“When you are a minority, it is no small thing to finally see yourself.”

August 21, 2016 8:01 AM

What We Lose When POC Entertainers Crack Into The Mainstream [Buzzfeed] How Lilly Singh’s Superwoman and Jasmeet Singh’s JusReign navigate between two worlds.
posted by Fizz (4 comments total)

It's an interesting observation that I had never considered before, that when POC voices start to become popular in North America the tendency is for them to water down their specific cultural memes in order for them to appeal to a wider audience.

Another thing to consider, that this level of fame is double-edged. You get to a point where people start to think that an artist or an entertainer has "sold out". I am sure that must be frustrating. Because there's something to be proud of by achieving that level of fame, influence, and power. You've made it to the big time. You're where everybody else has been for so long, you're no longer the "other". You're now on the inside looking out. Lots of interesting issues and ideas raised in this article.
posted by Fizz at 8:47 AM on August 21, 2016

So in a nutshell, you can't win- especially if you're a woman. Either be obscure, or eviscerate your culture to appeal to whites.

It wouldn't be so damn frustrating, if i didn't remember similar conversations back in the 80s, which were repeats of the sane thing from the 70s.
posted by happyroach at 10:52 AM on August 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

Thanks for posting this, good stuff!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:00 AM on August 21, 2016

I hadn't seen Shit Punjabi Mothers Say before, it is hilarious (SLYT link, for those who didn't RTFA).

When I first came to the US in the late 90s, the writings of Ramesh Mahadevan were that kind of in-joke: a witty, relatable, slightly subversive encapsulation of the late-20th-century Indian grad student / STEM immigrant experience. (I just learnt he died earlier this year, sadly.)

Then there was Sulekha, which was another wonderful place for Indian immigrants to write and chat about Indian immigrant things. I'm not even going to bother linking to it, because it has since made a complete transformation to some sort of e-commerce portal. Such is capitalism.

Then there was Sepia Mutiny, which was a sort of arts/politics/culture blog more targeted at US-born Indians than immigrants. That's died too.

And now, it seems to me that Indian immigrants just have Facebook and Reddit, the same as everyone else. In fairness it might simply seem this way to me because I'm just not looking in the right places.
posted by splitpeasoup at 11:03 AM on August 21, 2016 [4 favorites]