Adam Parfrey writes: “Luke Ford’s racism is always revelatory. Thank you, Luke, for all of it.”
Was David Bowie’s 1983 hit “China Girl” racist?
Yes.
But racist on purpose.
If you’re wondering why that makes a difference, consider Bowie’s comments in Rolling Stone that same year: “Let’s try to use the video format as a platform for some kind of social observation, and not just waste it on trotting out and trying to enhance the public image of the singer involved. I mean, these are little movies, and some movies can have a point, so why not try to make some point.”
At the time, the “China Girl” video was a marvel. It depicted the gender bending Bowie as a hypermasculine protagonist in a lush, interracial romance. It was also rife with stereotypes. The lyrics indicated a desire to conquer — and offered a threat of racial violence.
I stumble into town just like a sacred cow
Visions of swastikas in my head
Plans for everyone
It’s in the white of my eyes
My little China girl
You shouldn’t mess with me
I’ll ruin everything you are
I’ll give you television
I’ll give you eyes of blue
I’ll give you man who wants to rule the world
Bowie’s new fans — those who flocked to him after the success of the 1983 “Let’s Dance” album — may have thought they were getting a salacious pop single served up with a taste of Asia, but older fans from the ’70s knew better: Bowie was donning the role of a racist womanizer not only to decry racist womanizing but to condemn the West’s demeaning view of the East as a whole. “China Girl” was a parody of racism and stereotyping.
“The message that they have is very simple,” Bowie said. “It’s wrong to be a racist!”
“If you ever took Bowie for what was on the surface, you were missing something,” said Tiffany Naiman, whose work on Bowie was published in “David Bowie: Critical Perspectives.” “I think he was well aware of his elite cosmopolitanism. He was able to move through different cultures because of his privilege but he understood otherness and wanted to highlight that.”
