Nameless Voice on 18/1/2009 at 15:52
What I was originally going to say was that she (the actress in the image I linked to) looks too pale and made up, but then it occured to me that she's exactly that: an actress. Considering that people seem to like their actresses to have a paler, more western complexion, and considering that Maggie Chow is (or at least, was) also an actress, it would make as much sense for her to have that skin tone and level of make-up as any other.
Quote Posted by Pardoner
I didn't realize that the exotic eastern savages of downtown Hong Kong possessed such different heads. Gee, here I was thinking phrenology was a dead science.
Phrenology was the "scienece" of determining a person's personality based on the shape of their skull (with negative traits often associated with the features of non-European ethnic groups, since the inventors were European and considered themselves superior) - it had nothing to do with the fact that people of different ethnic groups generally have differently shaped features.
Pardoner on 18/1/2009 at 16:56
So your point is that phrenology is as irrelevant to what Maggie Chow looks like as your notions of what looks 'eastern' and what looks 'western'?
The encyclopedic definition is very helpful or whatever, but making your argument more patronizing doesn't make it any more defensible.
van HellSing on 18/1/2009 at 17:16
Quote Posted by DaBeast
Some east Asian countries have a weird taste for trying to look western, in Japan for example, some women had their eyes augmented (lol) to look more round, more western.
So how is this different from western girls wearing eastern-inspired clothes and makeup to appear more interesting?
Nothing weird about that, it's just how we work - we perceive exotic as sexy. And westerners are pretty much as exotic to asians as asians are exotic to westerners. For example, this is one of the reasons Mamoru Oshii made his live-action sci-fi movie Avalon in Poland, in polish and with polish actors - japanese would be "too mundane".
Nameless Voice on 18/1/2009 at 17:58
Quote Posted by Pardoner
So your point is that phrenology is as irrelevant to what Maggie Chow looks like as your notions of what looks 'eastern' and what looks 'western'?
Phrenology was never supposed to have anything to do with determining what a person looked like, unless you're proposing that Maggie Chow's model be based around her personality using reverse phrenology.
I think you're trying to imply that I'm being racist by saying that I like the idea of a Hong Kong actress looking Chinese*.
* Bear in mind that Hong Kong is a part of China in the Deus Ex universe.
van HellSing on 18/1/2009 at 18:22
So the new model's meant to look Chinese? I thought the new concept was of Maggie being a Versa-Life engineered transgenic baboon.
ZylonBane on 18/1/2009 at 20:27
Quote Posted by Pardoner
Her first name is Maggie, for fuck's sake. The only way her first name could be more "western" is if it was Clementine.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggie_Q) Perhaps it's a stage name.
For me the issue of racial authenticity is fairly irrelevent. My complaint is that the face texture is that of a middle-aged ugly person. Why couldn't Maggie Chow look like, say, this?
Inline Image:
http://yolearnchinese.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/gong_li.jpg(only not so depressed looking)
Nameless Voice on 18/1/2009 at 21:32
I thought that Maggie was supposed to be a bit older than that?
Matthew on 18/1/2009 at 23:14
Michelle Yeoh-like, then.
DaBeast on 19/1/2009 at 00:04
Quote Posted by van HellSing
So how is this different from western girls wearing eastern-inspired clothes and makeup to appear more interesting?
Its different because western girls don't have surgery to make their eyes look more Asian.
Quote Posted by van HellSing
Nothing weird about that, it's just how we work - we perceive exotic as sexy. And westerners are pretty much as exotic to asians as asians are exotic to westerners. For example, this is one of the reasons Mamoru Oshii made his live-action sci-fi movie Avalon in Poland, in polish and with polish actors - japanese would be "too mundane".
Well of course, I haven't said otherwise.
Quote Posted by Matthew
Michelle Yeoh-like, then.
A bit obvious but a good choice none the less.
Pardoner on 19/1/2009 at 00:51
Quote Posted by Nameless Voice
I think you're trying to imply that I'm being racist by saying that I like the idea of a Hong Kong actress looking Chinese.
No, I'm implying that your ideas of what it means to "look Chinese" or what is or isn't "eastern" or "western" are ridiculous.
As to the idea of Maggie being a stage name, that's sort of what I was alluding to with the "there's plenty of room for interpretation, etc." bit above. But I described it as a 'western' name because it seemed worth pointing out that notions of western and eastern aren't so cut and dried as NV and others want to make them. This idea of racial authenticity is kind of a goofy justification for why she doesn't look like the images in ZB's posts.
I just don't see why that argument justifies an interpretation of Maggie Chow that doesn't reflect her character. It'd be nice to see her look as well as act like someone who could manage to convince the (somewhat) prudish and upright Paul Denton to have an intimate relationship with her.
