What is cultural appropriation and who are the artists who have been accused in great controversies?
The debate that has taken over social networks on multiple occasions returned to the fore. This time it arose after the confession of the singer Gwen Stefani, who she claimed to feel Japanesequestioning that adds to the accusations that he has gone through for using allegories typical of Japanese culture in his artistic works, such as video clips, advertising and merchandising, since it does not maintain any relationship with the nation. But what does this practice consist of?
What is cultural appropriation?
correspond to acceptance of elements, symbols, characteristics that distinguish a culture. Is adoption is controversial since it is considered that it causes damage to the culture that is transgressed and at the same time a violation of intellectual property rights. Within this line would fall the use of garments, recipes, symbols, changes of look and even the use of a language and also the line of traditions of some community.
When this phenomenon occurs, many times you willloses or distorts the sense that the transgressed element may have for the community, falling into disrespectful practices that end up being harmfulthe latter occurs when these symbols that are taken are transformed into fashions.
Cultural appropriation is even more complex today, because with globalization and the massification of the Internet it is almost inevitable not to happensince it is practically impossible for two cultures not to mix.
During the development of their artistic careers, there have been many celebrities who have fallen into this practice and have been surrounded by criticism against their actions.
What celebrities have been involved in this practice?
kim kardashian
The influencer was harshly criticized after having released a new look on her Instagram in 2018. This was about braids in the same style as Bo Derek, who she confessed to having “copied” the hairstyle. His hair and his confession brought him problems, as the comments did not take long to appear. Netizens judged him that it was incorrect to attribute her new look to a white woman, when her true origin dates back to black women.
Later in an interview with People magazine, the socialite would affirm that She was not looking to appropriate the culture, rather she wanted a new look to help her get inspiration when putting together her outfits.
Adele
The thing is about new hairstyles. The interpreter of “Someone Like You” knows it well, when she received multiple comments for her change of look. In the midst of the 2020 pandemic, Adele posted a photograph of her in her California mansion, in which the singer can be seen using a swimsuit with a Jamaican flag design. In addition, his hairstyle was also criticized, since it corresponded to a look called “bantu”, typical of African culture.
The singer was even reprimanded on Twitter by journalist Ernest Owens, who is of African-American descent. The communicator said: “This officially marks all the leading white women in pop as troublemakers”.
Ariana Grande
To promote her latest album “Thank U, Next”, the singer launched merchandising alluding to her new creation, however, some of the products such as posters, sweatshirts and even masks contained Japanese letters and inscriptions. Her fans were quick to stalk her and accuse her of appropriating Asian culture. The icing on the cake in the face of the accusations came when the interpreter of “7 rings” shared her new tattoo on her networks with the name of this song with lyrics in Japanese, which even had typing errors and had a complete translation. different.
Coldplay
And on more than one occasion. In the first, the band that filled stadiums around the world with its international tour “Music of the Spheres” was also accused by social networks. This came after the premiere of his music video “Hymn For The Weekend”, which was set in India. The second, for its part, was with the singer Rihanna, after the launch of the video they have together, “Princess of China”, which shows the singers in a dynamic of Chinese culture: Rihanna as a geisha and Chris Martin as a samurai.
Selena Gomez
The attacks on the artist began when she released her song “Come and Get It”, which reveals multiple references such as Indian clothing and dances. These came true when she appeared at the MTV Movie Awards to perform the song in question. The singer appeared on stage wearing a bindia mark on the forehead that symbolizes concentration and energy for indian culture.
Katy Perry
The artist has been involved in criticism several times as a result of cultural appropriation, but always for the same reason: the use of clothing and hairstyles belonging to a particular community.
Among these controversies we go back to the 2013 American Music Awards, where to present his song “Unconditionally”, he dressed as a geisha and filled the stage with elements typical of Japan. Let’s also remember the release of her video “Dark Horse”, where she uses symbols, praises, monuments and clothing belonging to Egypt.
Zack Efron and Justin Bieber
As happened to Kim Kardashian and Adele, the artists were rebuked for the same reasons. Zack Efron was rebuked for changing his look to a dreadlocks hairstylewho pointed out he did it “just for fun”. In the same way, Justin Bieber had the same hairstyle, but this had a more drastic end, because after receiving criticism, he shaved off his hair.
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