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Margaret Cho Comments on the Harajuku Girls
"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."
Someone should inform Ms. Cho that things like rules don't apply to rockstars and famous socialites. They are above the law and all rules of common morality. This s**t is b-a-n-a-n-a-s! [Margaret Cho's blog entry]
Link thanks to:
ONTD
November 1, 2005 | Permalink
Comments
Stefani's use of her Asian Girl Posse has always been border line disturbing to me. I'm surprised it took someone this long to bitch about it. Any other minority group who was forced to follow around a plastic, bleached blond Barbie and be forced to worship her talentless, kewpie doll voice and hoochie ho clothing line (not to mention walking three steps behind her at all times) would have been crying racism after one day.
Posted by: Kate | Nov 1, 2005 9:53:23 AM
Who's forcing them? You think they aren't getting paid? It's a job and if they don't want that job then they can get themselves something else to do. I bet they're laughing all the way to the bank.
Posted by: Jenn | Nov 1, 2005 2:37:27 PM
i don't like Gwen but I love those Harajuku Girls! I wish they were a group by themselves.
Posted by: cinybon | Nov 1, 2005 3:50:34 PM
i love margaret cho.
Posted by: char | Nov 1, 2005 7:48:02 PM
I, too, think it's weird that she's got this 'collection' of Japanese girls and that it's ok for her to use them as props for her new look. What would someone do if it were a 'collection' of African-Americans done up in some cute little matching outfits? Or maybe a little group of Latinas?
I get that she's inspired by the totally insane but cool cultural movement in Japan amongst the youth, but come on. Inspiration is one thing, exploitation is another.
Posted by: hg | Nov 1, 2005 11:13:01 PM
I think the just the idea of a posse is ridiculous. Why do people who are daily worshipped even need a "posse?" I agree that it is racist. Gwen has made herself into an object and has hired a few objects to go along for the ride. People cannot be treated as fashion accessories. All she needs now is a little matching dog in a little matching outfit in a little matching bag and her cheese factor will be complete.
Posted by: Jennifer | Nov 1, 2005 11:28:22 PM
And why did she have to get 4 mutt-looking Asian girls when the internet is so full of hot Asian girls who will apparently do anything they're told?
Posted by: carsehole daly | Nov 2, 2005 6:49:29 AM
Okay, so they're not being FORCED, they're being PAID to whore themselves out to a rich, no-talent bleached blond bimbo and follow her around like obedient, ethnic servants from a 1960's sitcom. Oh, that makes it SO much better!
Posted by: Kelly | Nov 2, 2005 3:23:28 PM
Wait a minute? Aren't the Harajuku girls, like, real, authentic Japanese girls who dress up like this? I mean, the minstrel charge would work if she was going over to the mall and hiring four Japanese-looking chicks and dressing them up like geishas, but this is Stefani tapping into an honest to God realtime trend. It's sort of like when Malcolm McClaren and Johnny Lydon started hanging out with Afrika Bambaataa and other U.S. hip-hoppers back in the early rap days.
Anyway, I know you've got white performers appropriating the symbols and style of foreign cultures in both situations, but that's what white people have been doing (and succeeding at) for centuries. Putting a moral spin on this is putting a moral spin on the arbitrage trader who buys the Yen at a discount in Singapore and selling them it a premium in London. Damn, even the word "arbitrage" is a borrowed concept.
Instead of complaining, Cho should be booking a video shoot in Korea or China. Send her my email in case she needs some Staten Island knuckleheads to play the role of retinue.
Posted by: arjuna1969 | Nov 3, 2005 5:42:15 PM
All of Gwen Stefani's Harajuku girls are American-Japanese girls. I love that they're amazing dancers. I hate that they're paid to dance AND act as her accessories.
Posted by: L | Nov 3, 2005 9:57:18 PM
Jenn - what does them being paid have to do with their being offensive or possibly racist or not??? Way to throw up a red herring that has nothing to do with the subject.
Posted by: Not_Your_Lamb | Nov 5, 2005 9:08:51 PM
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