Bullet points on why I, personally, DO NOT vibe with the idea of an âAsian familyâ (particularly as a blood-related family) in Hetalia portrayal:
Asia is a whole continent. I donât know how to make this clearer that Asia is a massive content with really distinct regions (East Asia is very different from Southeast Asia, which is also very different from South Asia, and thereâs also Central Asia and West AsiaâŠ..) and also have very distinct countries within regions. Even if youâre talking about just East Asian personifications when you say âAsian familyâ in Hetalia, they are all very distinct cultures!
The idea that âAll Asians look alikeâ or âAll Asians are relatedâ are longtime racist stereotypes. To me, personally, the insistence of âAsian familyâ in Hetalia fanon brings up really unpleasant associations to those stereotypes, especially since it only ever seems to mean just East Asians and erase other Asian countries.
There seems to be a double standard when it comes to interpreting countries that have the same or similar cultural influence/source. People donât do this with similar groups around the world. If you want to say that any country that takes influence from a major civilization are related, just about most European countries would have to be considered related by the same logic??
I strongly dislike how people sometimes use this as a justification to police headcanons and ships. âAsian Familyâ is not canon, and even if it were, people are free to interpret literal countries as having different dynamics based on what they know, have experienced, or simply because they want to.
Speaking of canon, letâs talk about that for a second: Calling someone âbrotherâ in Japanese does not literally mean that youâre related! For that matter, not even Taiwan nor Hong Kong calls him âbrotherâ and they arguably have more case to be considered actually blood-related to China; they call him âteacherâ in canon material.  Macau and HK arenât even blood-related to China in canon.
It justâŠdoes not feel consistent with current IRL, with regard to how these countries themselves view themselves and their relations to each other. As real countries, there is a lot of discourse and complicated history and geopolitics. I think of them more as neighbors or coworkers in the same department/company (and have a lot of interpersonal politics going on behind the scenes). Growing up in Taiwan, we didnât even touch on Korea in our history lessons; itâs hard to make a case of feeling ârelatedâ to them IRL.
It is also historically impossible: Japan, Korea, and Taiwan etc. are not under Chinese influence at the same time historically, nor do the way they actually selectively adopt Chinese ideas reflect the idea of blood relation. It isnât accurate to say that China âraisedâ or âtaughtâ Korea and Japan because their real-life historical relations indicated that it was more that Korea and Japan learned from China voluntarily, picking and choosing what to take away from China. It does both those civilizations a great disservice to strip away their historical autonomy like that.
Cultural similarity has been used as justification for expansionism. This concept is historically weighted (re: Japanese imperialism and the idea of a Pan-Asian âCo-Prosperity Sphereâ) and politically charged right now with Chinaâs expanding its influence and how that poses a threat to many of its neighboring countries/territories.
From my personal experiences and understanding of East Asian cultures, which are heavily influenced by Confucian tradition, the concept of âfamilyâ isnât really about affection/blood relation/connection, itâs about power and hierarchy. It is the foundational unit for how Confucian teachings understand society. It is a social contract in a way, and every participant has their role to play, and every type of relationship between people have specific rules. The state is comparable to a family unit, and emperors are regarded as âfather figuresâ (who are supposed to provide for and lead by example) to their subjects, who in turn owe him obedience. Even when we draw parallels to family about how these countries interact with each other, it does not confer a sense of ârelationâ as much as it confers a sense of hierarchy. Itâs a shortcut to understanding power dynamics!
The idea of âAsian familyâ very often puts China as a âbig brotherâ figure, which inherently holds implications about a longtime power dynamic that China enforces with it being the central power and every other country as inferior vassals that owe it obedience. It, again, reinforces the paternalistic power dynamic imbued with Confucian ideas about leadership. In this instance, it says something about Chinaâs regional hegemony and power over other countries in East Asia and constrains their autonomy and agency as sovereign nations in their own right. I find this deeply troubling with the real-life context of Chinaâs growing aggression and power.
This being said, everyone is free to have their own interpretations of fictional characters, as well as interpret the relationships between real countries in whatever way they want. It is when people try to insist that there is a âcorrectâ way of interpretation and shove it down othersâ throats that there is an issue. I have been seeing discourse that centers around this stuff recently (and how it lead to really awful harassment of a mutual), so I just wanted to share my thoughts on this as a politically conscious East Asian who grew up in East Asia and have long been interrogating why I could never see these East Asian countries as âfamilyâ (as they are so often portrayed).
theartofmadeline
vaporwave
origamiaround
areudirty
titsay
kianamaiart
discoholicmusic
