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