Coldplay’s Cultural Appropriation

Coldplay’s Cultural Appropriation

Since the music video for Coldplay’s Hymn for the Weekend came out, there has been backlash from listeners claiming the video appropriates Indian culture. Cultural appropriation is the use of cultural elements by someone of a different culture. This music video is set in India and stars Beyonce as a Bollywood performer. In some of the video, Chris Martin, the frontman of Coldplay, can be seen throwing colored powder in the air, an element of the Indian spring festival Holi. Beyonce can be seen wearing a traditional Indian sari-like outfit and is covered in henna tattoos, a traditional Indian custom.

    Junior, Maya Shenoy, said, “I think it’s kind of offensive that Coldplay chose to sing a song about getting drunk and high while mimicking a religious holiday, Holi, and also singing outside of a temple which is a place of worship.” Maya offers very strong points arguing why this video is a thinly veiled example of cultural appropriation. “This isn’t the first time Coldplay has culturally appropriated. Their video for Princess of China modeled a lot of different Asian cultures together and claimed purely China’s culture. It’s not an homage to China when it’s not accurate. It also reinforces stereotypes which can be offensive to Asians.”

   Brooke Stoupa, also a junior, has a different perspective on this video. She says, “I don’t understand the cultural implication of this video because I see it as Coldplay trying to represent the beauty of Indian culture. To me this music video is beautiful, not offensive.” Brooke, along with others who are not familiar with cultural appropriation, are not aware of how offensive it can really be.

   Cultural appropriation has been an issue for a while, but has recently been brought up again and promoted through popular media figures.