Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Music Video Madness


My initial plan for living in China had everything to do with keeping in touch via internet. Sadly, I was too stupid to understand that China was one of those countries that does not view the internet as its friend. I fell victim to all those foreign correspondent knuckleheads who could only write columns about how amazingly wired this nation was. But within a year of the Beijing Olympics, links to foreign-based social networks were a thing of the past. YouTube and Facebook disappeared, never to return to China. Google was put under seige, and finally gave in to censorship demands. It is very inexpensive to get online, but you must accept that your freedom to surf is extremely limited.

But I still get most of my news from the internet, and China's equivalent of YouTube really comes up with about 75% of the video stuff that I'd see in the U-S. For example, I can see the video of what is said to be the most popular song on American radio, something called "Whip My Hair" by 9-year old Willow Smith, daughter of actor Will Smith. The former Fresh Prince and his equally-fresh kids are highly popular in China, yet this is a video you'd think the Chinese would not want to people to see over here. As if it was not troubling enough to have a 9-year old wearing heavy makeup, joining her classmates in throwing their braided hair around, there's the English lyrics (I think she's says she's going to "whip it hard" at one point) which will undoubtedly soon be heard on the kids' cell phone ringtones all over Beijing. Plus, just consider the words "whip it" and pop music combined. Remember, the last time that happened on the radio was when the Dazz Band's R & B "Whip It" joined Devo's punk "Whip It" around 1980. Admit it, 9-year-old schoolchildren and "whip it" should not be mentioned in the same sentence unless you are talking about the return of corporal punishment.


Which they never, ever do in China, of course.


Um, talk about it, I mean. Oh, never mind.

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