Assignment 2

Bullock, Appropriation or Appreciation?

In today’s day and age when people post something on social media, there is a major difference in those who view it; it can be viewed in a positive way or negative. The common phrase of “You can’t please everyone” applies today more than ever as it has now become a long thought procedure for who might get offended or hurt by the content you produce. For example, take Morgan Bullocks’ case, this young lady has been caught in a crossfire over the internet once her video of her Irish dancing to a modern-day rap song gained popularity which led to some people telling her that she is “appropriating Irish culture” (Bullock). This also leads to those viewing it to ask themselves if this is Irish appreciation or appropriation to which I say that this is an example of cultural appreciation.

Bullock’s shock came when people called her out for this dance is an example of cultural appropriations and not cultural appreciation. Let’s get the difference of the two out of the way, “Cultural appreciation is the act of wanting to learn more about other cultures to widen someone’s perspective and improve cross-cultural understanding, while cultural appropriation takes aspects of traditions, customs, and ideas from another culture and inappropriately uses it for personal gain.” (Feisal). To react to this statement said towards Bullock she says, “Irish dance is like any other cultural art form, it was created to be shared.” (Bullock), which would work in her defense of it being cultural appreciation since she is using it on a platform to show people and inform them about this lost dance. However, to some, it may be seen as Bullock using this dance to get famous and using Irish culture for herself in a selfish way. This is the way that many people thought it was being used but, Bullock stated in many interviews her love for this type of dance and how “…  Irish dancing is my life.” (Bullock), once again signifying no malice towards the dance and culture. With all the love she received, she became overwhelmed with how much of it was coming in from people all over the world, from Russia to China. So many people Irish people loved what she was doing by bringing their dance and modernizing it to be able to be relevant and spread awareness and just the sheer happiness she brought so many people by posting a TikTok and giving it a shot (Bullock). This short video reached so many people that it has now allowed Bullock to participate in the Riverdance tour when it comes to Virginia, which will be a dream come true for her (Bullock).

This reaction got so much attention that Megan Sheets from the Daily Mail also came out with an article bringing people up to date just in case they missed anything. Bullock sides with using her platform to spread awareness and use this as an educational moment and using it to inspire others (Sheets). Bullock felt most accomplished once a black mother went up to her letting her know that she put her daughter into a class to learn Irish dance because she saw Bullock (Sheets). The vast majority of people affected by this video was in a positive way, which is the exact reason why Bullock wanted to post it, to spread awareness for Irish dancing, and to make people happy. Whilst recording this video Bullock stated, “To my surprise, hip-hop works well with Irish dance choreography: you can tap out the beats with your shoes,”(Sheets). Henceforth Bullock has used other rap-like songs to display her work and has inspired millions and brought major awareness toward the Irish culture. To relate to this article and using the definition itself, it seems that cultural appreciation has a much more positive connotation when talked about. One day Twenty Christian pastors visited a Mosque, for the simple fact that they wanted to learn about another culture and religion to spread awareness. In a time dominated by ISIS, this group of people was trying to figure out a way to love their Muslim neighbors (Irwin). In a similar way to what Bullock is doing, the pastors tried to bring awareness to these people and show how kind and nice that Muslims are as well as learn about a different religion and grow their knowledge and see things differently. In a time where many people thought of Muslims as monsters, this group sought out to show them wrong, to which these people were granted generous hospitality and were welcomed with open arms (Irwin). Leaving the mosque realizing that they had made new friends that were Muslim something that most of them had never done, but for them to want to go out and learn about the religion of a different culture is a great example of cultural appreciation and spreading awareness of a culture that not many know of, just like what Bullock has done.

On the other side of the spectrum, the negative responses to Bullocks’ work are coming from a sense of hatred. For example, a comment under her post stating “If white people can’t have cornrows you can’t do this kind of dance”(Dvorak), this user presents their point by saying if its “wrong” for white people to have cornrows then it’s “wrong” for Bullock, a black woman to do this style of dance. Coming from both sides it depends on how these are used, for a white person to get cornrows for “style”, then yes some may get offended since they aren’t getting this style to spread information about this type of hair or even be trying to learn about it. This may be why many see this as cultural appropriation since she isn’t directly talking about this dance or just because she is black. Many think that she is only doing it for fame, which is quite the opposite since we have already heard about her love for the dance. However, after gaining all this popularity from the dance, many became suspicious of her intentions and thought she was just using this style to gain followers and make money. Using the definition many thought Bullock was just using the style of dance in a selfish tone, to gain fame from it and not spread awareness. Although many think Bullock is using this dance for personal gain, Bullock is just very passionate about a dance that she fell in love with as a child and wants to share with the world.

Bullock would’ve never thought that reordering herself doing her Irish dance to a modern-day rap song would blow up and help her spread her favorite type of dance across the world. With her newfound fame, she has already inspired hundreds of young ladies of all races to step out of their comfort zones and to go out and dance.