I know this is so late, but I've really just discovered "Chinese Food" by Alison Gold. It was released on October 14 2013, and so far it's garnered 15.2 million views. In other words, it's the new "Friday." Looking at the comments on the video, I can't believe they call this video racist, and while a lot of them are aware that this video is meant to be a joke, many have missed the note that...this is actually a jab at America. Take a look at the video.
Let's dissect the symbols one by one, shall we!
The guy in the beginning and the cashier girl don't look Chinese, despite the girl having slanting eyes. They look more Cambodian or Vietnamese than Chinese. Aren't Hollywood movies notorious for hiring just about any Asian actor to play just about any Asian character? Exhibits: Chinese Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh and Gong Li all play lead characters in "Memoirs of A Geisha" (2005) and another Chinese actor Chow Yun Fat playing King Mongkut in "Anna and The King" (1999.) Certainly Hollywood producers never have Asian audience in mind when they make cast choices for Asian characters.
Gold singing, "After ballin', I go clubbin'" She was only 11 when the video was released, why is she singing about clubbing? I honestly don't remember any clubbing lyrics by any teenaged girl group of the late '90s and early '00s (though I swear to God I must have heard them...my brain is still searching - is it a song by PYT?) Nevermind, I can pinpoint many examples of teenaged girls under 18 being sexualised, which I think can serve as an equivalence to 11-year-olds singing about clubbing. Check out the video below.
This video was released circa 2002, when the girls were 14-17 years old. They're No Secrets, and if you have no recollection of them, don't worry - you didn't miss out on anything.
Gold and the girls wearing kimonos. I have an impression that her producer Patrice Wilson (the black guy in the panda costume) deliberately shot this scene to emphasise his point that The US can't tell Asian countries apart. Sometimes this is true - and demonstrated in movies. Exhibit: in the movie "New Year's Eve" (2011), Kim (Sarah Jessica Parker) spends a day at a Balinese spa...which is decorated with fake bamboo trees, little bamboo bridges over ponds and message therapists dressed in white kimono-like robes!
Patrice Wilson dressed as a panda - and nope the panda here doesn't serve only as a symbol of China. Ever heard the joke "pandas are the least racist animals, they're black, white and from China"? Ha!
Oh, and last but not least! Alison Gold is blonde and in some pictures her eyes seem to be blue. Remember the dumb blonde jokes? And if you've been in any kind of Cultural Studies class, you're most likely familiar with idea that the symbol of white purity is a blonde, blue-eyed maiden. That's why in many Hollywood movies (or Western movies in general), princesses, Aphrodite and angels are played by blonde and blue-eyed actresses. This can potentially be expanded into an entry of its own, even a legit ten-page academic paper so I'll stop at that.
Observing symbols is fun because you get to uncover hidden messages in everything!
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