Disneyfied? Going Native

                Initially I had trouble reading this work.  At first glance, this piece seemed to jump all over the place.  As I looked over it again, I started to see a pattern in the writing.  After this, I was able to understand what was going on in the essay.  My personal relation to Francine Prose’s writing is a different story.

                Francine Prose seems to have a pessimistic view our culture.  She talks about how many people try to adopt another culture without actually living by the ways of that culture.  According to her, these people “who attend regional powwows and decorate their homes with images representing a sort of airbrushed, mythical, Disneyfied version of the Native American Experience” try to make themselves feel better about their self image.  Prose describes this as a sort of cosmetic surgery for the brain, because nothing changes except the appearance. 

                Maybe I didn’t get the context of the beginning of this essay, but to me it seems like the author switches gears somewhere in the middle.  She begins by discrediting those that try to adopt another culture, but then describes her own experience of doing so.  I felt that this was a little hypocritical, like Prose felt that she was different from those people that she described earlier in the piece.   Or is it that she intentionally leads the reader down this thought path?  She could be taking the reader along the journey of how the average person sees those who choose to partake in a culture that is not their own.  I am more likely to see it as the first situation because that is what jumped out at me as I read.

                I have a problem with Prose’s idea that culture is a destiny.  She describes the life of Lafcadio Hearn, who never feels correct or at peace until he moves to Japan.  Her view of our place in the world is too absolute for my taste.  I prefer to think of culture as how you got to where you are, not as determining where you will go.  I believe that each person adapts differently to their surroundings, and that some people do better in more scenarios, but we are by no means tied to one way of life. 

                I guess what it all comes down to is Prose’s dislike of the “melting pot” ideal.  She has a very individualistic “I’m special because I’m different” feel to her writing, and I just don’t relate.  I think that in our society today, we focus on how we are different from each other, rather than how we are alike.  Prose’s position on the subject bothers me in this respect.