A blog about things we won't shut up about... and by things, we mean ideas and concepts that shake the very nature of our current heterosexist, classist, sexist, ableist, and racist society.
In a perfect world, I’d be able to punch Chris Martin in the face. There. I said it. And I don’t give a fuck. See, the new thing people are all giving fucks about—in the music video realm—is this music video for Coldplay entitled “Princess of China”. For a solid 3:35, viewers watch this tragic relationship between Chris Martina and Rhianna unfold in mesmerizing colors, stunts, and effects. And well, I have more than one reason why I’d punch Chris Martin in the face, this video definitely reminded me that I had a running list. Lest we be fooled to thinking this video is harmless. This video is a piece of shit that undermines Asian cultural identity through the homogenization of Asian Cultures, erotification of asian women, and side line-ing actual Asian people from representing their culture.
As an Asian American woman, I am appalled by content of the video. It seems to me that the directors, Adria Petty and Alan Bibby, don’t know China or even how to do proper research and leave the viewer with a representation of Asia that kinda slumps multiple ethnicities and cultures together. Not to say that representing multiple Asian cultures is wrong, this video does it wrong. Ultimately, it takes the parts of Asian culture that have been through the popular culture circuit over and over again and presents itself as something new. No no, my friends, these are old stereotypes and misconceptions—just updated and in HD. As of 12:50am on June 4th, the top comment of this video states:
So, Japanese ninja and Guisha hair, Thai dance and the Chinese background sense??? But I liked the song though
And that is the tip of the cultural appropriation iceberg. In the first 5 seconds, you see a silhouette of Rhianna doing that multiple wavy arm thing (that is, using the imagery of Ganesha). A comment on SPIN.com says:
Directors Adria Petty and Alan Bibby paired a song called “Princess of China” with Hindu iconography when the religion composes only 0.01 percent of the Chinese population.
Clearly, the directors were misinformed. Shortly after, like 6 seconds or so, you see Chris Martin with text on his right in Han Script in which I can only hope says something like, “FUCK THIS SHIT”. After 12 seconds, I stopped on my running list of appropriation and realizing that it was going to be a long list and I’m in summer vacation mode. And while looking at this topic, I kept seeing and hearing quotes from Rhianna calling her character in this music video a “geisha bitch”. Now, I don’t wanna burst your bubble, but for those of you don’t know Geishas are not princesses and also not Chinese. Why would the directors think Geisha = Chinese princess?
There is no doubt that you have seen time and time again, the erotic and exotic Asian woman trope. And coincidentally, Racialicious just posted about this and the consequences for the eroticization of Asian women. These are images that we—not the artists or the directors, for they are not burdened with this representation because of their race—have to live with and combat. The hyper sexualization of Asian women, without a doubt, contributes to the discourse of sexualized violence. Rhianna is just playing the part of Asian woman—the kind that is sexy and submissive, and quite possible DTF or just plain fuckable. Yo, I commend Rhianna’s use of her sexuality in her music videos. But in this video? Nah, brah, nah. I ain’t having it. I ain’t having it because the dragon lady and geisha images are things that I am stuck with in my everyday life. Those things haunt me and other Asian women. And I have the confidence to say that Asian women are raped because of these stereotypes.
Lastly, I know this is silly to point out but Rhianna ain’t Chinese. Nor is Chris Martin. Or the directors for that matter. In fact the people who are Asian in the video are on the sidelines. Which is ridiculous to me because it’s called “Princes of China”. My problem with this is that with little representation of Asians in popular culture, that is disproportionate of the population of Asian U.S. Americans it’s kinda fucked up to use our culture and our identity to represent the most basic, racist, and orientalist versions of us. We don’t get a say in this representation. It’s not an Asian actor/ress or director going, “you know what would be great, if you dressed up like <insert various stereotype from the MV here>”. Again, Asians are stuck with this burden of representation of erotic women and tough men who for some reason can’t get the women. It’s bizarre to me that Chris Martin plays that trope. Sure they get close, but they don’t get close.
When I first heard about the video, I couldn’t watch it on my iPhone. I was so curious about the song, I looked up the lyrics. This was a fruitless activity as the lyrics told me nothing about why the song is called “Princess of China”. That is, if look at it at the surface level. The song, with its first two stanzas (as written online) is about a break up and with the chorus which is sung by both Chris Martin and Rhianna, expresses regret and the desired possibility of a heteronormative relationship. And I can only conclude that the rest of the awful wailing is REALLY about being pissy because the person didn’t get what they wanted since apparently they were entitled to that star thinger. I don’t know. WHAT I DO KNOW is that nothing speaks to me of Chinese Princess-ness. So we have this song, with this title that has really no connection to Chinese identity and this video with no Chinese princess. Asian Americans should be outraged at this video along with anyone who knows a damn thing about stereotypes and wants to eradicate said stereotypes. This video does not represent Asian cultural identity. I don’t think it was trying to, but that’s the thing. Artists are not thinking about who has to live with it. Marginalized people are being sacrificed for the sake of (shitty) art and capital. So go ahead and go gaga over the song and video. When you do you are literally buying into an inauthentic and hurtful representation. You are telling people with your fandom that you are ok with this. Consequently, that hurts.
I do believe I was one of these stops.
Domestic terrorism.
“Repeat after me! no woman of any age, colour, character ever deserves to be sexually violated or what some might lightly call ‘eve-teasing.’”
[follow this link to find a short clip and analysis of the discourse on street harassment in India:http://www.thesociologicalcinema.com/1/post/2012/05/decentering-and-recentering-the-discussion-on-street-harassment.html]
zuky:
“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”
- Bruce Lee
Bruce is widely beloved now, but remember, folks, that this was the man whom Hollywood considered incapable of carrying a “leading man” role, much to his frustration. The Kung Fu television series was stolen from him and recast with a white man as lead, and Bruce was forced to wear a mask and act as a servant in The Green Hornet. Lee was only able to do his own thing by producing movies in China. Even today, I don’t think Bruce would be given a chance in Hollywood as leading man, because I still don’t really see East Asian leading men on TV or at the theater.
Bruce also decided to return to Hong Kong to act because he realized that he would never be able to get serious acting roles in America due to the kind of racism and Orientalism he had to deal with.
LBGTQ* Children’s (Picture) Books To Keep On Your Radar
- Oh The Things Mommies Do! What Can Be Better Than Having Two? written by Crystal Tompkins; illustrations by Lindsey Evans (follow their tumblr HERE)
- The Boy Who Cried Fabulous written by Leslea Newman; illustrated by Peter Ferguson
- My Mommy Is A Boy written by Jason Martinez; illustrated by Karen Winchester
- My Two Super Dads written by Bronny Falls and Munsta Vincent
- Pugdog written by Andrea U’Ren (*book discussing gender)
- The Baby Kangaroo Treasure Hunt, A gay parenting story written by Carmen Martinez Jover; illustrated by Rosemary Martinez
- My Princess Boy written by Cheryl Kilodavis ; illustrations by Suzanne DeSimone (*book discussing gender)
- Arwen and Her Two Daddies written by Jarko De Witte van Leeuwen (Translated from Dutch)
- Fairy Tales of the 21st Century written by Bill Carey (retelling of Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella)
- My Uncle’s Wedding written by Eric Ross; illustrations by Tracy K. Green
Green Onion <too_tardy@gmail.com> (unregistered) wrote:
Where were Asians when California Indians had bounties placed on them (scalp collecting) and were being slaughtered to collect said bounties that were tabulated based on age and sex? Where were the majority of Asians when the Civil Rights era was in full swing with the majority of POC (Asians are not POC) participating? Why do a lot of Asians tout their own superiority in this racial hierarchy to degrade other non-Caucasian groups and revel in it as well as basking in the idea of the model minority, going so far as to present IQ scores as their model of achieving what other groups couldn’t (due to having a different history in the States)? Face it, Asians brought it on themselves and expect others to sympathize? ROFL
IP address: 98.159.94.162
This uneducated racist douchebag just thought it was a smart idea to post this as a comment. Seeing as I am a contributor for an upcoming anthology and am unbelievably busy working on my entries, I don’t have time to write a comprehensive history of Asian cross-racial alliances within the United States.
Though here’s a few points to consider.
I could keep going but I don’t have time or the patience right now. Next time you want to be a racist douchebag, you might want to think twice about using your home computer, seeing as that sure is your IP address posted right there, along with your email address, for everyone to see. I might add that my blog is searchable by Google and anyone who does a search of your email will find this incredibly anti-Asian, racist comment you so thoughtfully decided to post on a blog with literally hundreds of followers.
- Asians did not really begin arriving in the United States until 1850. The group, predominately Chinese, largely could not speak English, and did not understand the political climate of the United States and immediately were targets from the beginning of hate crimes and legally institutionalized forms of segregation, exclusion, discrimination, etc.
- Starting in 1854, a series of laws were passed that determined that Chinese were aliens in the country; could not become citizens due to being too “different”; had no rights to own land; could not testify in court; were taxed more than any other miners, black or white; could not marry outside of their race (an issue considering the fact that the Page Act of 1875 banned all Chinese women entrance into the country to prevent Chinese from procreation, which has been argued by many scholars as a form of genocide, creating the first bachelor society in the United States); were taxed based on the amount of air they were allowed to breathe in San Francisco; were driven out and forcibly deported; could not apply for business licenses; were taxed based on pole lengths (Chinese carried buckets and heavy packages on poles they held on their shoulders); were not allowed to vote; were segregated and forced into ghettos; were lynched and massacred by white folks on a regular basis; could not enter white-only establishments — so on and so forth. This culminated with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, where NO Chinese were allowed entry into the United States. In 1917, the act expanded to include ALL of the “Asiatic races.” It was not until 1942 that this was overturned, and only then it was with a very small quota of approximately 100 immigrants per year, compared with the thousands of immigrants from Europe and other parts of the world. This changed in the 1960s when the quotas were lifted.
- During the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson case, which, if you do not know, means you know nothing at all about racial history and politics in the United States, Justice John Marshall Harlan argued against racial segregation only by invoking the “Oriental.” This is what he said: “There is a race so different from our own, that we do not permit those persons belonging to it to become citizens of the United States. Persons belonging to it are, with few exceptions, absolutely excluded from our country. I allude to the Chinese race.” And you were saying about Asians not being POC?
- Japanese Internment. Concentration camps in the United States of all Japanese on the West Coast and in Hawaii. ‘nuff said.
- There is a long and VERY RICH history of Afro-Asian solidarity that has been going on since the Bandung Conference of 1955. To the degree that figures such as Richard Wright, Malcolm X, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Huey Newton amongst others, have all spoken rather emphatically about the importance of Afro-Asian alliances that not only are generated domestically but also transnationally, as demonstrated by the way many black figures during this period romanticized Mao and China in general as a potential post-racial fantasy. (Du Bois, Newton, and Wright all spent time in China.) In response, Mao Zedong even issued two major proclamations supporting the Civil Rights Movement. Domestically, there has also been a very rich history that I am not going to bother to cover here in depth, seeing as you most likely don’t really care to learn anyway. Though if there’s a slight chance you might actually care to be blown away by history: Afro-Asia ed. Fred Ho and Bill Mullen; Afro Orientalism by Bill Mullen; Blacks and Asians ed. Hazel M. McFerson; Orientals by Robert Lee; Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting by Vijay Prashad; AfroAsian Encounters Ed. Heike Raphael-Hernandez and Shannon Steen
- Richard Aoki, one of the FOUNDING FIGURES OF, oh that’s right, just a small, completely unimportant organization known as the Black Panther Party. In fact, Bobby Seale credits Aoki for providing him with much of the philosophy that served as the foundation to the Party and for introducing him to Mao’s work. Oh gee, this just so happened to occur during the Civil Rights Movement. Or more appropriately, the Black Power Movement. (Disclaimer: I’m being sarcastic, guys, The Black Panther Party was a very important organization!) Not all Black Power Movement activists agreed with the idea of it being a Civil Rights Movement, but of course you wouldn’t have thought to learn more about the Movement before opening your mouth and saying some racist, ignorant bullshit.
- Yuki Kochiyama, one of Malcolm X’s most trusted disciples to the degree that he literally died with his head in her lap. She also, during the Black Power Movement, worked feverishly to get prisoners released and was instrumental in the movement.
- Grace Lee Boggs, another major Black Power activist who worked with Malcolm X and had even wanted him to run for president.
LOVE THE RESPONSE TO THIS. Couldn’t have said it any better. Its hilarious how some uneducated fool thinks he knows so much about Asian-Americans yet remains completely oblivious toward the struggles we faced based on the racist stereotypes perpetuated by mainstream culture which, he also so coincidentally seems to be exhibiting. This is a prime example of why I believe the history of our communities is so grossly overlooked in America. His ignorance says it all, unfortunately. Many Asian-Americans DID participate in the Civil Rights Movement, you ignorant twat. Another person/event you should really consider familiarizing yourself with is Philip Vera Cruz (a Filipino-American and Asian-American civil rights activist) and the Delano Grape Strike of 1965. People tend to associate this strike with Mexican-American farm workers, most notable of which is Cesar Chavez. However, a majority remain unaware of the fact that the strike was originally orchestrated by Filipino-American farm workers prior to Cesar Chavez’s involvement. Point blank, your conclusion that a majority of Asian-Americans did not participate in the Civil Rights movement is not only false but completely absurd. Hence, you fail dickhead.