Last Friday, No Doubt released a music video for the song “Looking Hot.” You’ve probably heard by now that the pop band faced immediate backlash from First Nations communities, both in Canada and the U.S.
In the video, singer Gwen Stefani is dressed up in what is presumed to be traditional native dress (buckskin, fringe and feathers), assuming you’re of the Plains nations variety and don’t put too much stock in the fact that women don’t wear headdresses or breastplates like the one she dons. Stefani is tied up, hands above her head, with a fair amount of skin showing, and is being guarded by two cowboy types, one in a Lone Ranger mask. Her fellow non-native band member is playing dress up as a native person in jail.
Now if this doesn’t scream "stereotypes," I don’t know what does. It’s no secret in Canada that Aboriginal people have the highest incarceration rates in the country. To show someone dressed as a First Nations person in jail is incredibly insensitive. Not to mention that Stefani's portraying the sexualization of Aboriginal women, when there are currently more than 600 missing or murdered Aboriginal women in Canada.
The juxtaposition of the cowboys whooping it up in the saloon, drinking and dancing on the bar, does little to offset the so-called "Indians" dancing around a large fire — clearly meant to portray them getting ready for an attack on the townspeople.
Then there is the use of sacred items such as the eagle staff, which represents our ancestors and our heritage, and is treated with the utmost respect. This misuse of native culture helps keep systemic racism alive and well.
“I think it is wild that these things are thought to be OK in today’s society,” Nicholas Galanin, a Tlingit/Aleut musician and university professor, said in an interview. “Native culture has constantly been swept aside, and these forms of representation do not contribute towards educating the public.”
Cree cellist Cris Derksen said she couldn’t be bothered to watch the video, and found the fact that No Doubt's band members said they had consulted members of the native community suspect, given the “current climate of young, intelligent Aboriginal folks and non-Aboriginal folks regarding the gross over-appropriation of different cultures.”
While others, like Yaqui musician Gabriel Ayala, are disappointed in the band. Ayala's disappointment comes from having liked No Doubt's music for years.
There is a groundswell among the Aboriginal community, where we will no longer sit idly by and watch as our culture is misappropriated. We will inform the public when they have crossed a line and used our culture in an inappropriate manner. The No Doubt video is not the first time the community has rallied, but it is one of the more publicized ones. The list of cultural appropriation and misappropriation goes on and on.
Being an "Indian" is clearly very trendy, but people only want the iconic ideas of what that might be.
“They don't want to address the real issues surrounding indigenous people, ignoring the history and genocide of First Nations people, ignoring the generational impact of colonization, loss of land, language or social structure,” said Galanin.
To No Doubt’s credit, the band did remove the video from their website and have apologized for offending Native Americans (First Nations, in Canada). But the apology shouldn’t have been necessary, because a music video like this should not have been made in this first place.
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