Re: It's Ayu Day!
-
Last edited by DaBackpack; 07-1-2019, 04:00 AM.
Originally posted by MoogyOriginally posted by TWG Dan Hedgehog -
Re: It's Ayu Day!
HAPPY AYU DAY EVERYONE!
UGUUComment
-
Re: It's Ayu Day!
UGUUOriginally posted by the sun fan
I'd be too tiny to be a bouncer
Comment
-
Re: It's Ayu Day!
UGUU
Originally posted by MoogyOriginally posted by TWG Dan HedgehogComment
-
Re: It's Ayu Day!
It’s a-me?
Comment
-
-
Re: It's Ayu Day!
HAPPY AYU DAY
TO ALL OF YOU AND TO THE MF QUEENFollow my dog on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Riles_puppyComment
-
Re: It's Ayu Day!
this thread rulesOriginally posted by the sun fan
I'd be too tiny to be a bouncer
Comment
-
Re: It's Ayu Day!
After MixMasterLar got a AAA in the tournament, I decided to listen to one Ayu song as a fun little nod of appreciation. I went on Youtube and watched the music video for Dearest, going in cold, knowing nothing about Ayumi Hamasaki or the rest of her work:
Before listening I thought I would just leave a quick wall comment afterwards like "I listened to [song], it was [brief description]!" But an honest reaction to Dearest demands a much longer response.
We're shown an opulent mansion, where Ayu is surrounded by nameless servants and bodyguards, while studio executives are having a meeting discussing how big a deal she is. I braced myself. Was this going to be yet another narcissistic pop song about how great it is to have fame and wealth, or how hard it is to have fame and wealth? Either way, centering the powerful while ignoring the struggles of all the working people whose exploited labor made that wealth and fame possible? Are the servants in this mansion paid a living wage? Do they have a pension and other benefits? Can they unionize without fear of retaliation? How's their work-life balance? We don't know, and I've yet to hear a pop song that will tell us.
Then there's an ominous rumble of thunder and a downbeat piano tune starts in as Ayu reaches for a glass of water. Just a simple everyday action fulfilling a basic human survival need. And yet she's interrupted by the servants, who pick up the glass and hand it to her instead of allowing her to simply pick it up herself. It becomes clear that the servants aren't actually in her employ, they're doing the bidding of the studio executives and owners, and with forced, upbeat-seeming smiles. Ayu, although extremely well-paid, is ultimately also working for the studio and its owners. And like all working people, she too is alienated from basic human experiences under capitalism.
With the aid of her bodyguards, Ayu avoids the paparazzi and escapes from both while her clothing changes to a cowgirl outfit and then to streetwear. These are symbols of the rural and urban proletariat, much the same as the sickle and hammer. Even if she hasn't yet bridged the divides of status, power, and geography among the workers of the world, we see that Ayu recognizes the importance of doing so.
Then she's on her own in a dim dreary street in the rain while gloomy-looking passers-by are barely staying dry under their umbrellas, representing the precarity constantly faced by the common people. Ayu sees a girl wearing the same bright pink colors as her own streetwear, who approaches and gives Ayu a handful of candies. Wouldn't we expect wealthy Ayu to give something to the girl instead? There are multiple facets to the symbolism in this scene. It may be a demonstration that mutual aid is more powerful than charity. The pink colors are an acknowledgement that feminisim is a key part of any truly liberatory struggle. And the transaction itself represents her connection to her fans, like kids saving up hard-earned chore money to buy an album.
Perhaps in this moment of human connection Ayu recognizes that all her wealth and power ultimately comes from her fans and their labor, and labor is entitled to all it creates, so her music rightly belongs to the fans and not the studio owners. With this revolutionary epiphany, the rain lightens along with the moods of the passers-by who look up from their own struggles and finally begin to notice each other as class conciousness begins to form. Even the lowliest of workers rise up the steps from their dirty basement apartment, now on the same level as everyone else.
Then Ayu is chased by the bodyguards, who seek to bring her back under studio control. Aren't the bodyguards members of the working class too? The video's message is clear: by subjugating others under the dominion of the capitalist class, the bodyguards are functioning as cops, and cops are not anyone's comrade. Fans trip the bodyguards to let Ayu run to freedom, showing how we can work together to abolish policing as a necessary step towards our collective liberation.
In the closing scene, Ayu sings alone in a landscape of windmill-covered hills. Does this represent a vision for an ecosocialist future, reminding us that the struggle against capitalism is essential for our very survival as a species? Or is she still trapped in the capitalist present, in which there's a constant churn of economic machinery but people are atomized and isolated? The ending is left open to interpretation by the viewers, because we get to decide how it will turn out in the real world as well.Last edited by HBar; 07-11-2020, 02:07 AM.Comment
-
Re: It's Ayu Day!
lolwutComment
-
Re: It's Ayu Day!
That is a Travis Flesher level read right there
Originally posted by YoshLComment
-
Re: It's Ayu Day!
Aaawwwww shit you guys it's Ayu Day 2021!
Don't have anything special this year (Did have something planned but it'll have to wait for 2022), but this new MV dropped pretty recently and if the gods favor us maybe HBar will review this one too
I am...not use to her singing Japanese in her English voice, but I can dig this.Comment
- Tosh 2014
Comment