Absurd

Absurd
1: ridiculously unreasonable, unsound, or incongruous
2: having no rational or orderly relationship to human life : meaningless ; also : lacking order or value (Meriam-Webster Online Dictionary)

The other night I was driving a friend home and AKB48 was playing on my car stereo. She asked me why I liked AKB48. She commented that the music wasn't bad, and wondered if it was because they were so pretty.

While I have to admit the fact that the all members of AKB48 are quite lovely, my response to her was immediate and unequivocal. I love AKB48 because they are so utterly and completely absurd. Nothing about AKB48 is reasonable or sound; they are utterly meaningless and have no rational relationship to human life, and they are completely incongruous with the horrors of late capitalism.

I first discovered AKB48 by watching Majisuka Gakuen. That bloody show quickly became by favorite Japanese drama- strong young women fighting with honor and dignity, with a good bit of manipulative power politics thrown in. There was nothing more incongruous than for this program to be cast with a 48 member girl idol band. To me a 48 member idol group is absurd enough, but then to learn they have their own theater and put on nine shows a week is to add another level to the absurdity. The janken (rock-scissors-paper) tournament was the simply the latest and most delightful absurdity that is AKB48.

The premise of 'idols you can meet' is itself incongruous. An idol is to be worshiped from afar. Psychologically it is the externalization of our good qualities and the debasement of self. The management of AKB48 has quite successfully added a new level to the marketing of young women as fantasy girlfriends with this strategy. Yet as AKB48's popularity grows, these 'everyday' girls become more distant from the average member of the masses.

I've noticed some commentators out there have a strange love-hate relationship with AKB48, and I think this has to do with the fundamental absurdity of the group. While they can bring joy and entertainment, they do so in the most trivial of manners, diverting much needed resources from actually preserving human life. (To be clear, this is not directly the fault of AKB48 members, but the logic of capitalism. Millions across the world starve because no one can make money selling them food, and millions of yen are taken in by the capitalists marketing AKB48.) AKB48 is ultimately trivial beyond belief but just as equally powerful, important, and glorious.

I would suggest an alternative approach to the ironic detachment that cannot look away but then mocks the crass use of sexuality and other absurdities in marketing AKB48 related products. Admit you can't look away from the absurd spectacle that is AKB48 and just enjoy it. Our lives are so finite and precious, yet utterly absurd and meaningless. If you can't look away from the absurdity that is AKB48, just admit you like it and enjoy it. Life is too short to spent hating things that attract and engage you. Embrace the absurdity and enjoy. That is why I listen to AKB48's music, even though it is not great music.