Quote:
Originally Posted by Coelacanth
I respect your right to be offended, but to me it seems like you're grasping at as many straws as some of the people in this thread looking for alternate interpretations.
As the most powerful and important country in the world, and with a long history of pillaging, plundering, raping, colonizing, and exploiting other nations, why the hell should we all of a sudden care about how we're portrayed to Japanese people? As someone who was born in the most privileged nation in the world, it feels almost strange to have a knee-jerk reaction like that unless I'm actively looking for something to be offended about. 
I feel like people are implying that Ayu or her Japanese team "should know better," when in fact... no, they probably shouldn't.
Unless you send tons of gender studies majors/Tumblr SJW's over to these East Asian countries as 'missionaries', they're not going to understand anything about intersectionality theory as it applies to developed nations in the West. No one is checking Japanese people's "privilege" when they "oppress" Americans and/or Caucasians. |
Honestly, I see it in my own actions that I'm grasping at straws as much as anyone to identify what the message is in the video. To me, the offense isn't necessarily in the context of whether a Japanese person made the video, it's more-so about whether a fat girl munching on a drumstick while running is a fair depiction of someone with weight issues. In retrospect, there are a number of individual WTF moments in the video that feel more offensive than parody. The video itself? Overall, not offensive.
My not-boyfriend thingy (ok, he's a boyfriend but not technically a boyfriend yet) pretty much asked the same question you do: Why should we care? We've done so many horrible things as a nation, etc. And the best answer I can give is that Japan has pillaged, plundered, raped, and exploited too. (The Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.) So, it naturally follows to ask: Why should Japanese Americans feel bothered by Katy Perry exploiting Japanese culture for a music performance? That said, American and Japan societies are vastly different today. I think we should care because our present culture values inclusion more than ever before. I think it's OK for some Japanese-Americans to feel Katy Perry's performance at the AMAs was somewhat offensive. And from that I think it's OK for some Americans to interpret Ayu's PV as offensive.
EDIT: I appreciate the discussion, Coelacanth!