Stereo-typing: West still culturally insensitive?

When British pop legend Robbie Williams released the video for his comeback single Party Like A Russian recently, the last thing he probably expected was backlash about how it portrayed Russians in poor light with its negative stereotyping of the lavish, Oligarchic-era. But he’s not alone. Coldplay’s video for their hit track, Hymn For The Weekend, along with Major Lazer’s Lean On, was criticised for being too ‘exotic’. And who can forget Avril Lavigne’s Hello Kitty video, that featured blatant appropriation of Japanese cultural stereotypes?

Do these examples point out that the West is still culturally insensitive to the world, and only perceives them through an exotic point of view? The entertainment industry seems to think that the problem exists because of what the media portrays of themselves — making it an endless, vicious cycle. “Throughout history, the perception and proliferation of ‘exotic’ cultures have been to throw up the most blatant exotica that the particular culture has to offer. A lot of cultures themselves use it in their promotions when it comes to offering themselves up for world tourism. What the West sees is what is shown to them, however myopic that perception may be,” says Luke Kenny, musician.

Eben Johnson, who fronts Bengaluru-based band, All The Fat Children, agrees, “It’s a lot to do with Soft Power. If I were to write a song about America, I would probably write about (Donald) Trump, McDonald’s and Playboy. When you think about a country or a culture, there are things that unfortunately stand out, because that’s how media has portrayed it to a large extent.”

Of course, that doesn’t make stereotyping okay. Film maker Vinil Mathew thinks that distinguishing good content from bad, will help. “There were many clichés in the Coldplay video, and that just makes it a bad one. Understanding outside cultures is not just a problem with the West, but it is so with us Indians too  — the North Indians’ depiction of South Indians is full of clichés. And, that’s what distinguishes art from being good or bad: One is slightly more culturally researched and nuanced, while the other is full of clichés.”

“That’s also the problem with art: Once it’s out there, you can’t help how people perceive it,” adds Eben, “The smart ones will understand that it’s just entertainment and nothing else. If Robbie were to release a song about a great, Russian cultural tradition that we don’t know of, he’s not going to make any extra bucks out of it. When it comes to business, people are a little insensitive about it. But from the end user point of view, we need to be smart about it as well.”

However, Luke also believes that with the advent of the internet, such instances have become fewer, thanks to the wide range of information that’s available to everyone: “Today’s generation is culturally and racially very aware of the pitfalls that exist by way of historical data. And in the present era of instant online availability of a plethora of rational thought and logical information, it can be safe to say that detrimental harm is not that existent.”