This paper contains an analysis of Vice’s video, “Rent a White Guy,” as it summarizes the video, discusses the status of the issue, and looks at the contents of the video from a cultural standpoint.
The news report I chose to write about takes place in China as it shows that they praise Western culture, with an emphasis on the white people who are a part of that culture. Thomas Morton, a Vice reporter, depicts how white people are seen through the lense of people who live in China. He finds that he can get many jobs within a day’s notice, from acting to being a butler, just because the color of his skin is white. He interviews a Chinese reporter who gives him a history lesson about the probable beginning of the appraisal of white people. The reporter states that their country was so far behind other developing countries in the 1980’s, so people “resorted to a blind worship of anything that is related to the Western world,” (18:00). Chinese people think that because white culture is superior, white people are superior as well. This is when people started to use white Americans as a selling point in China. Thomas finds that people are more attentive to white people than Chinese people, and that is why the market is such a selling point; white sells in China the same way sex sells.
Thomas is constantly showing how surprised he is during the entire video; one moment, in particular, is when he goes to a convention and meets a white part-time actor named David. David gets paid to act like he is a doctor as he goes to conventions as a special guest. Thomas is sitting in the back of a conference room as he explains that the room was half-empty and barely attentive for actual, knowledgable doctors from China; however, the room is full when David, the fake white doctor, is speaking about something he finds off of Wikipedia. The video explains how China’s favor of white culture is out of hand, as Thomas explains how China will soon catch up to us and realize that “white people aren’t the role models they’ve been sold as,” (27:55).
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In a video published by PBS titled, “Why China’s Youth Find Western Culture Attractive”, it states how the president of China thinks that, “China’s culture is being infiltrated by hostile Western forces, and the government has sent out new limitations on Chinese mass media,” (1:18). Western culture has grown in China at a constant, ever since they opened their doors to foreign trade. The government is now trying to push back on those Western forces. Many other countries have adapted to Western culture as well, as they adopt similar values, beliefs, traditions, and technologies.
From a culturally relative perspective, it is clear that Western culture has become popular in a worldwide standpoint. From reading chapter 6 in our textbook, Essentials of Cultural Anthropology, I have connected the Vice video to be similar to the process of assimilation. I believe that an anthropologist may look at it this way as the textbook states that assimilation is, “the process through which minorities accept the patterns and norms of the dominant culture and cease to exist as separate groups,” (166). Although the Chinese people in the video don’t live in America, they still have adopted into the “melting pot” as they have utilized the dominance of Western white culture in order to promote show business, marketing, and using the culture as a selling point.
Another quote that stood out to me in the textbook is on page 164 as it states, “Ethnicity can be mobilized to create opportunities, including engagement in everyday economics. Today ethnicity is being packaged and produced for a multibillion-dollar market: food, clothing, music, fashion, and cultural artifacts.” An article titled, White People Wanted: A Peek into China’s Booming ‘Rent a Foreigner’ Industry backs up this evidence by stating that, “It’s not uncommon for Chinese companies to hire foreigners, especially white Westerners, to represent them in public relations-type roles.
Many Chinese equate Caucasian faces with business success and a global outlook… products made in China but associated with foreign elements – such as a Western-sounding name or being endorsed by a Caucasian model – have been seen as superior,” (Lines 17-22). By examining this issue in the lense of cultural anthropology, we gain the knowledge that this is considered a cultural norm in China; however, some of China’s leaders think it is too much, and want to try to push back Western forces. It is beneficial to examine this issue from this perspective because it shows that some of the people of China have a blind worship of white culture, do to the lack of their own culture.
All in all, it was so interesting to watch the Vice video, and it was a bit comical as well. I would have never guessed that parts of China went as far as “renting” people of Western culture in order to create a selling point. It is sad that people would go that far to create and believe the false advertisements that are generated through China’s industry of renting out white people.
