend anyone. And people shouldn't be personally offended by a Halloween costume. It's just a costume, in my opinion it isn't as big of a deal as a lot of people make it out to be.

2 comments:

  1. I agree, but I don't think it's much of an over-reaction. I think that the campaign was just created to make people stop and think. At first I didn't understand why the Geisha costume was offensive, but now I understand that it was about generalizing the Japanese culture, and this does make sense to me.

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  2. Annie, you have clearly explained many reasons why people should avoid cultural costumes as Halloween costumes. I wonder how you are able to understand why the costumes are offensive, but still think that it is okay to wear one. It seems to oppose your comment that "there is so much more to a culture than just the label society has given it."

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