On Not Being Offended by Avril Lavigne in Japan

[yuiyoshida]

If nobody in Japan thinks a racist video about the Japanese is racist, can anyone be offended?

The children’s novelty act known as ‘Avril Lavigne’ really struck offensive gold with her recent video, and criticism runs the gamut: It’s sexist, infantilizes the Japanese, and culturally insensitive. Some have even seriously suggested that the video’s problems were an intentional ploy to distract you from how terrible the song was. Meanwhile, the Japanese press is reporting on the controversy as an ‘overseas press response‘ to the video, and people in Japan think it’s just great, leading to a koan in the age of global media and political correctness: If nobody in Japan thinks a racist video about the Japanese is racist, can anyone be offended?

The most horrifying thing about watching ‘Hello Kitty’ is that Avril Lavigne is still acting like a 14-year-old girl and screeching about sleep overs with a sexual innuendo based on a perversely underage cartoon character. Or perhaps it’s her pronunciation of Japanese words, or use of them: The song starts with her screaming in Japanese, “Everybody Psycho, Thank You! Cute!” and it actually only gets dumber when she switches to her native language.

But, as Avril has pointed out, the song is produced by a Japanese label (Epic is owned by Sony), with a Japanese video director, choreographer and, obviously, a Japanese cast. (She also started that defense with ‘LOLOLOL!!!‘ – I’ll reiterate again that she is 29 years old).

Though this is precisely the ‘I can’t be racist, I have black friends‘ defense, it is more interesting than it seems, because it speaks to how ideology, the stuff that influences everyday culture, is carried through the images that culture produces. I’ll suggest that the racism of the ‘Hello Kitty’ video was actually imposed on Japan by the Japanese, in cohoots with an oblivious foreigner.

more...
https://thisjapaneselife.org/2014/05/21/avril-lavigne-japan/

[hatrack]

1. Wow, that was so bad that it transcended the limitations of merely awful and went beyond . . .

Nah, on closer reflection, it actually just basically sucked.

[ginny skinny]

2. Eh...

Even at the advanced age of 29, she's still pretty cute. I am not Asian, can't speak to that but I kind of liked the video.

[yuiyoshida]

3. It may not be racist in Japan

But to ASIANS here in the States, it just might be.