Blogger Widgets Ender-Chan's Thoughts: 4 Vocaloid Songs That Touch On Disability Issues

Monday, February 29, 2016

4 Vocaloid Songs That Touch On Disability Issues

I've decide to compile this akidearest-style list of vocaloid songs not only due to my vocaloid obsession, but due to the fact that some things are best expressed with computer-generated voices. If you thought vocaloid was just some inane genre of music made to be cute, catchy, and not much else, please think again. Artists use vocaloid to touch on a myriad of very serious and very real issues. Not all of these songs are explicitly about disability, but do touch on heavily related themes. Also note that these songs do cover some sensitive issues and can possibly be triggering (specifically for suicide, abuse, and death of a loved one), so listen at your own risk.

This video contains flashing images throughout.
 
1. Rolling Girl-Hatsune Miku

Of all the media genres I have seen, vocaloid does the best job of portraying mental illness accurately. Rolling Girl portrays a clear image of anxiety, depression, and psychotic disorders in general. In this video, Hatsune Miku is both bullied by her peers and the voices in her head. At the end of the video, she lies in the arms of a character assumed to be her depression personified. (Thank you, akidearest.) Ultimately, this song is about a girl that was bullied into suicide due to her insistence to roll one more time, one more time. She never sought help for her mental illness(es) either, instead stubbornly insisting that she was fine, which makes this an all the more tragic story about something that happens nearly every day.

2. Lost One's Weeping-Kagamine Rin

Though this song describes how school stresses students in general, the stressors of academic life are even more prevalent with disabled students. In this video, a young (most likely) Japanese schoolboy excels at math and science, but feels useless because he is not good with languages. In this song, the boy feels apathetic and frustrated with the way his teachers treat him. It is evident that the boy displays a high amount of emotional intelligence ("Can you read that kid's imagination?") which is not valued in schools. Thus, the boy feels out of place and like he is less intelligent than his peers due to the dispersion of his intelligences. The boy's dreams were squashed under the foot of his teachers all because he couldn't read the kanji on the blackboard, but he could read another kid's imagination.


 3. Seasonal Feathers-Kagamine Rin and Len

This song will resonate with many of you. Seasonal Feathers is an interpretation of the Crane Maiden story. In the song, a man rescues a crane, who visits him in human form. The two fall in love and get married. However, the husband (Len) falls ill while the wife (Rin) weaves clothes out of her own feathers to keep her spouse comfortable and warm. In the end, they both die. This song covers the issue of both caregiver overexertion and not being able to obtain necessary medications, both of which are detrimental to the health of both parties. Aside from the song being plain tragic no matter what your background is, it carries a message about how caregivers can overwork themselves, even to the point of death, without the proper assistance.


4. You are a Useless Child-Kikuo

No, I didn't mean you. That's just the title of the song. Throughout the song, the mother insults the child, calling the child useless at speaking, exercise, and academics and even telling the child to fester in their own bodily fluids. She makes the child repeat the things she said in what translates into English as "a duet with a lousy feeling", but ends up telling the child that she will protect them forever. Eventually, the child becomes fed-up with the mistreatment and commits suicide. The mother later regrets saying such things about the child saying, essentially, that she was the useless one after all. This song is a reminder to parent advocates to be careful about what they say about their children, especially on the Internet and to choose their organizations wisely. "Autism Speaks" was the first thing that popped into my head when I heard this song. If you don't know why, I suggest you look to other autistic people for clues.

Discussion Questions
  • Are there any other songs that should be on this list? Why?
  • Do you agree with me, disagree with me, or have any other theories or speculations on the songs listed?

4 comments:

  1. I agree with this list and your theories/ideas. Also that's so sad about the mother insulting the child and the rest of them are sad too but that one is the most sad, in my opinion.

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    1. The song had me thinking about the martyr mommy complex from the moment I first heard it.

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  2. Interesting! I've never heard of vocaloid before. But as I've mention before, I always learn something new when I read your posts! These are all very serious issues. I can definitely see how they could apply to those in the disabilities community. The last one is very sobering and thought provoking.

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    1. The fourth song is very open-ended when it comes to interpretation. Did the mother really love the child? If so, why did she say those things? Why didn't she seek help for thinking that way? The fact that she regretted what she said to the child makes this all the more a song that perfectly expresses a touchy advocacy issue.

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