[Random] GACKT and his Nazi Uniform...wait, what?

[ladyviolathornhaven]

Someone over on dA is working on a flash animation for a class she’s in. I watch her (we met at Katsucon, irl), and so I’ve been getting a semi-regular update with a new picture from her flash.

Then, there came this comment:

 

“…soon I will be posting a petition against Gackt…and Nightmare and any other bands/singers I find out are dressing like Nazis…”

My initial reaction, of course, was, WTF?! So I asked her if it had something to do with the visual kei scene.

“No, I love Visual Kei and Jrock in general.
Basically Gackt thought it would be ‘cool’ to dress like a Nazi and have his backup dancers dress like SS. At one of his recent concerts almost everyone attending (Keep in mind this is late teen to mid twenties mainly) were dressed like Nazis. He started this new ‘fad’ and Nightmare has joined in on it too. If you look at their CD that just came out this year they are dressed in a Nazi uniform on the cover. Thus why I am starting a petition against what they are doing. I am aware that they do not learn the full horrors of what happened during the Hitlers rain in their school system but it is still not ok to dress like them.”

My reply back:

”..I do see the general concept of the uniform, but I don’t clearly see any swastikas anywhere, which would clearly make this even more Nazi. Even the fans don’t have them; the red armbands don’t show any swastikas. Probably to them, this is merely a costume with some minor meaning of being “what Nazis wore”. The singers are performers; they play a part. It’s fashion, and, as you said, is a “fad”. It’ll fade and will no longer come up for another twenty years or however long it takes for fashion to come full circle.

I find these to be nothing like what actors in the musical “The Producers” or the movie “Inglourious Basterds”. Those were definitely Nazi uniforms, even more so than what I’m seeing in the other pictures. And, yes, I know that these are films, they are actors playing a part, the costumes mean nothing to them. But can’t that also relate to singers? Singers are actors. To be able to “sell” a song, they need to feel that emotion that’s being conveyed by the lyrics themselves. They wear different outfits because they can, and there isn’t always meaning behind those. Besides, if you like what they sing music-wise, shouldn’t that be all that really matters? Sure, it’s fun to watch their concerts, but it’s really their music that got them where they are today. What they wear shouldn’t truly matter.

You, of course, are entitled to do what you wish to do…”

Y/N?

I fully see where she’s coming from. YES, the Holocaust and Hitler and Naziism is not and was not good. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that Gackt and Nightmare and other bands support what happened during World War Two.

Pictures can be found here and here.

Comments

Germany is disappoint.

[jolly-kraken.livejournal.com]

Dressing vaguely like a Nazi =/= being a Nazi, supporting the Nazi party's ideals or methods, or supporting the Holocaust.

Incidentally, is this person familiar with Hetalia? What's her opinion on depictions of Germany and/or Prussia in Nazi regalia? I understand that the historical connection provides a clear reason for them to be shown in Nazi-wear, where as there is no clear reason for Gackt (or any other person who isn't cosplaying Hetalia or an actual Neo-Nazi) to be wearing an outfit modeled after Nazi uniforms, but does she think that fanart and cosplay depicting characters as Nazis means that the artist/cosplayer must be advocating the Nazi party?

In other words, does she have the attitude of "if you draw fanart of it/cosplay it, you must like it and want other people to like it." Which is bullshit because I drew (unposted and unfinished) fanart of Russia shooting himself in the head, and I most certainly don't think Russia should die, nor do I recommend shooting yourself in the head.

"I am aware that they do not learn the full horrors of what happened during the Hitlers rain in their school system but it is still not ok to dress like them.”

Is she saying that Japanese students don't learn everything about the Holocaust/WW2? I've never heard anything like that before so I'm confused.

If they don't know as much about the Nazis as - I guess - everyone else seems to (which I find hard to believe), then I don't see why she's complaining. I'm sure Westerners with tattoos have gone to Japan and received negative attention because of the "tattoo = yakuza" association. Tattoos aren't a big deal in most places, so you wouldn't expect a Westerner to know that it's a (somewhat old-fashioned) taboo in Japan. And even though it's old-fashioned, that doesn't mean you won't get crap from people about it; My grammar school principal once yelled at some boys in my class to stop walking around with their hands in their pockets because they "looked like gangsters." She was in her 70's at the time, and this was maybe 6-8 years ago.

And I know for a fact that the younger generations in Germany really don't get all that worked up about Nazis - it's only the older people who were alive to witness WW2 that get offended about things like this. In my German class, I heard a girl talking to the TA (who was born and raised in Germany) about her high school German teacher and how she was "a total Nazi" about some grammar rule that we were learning at the time. The TA didn't bat an eye. If the Germans don't give a shit about Nazis anymore, then why the fuck do people of other nationalities get so worked up about it all the time? I remember seeing some picture of that British Prince what's-his-face who wore a Nazi uniform as a Halloween costume a couple years ago. People were all in a tizzy because it was "offensive" and "in bad taste" but I still don't get why no one seemed to notice that IT WAS FOR HALLOWEEN. I don't hear anyone saying that the "demon clown who spits up the blood of innocent children" costume is "offensive" or "in bad taste," but as soon as you bust out the Nazi uniform the shit immediately starts flying.

TL;DR... Gackt's costumes do not make him a Nazi any more than they make him a Gundam pilot. (From the "Metamorphoze" video.) Everybody needs to stop talking about Nazis unless they're discussing Hetalia. The Germans don't give a shit anymore and neither should we.

/obscenely long rant OTL

Re: Germany is disappoint.

[violathornhaven.livejournal.com]

(YOUR ICON IS SO PERFECT! *is jealous*)

I don't know if she is. I'm pretty sure she's heard of it (because Hetalia is crazy popular and, as she was at Katsucon, she might have heard the ruckus from the Hetalia World Summit…which was awesome but completely irrelevant), but probably doesn't follow it. I skimmed her faved pictures: no Hetalia. And, as we've only met a couple times (which is, again, Katsucon), I can't say I have her character/personality one-hundred percent placed.

I've looked a little bit into the Japanese school system (on Wikipedia…yes, I know that it's probably/most-definitely not perfect, but it was probably the best place to find information in a collected place). They mention World War Two…vaguely. Kind of like "it happened, America bombed us, but we're okay now". I couldn't find anything that explicitly says anything about the Holocaust. I would be surprised if they didn't know about it, but they probably do.

And thanks for the information about how someone in our age group and is German doesn't care. Other nationalities probably get worked up because of the "OMG IT'S A NAZI WE'RE ALL GUNNA DIE…UNLESS WE KILL DEM FIRST!" idea. The Nazis are part of the world's history (obviously not a shining, glistening, lovely part), and so some people still feel offended, but it's probably because of that reason alone.

…WHAT DO YOU MEAN GACKT ISN'T A GUNDAM PILOT. NOW I AM SAD. (xD)

/obscenely long rants are perfectly acceptable as long as you've said all you've wanted to say.

[flyingfoxbat.livejournal.com]

I have to pipe up here. Gackt didn't dress up in a Nazi Uniform to glamorize Nazi's or because he thinks Nazi uniforms are cool. The purpose of the concerts was to criticise war. Basically Gackt organizes his concerts like plays or musicals and uses them to tell a story. In his Requiem et Reminicense I and II the story takes place during World War II and revolves around two different soldiers. Here a fan summarizes the events of the story and explains what there about http://groovy-walls.livejournal.com/58772.html. Although the story itself is a work of fiction it references much of WWII history.

[violathornhaven.livejournal.com]

Oh! Hello, welcome to this little journal.

And thank you for your input and information. :) I will relay this information to her ASAP.