Merriam-Webster defines “racism” as “poor treatment of or violence against people because of their race,” or “the belief that some races of people are better than others.” For many university students, racism seems like a thing of our grandparents’ era. But as much as we’ve grown and changed as a culture, we have also found ways around blatant racism — methods of accepting that are still demeaning. Avril Lavigne proves this in her new single, “Hello Kitty.”
The former Canadian darling is almost 30 years old. But this new song and video seem to belong to someone less than half her age. She yells “kawaii!” and squeals to a dubstep beat; she dances in front of four identical Japanese women who have no facial expression; she acts as a successful white woman shoving her way into Japan, having all the fun while Japanese people unhappily dance at her command, make her sushi, and follow her on a mocking, overly-cheerful stroll.
“Hello Kitty” glorifies Lavigne and a closed-minded interpretation of what Japanese culture entails. Very few of the 126 million people living in Japan act like Avril does in this video, jumping around in a tutu and playing a stuffed animal guitar. It’s not as if she has reached very far for artistic material.
Most of our Western society can probably associate “Hello Kitty,” the cartoon cat that is famous for adorning teenaged girls’ pink binders, with Japan. Avril doesn’t dig deep for lyrics, either. While there are a few Japanese words in there, the main object seems to be to compare her boyfriend to a cat. Meow!
To what extent is it okay to honour cultures that are not one’s own? And when does that “honour” transform into something a little more disconcerting, namely a possession of other peoples’ tradition and culture that belittles the source? Vanessa Hudgens wears a bindi at Coachella, and the bindi transforms from a spiritual symbol for Southeast Asia into a fashion accessory resulting in high fives at a music festival. Avril Lavigne’s expressionless backup dancers become less than people as they dance behind her — they are another cool fashion accessory to drag around in her entourage.
Avril isn’t just making a video with a Japanese theme. She could, as she does have real Japanese fans; though the Japanese “prop” people in the video certainly aren’t them. Even when she waves to supposed fans, we can only see the few blurry girls following her in the background (this could, of course, be indicative of her being delusional — as this awful song suggests). She shoves herself into a very stereotypical Westernized interpretation of Japanese culture and shows us how cool and “kawaii” it can be to be a white pop star in Japan.
As Lavigne’s response to the video (which begins with “RACIST??? LOLOLOL!!!”) suggests, she doesn’t care about the many Japanese people who feel more like a fetish and less like human beings when they see themselves being depicted in a cartoonish manner.
Lavigne’s flippant response is, perhaps, indicative of more than her surely ignoring the plethora of articles criticizing “Hello Kitty.” It is indicative of the opinion of some of today’s Western population on issues of race and culture; as long as no one performs acts of violence or disdain, any act where one imitates and mocks a culture seems to be mistaken as respect.
This slap-to-the-face music video couldn’t be closer to the opposite.
