Excellent summary of the most important points in this discussion. I shall use this post for reference, should the occasion ever arise for me.
I think the mismatched names are a point that needs further mention: Khan is Arab and simply means "prince" whereas, as correctly stated, Sing is a name associated with the Sikh. Now, I could be wrong, but I always thought the Sikh were a rather peaceful people, and in their history they were often strongly prosecuted by Muslim warlords. Mixing a Muslim and Sikh name seems like either deliberate to emphasis the novelty and 'against nature' element of Khan as genetic creation or b) simply the lack of knowledge when the character was initially written and the attempt to give him a, as you suggested, name as exotic as possible.
Furthermore, I've always wondered why they chose a Mexican to play a supposed Indian character, and - now this is guesswork too, but I may be right - to me it felt as if, back then, they were merely looking for an "exotic" actor and thought nobody (of significance, i.e. white people) would notice the difference anyway.
That's two very problematic details on top of yours. But the one that stands out the most is the terrorist aspect, in my opinion, and the fact that, in an Islam- and xenophobic environment as today it would serve to underline the stereotype that terrorists are mostly from the Middle East or Orient.
Thanks for the good entry & Cheers leandraholmes (on tumblr)
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winterfish
no subject
Date: 2013-05-21 04:33 pm (UTC)I think the mismatched names are a point that needs further mention: Khan is Arab and simply means "prince" whereas, as correctly stated, Sing is a name associated with the Sikh. Now, I could be wrong, but I always thought the Sikh were a rather peaceful people, and in their history they were often strongly prosecuted by Muslim warlords. Mixing a Muslim and Sikh name seems like either deliberate to emphasis the novelty and 'against nature' element of Khan as genetic creation or b) simply the lack of knowledge when the character was initially written and the attempt to give him a, as you suggested, name as exotic as possible.
Furthermore, I've always wondered why they chose a Mexican to play a supposed Indian character, and - now this is guesswork too, but I may be right - to me it felt as if, back then, they were merely looking for an "exotic" actor and thought nobody (of significance, i.e. white people) would notice the difference anyway.
That's two very problematic details on top of yours. But the one that stands out the most is the terrorist aspect, in my opinion, and the fact that, in an Islam- and xenophobic environment as today it would serve to underline the stereotype that terrorists are mostly from the Middle East or Orient.
Thanks for the good entry & Cheers
leandraholmes (on tumblr)