this is a valid question, and like I also said it's not like Asian Americans are fully deprived of their heritage. that being said, anyone from neither group is necessarily an expert on their culture. I'm far (far...) from an expert on Korean culture, but I can at least speak on the Asian American experience.Would it have been as useful to have Japanese players from Japan look at it as Japanese or Japanese-American players in the US?
I'm not saying it wasn't enjoyable, but it is still dated and has bad stereotypes. you can enjoy things that are dated and problematic, I mean I still play D&D despite all these controversies going on right now.I didn't say OA was bad. In fact, OA was very well received upon release and I enjoyed the heck out of it back in the day. What I said it was OA was not designed to stand up to the rigors of academic standards. And when it comes to entertainment, I'm not all that concerned about academic rigor. The very fact that I play in any D&D setting is proof positive that academic rigor is not a primary concern.
Even in 1985, the idea that OA would have been anyone's only view of Asian cultures is a bit of a stretch.
also, think about other entertainment products involving Asian culture around that time. I know Shogun was a big deal in the early 80's, but like OA is largely considered incredibly dated and full of stereotypes, and yet for many Americans it was their introduction to Japanese history. even audiences in Japan didn't like it at the time because they thought it wasn't faithful to history.
I even have an anecdotal story: my own dad was a consultant in Japan in the 80's. he told me how one time he suggested the name "Pilot" for a product and they rejected it because of the association with the show.
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