Missenscène

Hatsune Miku

When I first heard of Hatsune Miku, I immediately thought of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, one of my favorite books in the world. Shelly wrote the book when she was 18 (such a genius!)

When most people think of Frankenstein they usually think of the scary, bulky-looking, green monster.  But Dr.  Frankenstein is the one who ” discovers the secret to imbuing the inanimate with life” and creates said monster. A major theme in Shelley’s book is Nature vs. Technology.  Frankenstein’s creature (technology) is evil.   Technology overpowers nature and things go terrible awry. I won’t ruin the story for those who have not read it.

Hatsune Miku is like Frankenstein’s monster…I might be exaggerating a bit, but seriously, she is a bit scary.  WTF is Hatsune Miku?

“She’s a computer-generated avatar (hologram), that struts, sings, and dances on stage. She’s accompanied by a live band. Miku, 5 feet 4 inches tall, looks like a young girl with blue pigtails wearing a version of a Japanese school-girl uniform with a short skirt. Her voice is synthesized with the help of a live actress. Miku can also be seen on home PCs, but live concerts are held for sell-out crowds who scream and wave lit batons”*

I can’t believe I just found out about her. Apparently any Hatsune Miku merchandise is worth buying, as  she’s the first hologram pop-star–and therefore, she is historically important.  If the hologram shows become popular, more “stars” will appear and there will be more collectors. I won’t be collecting any Hatsune Miku merchandise in the near future, but I did watch a video of one of her live performances. Watch it below. It is pretty cool-but I don’t like that machines are starting to replace live performers.

*Kovels