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And, sliding from there effortlessly back on-topic....
We often forgive people a lot if they are talented, or if we think they are talented. Both hip-hop and rock music, most obviously, have severe critics and committed defendes of their standards and the opinions they express. Something that Stefani came under fire for at the start of this thread was her use of a cadre of harajuku girls in her videos and public appearances. Flyboy said of this:
I don't think it's an 100% positive thing or an uncomplicated thing by any means, but I'm also not convinced by all of the criticisms of this, some of which seem to get entangled with a) internet rumour taken as fact (allegedly the Asian-American performers who play the four Harajuku Girls who accompany Stefani have a clause in their contract stating that they can only speak in Japanese when in character: the rights and wrongs of this aside, I don't know the veracity of the source), and b) good ol' fashioned straight-up anti-pop hateration.
The song 'Harajuku Girls' is pretty clearly about fandom and voyeuristic cultural obsession, Stefani placing herself in the role of awkward, geekly white girl, one step behind the cutting edge. The only duff note for me is the moment when mutual fandom is revealed - hey, the Harajuku Girls love her too, and they love her loving them - but then again maybe that's not so far-fetched:
When told that they were the inspiration for a popular singer in the US, they were visibly excited. "We are very happy," the girls squealed in unison. "I think American women are attractive, so this type of fashion would look good on them," added one girl.
There's also this whole idea Stefani's hinted at that the Harajuku Girls as they appear in her videos, songs, and public appearances don't really exist: that they're a figment of her imagination. One could argue that this makes a point about how Western perceptions of the Other are inevitably a fantasy divorced from the reality... etc. Maybe. This then brings us back to "but what about the women who have to play her sidekicks?", and again, I'd have to see the contracts, not to mention the paycheques.
Would it be better if there was an Asian-American pop star as prominent as Stefani, rather than just these four sidekicks? F'sure. Is that Stefani's responsibility in the meantime, or rather is it her responsibility not to have these sidekicks? Less sure.
So far, I'm not sure there has been a response to this, which perhaps tells us something about opinions towards the situtation in itself. |
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