Did you watch the video I put above? I think you should before reading my blog, just so that there is a basic idea of what I’m talking about. What was your first reaction? My reaction was wow Levy is sexy as hell (don’t tell my girlfriend I said that); but then it was what the f@#% and are you f@#$ing serious when I started listening to the lyrics. If that video was not degrading then I don’t know what is. The video was infuriating especially because I am Asian American. Although I am not a female, I can see that this would be an extremely offensive video. The portrayal of Levy who was in a lingerie and the lyrics was a spit in the face, at least from my perspective. This whole song seems to stem back to the hypersexualization of Asian women. The song also has the idea of dominance and the fact that Asian women want to be dominated. What really makes this video upsetting is the fact that the band members say that it isn’t racist because they had and Asian model and an Asian band member. That does not excuse saying or in this case singing, racist things. It would be equivalent to me saying something racist to a black person and then saying I have one black friend so it’s ok. Another thing that really upsets me is the fact that when Asians get mad everyone seems to dismiss it as being oversensitive. However, if African Americans get involved with something everyone is on board as it being racist. Why is that? It’s not fair, especially because of the model minority myth. We have stigma that were better off or that we don’t suffer with racism. We do deal with racism like this song for example. This video was a huge step back and I hold Levy Tran accountable as well. She is a media presence and she does have influence whether she knew it or not at the time of the video. She should have known better than to sign up to do a music video that would re-instill the stereotypes of Asian culture and women. For example, in the song they say either sit on my lap or I’ll have you deported. Another example is the beginning with all the “compliments”. If anyone went to a bar and said I like your slanted eyes and yellow thighs, I guarantee you’re going to get slapped or have a drink poured on you. Besides the racial stereotypes there are also gender stereotypes as well. For example the singer says butt fucking all night. So it brings this idea that Asian women are very sexual and need someone to satiate their sexual appetite. Now on the other hand there is an argument that the song was satire according to the band. He also argues that it was empowering for Asian women. He says that the Asian women have power over white males because of the infatuation white men have. However, if this was the case, I know for FACT there are better words to use instead of using every racial stereotype. I pasted an interview with the lead singer of Day above ground, which you can take a reading of. In the interview he says that the music video was white men worshiping Asian females, but the lyrics are completely different. One example is where he says “Bitch, I love you” in the song. I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure saying bitch, I love you, would make me become single, mainly because bitch is very degrading. Thanks for reading my blog/rant post. Take a look at the music video and decide whether it was racist or not.
Interview Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/derrick-clifton/asian-girlz-day-above-ground_b_3705655.html
Written by Joshua Chung
Interview Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/derrick-clifton/asian-girlz-day-above-ground_b_3705655.html
Written by Joshua Chung