FNAR 254 Fanzine Project: the crazy world of hello kitty... and her effect on identity...

HELLO

like many little (asian) girls, i grew up with hello k itty. my sister by default. hello kitty was pretty much universally adored, and it was assumed that we’d all love her too. which was so! true! she is *literally* a global icon. everyone knows her. but recently, having become more aware of my identity (an asian-american woman), developed my voice, and spoken out about gender inequality, i realized... a character i grew up with... might not actually have been a good character to adore?? this zine is dedicated to hello kitty obviously, of whom i will be a lifelong fan. it’s also dedicated to all of us girls who love hello kitty / cute things in general and hope to stand up for ourselves, embracing feminism in our own way

my sister and i owned who knows how many hello kitty items... haha

we went to tokyo’s sanrio puroland when i was 18 (hello kitty theme park basically).

i was hello kitty, and my sister was mimi (she drew this on a card for my *20th* birthday).

aw her family is cute... the dad looks exactly like my dad... but this was sorta accurate growing up since it’d be me, sis, mom, dad, and maternal grandparents. also look at her squad !!! i love some of these characters too

ok so she is apparently british (??), is 5 apples tall, and has multiple versions of herself, like we all do ofc (the top left is me rn since i have dark magenta hair at the moment). she’s been around for 40+ years; tbh i would want to be as timelessly popular as she is... i’m half kidding.

she also has a boyfriend ?! i watched an episode of hello kitty once where he confused her with her twin sister, mimmy...

SMH

im pretty sure all my friends (asian girls) growing up had this clock... it’s still in my room at home... oh how time passes so quickly. i think most asian girls embrace hello kitty b/c we’re thrown / bought things that has her on it and later we realize she’s SO CUTE... this usually wears off when we’re older, but some of us still love the cuteness even as we develop more mature / edgier personalities lmao

t my firs itty hello k case iphone

all the hello kitty sh*t i have already or probably had wanted or still want to have and experience ... she’s like a BUSINESS MOGUL ??? i’m def starting a company one day but is it possible to match her... (i say “her” but it’s the company, sanrio, technically i guess)

SHE’S ON EVERYTHING!!

I spent $50 on this hello kitty x lazy oaf shirt soph year at penn... i felt a lil bad but i’m like it’s totally worth!

she has food that looks like her (i got this at puroland, her theme park in japan); she’s all over your house; she has her own restaurants

this was my first facbeook profile picture....

she had a whole conference for HER

petition for a penn version!

noooooooo D:

Masao Gunji owns 5,100+ hello kitty items, which gives him the world record... damn... his retirement house is a pink hello kitty house... goals

the song “provider”

frank ocean & katy perry...

...along with lots of high profile people have donned hello at the macy’s parade... she’s also in high-end fashion - fo of hello kitty in his show. just ??? and there was also tha

her presence in the high-end/elite/celebrity spaces is craz i’ve seen poor children get donated hello kitty clothing ite 2004. from nyc to malaysia, poor workers dress as her to

kitty! guess her band-aids are popular, and she’s always or the SS20 London Fashion Week, JimmyPaul put a ton at questionable / problematic song avril lavigne made lol

zy... she’s iconic... but then the opposite is also true... ems. unicef named her a “special friend to children” in o make a living... the contrast is crazy to me too...

?? in 99% of the worlds in which we know hello kitty... she has *no mouth* i mean it’s not a shocker but then i realized... is it a good/ bad thing that many women/girls past and present look up/admire a character... who doesn’t SPEAK or SHOW EMOTION ?????

???????

THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!! (from a UCLA paper)

i don’t like this

except for the hello kitty cartoon originally made in japan (which i saw with chinese dub haha) no one has really heard or seen hello kitty speak... that’s sorta not a good role model for girls you’d think?? if we view her as someone influential in a girl’s life lol. maybe this will change things....

my friend read this, and she said “this is LITERALLY you!”

EDGY / REBEL HELLO KITTY??

tbh never thought i’d ever see something like this; this is a lot

*

hmmmmmmm

only in the past year have i really become to form and embrace my identity, to understand my place in the world as a 21-year-old chinese american woman. what do people assume about me? probably that i’m a quiet, submissive, smart, and cute girl who works hard and doesn’t make trouble. that i probably can be stepped on. that i won’t try to make my voice too loud. i HATE THIS. i always knew myself to be someone who is headstrong, outspoken, and ambitious. it’s been a battle, but i finally feel like i can fight for myself. but was this image of being a demure, obedient girl reinforced by hello kitty? eh, maybe not obviously, but she certainly does NOT defy these stereotypes and probably encourages a cute soft image. and of course as you can tell from this zine, I LOVE hello kitty as an animated character! but it’s just like i can’t believe i didn’t really have any characters that encouraged me to be speak my mind and be as badass as i want; only until very recently, i realized that in any situation, i CAN be a bold, unapologetic woman. the patriarchy, sexism, and racism aren’t disppearing anytime soon, and ugh all the systems we have built in our world are NOT designed with women, much less women-of-color, in mind. it’s really upsetting when i realize how i will not have the same opportunity, reward, etc. as men, especially white men. most of us young asian women know this is a reality, but given our cultural upbringing (to be quiet, obey, not make any noise), image in the media and stereotype reinforced by society, it’s really hard to break away from what we’re

“supposed to be like” and speak out on such personal, sensitive topics re: feeling suppressed, ignored, invalidated, treated unfairly. but in my unique way, i want to show my worth, uncover the biases and discrimination, to speak my mind and stand up for myself and people like me in an graceful, approachable way, and i hope to encourage my peers who, like me, probably have felt hesitant about claiming our space, making sure people know it, and fighting in the ways we can! it’s hard though. i sometimes want to shake those who just don’t get how deeply and broadly this inequality runs. but i can’t get someone to listen if i’m shouting at them, angry. but i also can’t be completely unemotional and silent... at least for me, i can take cover in the cute world of hello kitty and still be entirely enamored of all her merch etc, but i’d much rather not be silent and unemotiona, which seem to be two of her obvious characteristics. she’s fantastic for sure, and i hope that she’s loved and popular among women and girls for another 40 years. but, i’m tired that people like me are often assumed to be quiet, passive asian girls ever since we are little - and then we INTERNALIZE that that’s the norm, the image we have to embrace / assume. we can still be cute, but it’s about time we help each other embrace who we are, use our voice, and stand up to the stereotypes. yes, we can be feminists AND still love hello kitty. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

melinda hu 2020 printed in philadelphia, pa images from google, online articles, scanned items, and photos taken by me, friends or family

KITTY