TUNES // Rainbow Chan – The Creator
Post by Misha
I was thinking about how if we ever develop viable AI it will probably never be used for dogs. You know, because the major thing that’s nice about dogs is that they could leave us but they don’t. Dogs satisfy a basic human need to earn the genuine affection of another living being; a dog that is programmed to look and sniff and cuddle like a dog but cannot lash out in anger from hurt or betrayal is not a real dog. That dog would not require kindness, responsibility, or reciprocity. Its love would mean nothing. The very idea of a substantial relationship with that dog would be absurd.
It’s so patently obvious that artificial intelligence would defeat the purpose of a dog that I’m unaware of even one book, movie, or short story examining the premise. And yet at least once every year I’m forced to revisit the uninspired sci-fi drivel of human men falling in love with the artificial women programmed to serve them. (I’m looking at you, Blade Runner 2049. Also Her, Ex Machina – and those are just examples from the last 5 years). Real question: are men so unsure whether they want a partner or a slave that they need multi-million dollar budgets three times a year just to rehash the pros and cons?
There’s nothing thought-provoking about these premises. The question is always some variation of would-you-rather: an inhumanely beautiful female robot that does All The Things A Woman Should (spoiler alert: it’s just sex and being impressed by literally every word that comes out of any man’s mouth) OR a real, often difficult relationship with a woman capable of not only love and compassion, but also disappointment, anger, and fierce independence. The fact that anyone finds this question worthy of even a moment’s consideration, let alone a significant allotment of our cultural storytelling, is frankly horrifying.
Rainbow Chan is an Australian artist who channels social consciousness into her synth-heavy, experimental-leaning pop. She released the following statement along with The Creator, the second single from her forthcoming EP on sexuality, gender, and love titled FABRICA:
“The Creator” is not about any one individual, but is a response to normalised gendered behaviour. Drawing from the lived experiences of all the women around me—tired, frustrated yet resilient—our stories roll into a single gesture of resistance through song. Every time a woman is interrupted, undermined or silenced by a man, our cry becomes stronger. We don’t need your validation or your weak regurgitations of things we already know. Of course, these gendered relations don’t fit neatly into a binary and I extend this message to include trans and non-binary individuals around me. “The Creator” was written for us: to disturb the norm, to give us a song to sing when our confidence falters, and to lay down the loam for us, and only for us, to bloom.”
FABRICA will be released this Friday, November 17 on Healthy Tapes. Pre-order here.