Authenticity of Asia

I felt construction of authenticity examined in Authentic Indians, when I was watching G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra. There was a scene one Asian guy, actually Korean guy who acted Storm Shadow, was looking back upon his childhood. In a temple in Tokyo, he was like a young apprentice. He was fighting small American kid who will become Snake Eyes, because he tried to steal food from the temple. At that time, an old monk who looked like a master came into the kitchen and yelled “stop Storm Shadow!” and then Storm Shadow started talking something in Korean, not Japanese. English speaking monk, young Japanese apprentice named Storm Shadow, and no one speaks Japanese in Tokyo. I was like what the hell…. But all my American friends seemed to notice nothing wield…

I was thinking like you guys have no idea about Japan and Asia, while watching the movie. Many Americans are making something like authenticity about Japanese and Asian culture, and Asian people align themselves with it, because they can sell it and it’s natural in America, as Aboriginal people did. Like Raibmon commented, we “played Asian”, the stereo type which is regarded as Asian by American. (8). There was construction of authenticity which served as a colonial assumption for Asian culture…

The Korean actor is regarded as a patriot in Korea, because he asserted that he wanted to use Korean in the scene to the director of the movie. And he said he accepted the wield Tokyo scene, because he thought presenting Asia, whether it was wield or not, was better than nothing. We can consider his decision as strategic essentialism. But it’s still sad that the director accepted his proposal. It means that it doesn’t matter if they use Korean in the Tokyo scene. Because it doesn’t hurt the authenticity of Asia in America.