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Saturday, January 06, 2007
helen @ 12:25 PM
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ok so i remembered my username and password but then forgot it again..
so that i dont forgot i'll post my username here: elstarshine (with OLD blogger)
gah! so confusing
here u go mer
Hello Kitty Has No Mouth
by Mizuko Ito
Here is another installment from my student essays from my Japanese popular culture class. This one is from Jennilee Tuazon.
Her blank eyes gaze at you from her white face, her button nose a sunshine yellow. A dainty bow rests askew on her left ear, the color matching the day’s adorable—not to mention perfectly coordinated—outfit. Cute, one almost overlooks an important feature: the mouth. Hello Kitty, the embodiment of cute, has no mouth. After more than 30 years, she remains a popular and recognizable character, with generation after generation of young girls falling in love—or at least consumer lust—with Hello Kitty, their zeal for collecting the fancy goods at times extending in adulthood. Why the interest (both love and loathing for the character) in Hello Kitty and all things kawaii? What factors have contributed to her rise and continued success on a global scale? Finally, what are the implications of a mouthless Hello Kitty in terms of gender stereotypes and agency?
WHY ISNT THE PICTURE THERE?? BOO AND I DONT KNOW IF HTAT LINK IS GONNA WORK..IF IT DOESNT GO TO MY BLOG FOR THE REST OF THE ARTICLE..
AND IN TERMS OF ENGLISH LIT..
discuss...
sorry lz i have been quite busy
this topic interested me to no end when i first read it on your blog, to deconstruct the implications of a cultural icon is one of my most favourite things to do. Yet now that i think about it, who am i to talk about Japanese agency? so i will merely pose a few questions. We have all heard about the 'submissive Japanese woman' stereotype, does this feline cultural icon reflect this? there are two ways of looking at this. First off, it is perhaps the western conception of submission, oppression that fuels this stereotyping of Japanese women. ie: its not acceptable in our culture, hence it should not be acceptable anywhere else. why must we keep enforcing what we believe to be submission or oppression on other cultures that deal with gender roles differently? Secondly,i am not sure if the writer of this peice was herself Japanese, or a Japanese person living in a western culture, does it matter? probably not. Is this silencing of the 'voice' a form of oppression regardless of the culture? i cant speculate...but maybe it is. In which case the case of hello kitty becomes highly interesting, yes it has no voice, then again its a cat. think about the marketing implications..would she just say meow? or actually speak? what would she say? is she targeted to men and women? in which case how can her creators program speech that appeals to both markets? who would be the 'voice' of hello kitty? Maybe the whole 'thing' about hello kitty is that children (and adults) across the world could make her say whatever they wanted...maybe. Then theres the obvious factor of her immense success, lets say she is a symbol of gender stereotyping, but she has had such a profound affect on culture. The effect is there, the influence is there...why is the voice so imperitive? well we can all get into feminist theory to do with 'the voice' as a tool of resistance a tool of power, but why would cat figure resist the very system that made her one of the most powerful and well known figures in the world? instead of being taken as a kind of figure of how women 'should be' why cant it be taken as a indication of how women can rise to power without directly challenging a system that could potentially 'silence' them? kind of..fighting from the inside kind of thing. no, overall i am not at all 'concrete' about this whole topic, there are so many variables, still though it is just a cat doll thing. Then again if people out there deconstruct the many manifestations of the 'phallus' in our streets...why not deconstruct the gender implications of a highly popularised feline? hmm. Well whether or not that made sense is beyond me, i wrote this without drinking coffee!
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