Under a licensing deal between Sanrio Company of Japan and US licensing business Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products (NVCP), products featuring both Blue’s Clues and Hello Kitty – for the first time – were sold in limited edition and at specialty stores in Taiwan in early 2007. NVCP president Leigh Anne Brodsky said it was the first time her company has joined its icons with a counterpart from another company. As far as things go, however, not many people in Hong Kong and U.S. have learnt of this partnership as yet; even online information has been limited – it will definitely take some time before the success of such a joint venture is to be testified to.
New Venture, Old Idea
“It’s a very exciting idea to have this creative collaboration, kind of East meets West, dog meets cat.” Brodsky claims in an interview after the deal, while Traci Johnson, the co-creator of Blue, claims that the two are compatible, even highly relevant: “Hello Kitty was a tremendous inspiration in the creation of Blue’s Clues and has been one of my favorite characters since childhood.” The history of Hello Kitty’s collaboration with other characters nonetheless should take away some of the ingenuity in Brodsky’s claim, though not necessarily deprive Johnson of her excitement, be it personal or business in nature. If Kitty’s merging with the Italian Rody Horse is not well-known enough, then the latest collaboration with Mattel's Barbie has certainly grabbed a lot of attention in the media and among Kitty fans.
East Meets West: Changing Contexts and Meanings
The idea of “East meets West” is likely to remind the reader of its frequent usage in social and political contexts. Take Hong Kong as an example. During the colonial period, the British government drew on this vague metaphor to fashion a magic formula for success, attributing the city’s prosperity to the smooth combination of British administration and Chinese entrepreneurship, while concealing the aggression and domination that is inherent in colonialism itself; ironically, after Hong Kong has reverted to Chinese sovereignty, its SAR government readily drew upon this same metaphor again, and its attempt to reinvent Chinese culture, for instance seeing that Chinese people prefer harmony and consultation, can be read as a revival and perpetuation of colonialism. Indeed, in this handy and empty metaphor, the real, complex natures of both Chinese and Western are forever obscured.
What can one make of Blue’s Clues meeting Hello Kitty? Is it, as the picture indicates, a glorification of friendship and its harmony: As blue comes together with pink (colour of Kitty’s ribbon), a purple flower comes out? Is it a merchandise that promotes friendship? Or does the meeting of the Japanese cat and the American dog articulate a new meaning of “East meets West”? The East is by no means monolithic, as it is an umbrella term that covers not only China but also Japan, among many nations and cultures. Likewise, in this case, the West does not refer to Britain, but the United States. When the two icons, carrying two globalizing forces, come together, “East meets West” does not mean cultural and political subjugation of the East as does the previous example: it indicates a synergy out of which a super-globalizing power is borne, ever more powerful than either Japanese or American – if not as yet intimidating.
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