Response to the text – “My culture is not your costume”

Gabrielle T. Langkilde, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a joint concentrator in Sociology

and Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Eliot House has a strong opinion
against people who wear characters which represent cultural identity in form of a
Halloween costume. Gabrielle claims that wearing a costume for Halloween which
has a relation to her cultural or her heritage imposes as an insult as without having a
deeper understanding about the right efforts made by the character, dressing up as
them is wrong because people get to represent them and then they throw it away as
per their convenience. She speaks this out with confidence and boldness yet, when
she states that “You are minimizing our cultures, our heritages, and our histories as
nothing more than just a fun mask”, there is no concrete evidence that people are
actually have done that. And without any solid proof for the same, how does she get
to assume that her opinions reflect factual information? In fact, it’s ironic how she
thinks that wearing her cultural depicted costumes in a crowd of hundreds does not
have a possibility of her legacy being spread through the same people? And if
someone does not have respect for a tradition or a custom, I do not see a point in
them wearing it only for the action of mockery and being sardonic especially when
they spend so much time and effort for the right makeup and look.

Furthermore, in the film Moana – Maui learnt how to trust and support Moana
throughout her entire journey even thought he did not like her at first. In addition to
that, Moana is also a character which had enough patience to sail through the ocean
smoothly and remain calm during certain circumstances. Both characters are
inspirational and the whole movie is about how patience is the key to success. So, if
a child does want to be look, feel and be like them even if it is for one day… one
night… few hours… I do not seem to see what the problem as the writer mentions
that “Halloween is a magical time where you get to be someone you’re not for a
night” And it is for sure better than dressing up as “basic hot nurse or the overused
frat boy costume”. In my view, the need of “demand of creativity” in selecting the
Halloween costumes proposed by the writer, truly does reflect in a child wanting to
wear out Moana’s outfit or Maui’s. It does not only take ahead the courage
showcased in the movie by these characters… it mirrors the bravery which is
contained in the Pasefika people which all the more leads to cultural diversity.
Moreover, this movie had made the Samoan community come out as strong and
tough people so giving it importance and respect by wearing it to a eventful
celebration like Halloween does not seem like an insult to me. On the other hand, it
demonstrates that this movie has changed people’s perspectives towards this ethnic
group and the whole open minded state of mind has made them comfortable enough
to be wanting to be able to present themselves as those characters… and not for the
reasons the children would have liked other animated movies such as “Frozen”.
Later in the article, Gabrielle also hints at how she does not like the Samoan
community being referred to as “the horrible, stereotypical image of oversized, lazy
people” and favouring that choice, in my opinion, the solution to this problem is
already in our hands as more the people spread their love and respect toward this
community and their legacies, the faster these stereotypical images will disappear
and for that to happen, the writer does need to have some hope , faith along with
some light of positivity.

In conclusion to my response, I do agree with Gabrielle when she says that we

should be able to think out of the box and have some creativity which stands out
from the normal because Halloween is more than just the joy children get in dressing
up as someone else, or playing games like trick or treat and scaring adults away
from their horrifying pranks. It is more than dressing up in costumes and looking
good. But while we keep these in mind, we cannot ignore the sentiments of the
people celebrating it. We shouldn’t judge them if they enjoy this time of the year to
the fullest with the utmost respect to the characters, they are in… be it from the film -
Moana or anything else. We should be sensitive while wearing our selective
costumes but at the same time should have a carefree heart and should enjoy the
evening. There are pros and cons to everything in this world. The happiness spread
during Halloween can also be the cause of some parts of the world hating on each
other. Hence, we should be careful and really aware of what we are wearing and if it
is in the right senses or not.