A Personal Analysis of Cultural Appropriation  

 

By Dr. Rolando M. Ochoa

I have been hearing of and then reading about the term, Cultural Appropriation, for some time now. However, after reading about the latest controversy surrounding a new movie, Alina of Cuba: La Hija Rebelde, about Alina Fernandez, the daughter of the late dictator, Fidel Castro, I decided to do further research on the meaning of appropriation and analyze it in more detail.

My research revolved around the backgrounds of some of those participating in the making of the movie. The movie’s director is Miguel Barden, who is from Spain; one of its writers is Jose Rivera, who is Puerto Rican; another writer is Milo Cruz, who is Cuban. The Director chose the great actor, James Franco, an American of Italian extraction, to play the role of the dictator, Castro. Many people complained that the role of Castro should have been played by a “Latin” actor. One of the more outspoken personalities complaining about this selection is John Leguizamo, who is from Colombia and also a great actor. 

In my opinion, no one should make a movie where Castro is a main character unless that movie shows him for what he was. He was a traitor to Cuba, a tyrant of the worse kind, an assassin, a liar, and the destroyer of one of the most prosperous countries in the world before 1959. I am hoping that the director and the writers do not get swept up by the WOKE tendencies in Hollywood and just make Castro look like a “normal” head of state.

I also believe that a director must choose an actor to play a part, not because of ethnicity, nationality, or race, but based on individual talent and the ability to “become” that character in the movie. Eddie Murphy, who is African American played a white Jewish old man in the barbershop scene in the film Coming to America. Al Pacino, who is of Italian descent, played Tony Montana, a Cuban, in Scarface. Both actors did a superb job in their roles.  Actors who always play only themselves in a monotonous fashion, show little creative talent and have even less artistic importance. There are many actors in this category unfortunately.

Eddie Murphy in the lower right side as a white

Old Jewish man

The great Oscar winning actors and other actors who have given remarkable performances have played characters totally different than themselves. Let me give you a short list:

·         (1995) Tom Hanks played Forest Gump and he is not handicapped

·         (1989) Dustin Hoffman who is not handicapped played a handicapped person in Rain Man

·         (1983) Ben Kingsley played Gandhi and he is not an Indian

·         (1975) Andy Garcia, who is Cuban, played an Italian in The Godfather series

·         (1962) Natalie Wood, who was not Puerto Rican, played one in West Side Story

·         (1957) Mario Moreno (Cantinflas), who was Mexican, played a Frenchman in Around the World in 80 Days

·         (1963) Elizabeth Taylor, who was not Egyptian, played Cleopatra

·         (1983) Meryl Streep played a Polish woman in Sophie’s Choice and she is not Polish

·         (2001) John Leguizamo, who is Colombian, played a French man, Houri de Toulouse-Louttec in Moulin Rouge. (Did any French actors complain?)

               

There are many examples that clearly document that great acting should never take a back seat to political correctness and the avoidance of Cultural Appropriation.

The Oxford Dictionary defines Appropriation as:

The action of taking something for one’s own use, typically without the owner’s permission. (Fidel Castro did so all the time) 

The same dictionary defines Cultural Appropriation as:

The unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of customs, practices, ideas, etc., of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society

You, the reader, should make up your mind about this issue, so I offer how Wikipedia describes cultural appropriation in several quotes. Some in favor of the concept and others do not approve of it:

“Those who see this appropriation as exploitative state that cultural elements are lost or distorted when they are removed from their originating cultural contexts, and that such displays are disrespectful or even a form of desecration. Cultural elements that may have deep meaning to the original culture may be reduced to “exotic” fashion or toys by those from the dominant culture. “

“Kjerstin Johnson has written that when this is done, the imitator, "who does not experience that oppression is able to 'play', temporarily, an 'exotic' other, without experiencing any of the daily discrimination faced by other cultures.".

“The academic, musician and journalist, Gret Tate, argues that appropriation and the fetishing of cultures, in fact, alienates those whose culture is being appropriated.”

“The concept of cultural appropriation also has  been heavily criticized.  Critics note that the concept is often misunderstood or misapplied by the general public, and that charges of cultural appropriation are at times misapplied to certain situations, such as trying food from a different culture or learning about different cultures.”

“John McWhorter, a professor at Columbia University, criticized the concept in 2014, arguing that cultural borrowing and cross-fertilization is a generally positive thing and is something which is usually done out of admiration, and with no intent to harm the cultures being imitated; he also argued that the specific term "appropriation", which can mean theft, is misleading when applied to something like culture that is not seen by all as a limited resource.”

“In 2018, conservative columnist, Jonah Goldberg, described cultural appropriation as a positive thing and dismissed opposition to it as a product of some people's desire to be offended. Additionally, the term can set arbitrary limits on intellectual freedom, artists' self-expression, reinforce group divisions, or promote a feeling of enmity or grievance rather than of liberation.”

My Own View

I am a member of a non-dominant culture, namely, “Cubans in exile”, and I do not have any problems or feel offended if someone uses some of the elements of my culture, or impersonates a Cuban as long as it is done with respect and displays the truth. Not all Cubans sound like Tony Montana (Al Pacino) in Scarface, although of course some do.

If this new movie, Alina of Cuba: La Hija Rebelde, tells the truth about Fidel Castro and the oppressive regime that has enslaved the Cuban people for over 63 years, I have no problem with who plays Fidel Castro, and that actor does not have to be a Cuban.  He just has to show the viewers who the dictator Castro really was.

Notice I did not say “Latin” actor here. There is no such category as a Latin person. They do not exist! Latin is a language, one that is now almost extinct. It is not a nationality nor a race. Who am I? First, I am a human being; secondly, I am a man.  Then, I am a believer in God. Then there are my personal labels. I was born in Cuba, my ancestors were born in Spain, and now I am an American by naturalization. By the way, I am not brown. I am white.

The world would be a better place if we stopped grouping people and designating a label of any kind to them.   Instead, we should accept each person for who they are as an individual, not as a category, whether cultural or otherwise.