Living in a Cultural Cherry-picking World
In this blog, I mention “East Asian” as a broad term, but mainly talk about Korean culture since that is what I am most familiar with. Please understand that not all of what I talk about represents all aspects of East Asian culture since it is so diverse and complex, far more than I will ever be able to capture in a few hundred words.
Over the past few years, I have witnessed the cultural boom in East Asian cultures within Western society. Growing up watching my K-drama shows, K-pop music videos, and K-beauty trends in the isolation of my home, I have had a cultural shock seeing all these cultural components embedded in Western daily life. Now people of all variety come to me, asking me if I’ve seen the latest K-pop girl group that’s come out or that new Korean skincare product going viral on TikTok. Now, people judge others based on whether or not they’ve seen anime or not, and if they have, what kind of anime they have watched. The average person knows who BTS is, has seen Squid Game, and has praised Korean sunscreen. Yet this cultural representation, although some would expect to be a weight lifted off of East Asians living in Western society, has been a complex feeling.
In many ways, I see the fruit of East Asian Americans integrating their culture into American society in a way that makes me smile. Food is especially big; the transformation of East Asian cuisine as something to eat only as a last resort to something you can look forward to on a weekend night out would not have been possible without the East Asian American champions of food. Korean and Japanese food especially has taken the world by storm, finding a place for udon noodles and bibimbap up there with fancy steak and alfredo pasta (although using eurocentric food as the ultimate standard of cuisine is also disappointing). The shaming of cultural foods that people bring from home has lessened, although there is still much work to do in that realm as well.
In other ways, I feel bitter. Why should others be praised for liking parts of Korean culture that I was ashamed to ever talk about when I was little? And the cultural “appreciation” that usually happens in Western society simply generalizes vast and diverse cultural traditions, reinforcing that “exotic” or “oriental” view of East Asian-ness. Why do others get praised for having slimmer, foxy eyes when I felt shamed for having monolids my entire childhood? The cherry picking of East Asian culture to be rebranded into a white, “clean” version in the U.S. has boggled my mind and has made me question if this is really representation at all.
This perspective is not unique to just myself and has been expressed by many other East Asian Americans in the past. This perspective is also not unique to just East Asians. But I think with East Asian culture specifically, Westerners have collectively branded East Asians as more submissive - allowing numerous integral parts of East Asian culture to become mere trends on social media, and no one really batting an eye. We are viewed as docile and bound by our social systems, especially since American psychology textbooks have branded East Asian cultures as “collectivist” and Western cultures as “individualist.”
But this general attitude is not solely based on malicious intent. There are millions of people out there who genuinely appreciate East Asian culture, want to learn more about it, and have learned a lot already. In many ways, East Asians ourselves perpetuate this submissive attitude and self fetishization. We turn against each other, saying that these East Asian trends that have gone viral don’t matter and that we need to grow up. We idolize curated K-pop idols who are institutionally bred to seem like they’re “ours,” as if we have an emotional possession over them.
In other words, I really have no idea what the future holds for cultural representation and integration in general. Within the mere 21 years I have been alive, there has been drastic change in how people view East Asians. The trust I had lost is difficult to regain. This blog had mostly come about after seeing that BTS met Joe Biden at the White House. In some way, I was astounded because ten years ago, this would never have happened. But then, I question what it means for a K-pop group to only have “real” value when it is accepted by Western society? Of course, they are a stand alone group that has grown supporters from all across the globe through their unbeatable talent, but I cannot help the overwhelming cherry-picking that is deeply rooted in these latest events.
My advice to those that are struggling the same as I am in understanding the cultural revolution going on right now is to just keep pushing forward (I know, what generic advice). But we don’t know if tomorrow certain aspects of our culture will be continue to be praised or not. “We” ourselves are a complex variety from different origins; some of us were born and raised abroad, while others have lived in the U.S. for all of their life. We understand aspects of the cultural revolution differently, and the only advice I can give for such a diverse group is to keep going. For some that is pushing for Asian leadership in STEM fields, for some it’s normalizing East Asian foods in daily life, and for others it’s just getting into a good school or getting a stable job. Whatever thing you are doing to keep yourself afloat and strong now will hold up against the act of time, and we cannot be replaced like trends are. To continue to live our lives stubbornly and proudly has been a key aspect of minority culture in general. Personally, I would love to see where this cultural revolution is going.
