Subculture and the case for Kamikaze Girls (2005)

Due to a cosmic chain of events, I sat down to watch the Japanese Kamikaze Girls on Monday night. Despite the fact that this film was intended to constitute my break film, it seems so relevant to this week’s readings and some of the past week’s discussions that I feel the need to integrate it into this week’s posting (apologies for relying on an outside film here). Additionally, and this is not something that I seem to be able to answer within this week’s readings, or even within the film (at this moment), I wonder where we can make room in these ideas about subcultural style to discuss style that seems to span nations (is this a kind of eating of the other?).

Kamikaze Girls is a coming-of-age story of two girls, Momoko and Ichigo. The film begins with Momoko being hit by a truck and much of the film is seen in flashback. Although I am describing the film as a coming-of-age story, the film primarily negotiates the development and drama between the two young women through their respective styles. Momoko is obsessed with the store, Baby the stars shine bright (which sells her “Lolita-style” dresses and bonnets) and Ichigo is a bad-ass biker who is described as a “Yanki.”

Their friendship begins when Momoko needs to figure out how to make money so that she can continue to buy clothes from Baby the stars shine bright (http://www.babyssb.co.jp/), and she begins to sell some of the backstock of her fathers “Versashe” and “Universal Stadium Versashe” clothing. Although these two young women have very different styles and social groups (Momoko doesn’t actually have any friends), they come together and become friends when Ichigo arrives at Momoko’s house to buy some Versashe clothing.

In many ways this film is only taking up the issue of subcultural style (as a set of codes), which allows it to avoid some of the complexities of group dynamics (unlike Mi Vida Loca). Despite the fact that the film bypasses some of the sexual politics and ramifications of style choices (the Lolita look starts to get eerie),

there is a very conscious engagement in the film with the way in which women engage with consumer choices (highlighting a female prerogative in style) and the construction of their styles. In the film the designer from Baby the stars shine bright calls Momoko in an attempt to employ her as a designer for the company after she finishes high school. Instead of accepting the job, Momoko decides that she does not want to make the clothing that she loves because it will eliminate the fantasy of the clothing. While the translation of style into a job (which allows her to actively participate in the system of capital) seems like a way out (or progressive development), Momoko’s decision signals that there is more to her consumer choices and style than simply buying and/or making clothing. For Ichigo, style becomes a way to connect her to her female biker gang, but also to Momoko and Kimi (the leader of the gang) through Momoko’s embroidery on her clothing. On the other hand, Momoko’s style becomes a way to alienate her from both her peers and the community at large (as none of them understand why she can’t go to the local supermarket and buy what they wear). In the case of Momoko, this hyperfeminity provides a means to distance herself from teenage heterosexual desire (at least in the narrative world of the film) and exist in a fantasy world (although there seem to be a few undeveloped lesbian undertones between Momoko and Ichigo). Ultimately, why I think that this film fits in with a discussion of McRobbie's "Settling Accounts with Subcultures" is that it takes up issues of female style both in the context of female relationships, but also within a female engagement with style, consumer choices and to a particular extent, elements of DIY (via Momoko's embroidery skills).