I don’t think anyone’s really arguing that, but also, I’m not sure Astérix is a very good place to be fighting those battles, as every single person, ethnicity, gender and so forth is parodied.
Hmm. That said, there are some old stereotypes of Asians in the West that to my mind are pure invention, and aren’t fairly representative of the peoples. In fact, they were probably deliberately designed to be hurtful and mean-spirited, like those ridiculous propaganda posters the USA produced during WWII, depicting Japanese people, i.e. ‘the enemy.’ So, a caricature based on that model isn’t really a fair caricature. I guess I agree with you, after all.
You’re correct that “parodying” with a clear inspiration from racist depictions of people is not okay, regardless of the intent. Uderzo didn’t make up the giant red lips of the Numidians on his own, for example.
I don’t think anyone’s really arguing that, but also, I’m not sure Astérix is a very good place to be fighting those battles, as every single person, ethnicity, gender and so forth is parodied.
Hmm. That said, there are some old stereotypes of Asians in the West that to my mind are pure invention, and aren’t fairly representative of the peoples. In fact, they were probably deliberately designed to be hurtful and mean-spirited, like those ridiculous propaganda posters the USA produced during WWII, depicting Japanese people, i.e. ‘the enemy.’ So, a caricature based on that model isn’t really a fair caricature. I guess I agree with you, after all.
You’re correct that “parodying” with a clear inspiration from racist depictions of people is not okay, regardless of the intent. Uderzo didn’t make up the giant red lips of the Numidians on his own, for example.