Looks like a guy
dressed up as a Nazi officer for a Cosplay event in Seoul over the weekend, and raised some interesting questions for the photographer. I realize that people who dress like this in Korea probably don't hate the Jews, and probably just think the Nazis were
good dressers, or that Hitler had a funny moustache, or something. So though they're probably not anti-Semetic, they are exceedingly stupid, and need to be called on it.
Browse the "
Nazis in Korea" category---yes I have a category on it---for more on Nazi bars, Nazi commercials, and a
Nazi mural in downtown Gyeongju.
And in case you're wondering how well a photoshoot with a comfort woman theme would go over in Korea,
Gusts of Popular Feeling has your answer. If you thought "well enough for people to dress like a comfort woman in subsequent cosplay shows," try again.
7 comments:
How many people would care if a kid dressed up as an Imperial Japanese soldier at a European cosplay event?
I'm not going to argue that what this cosplayer did is right, but I do wonder if "exceedingly stupid" is the right way to describe him - "ignorant" would probably be a better word. I mean, I wouldn't blame some random kid in America who doesn't know about (for example) the extent of Japanese atrocities during WWII. And of course, lecturing them about the holocaust is probably going to sound to them what it sounds like to us when they lecture us about Dokdo or how bad Japan is.
Yeah, I understand the ignorance argument---perhaps that was a better word, you're right---and I see your point---and the point made by others---about giving some random kid so much attention. To your first question, though, I'd say it probably wouldn't occur to very many Europeans to dress up as an imperial Japanese soldier. Perhaps that speaks to our/their own ignorance, too, who knows. And if lecturing about the Holocaust comes across the same as Koreans lecturing about Dokdo . . . well, we all know those priorities are already out of whack.
I mean, I wouldn't blame some random kid in America who doesn't know about (for example) the extent of Japanese atrocities during WWII.
I would.
I'd probably use the words "ignorant" and "exceedingly stupid" to describe that hypothetical American kid as well.
And if lecturing people about the slaughter of 6 million Jews (and an overall estimate of 11 to 17 million people) has suddenly gained the same weight as propaganda over two stupid islands, then I think I`ll have to give up on humanity right now.
That anyone would even think of putting those two points on a moral balance sickens me.
wow! It's a perfectly valid point to compare the two, conceptually. Clearly some don't have much in the way of an attachment to Korean past historical grievances, and that is exactly why Dokdo means nothing to you. And it's fair that it doesn't.Personally, I could give a flying fuck. But the fact is that Dokdo is one of many thorny issues between Korea and Japan, starting with colonization and ending in partition and civil war, all told involving the deaths of more than a million.
Yeah. I'm real sad about the Nazi's killing millions of Jews, Russians, Europeans in general and more than a few Americans. I'm also sad about Maoist China's 10s of millions dead. And Soviet Russia.. and Moaist Cambodia.. and well, geez. The list goes on.
As far as this hypothetical American kid, well, some people don't sit around all day contemplating the history of the far east. Perhaps they're too busy sitting around obsessing about the European theater of the war. Perhaps they just don't sit around and stew in strange nationalist historiographies and just don't care what these symbols mean. Hell, if I want to put on my Tojo or Goebbels costume and prance around like an idiot, I'm gonna. I know people who have Mao stuff plastered all over. They think it's funny cause it's so insane. I'm inclined to agree.
I find it interesting to see how people are reacting to the sight of this kid. What the Nazis did to Jews, Gypsies, and several other minority groups in Europe is absolutely worthy of condemnation. But the question arises: when is it appropriate to use Nazi uniforms and images, and when should it be taboo?
My initial reaction is to say that, for historical reproductions - say, movies - it's okay, but someone dressing up in Nazi duds for fun is going a little too far.
Then again, from everything I've heard and seen firsthand, cosplay events are functions where attendees dress up as characters from manga and video games. What happens if one of those characters is a Nazi soldier? Heck, for all I know there's a manga out there with a Nazi soldier who subverts the system at every opportunity -- like an Oskar Schindler. For insiders, wearing that character's uniform would mean something very different than what it does to outsiders. Does that make it "okay"?
On a similar vein, just a few years before the Holocaust took place the //Russians// Soviets decided to indulge in a genocide of their own, this one known as Holodomor ("Death by starvation") and directed against Ukrainians. The //Russians// Soviets invaded Poland along with Nazi Germany, murdered Polish officers and intellectuals, then invaded Finland three months later. Doesn't sound that far removed from what Germany was doing at the time. So what am I supposed to think when I see pictures of Drifting Focus out with her friends dressed in World War Two-era Soviet military uniforms? Should people be upset or dismayed at that as well?
So ... when is it "just for fun" and when does it become a serious issue? (Not that I'm expecting an eternally-applicable answer to the question -- I certainly don't have one.)
When I introduced myself as Dutch as a teacher's luncheon in Gwangju, one of the Koreans thought I meant "Deutsch," as in German. He then thought it appropriate to tell me what a "Great Man" Hitler had been, and how the Final Solution would have been one of the 20th century's successes, if only it had been carried out. All from a public schoolteacher.
So yes, some Koreans *do* admire the Nazis and the evils they stood for. Cockroaches like the one who approached me at that meeting have no place in the school system, and no one should make excuses for them.
Repugnant.
I wouldn't for a second be wearing any Soviet era memorabilia around my Polish boss who escaped Poland during the Iron Curtain years.
And yes I do find people wearing Soviet era memorabilia grossly ignorant of what they think they're celebrating. Heck, lets even extend it to North Korea. There's some Scandinavian jeans company that's importing jeans made in NK. A cell phone company called Wind started up in Canada and I was considering going with them until I found out their parent company is doing business with NK.
And I've long thought any Korean man convicted of beating his wife should be punished by having to dress up in an Imperial Japanese army uniform as a reminder that Koreans, of all people, should be sensitive to the sufferings of Korean women at the hands of brutes.
So, yes, a kid at a cosplay event in Europe dressing as a Japanese ww ii soldier might want to be informed about the horrors he's idolizing. A kid dressing up as a Nazi in Asia should likewise be informed. A kid celebrating Stalin era soviet union is in the same boat.
And Napoleon fans, anyone? Or people who fly the Southern flag?
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