Conflict of Cultural Costume

On October 27, 2017, Teen Vogue created and released a video, "My Culture is NOT a Costume." This video featured six women of different ethnicities and backgrounds who were all questioned on how they felt about costumes that co-opt their cultures. This included; a Muslim woman, a Chinese woman, an Indeginous woman, a native Hawiian woman, an African American woman, and a Latina woman.

These woman were all asked how they felt about Halloween costumes that co-opt their cultures, their responses were not positive.  Most, if not all, of the responses given were negative, the six woman exclaimed that the Halloween costumes were offensive and insensitive. The reasoning behind this is because how inaccurate the costumes were, and how poorly they depicted the culture they grew up with.

Valerie Reynoso explaining the indigenous costume's flaws.

What some of the Halloween costumes seem to depict is that of a cartoon character, the costumes that depict these cultures are seen as jokes, and some important symbols of culture are used without thought. Many people spend weeks creating proper and traditional cultural costumes, but the low quality and thought behind the Halloween costumes are disrespectful. The message behind these costumes are most likely humorous, and it shows how the media has affected people's view on culture and identity.

Through these Halloween costumes, serious problems and concerns of culture are pushed to the side and are used as jokes, clothing and accessories that have cultural meanings are disregarded, along with the stories and meaning behind them. The women shares that Halloween is the worst time to co-opt someones culture, as it is a time to dress up as things that are out of the ordinary or scary, dressing as somebody's culture would be very inappropriate.


I understand where these six women are coming from, the culture somebody grows up in is a very important part of one's identity. Seeing your culture being made a joke is very offensive not only to you, but also your family. It makes one feel worthless, like how they were raised was wrong, and that their culture is below another. The costumes portray their culture as strange or scary, though a lot of cultural costumes have deeper meanings to them. I personally have not gone through the trouble of cultural appropriation as I was raised in a predominately asian neighbourhood.

Although cultural appropriation is a serious problem, the main problem is that people are not aware of the problems behind these Halloween costumes. Many of the people wearing these costumes do not intend to offend anybody, but they were never taught about the meaning of these cultural outfits, and how it could be offensive.

There are many people that do not understand the meaning of these outfits, but it is never to late to teach them. This video was already a very good step forwards, sharing the message with over       350, 000 people. I doubt anybody would co-opt as someone else culture on Halloween intending to degrade or make fun of another culture, the message needs to be shared with everybody so that we all understand the issues surrounding these costumes.

A Message to Push the Vote Forward

In late September, 2018 an organization by the name of "Knock the Vote" had created and released a Public Service Announcement (PSA) as a way to solve a common problem during voting turnouts, that being the lack of participation and representation of the younger generation.

As a way to combat the issue, Knock the Vote's PSA is now being broadcasted across the States. The PSA confronts the younger generation and challenges them to vote using a clever method. Right from the beginning of the PSA the younger generation is targeted and commanded to avoid voting, "Dear young people, don't vote." Following this, the elderly characters portrayed on screen tell the viewers that everything is alright; for them.

They remind the viewers that the current president Donald Trump, who attracts much controversy, is all their doing, and they love it, "Trump, that was us. He's our guy." The characters on screen begin to mention sensitive points of concern around America and continue to brush it off as if it does not matter, "Sure, school shootings are sad, but I haven't been in a school for fifty years."

The PSA proceeds to drive the point home and challenges the younger generation to take a step forward and help vote. The characters on screen acknowledge that we young people do not like it, but they claim that the young people won't do anything to change it, "You might even share this video on Facebook. But you won't vote." Following this, the PSA once again reminds the viewers that those people vote, and they are the cause of the current president, "Every single Election. We'll be there, but you won't. Because we're a generation of doers. Not whiners. And we're doing great."

Knock the Vote's logo displayed at the end of the PSA along with their official website.

The PSA was very interesting and cleverly made, although on the outside the PSA told the viewers not to vote, the message to participate really shone through. The PSA found a way to push the younger generation to vote in a way that does not sit well with and challenges the younger generation. Using those driving emotions, Knock the Cote is attempting to influence the younger generation to vote.

When I first watched the Knock the Vote's PSA, the message was conveyed to me that every vote matters. The PSA annoyed me and made me feel uneasy, but through those emotions I suddenly had an urge to vote, even though I do not live in the States. All of the topics that that the PSA had brought up were serious problems, but the PSA really pushed the fact that the current president is not doing anything to solve the issue. Through the PSA the younger generation was told that they can make a difference, with their vote all of those things may change.

The PSA stressed the fact that the reason that Donald Trump is the current president is because there were people that got up and voted for him. The younger generation love to hate on and bash Donald Trump's work, but it does not matter because they did not vote for themselves. The PSA teaches us that the people who do vote, do it because it benefits them, in ways better or worse for others. If the younger generation dislike president Trump's work than they have to go vote and make a change.

I believe that this PSA will work and persuade the younger generation to get up and vote. It expressed the fact that it does not matter if we sit at home and complain about the president, when we could have changed the outcome of the elections if we just voted. The PSA influenced the viewers using a unique way, they challenged the younger generation vote with an unpleasant feeling, the feeling of injustice.