Chapter Five Kitty Subversions
Pink as the New Black
I just loved the idea of being excessive with this sort of kitschy little furry kitty animal that sort of brought all of my different sides of styles and emotions together now in this overly accessible consumerism tool. I liked the idea of that. I like the idea of the mass production and the excessiveness of it, and I thought that it was almost very — rock and roll! — K. B., nineteen-year-old female “punk” Hello Kitty fan from New York, personal communication, January 4, 2008, Honolulu
The histrionic battle lines surrounding Hello Kitty draw upon the excessiveness that has become fundamental to her global presence in the 2000s. This chapter examines some of the unexpected uses outside of Japan to which that excessiveness has been put, particularly by fans such as K. B. (above), who see in her a prompt that calls out for “rock and roll” play. These are not anti-Kitty critics (chapter 4), but pro-Kitty rebels of sorts who take Sanrio’s cat as a means to express what I consider subversive purposes. Here is pink as the new black. Within practices of subversion, I acknowledge differing degrees, from merely overturning our expectations to more deliberate — if gentle — politicized acts. These subversions turn cute on its head, taking Hello Kitty to places Sanrio had perhaps never dreamed. Or had they? This chapter focuses on fan meanings, but also points out ways in which Sanrio itself utilizes some of these subversions for its own marketing purposes (a theme that I explore more fully in chapter 6). I ask, How do subversive uses and meanings of Hello Kitty by fans (and marketers) shape pink globalization itself? How does cuteness (specifically here, Japanese Cute-
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