Coldplay or: How I learned to Let Go and Chill.

Coldplay released the video for their track, “Hymn For The Weekend” a few days back, and all hell has broken loose.

I personally don’t give a shit how India is portrayed by a couple of has-beens, however I’d like to tie this in with a larger narrative that the Europeans have built up over the years, and one which the Anglosphere is continuing, so I thought that I’d weigh in with my two cents.

(Before we start, why are you still listening to Coldplay in 2016? :p)

The whole controversy revolves around the fact that the video has typical elements of Indian life and culture that the Caucasian loves. Gratuitous shots of crumbling infrastructure, broken down means of transport, poverty porn, “technology” that still seems to be stuck in the 15^th century etc. However, in the middle of (and in spite of) all this the “natives” are happy, and sing and dance, and celebrate life. 

“We natives really know how to live, we don’t need none of that materialistic shit yo! See how we are all totally fucked, but still stay so upbeat and happy. Learn our deep, mystical secrets bruv”.

This seems to be the message from a quick glance at the video. Another thing you can pick up from all these videos shot in the "Third world", be it Asia, Africa or South America is the multitude of people thronging around the sole white guy(s). The evolved white guy(s) comes to the 3rd world to meet the faceless multitude and embrace and revel in their way of life and seek enlightenment. Usually the white guy is the only one you can identify with, whereas the "other" people are reduced to a faceless, anonymous group. All these images reduce a living, breathing, complex people to a 19th century trope of the mysterious, one-dimensional mystic Indian, and in the process maybe massage the white guy's ego. 

 I’d like to point out that Chris Martin (and a few other Coldplay members, if I’m not mistaken) played an impromptu gig in a Delhi pub, so it’s not like he isn’t aware of the other facet of India. I was also reminded of an Iggy Azalea video from a few years back - which was very similar to the Coldplay video – with all the clichéd elements in place. I’m damn sure that had the camera panned a few inches to the left or right, you would have seen gleaming new buildings and a modern looking neighbourhood, but no, we gotta stick with that poverty porn, yo.

I’m by no means saying that we are perfect or that we have all our problems sorted out. Far from it, huge numbers of our population live in poverty, open defecation is a problem etc etc. So frigging what?

One aspect of life doesn’t negate the other.

India is messed up in many ways. India is awesome in many ways.

Shall we use the same yardstick and stereotype all nations equally?

Oh UK? Damned miserable country filled with paedophiles. Overrun by fucking Chavs and people in housing estates. Binge-drinking alcoholics who throw up everywhere. A bunch of thieving lowlifes who got rich by looting and colonising other countries. Worse than the Nazis when it comes to millions killed. Yet have conveniently whitewashed history to portray themselves as a civilizing influence on “savage countries”, and not the mass murdering lunatics they actually are. 

Oh USA? An obese paranoid country with a mass-murderer lurking on every corner. Overrun by trailer park thrash and ghettoes.

And so on, for literally every country on this planet. See how stereotyping works? Now assume that Indian media and content was all powerful, dominant, and in demand across the world, and whenever they portrayed the UK or the USA, these same stereotypes were recycled over and over. Pretty soon it becomes THE image of the country to the rest of the world, and consumers of that content would be conditioned to associate those two countries to the stereotypes.

But that’s not the truth, right? UK, in spite of its faults is a decent country. The USA, in spite of its defects has contributed much to the world.

And thus with India. And this is what irritates a lot of people.

As I mentioned before, the issue is not just with this particular video, it’s with the Anglosphere’s overall narrative of India in the media. It was the same with China in the 90’s and early 00’s (before its grudging admission to almost developed status). Forget China, If I mentioned Nigeria and a few other countries in Africa, what would be the image that springs to mind? More often than not, it would be one of extreme poverty, and random vultures chilling out near some emancipated kid. But that’s not the case, parts of Africa are very well developed, clean and doing well for themselves. But that’s not the image you see in the media.

When cases like the Flint water crisis occur, the reaction from the average western individual is, “Hey, we are developed, this is just a one-off thing” (in spite of the fact that there is now evidence that this is happening across various low income communities). But if this had been in India (or any other non-white nation), “Lol, what a shit-hole country”.

I remember as recently as the late 90’s and early 00’s, puny Britain lecturing us on Kashmir, self-determination yada, yada. Really? The same country that ruthlessly colonized half the world, and still oppresses the population of Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Talk about hypocrisy.

But we listened.

With this particular video, I think a lot of people are pissed off because they think that Coldplay have seen the other side of India, and still resorted to stereotypes. The anger seems to stem from the fact, “Why won’t they acknowledge that we are developed, and show that side as well?”, this again taps into the national psyche, where a lot of us still see the “White Man” as perfect and desperately crave his approval. From the craze for skin lightening creams, to the way we talk to them (I’ve witnessed several instances of this personally, with people fawning over them), to how we refer to our film industries.

This could be due to our colonial past as well as the predominant image of the white man and culture in popular media. Hollywood and other Anglosphere media almost always portray good looking white people, in immaculately clean houses and streets. Even the poor and “ugly” people portrayed on screen appear relatively attractive and not so poor. This is the general image in mainstream pop culture.

This is all a make-believe fantasy, in reality, accurate representation is glossed over. The problems facing the west, the atrocious living conditions in cities, ghettos and trailer parks and rural communities are not shown. This is propaganda. The West is great, fuck the rest.

This even affects the way that Caucasians are portrayed in our media - as good looking, wealthy, cool et al, when that’s not the case. There are equally as many ugly, poor and nerdy white people, as well (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Thus, it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle.

This same message keeps getting repeated ad-nauseam, no matter what the incident, thus building the narrative that the West is beyond reproach, and India is an undeveloped country stuck in the dark ages.

This is not to say that the West is a horrible cesspool. Far from it, they are well-developed and prosperous, but my contention is that the West focus only on our negatives and gloss over our positives, whereas they focus on their positives and absolutely gloss over their negatives.

So, you may be wondering, what’s the point? How do I change the prevailing narrative? The answer is clear. You can’t. Just grab a beer and have fun. India (and the rest of the non-white world) would always be portrayed as lesser, not fully civilized beings (do you really think Mexico is as underdeveloped as how they portray in Sicario and other popular culture? Or all Latinos, thugs and gardeners? Well, if you do, I’ve got a plot on the moon to sell to you)

These are all media the “white guy” has made for himself and his people to make themselves feel good and superior, and subtly show the rest of the world just how awesome they are. If you want to watch it, develop a thick skin.

You can however build a counter-narrative.

I mentioned earlier, about seeking approval. The simple truth is you shouldn’t. As an individual or as a country, you shouldn’t seek approval, that would mean giving others the power to judge you.  Respect and stand up for yourself.

Read up, gain knowledge. Figure out how the world works, how a narrative is built and perpetuated. 

As the generation born during and shortly after independence fade away, so will the current approval-seeking mentality. I have high hopes from those born post the late 70s – early 80s onwards. Already there is a change in mentality (visible IRL, online and in new media), acknowledgement of past injustices and a desire to change the present. Keep working, keep developing. Don’t let the stereotypes affect you.

History is a cycle, and soon we will be back in a place to build our own narrative. Till then, quit bitchin’, who cares what a bunch of white guys think?.

Disclaimer from the brown guy: The term “white guy” just flowed better, and thus the use. I’m not racist, and do not condone racism. And I’m by no means implying that the entire population of the Anglosphere is racist or are engaged in building this “narrative”. I was referring to those in charge of creating and producing the content.