WEEK 6 - RACE: FEMINIST METHODOLOGIES AND DISRUPTIONS
In the latest internet music video phenomenons comes Chinese Food by Alison Gold. And boy, is it awful. But not just horribly written, crappily sung and have questionable production value. It's racist.
Not only does this video promote racial stereotypes, it also has a borderline pedophiliac moment when Patrice Wilson is revealed as the giant stuffed panda and proceeds to tickle play games with a group of underage girls. He also squints his eyes slightly at parts and appears to be rapping with a fake inflection or accent intended to mimic a Chinese person.
There are also various languages that appear as subtitles throughout the video, until actual Mandarin is spoken.
Another blaring problem is the moment with Gold, with a group of young friends, is dressed as a Japanese geisha, which of course, have nothing to do with Chinese Food at all.
The songs racial tendency seems to be part of a growing list of ignorant rants, slurs and pop culture products concerning Asian and South-East Asian communities such as the song (and music video) ASIAN GURLZ by rock group Day Above Ground.
But something tells me that Gold is going to be held to a different level of accountability than the boys from Day Above Ground. Our internet culture seems to prey on young girls to blame for their ignorance. But should we be blaming this young girl? What about the production company, Ark Music Factory which is paid large sums of money from rich parents to produce and write these songs? What about her parents and community that brought her up in an environment where this is considered ok?
Brainchild of Patrice Wilson, the producer who was also behind Rebecca Black's Friday (now at 58 million views) it appears Wilson has a special talent for taking these teenage nobodies and turning them into internet sensations.
As with Friday and other Ark productions like Nicole Westbrook's Thanksgiving (14 million views) Wilson over-sexualizes his young female stars, and also has them chanting catchy and cheesy lines. Its also a glaring problem in these videos that there are no parental figures. There absence is no doubt an effort to make the stars seem older and mature, but just ends up seeming creepy and inappropriate when their rapper costar shows up.
The shocking and somewhat terrifying difference with Chinese Food is the racial element his work has taken. Thanksgiving was definitely guilty of being non-inclusive to other religious, but never did it seem to stereotype or belittle these cultures. Was this racism an attempt at gaining more attention through controversy? Or did Wilson and Ark think this was acceptable as well?
With millions of viewers no doubt about to tune-in to Ark's latest creation, it will be interesting to track where the blame (if any) is placed. My money is on the girl, who appears to barely even be a teenager.