why is ayu videos got americans always? o.o

[Dreamland]

I really dont see what the problem is with having americans or anybody else in your videos doesnt mean ayu is losing her asian touch maybe she just wants to do something a lil different me personally I like to see a variety

[Coelacanth]

I think the use of 'foreign' actors in her PV's is done very well. 'Endless sorrow', 'Free&Easy', and 'kanariya' just wouldn't be the same if they had Asian actors. That's just my opinion. I don't think she's trying to look cool, I just think they make the PV's more diverse and mysterious. Not to sound offensive in any way, but I think a crowd of foreign people would catch people's attention better than a crowd of Japanese. You know what I mean?

[immel]

Originally Posted by Phantoma

I think the use of 'foreign' actors in her PV's is done very well. 'Endless sorrow', 'Free&Easy', and 'kanariya' just wouldn't be the same if they had Asian actors. That's just my opinion. I don't think she's trying to look cool, I just think they make the PV's more diverse and mysterious. Not to sound offensive in any way, but I think a crowd of foreign people would catch people's attention better than a crowd of Japanese. You know what I mean?

I think I have uncounciously been waiting for a post like this to pop up, makes sense and in my opinion this is very true . Thanks for posting this, hehe.

[Dustie]

LOL, I have completly no idea how a crowd of non-Asians is more interesting than a crowd of Asian people.... ?_____? I don't see any difference.

The only reason she has non-Asians in her PVs is becouse she has a thing for them. That's obvious. I bet many Asians have a thing for non-Asians (hence the double eyelid removal surgeries and stuff to make you look non-Asian) and see them as somewhat "better".

She doesn't seem different and she probably feels it's more sophisticated of her that she has non-Asian extras (so that every Asian that sees her PVs can look at it with a tiny inch of jelousy).
I dare to think her visits to mainland USA (I mean excluding Hawaii, which in fact has to be for the looks) are also a part of this sort of sophistication, that she's the star and she can go to America, which is such a cool place after all.
I don't doubt she really enjoys NYC, but I think her only experience of real life in the city was that 3 months for vocal training -- which wasn't even that much of 'experiencing America', since she admit herself she stayed in the hotel and was too scared of dangerous streets (she said so on MS when both her and Utada were first time together on tv). After that, whenever she was going to USA it was for shooting and filming, which is all the "star-ish" stuff, and that is no experience of casual life in a particular place. As I said, it's her showing all the Japanese she's big and she can go to USA to enjoy herself.

Oh well, but that went a bit offtopic....

[Coelacanth]

Yeah, I guess Ayu has a 'thing' for foreigners.

But I don't understand why fans of J-pop music and Japanese culture always judge things like 'Oh, it's too Americanized/Westernized, I don't like it.'

So it's alright for (us) non-Japanese people to have a fascination with Japanese culture, but it's wrong for Japanese people to have a fascination with Western culture?

All J-pop is Westernized to some extent anyway, if you complain about things being too Westernized all the time you mine as well listen to Enka.

[immel]

Originally Posted by Phantoma

All J-pop is Westernized to some extent anyway, if you complain about things being too Westernized all the time you mine as well listen to Enka.

Yeah. Both pop and rock are two American genres, when they came to Japan they for some unknown reason became J-pop and J-rock, it's not like the European counterpart even made it to E-pop.

[*Petit*]

Originally Posted by Phantoma

Yeah, I guess Ayu has a 'thing' for foreigners.

But I don't understand why fans of J-pop music and Japanese culture always judge things like 'Oh, it's too Americanized/Westernized, I don't like it.'

So it's alright for (us) non-Japanese people to have a fascination with Japanese culture, but it's wrong for Japanese people to have a fascination with Western culture?

All J-pop is Westernized to some extent anyway, if you complain about things being too Westernized all the time you mine as well listen to Enka.

The best part is... Enka was also born due to western influences in music.


I was just thinking, do you think there would be any foreigners in a PV made for f.ex an "ondo" type of song or "traditional" folk song?

It might be the casting director's choice. It's not Ayumi who puts out the casting calls for these actors. Ayumi might be the star but she's ultimately not the one who does all this stuff.

[Dustie]

It might be the casting director's choice. It's not Ayumi who puts out the casting calls for these actors. Ayumi might be the star but she's ultimately not the one who does all this stuff.

Don't think so. People often state that she didn't have much creative control over her PVs. She did have quite a lot, certainly since WHATEVER. If you watch NTV 2004 interview, you'll see scenes of her discussing what the PV [WHATEVER] will be like. And it's seriously her talking and others listening, like boss and employees. It's known she was picking the extra ladies for the crowd scenes for my name's WOMEN (there was a girl at AHO who was an extra in that PV, she posted backstage photos and wrote about how she was picked). I think it's her idea to have non-Asians.

So it's alright for (us) non-Japanese people to have a fascination with Japanese culture, but it's wrong for Japanese people to have a fascination with Western culture?

Exactly


xD

Yeah. Both pop and rock are two American genres, when they came to Japan they for some unknown reason became J-pop and J-rock, it's not like the European counterpart even made it to E-pop.

Well, I guess it was Asia vs. rest of the world comparison. Hence all the J-, K-and C-pop's and rock's.... I think most of the "rest of the world" is highly unaware of what's modern music like in Asia. They wouldn't be able to mention a single artist, while everyone from Europe knows at least some American or Australian artists.
It's not like it's only Asia, becouse I guess South America is a bit similar. I have no idea what artists are there creating in South American countries, to be honest... I got to know about one, but I don't even remember her name now. When I first found out about her, it was from a guy who seemed obsessed with her as much as I was obsessed with Ayumi -- I imidiatelly thought "Oh, it's almost like when I discovered Ayu. The same kind of stituation."

[immel]

Originally Posted by Dustie

Don't think so. People often state that she didn't have much creative control over her PVs. She did have quite a lot, certainly since WHATEVER. If you watch NTV 2004 interview, you'll see scenes of her discussing what the PV [WHATEVER] will be like. And it's seriously her talking and others listening, like boss and employees. It's known she was picking the extra ladies for the crowd scenes for my name's WOMEN (there was a girl at AHO who was an extra in that PV, she posted backstage photos and wrote about how she was picked). I think it's her idea to have non-Asians.

That's interesting, changes a lot when you get access to new facts . Thanks for the information, let the speculation continue .

I imidiatelly thought "Oh, it's almost like when I discovered Ayu. The same kind of stituation."

Haha, nice. Does there actually exist people who are obsessed over other people than Japanese artists!?

[Jer Sieu]

^What happen to your avatar and your sig....

@Dustie : In fact, I actually thought that everybody knows about how well the music industry in Asia is actually immerging very quickly... Guess I am wrong..

[Kikaru]

LOL, I have completly no idea how a crowd of non-Asians is more interesting than a crowd of Asian people.... ?_____? I don't see any difference.

Well, it's the same thing with being asian in a crowd of white people. America is a pretty diverse nation, but Japan is not. It's different than what the japanese see every day.

Just like the time when I was in 4th grade and I went to briefly in this school where I was like 1 of 2 asians. People keep looking at me -_____- and everyone keep asking me about questions about Asia because they thought I was "new".

[RoboNyanya]

I totally don't think using foreigners has much to do with her or her directors wanting to make Ayu more popular overseas. It seems that she is really only concerned with Japan.

I do not think that representing other cultures and backgrounds in her videos is spitting in the eyes of her own countrymen and women, or means that she underestimates the beauty or whatever non-Japanese people get so excited about when they think about Japan.

It's about music. Whether or not she has ambitions to make her mark out of Japan, I think that the inclusion of other people besides Japanese people makes her message more universal. She's not just making Japanese rock, or Japanese pop or what have you. Music has a message and makes you feel something no matter who you are or where you're from.

[boogieordie]

"White" and "American" are not synonymous.

Looking at it from a promotional point of view, it could be argued that non-Japanese people in a PV would catch the audience's eye more going by what Kikaru said. But as the first post says, it's not uncommon for a PV to have an entirely non-Japanese cast (aside from the artist). It really may just be more of a business thing rather than favoring one group over the other. And there's always the whole western stuff being cool thing. There probably isn't a specific reasoning behind this stuff, they do it because they can.

Dustie - Good points. But Ayumi gets a lot of help from the staff behind the PV and a director wouldn't be needed if she could decide/come up with everything by herself. With the casting process, more likely than not, Avex puts out the casting call (with or without specific notes from Ayumi or the director), the casting staff assembles who they think would be good, and Ayumi can greenlight and/or place the actors as she likes after most of the work is done (because of her schedule). She most definitely participates more when it comes to choosing people she'll work with on a long term basis (like dancers, as was show on Asayan).

[immel]

Originally Posted by devilayu

There probably isn't a specific reasoning behind this stuff, they do it because they can.

I think that reason seem one of the most likely.

[boogieordie]

A lot of times the white people that she uses in videos are Russians.

[Jer Sieu]

^How sure are you that they are Russians?

[boogieordie]

Originally Posted by Jer Sieu

^How sure are you that they are Russians?

Oh, it's been posted here a million times when we have discussions about the people she uses in her videos (this is not the first). I think it might be shown in the making of videos for Vogue-Far Away-Seasons and/or Endless Sorrow, since I'm thinking the kids in those videos were all Russian. I wish I had something more concrete, I know it's on here somewhere I just have to find it.

But, if she wanted to use Europeans it would only make sense to use Russians since it's the closest European country to Japan.

[Dustie]

I totally don't think using foreigners has much to do with her or her directors wanting to make Ayu more popular overseas. It seems that she is really only concerned with Japan.

It's almost sure for me she isn't doing it to gain international attention. How would a crowd of non-Asians help in that?...

I do not think that representing other cultures and backgrounds in her videos is spitting in the eyes of her own countrymen and women, or means that she underestimates the beauty or whatever non-Japanese people get so excited about when they think about Japan.

I don't think she is representing other cultures or backgrounds at all - becouse a crowd of non-Asians doesn't represent anything particular. Ethnic diversity? Well then she would need Asians in there as well...
I dare to think she's doing it mostly for the "coolness" of showing non-Asians, not for any extra message. Japanese or Asians must be so "daily" and "casual" to her, or even boring... it's so cool to have non-Asian faces in a video, isn't it?...

Dustie - Good points. But Ayumi gets a lot of help from the staff behind the PV and a director wouldn't be needed if she could decide/come up with everything by herself. With the casting process, more likely than not, Avex puts out the casting call (with or without specific notes from Ayumi or the director), the casting staff assembles who they think would be good, and Ayumi can greenlight and/or place the actors as she likes after most of the work is done (because of her schedule). She most definitely participates more when it comes to choosing people she'll work with on a long term basis (like dancers, as was show on Asayan).

No, a director is needed becouse it's the director who chooses how camera will be set, what angle, how's it gonna show the action taking place. However I'm sure she still pulls her own ideas trough as well, not like she decideds every single take by take, but I'm sure she does make up some takes which she wants to be exactly her way.
The casting people must have orders from those who develop the idea for the PV, becouse how else could they know who is needed?... It's already then when it's known that, for example, only non-Asian faces are needed (it would be senseless after all to cast 100 people of mixed background and then say 'well, we need only American-ish faces'). The obviously don't need her personal advice at that point becouse it's not hard to tell who looks clearly non-Asian, but I'm sure it's her (rather than director or anyone else) who puts "non-Asians" into the casting instructions/order/whatever.

A lot of times the white people that she uses in videos are Russians.

Now that's interesting ^^"