10:51 pm - 10/31/2005
10/31/05
Harajuku Girls
Gwen Stefani's Harajuku girls have been getting lots of lip service lately, and I have to say I am confused.
I like Gwen Stefani, she's alright. She is very stylish and has a nice voice and a really flat stomach. She is a rock star, and quite good at it. I am always impressed by her platinum hair and her incredibly organized steamer trunks. She keeps all her wristbands in separate zip-lock bags. I too have lots of nice things, but they are all getting moth eaten and mashed together in a pile on my closet floor. I could never understand the concept of a pair: of shoes, gloves, stockings, earrings, hearts, whatever. How can you possibly keep two separate and entirely whole things together in the crazy whirling world we live in? Anyway, Gwen manages to do it all with great panache.
Now she has 4 things all together, the Harajuku Girls. I want to like them, and I want to think they are great, but I am not sure if I can. I mean, racial stereotypes are really cute sometimes, and I don't want to bum everyone out by pointing out the minstrel show. I think it is totally acceptable to enjoy the Harajuku girls, because there are not that many other Asian people out there in the media really, so we have to take whatever we can get. Amos 'n Andy had lots of fans, didn't they? At least it is a measure of visibility, which is much better than invisibility. I am so sick of not existing, that I would settle for following any white person around with an umbrella just so I could say I was there.
It is weird being Asian American right now, because I don't exactly know what my place is. America is supposed to be for everyone, and people are supposed to treat me like I belong here, and yet you would never know that from watching tv or movies. I still get the questions about where I am really from. Then when I try to explain this feeling of invisibility to those whose every move and moment is entirely visible, they come back at me with, "Maybe Asian Americans don't want to be in entertainment!" Yes he really said that. I just screamed, because there was no other way I could answer without hitting him.
Even though to me, a Japanese schoolgirl uniform is kind of like blackface, I am just in acceptance over it, because something is better than nothing. An ugly picture is better than a blank space, and it means that one day, we will have another display at the Museum of Asian Invisibility, that groups of children will crowd around in disbelief, because once upon a time, we weren't there.
Margaret Cho's Blog:
http://www.margaretcho.net/blog/
Margaret Cho Comments on the Harajuku Girls
10/31/05
Harajuku Girls
Gwen Stefani's Harajuku girls have been getting lots of lip service lately, and I have to say I am confused.
I like Gwen Stefani, she's alright. She is very stylish and has a nice voice and a really flat stomach. She is a rock star, and quite good at it. I am always impressed by her platinum hair and her incredibly organized steamer trunks. She keeps all her wristbands in separate zip-lock bags. I too have lots of nice things, but they are all getting moth eaten and mashed together in a pile on my closet floor. I could never understand the concept of a pair: of shoes, gloves, stockings, earrings, hearts, whatever. How can you possibly keep two separate and entirely whole things together in the crazy whirling world we live in? Anyway, Gwen manages to do it all with great panache.
Now she has 4 things all together, the Harajuku Girls. I want to like them, and I want to think they are great, but I am not sure if I can. I mean, racial stereotypes are really cute sometimes, and I don't want to bum everyone out by pointing out the minstrel show. I think it is totally acceptable to enjoy the Harajuku girls, because there are not that many other Asian people out there in the media really, so we have to take whatever we can get. Amos 'n Andy had lots of fans, didn't they? At least it is a measure of visibility, which is much better than invisibility. I am so sick of not existing, that I would settle for following any white person around with an umbrella just so I could say I was there.
It is weird being Asian American right now, because I don't exactly know what my place is. America is supposed to be for everyone, and people are supposed to treat me like I belong here, and yet you would never know that from watching tv or movies. I still get the questions about where I am really from. Then when I try to explain this feeling of invisibility to those whose every move and moment is entirely visible, they come back at me with, "Maybe Asian Americans don't want to be in entertainment!" Yes he really said that. I just screamed, because there was no other way I could answer without hitting him.
Even though to me, a Japanese schoolgirl uniform is kind of like blackface, I am just in acceptance over it, because something is better than nothing. An ugly picture is better than a blank space, and it means that one day, we will have another display at the Museum of Asian Invisibility, that groups of children will crowd around in disbelief, because once upon a time, we weren't there.
Margaret Cho's Blog:
http://www.margaretcho.net/blog/
gah damn she looks different
but japanese "street" fashion always seems creeeepily minstrelish to me- i loved that video where they had her harajuku girls dressed like cholas in the back of that low rider. talk about freakily mixed cultural signifiers!
"Congratulations! You've been named the world's biggest cockroach. This award is given in recognition in yor unparalled lack of decency and humanity. Bravo. You're going to die friendless and alone. "
now, if she had said something like "big fat asian whore mouth" within the context of what she was talking about...i could understand your problem. because caqlling someone a "big fat asian whore mouth" really makes one sound ridiculous.
Even though I'm only a quarter Japanese I still felt a bit offended by the Harajuku Girls song because... well SUPPER KAWAII!!!
*falmpalm*
But I don't think that's a worthy excuse.
So tell me, are you playing dumb or is this the real deal?
I think it would be far more exciting to debate the "race" issue with someone who has far more intelligent things to say than "LYKE OMG SHE IZ SCUH AN AZN WHORE OMG DIE CUZ UR LYKE STOOPID AND UGLYYYY".
COME ON PEOPLE, YOU'RE BORING ME HERE!
Open your fucking eyes.
When was the last time you saw an Asian actor that was not being exploited? Hell, when was the last time you saw an Asian playing a leading role who was not a kung fu master, ninja, s&m vixen, imperial, vietnam whore, victim, the nerd, prodigal musican, sex slave, etc?
Yeah, there is a problem. People dont see Asian Americans as Americans. They will always be Ninjas.
How funny, yet sad.
Cho rocks.
*feels unoriginal*
Margaret Cho is Korean-American.
Try watching I'm the One That I Want some time.
And she's Korean.
You are dumb.
I was a big fan of Margaret Cho but it seems to me that she is beyond stretching it on this point. I don't know anyone Asian who associates Japanese school girls as even remotely like black face. They are part of the japanese culture but that doesn't mean that every time someone thinks of a Japanese woman they are are stereotypically thinking of a woman in a schoolgirl outfit... I wonder if that is what Margaret pictures when she pictures a Japanese woman... If that is so.. then who is the racist?
Plenty of people make choices that they feel are the best for them, but that doesn't mean that social forces aren't driving those choices. If I could get good money being one of Gwen's Harajuku Girls, I might well consider it, even though it's a negative thing in general for people of my race - it would depend on the options available and how aware I was of the message I would be sending.
Okay... so I wouldn't mind being an accessory if the money was good. But I'm white! It's okay to fetishize me!
Then there's the fact that really? They're pets. They stand there, look pretty, pose, giggle, and don't say anything. She dresses them up and takes them on walks. They even have (rather stupid) names.
I don't see how the Japanese school uniform is a variant on blackface, but I'm Whitey McWhiteAmerican.
ahahahahahahahahahh
and for the record I HATE THE HARAJUKU MUTE BAND of STEFANI GIRLS!!! Gwen this was the stupidest idea you ever had at trying to be cool/fashionable.