When you think of India you might think of 18th century Rajasthani forts, red Mughlai sandstone pillars with flourishes of gold and marble palaces boasting of ancestral wealth. Consequently, your mind might take you to a far less glamorous movie screen. Here you might see poverty ridden slums lined against speckles and glints of seemingly sparklier urban networks. Bleak grey polluted skies hanging menacingly over beggars on the street, heavy clouds prepared to erase tobacco stains on bus walls. It’s interesting how you might form these two divergent images, or as Hall (1994) would say, regimes of representation of India in your head. The first would be influenced by the tourism industry’s cash cow- the Taj Mahal, and the second would be drawn from critically acclaimed movies like, ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’ These limiting images reflect a polarity in viewing India which “swallow[s] up all distinctions in [its] rather rigid two part structure” (Hall, 1994, p.235).
You would imagine that India’s stratification in terms of class, religion, and privilege, would prompt western artists to carefully structure their representations around India’s diversity. It is unfortunate then, that popular media regurgitates the common trope that India is a predominantly Hindu land where poverty is glorified, women are perpetually dressed in bridal attire and children who live in rural areas are forever smiling and engaging in festivities (Kumar, 2016). Foreign consumers buy into these stereotypes of Indian culture due to limited exposure to authentic publications.
Iggy Azalea’s 2013 music video, ‘Bounce’ (Iggy Azalea & YouTube, 2013) suffers a similar story of western production companies missing the mark in an attempt to represent foreign cultures. Here, Iggy is seen draped in a Sari (traditional Indian attire), parading through the streets of Mumbai on an elephant, which she claims she “put in there for good luck” (Pell, 2013). Her exoticization of Indian culture is harmful because she perpetuates antiquated stereotypes of Indian modes of transport that are “compelling-because- strange- and- exotic” (Hall, 1994, p.229).
Azalea enjoys main-character energy as a Caucasian woman in Indian-bridalwear and it seems only fair to make the assertion that she uses the Indian classical dancers in her background as a prop in her music video (Thomas, 2013). There is also great dissonance between Iggy’s lyrics of ‘mak[ing] it bounce’ and the Pandits (priests) performing ritualistic ceremonies directly behind her. It is dangerous that she misrepresents Indian culture to a western audience, when limited representations exist. Cole suggests that “Photography writes with light, but not everything wants to be seen” (Cole, 2019, p.5). The lack of agency attributed to the dancers allows for Azalea to spin her own narrative of an Indian ‘fantasyland’ and author her own representation of a culture to which she doesn’t belong (Thomas, 2013).
It is unusual that Azalea intersperses her video with stills from the Taj Mahal in Agra, considering her video is shot in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Flashing this buzzword shows the production team’s effort to appease western audiences by reinforcing existing images of Indian culture. Essentially, by feeding the stereotype, western production companies are giving little room to other renditions of Indian culture.
Hall proposes that “meaning cannot be fixed”, and instead it is “dialogic” and “up for grabs” (Hall, 1994, p.236), and artists like Azealia and Coldplay display ways in which meanings are created. In my understanding, there is a fine line between using foreign culture out of fascination and a desire to portray difference, and in exploiting the culture whilst “othering” it (Hall, 1994, p. 225). Indian culture has its best look when it is represented by Indian directors and is spared from being co-opted by the western gaze.
References
Coldplay & YouTube. (2016, Jan 29). Coldplay- Hymn for the Weekend (Official Video). YouTube. Retrieved Nov 05, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YykjpeuMNEk
Cole, T. (2019, 02 06). When the Camera was a Weapon of Imperialism (and When it Still is). The New York Times. Retrieved 11 05, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/magazine/when-the-camera-was-a-weapon-of-imperialism-and-when-it-still-is.html
Hall, S. (1994). The Spectacle of the Other. In Representation: Cultural representations and Signifying practices. Mercer.
Iggy Azalea & YouTube. (2013, May 05). Iggy Azalea- Bounce (official music video). Youtube. Retrieved Nov 06, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI1A405jBqg
Kumar, R. (2016, 02 01). Coldplay: only the latest pop stars to misrepresent India as an exotic playground. The Guardian. Retrieved 11 06, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/feb/01/coldplay-beyonce-hymn-for-the-weekend-cultural-appropriation-india
Parivartan, Y. (2016, 08 19). ColdPlay and the art of delivering Gospel Message. YugaParivartan. Retrieved 11 08, 2021, from http://yugaparivartan.com/2016/08/19/coldplay-and-the-art-of-delivering-gospel-message/
Pell, M. (2013, Jun 05). iggy azalea ‘getting the horses out’ for wireless festival. MTV. Retrieved Nov 08, 2021, from http://www.mtv.co.uk/wireless-festival/news/iggy-azalea-getting-the-horses-out-for-wireless-festival
Thomas, S. (2013, 08 23). Iggy Azalea and a Culture of Appropriation. Media Diversified. Retrieved 11 08, 2021, from https://mediadiversified.org/2013/08/26/iggy-azalea-the-vmas2013-and-a-culture-of-appropriation/
Quick links to the music videos:
Hymn for the Weekend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YykjpeuMNEk
Bounce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI1A405jBqg
You would imagine that India’s stratification in terms of class, religion, and privilege, would prompt western artists to carefully structure their representations around India’s diversity. It is unfortunate then, that popular media regurgitates the common trope that India is a predominantly Hindu land where poverty is glorified, women are perpetually dressed in bridal attire and children who live in rural areas are forever smiling and engaging in festivities (Kumar, 2016). Foreign consumers buy into these stereotypes of Indian culture due to limited exposure to authentic publications.
Take Coldplay’s, ‘Hymn for the Weekend’ (Coldplay & YouTube, 2016). The music video accrued 1.5 billion views on YouTube, making it Coldplay’s second most watched video. The band films in Worli Village in Mumbai. The attempt to capture the members, including frontline singer Chris Martin in the same stills as the Indian villagers, depicts how easy it is for the band to embed themselves in a different culture’s narrative. The artificial integration of westerners with Indian villagers is unrealistic and is a direct depiction of an “unbridgeable gap” and a “never-to-be-toppled hierarchy” (Cole, 2019, p.3). The most troubling part perhaps, is that they select only a segment of these villagers’ lives and detach their narrative from the oppression they face under restrictive social structures. The portrayal of India as perpetually joyous, even in the wake of poverty is reductionist and is a form of essentialism (Hall, 1994, p.225).
Many critics have a bone to pick with Beyonce’s involvement in the video. She is presented as the incarnation of a goddess named ‘rani’, which quite literally translates into queen. In another part of the video, she is referred to as ‘Maria Mata’, which can most closely be read as ‘Mother Mary’ in English. The deliberate diversion from Hindu themes into a setting which is more familiar to western audiences is all too apparent and has evangelical underpinnings (Parivartan, 2016). Holi, is stripped of its religious relevance and is displayed in a performative light, as a festival of smiling children and frivolous color throwing. Beyonce’s revealing clothing (which, by the way, is passed off as ethnic garb) is a stark contrast to the value of modesty in Indian culture and at very best comes off as disrespectful to traditional Indian audiences. Surprisingly, Sonam Kapoor, a famous Bollywood actress, makes a cameo role, but disappointingly, her role is relegated to a five second snippet at the end. The decision to predominantly present Indian femininity through an African American singer when a regional actress is used within the same video, might raise some eyebrows. Sonam Kapoor’s presence can be interpreted as a clever marketing tool to create an inroad and anchor the rock band’s success within an Indian setting. Put plainly, they carefully chose a stereotyped western interpretation of Indian royalty over an authentic representation to cater to a western audience.
Iggy Azalea’s 2013 music video, ‘Bounce’ (Iggy Azalea & YouTube, 2013) suffers a similar story of western production companies missing the mark in an attempt to represent foreign cultures. Here, Iggy is seen draped in a Sari (traditional Indian attire), parading through the streets of Mumbai on an elephant, which she claims she “put in there for good luck” (Pell, 2013). Her exoticization of Indian culture is harmful because she perpetuates antiquated stereotypes of Indian modes of transport that are “compelling-because- strange- and- exotic” (Hall, 1994, p.229).
Azalea enjoys main-character energy as a Caucasian woman in Indian-bridalwear and it seems only fair to make the assertion that she uses the Indian classical dancers in her background as a prop in her music video (Thomas, 2013). There is also great dissonance between Iggy’s lyrics of ‘mak[ing] it bounce’ and the Pandits (priests) performing ritualistic ceremonies directly behind her. It is dangerous that she misrepresents Indian culture to a western audience, when limited representations exist. Cole suggests that “Photography writes with light, but not everything wants to be seen” (Cole, 2019, p.5). The lack of agency attributed to the dancers allows for Azalea to spin her own narrative of an Indian ‘fantasyland’ and author her own representation of a culture to which she doesn’t belong (Thomas, 2013).
It is unusual that Azalea intersperses her video with stills from the Taj Mahal in Agra, considering her video is shot in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Flashing this buzzword shows the production team’s effort to appease western audiences by reinforcing existing images of Indian culture. Essentially, by feeding the stereotype, western production companies are giving little room to other renditions of Indian culture.
Hall proposes that “meaning cannot be fixed”, and instead it is “dialogic” and “up for grabs” (Hall, 1994, p.236), and artists like Azealia and Coldplay display ways in which meanings are created. In my understanding, there is a fine line between using foreign culture out of fascination and a desire to portray difference, and in exploiting the culture whilst “othering” it (Hall, 1994, p. 225). Indian culture has its best look when it is represented by Indian directors and is spared from being co-opted by the western gaze.
References
Coldplay & YouTube. (2016, Jan 29). Coldplay- Hymn for the Weekend (Official Video). YouTube. Retrieved Nov 05, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YykjpeuMNEk
Cole, T. (2019, 02 06). When the Camera was a Weapon of Imperialism (and When it Still is). The New York Times. Retrieved 11 05, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/magazine/when-the-camera-was-a-weapon-of-imperialism-and-when-it-still-is.html
Hall, S. (1994). The Spectacle of the Other. In Representation: Cultural representations and Signifying practices. Mercer.
Iggy Azalea & YouTube. (2013, May 05). Iggy Azalea- Bounce (official music video). Youtube. Retrieved Nov 06, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI1A405jBqg
Kumar, R. (2016, 02 01). Coldplay: only the latest pop stars to misrepresent India as an exotic playground. The Guardian. Retrieved 11 06, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/feb/01/coldplay-beyonce-hymn-for-the-weekend-cultural-appropriation-india
Parivartan, Y. (2016, 08 19). ColdPlay and the art of delivering Gospel Message. YugaParivartan. Retrieved 11 08, 2021, from http://yugaparivartan.com/2016/08/19/coldplay-and-the-art-of-delivering-gospel-message/
Pell, M. (2013, Jun 05). iggy azalea ‘getting the horses out’ for wireless festival. MTV. Retrieved Nov 08, 2021, from http://www.mtv.co.uk/wireless-festival/news/iggy-azalea-getting-the-horses-out-for-wireless-festival
Thomas, S. (2013, 08 23). Iggy Azalea and a Culture of Appropriation. Media Diversified. Retrieved 11 08, 2021, from https://mediadiversified.org/2013/08/26/iggy-azalea-the-vmas2013-and-a-culture-of-appropriation/
Quick links to the music videos:
Hymn for the Weekend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YykjpeuMNEk
Bounce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI1A405jBqg
Hi Anaya,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your analysis of the Iggy Azalea and Coldplay music videos and their reinforcement of western stereotypes of India. When watching the videos, it feels like they decided to incorporate every image a Western audience would recognise of India and make music videos out of it. This is an example of the regime of representation, in which Western musicians have agency over the portrayal of a culture and country that is not their own. I particularly liked your point about essentialism as both videos seemed to take out any complexity from the scenes of Indian life they portray. They do not attempt to educate their audience on the intricacies of Indian culture in any way and Beyonce’s portrayal of a goddess can be perceived as insensitive to Hinduism and its traditions.
The videos could be viewed as intentional camp as they do not make use of exaggeration for positive means. It is not so bad, that it is good - it is simply bad. They come off as lacking in research and it is clear that there is a lack of local creative voices behind the production of the videos. By “othering” Indian culture, they reduce it to the Taj Mahal, cows and bright colours. They fail to understand, as you note, that meaning is dialogic and without having necessary conversations with people from India and taking their opinions into consideration, the videos were bound to be an inaccurate representation of India that plays into multiple stereotypes of the country.
Hi Anaya, it’s interesting how you open this blog post. Those two pictures of India really pop up in my head when I heard of India, and it really depends on where ‘regime of representation’ as Hall explains I looked up for. Your blogpost also shows me the reproduction of this stereotypes of Indian condition really leads of regime of representation. Therefore, it is hard to break the stereotypes as you said because of the limited exposure to authentic publications. I also think this limited exposure to authentic publication is part of hegemonic media and culture industry of Indian as it is already well known internationally, so they want to keep the image to keep their industry rolling as how they wanted it to be. This shows that the minimum option give audience little agency of thinking the representation of India
ReplyDeleteBesides, your blog post also wakes me up because I’ve watched the Hymn for the Weekend by Coldplay and I’ve never realized how they portrayed India in my head without I realizing it while it leads to what Hall called essentialism, when the smiling and laughing children in a poverty condition is one of my bigger pictures of India that I’ve seen a lot, while this is a very bad and unreal representation of India. Especially, this video is really a popular culture if we see based on the views.
In your blog post, I mainly see how popular culture, such as cold play and Iggy Azalea music videos shaped the regime of representation. I personally think that this regime of representation came from popular media to popular mind of most people especially in western culture. So, in this case, I think we can really see how strong media representation can shaped group’s mind of thinking about something. Not even a group, but some countries.
Hi Anaya,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog post! It was very thought-provoking and informative, as I also relate to being a person of color who is disappointed with the lack of or poorly done representation of my race in the mainstream media. As a consumer of Hollywood productions, I realize the representation of Indian culture or lifestyle is very limited. As you said, the stereotypes are reused and have not changed, providing a misrepresentation of Indians. I found this related to the reading of Sharma’s “Instagram has largely replaced TikTok in India, and erased working-class creators.” This highlights the same where the representation of India is very limited, where in fact the article even discussed barriers to that representation or ordinary Indians.
Even though poverty is glorified in the media, as you said, this isn’t a fair representation of ordinary lives in India or people in the lower caste. I found Sharma’s piece very interesting as it discussed a raw and honest portrayal of people in the lower caste. It’s interesting that the siblings who made these videos, Savitri and Sanatan Mahto, are unlike other influencers on TikTok, but were able to gain popularity and even revenue for their honest portrayal of their life. However, when TikTok was banned in India and new social media features opened but created socioeconomic barriers to the usage, it was disheartening that the siblings struggled to share their content. It makes me wonder why mainstream media is still stuck on its stereotypes or lacks genuine representation of Indian people. Do you think it’s because of the lack of awareness or because they think it wouldn’t sell? Would love to hear your thoughts!
Again, your blog post was incredibly well written and made me think about representation in the media in a new way!
- Bettina Catoto