Aboriginal rights activists yesterday criticized a government-produced short film promoting a festival of Aboriginal art, saying that the portrayal of a female Aborigine and a Caucasian suitor conformed to discriminatory ethnic and gender stereotypes.
“It makes us especially heartbroken to see such a work of discrimination come from one of our very own Aboriginal government agencies,” said Chen I-chen (陳以箴), an Aboriginal rights advocate from the Makatao people.
The clip, produced by the state-run Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation, was made to promote the Pulima Art Festival, a national art event featuring fine art and performance art by Aboriginal artists.
The film showed a blond Caucasian man encountering an Aboriginal woman near an MRT station. Apparently attracted by the woman’s beauty, he followed her into the station, where she performed a dance routine alongside traditionally dressed Aboriginal children.
The clip ended with the man saying he would like to get to know the woman, and the woman responded by handing him a Taipei Easycard, which then doubles as a ticket to the festival.
Critics said the film promoted stereotypical views of female Aborigines as “exotic objects of lust” sought after by Western men.
“This film has no cultural depth at all,” Hualien county councilor candidate Kawlo Iyun Pacidal said. “It’s saddening that so many Aboriginal artists have poured their heart and soul into the work featured at this festival, yet they are completely unrepresented in this advert.”
Kawlo, of the Amis people, added that the “stalking behavior” of the man in the clip made her feel uncomfortable, since it reinforced the stereotype that female Aborigines are exotic trophies.
The advocates demanded a thorough review of the production process of the film, as well as an apology from the foundation.
The clip was taken down from YouTube late last night “to respect different views,” Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation marketing division deputy manager Chuang Che-jen (莊哲人) said.
He added that the the writer and director of the film are Aborigines.
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
The Central Emergency Operations Center (CEOC) has made a three-phased compulsory evacuation plan for Hualien County’s Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) disaster zone ahead of the potential formation of a typhoon. The plan includes mandatory vertical evacuation using air-raid-style alarms if needed, CEOC chief coordinator Chi Lien-cheng (季連成) told a news conference in the county yesterday. Volunteers would be prohibited from entering the disaster area starting tomorrow, the retired general said. The first phase would be relocating vulnerable residents, including elderly people, disabled people, pregnant women and dialysis patients, in shelters and hospitals, he said. The second phase would be mandatory evacuation of residents living in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
COUNTERMEASURE: Taiwan was to implement controls for 47 tech products bound for South Africa after the latter downgraded and renamed Taipei’s ‘de facto’ offices The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still reviewing a new agreement proposed by the South African government last month to regulate the status of reciprocal representative offices, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Asked about the latest developments in a year-long controversy over Taiwan’s de facto representative office in South Africa, Lin during a legislative session said that the ministry was consulting with legal experts on the proposed new agreement. While the new proposal offers Taiwan greater flexibility, the ministry does not find it acceptable, Lin said without elaborating. The ministry is still open to resuming retaliatory measures against South
RSS