I got a bit confused because, to the best of my knowledge, people never called Lana a squirrel because of KK's facial features. It was the way that KK used to screw up her face when acting, and people saw it as making funny squirrelly faces. I never saw it as having anything to do with how KK's features are set out though, just the way that KK acted back in seasons 1-3
I don't even dislike Lana any more, and I never have called her a squirrel, so I don't consider myself to be having a knee-jerk reaction to the suggestion that using the squirrel term might make you a racist. The arguments just hasn't yet convinced me that there's any connection. But then the name-calling has already began, so it's no longer an exchange of ideas (well if it ever was), it's one side being seen as blinded to the truth :/
Yes, that's why I called her Hamsterina--she doesn't look rodent like in the least bit--she's actually a very pretty girl--but that espression she used to make--oy!
Yeah I think it's kind of the difference between people saying that KK looks like a squirrel, and saying that Lana pulls squirrel or hamster like faces. It sounds like a silly point, but I do think it's fair to say there's quite a difference between the actress and the character when it comes to KK's heritage
Because the show has had three year old white Lana in the pilot, elderly white Lana in Hereafter, showed us Lana's white parents (all three of them!) Even forcing the character into dreadful pink make-up, and the Clana photo shot where KK was covered in white face powder. So when people call Lana the hamster or squirrel because of the faces being pulled, it never occured to me to associate it with racism because it's not always all that obvious that Lana is played by an actress who is part Asian.
But still, if it really has been bothering some Asian people, then maybe people should consider retiring the squirrel term anyway I guess. I have no idea though, it just seems like a really strange time for it to be coming up as offensive now, in season 7. I wonder why offensive connotations weren't brought up more when the nickname originally came up
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11/19/07 06:20 pm (UTC)I don't even dislike Lana any more, and I never have called her a squirrel, so I don't consider myself to be having a knee-jerk reaction to the suggestion that using the squirrel term might make you a racist. The arguments just hasn't yet convinced me that there's any connection. But then the name-calling has already began, so it's no longer an exchange of ideas (well if it ever was), it's one side being seen as blinded to the truth :/
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11/20/07 12:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
11/20/07 12:56 am (UTC)Because the show has had three year old white Lana in the pilot, elderly white Lana in Hereafter, showed us Lana's white parents (all three of them!) Even forcing the character into dreadful pink make-up, and the Clana photo shot where KK was covered in white face powder. So when people call Lana the hamster or squirrel because of the faces being pulled, it never occured to me to associate it with racism because it's not always all that obvious that Lana is played by an actress who is part Asian.
But still, if it really has been bothering some Asian people, then maybe people should consider retiring the squirrel term anyway I guess. I have no idea though, it just seems like a really strange time for it to be coming up as offensive now, in season 7. I wonder why offensive connotations weren't brought up more when the nickname originally came up