Let me be honest about one of my worst vices: I’m thoroughly hooked on, maybe even downright obsessed with celebrity blogs. I regularly check at least six of them (perezhilton, theybf, evilbeetgossip, etc). It’s an evil, dirty habit and I know I should stop. But sometimes these blogs actually have interesting commentaries on pop culture and things to say about one of my favorite topics: gender. Recently, I’ve kept noticing that multiple blogs have been talking about Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s golden child, Shiloh, and her “image.” They noted, as did Life & Style magazine, that Shiloh’s haircut is now short and that she dresses “like a boy.” The headline on the magazine even says, “Why is Angelina Turning Shiloh Into a Boy?” People, people, people...
Let’s start at the beginning: the child is pictured with a shorter cropped haircut, which (though incredibly unfortunate looking) is not an especially atypical haircut for a 4-year-old girl. She’s also wearing a yellow polo shirt underneath a gray V-neck sweater (I guess maybe the V doesn’t cut down low enough to hint at her future cleavage?) and some black pants. We actually have a term for this. She’s what we call a “tomboy.” Yes, she wears black and yes, she doesn’t wear $300 dresses every day like her counterpart, Suri Cruise. She’s a bit more rugged, a little bit more boisterous. It’s just her way. Maybe if we analyze this further, we could pin it on the fact that she’s one of six children and is trying to stand out. Or maybe this is a deeply personal expression of her identity. Or....she could just be a tomboy. I’m gonna go with option C.
I also just love the headline because it means that this is Angelina’s responsibility. It’s basically saying, “Angelina, you’re a mother, a woman and an especially beautiful, famous woman at that. Why are you intentionally leading your daughter astray?” or “why are you letting this genetically perfect little girl obscure her femininity?” First of all, why it Angelina’s task alone to guide her daughter’s femininity and not Brad’s? Second of all, what is wrong with a little girl not liking dresses? And third of all (and I think this might just be the most important question) why is this on the cover of a magazine?
Now, I’ve seen some pretty ridonkulous headlines in my day. Headline’s showing me how some 350 lb woman finally took charge of her life and lost half her body weight or how the finale of The Bachelor was such a shocker or about how some 40-something actress is finally free to be herself after splitting up with her third husband. But this just takes it to a new low: we’re now expected to pay $3.50 to learn the details about two famous people’s child and her gender-bending ways. Not about the celebs themselves who’ve actually worked on movie sets and starred in films. No, now we’re hearing about what clothes their first biological child is wearing. I mean I guess it’s actually hilarious because it means nothing new or important is going on the celeb world or even (gasp) in the REAL world. But dayum. We’re really up in arms about how a 4 year old dresses? I say, Shiloh, push all the gender boundaries you can with your badass, little kid self!! And for the haters who spend $3.50 to hear more about this story, I ask you this simple question: what’s up with that?
Monday, March 15, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Mediocrity is the Name of the Game
If we're going to live in a world where we choose to idolize certain people we don't know (i.e. a world in which celebrity reigns supreme), we ought to look up to those who are actually special. People like Beyonce or Lady Gaga. People who are creative and who mix playful teasing with a splash of seriousness. People who can carry a tune and who exude confidence. People who (dare I say it) have real talent. In essence, people who are not Taylor Swift.
It's been about 3 days and I still haven't managed to pick my jaw up from off the ground after watching John Legend open the Grammy envelope and say that Taylor Swift won Best Album of the Year. Album of the Damn Year. Had anyone ever heard the song "Single Ladies" or listened to a track or two of "The Fame"? While Beyonce's album "I Am....Sasha Fierce" was not her strongest one to date, it's safe to say that in general Beyonce possesses more talent in her left pinky toe than Taylor Swift has in her entire body. Also, Lady Gaga put forth an album that was completely unique and has repeatedly challenged the music industry to re-think what is salable. Plenty of people dig what Lady Gaga has put out there in the music stratosphere in the past few years. And Beyonce will always be a queen (even if this last album wasn't her best showing). That's why I'm still so dumbfounded, confused, perturbed, upset...I could keep going...by this win. It makes no sense why this little girl won Album of the Year.
In truth, the song "You Belong with Me" is cute. I listen to it sometimes when I'm feeling ridiculous. I feel it. Especially the part where she goes "Standing by waiting at your backdoor/All this time how could you not know/ You belong with me?/ You belong with me" It's touching. But in Beyonce's song "Ego" she breaks out with the lines "Usually I'm humble, right now I don't choose/ You can leave with me or you could have the blues/ Some call it arrogant, I call it confident/ You decide when you find on what I'm working with/ Damn I know I'm killing you with them legs/ Better yet them thighs/ Matter a fact it's my smile or maybe my eyes/ Boy you a site to see, kind of something like me" It's pure fierceness! She's playing with the idea of male perspective, taking ownership of her own body and proclaiming the power she has an attractive, strong woman. All in a playful way, of course.
Similarly, Lady Gaga's song "Money Honey" is an incredibly fun song with a bit of edge to it. She says, "Thats money honey/ Well I'm your lover and your mistress/Thats money honey/When you touch me, its so delicious/Thats money honey/Baby when you tell me the pieces/Thats money honey/Thats m-o-n-e-y...so sexy" I don't know about others, but I'm not trying to be anybody's "mistress" anytime soon. I don't want to be a slave to paper, either. If we could read between the lines a bit in this song, we might see that Ms. Gaga is toying with idea of the Almighty Green. At first money sounds appealing but her tone tells us it's really not. She's one tough cookie and although she's joking around in the song, there's still a subtle punch in there.
In comparing these three artists and their lyrics, I get more and more frustrated in thinking about Taylor's win. I guess in a twisted, perverted way, Kanye put her on the map and turned her into the underdog people want to root for. Or, another way of looking at it (which I'm leaning more towards now) is that she's a manageable figure. She's twenty, blonde, a stick figure and sings in a placid voice about wanting high school boys to notice her. Who doesn't love that? I don't.
She might have sold 3.2 million albums in 2009 (which is definitely 3.2 million more albums than I'll ever sell...even though I sound like Whitney in my own head) but that doesn't make her talented. She's the perfect example of something palatable, something that American tastes can digest. I really hope that we stop rewarding mediocrity, though. If we're going to pay to listen to artists, it's important that they show us something audacious that we don't normally think about (females' genuine celebration of their sexuality or the power of money) instead of the same old story about how hard it is to find a man these days. In order to be paid millions, you gotta give me something to work with. Some meat and potatoes. Something to chew on.
Taylor, where's your message? Where's your gripe with humanity? Why are you wearing a ridiculously cheap brown wig in your video for "You Belong With Me"? And why are your average voice and minimal stage presence enough to make you a Pop Star? What's up with that?
It's been about 3 days and I still haven't managed to pick my jaw up from off the ground after watching John Legend open the Grammy envelope and say that Taylor Swift won Best Album of the Year. Album of the Damn Year. Had anyone ever heard the song "Single Ladies" or listened to a track or two of "The Fame"? While Beyonce's album "I Am....Sasha Fierce" was not her strongest one to date, it's safe to say that in general Beyonce possesses more talent in her left pinky toe than Taylor Swift has in her entire body. Also, Lady Gaga put forth an album that was completely unique and has repeatedly challenged the music industry to re-think what is salable. Plenty of people dig what Lady Gaga has put out there in the music stratosphere in the past few years. And Beyonce will always be a queen (even if this last album wasn't her best showing). That's why I'm still so dumbfounded, confused, perturbed, upset...I could keep going...by this win. It makes no sense why this little girl won Album of the Year.
In truth, the song "You Belong with Me" is cute. I listen to it sometimes when I'm feeling ridiculous. I feel it. Especially the part where she goes "Standing by waiting at your backdoor/All this time how could you not know/ You belong with me?/ You belong with me" It's touching. But in Beyonce's song "Ego" she breaks out with the lines "Usually I'm humble, right now I don't choose/ You can leave with me or you could have the blues/ Some call it arrogant, I call it confident/ You decide when you find on what I'm working with/ Damn I know I'm killing you with them legs/ Better yet them thighs/ Matter a fact it's my smile or maybe my eyes/ Boy you a site to see, kind of something like me" It's pure fierceness! She's playing with the idea of male perspective, taking ownership of her own body and proclaiming the power she has an attractive, strong woman. All in a playful way, of course.
Similarly, Lady Gaga's song "Money Honey" is an incredibly fun song with a bit of edge to it. She says, "Thats money honey/ Well I'm your lover and your mistress/Thats money honey/When you touch me, its so delicious/Thats money honey/Baby when you tell me the pieces/Thats money honey/Thats m-o-n-e-y...so sexy" I don't know about others, but I'm not trying to be anybody's "mistress" anytime soon. I don't want to be a slave to paper, either. If we could read between the lines a bit in this song, we might see that Ms. Gaga is toying with idea of the Almighty Green. At first money sounds appealing but her tone tells us it's really not. She's one tough cookie and although she's joking around in the song, there's still a subtle punch in there.
In comparing these three artists and their lyrics, I get more and more frustrated in thinking about Taylor's win. I guess in a twisted, perverted way, Kanye put her on the map and turned her into the underdog people want to root for. Or, another way of looking at it (which I'm leaning more towards now) is that she's a manageable figure. She's twenty, blonde, a stick figure and sings in a placid voice about wanting high school boys to notice her. Who doesn't love that? I don't.
She might have sold 3.2 million albums in 2009 (which is definitely 3.2 million more albums than I'll ever sell...even though I sound like Whitney in my own head) but that doesn't make her talented. She's the perfect example of something palatable, something that American tastes can digest. I really hope that we stop rewarding mediocrity, though. If we're going to pay to listen to artists, it's important that they show us something audacious that we don't normally think about (females' genuine celebration of their sexuality or the power of money) instead of the same old story about how hard it is to find a man these days. In order to be paid millions, you gotta give me something to work with. Some meat and potatoes. Something to chew on.
Taylor, where's your message? Where's your gripe with humanity? Why are you wearing a ridiculously cheap brown wig in your video for "You Belong With Me"? And why are your average voice and minimal stage presence enough to make you a Pop Star? What's up with that?
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Is Co Co (Partially) Biting the Hand that Feeds Him?
The entire debacle over who should host The Tonight Show is getting a little out of hand. In 2004, when NBC made the announcement that Conan O'Brien would be taking over for Jay Leno on The Tonight Show, it seemed like an odd but reasonable change. Conan had been a host on Late Night for years and it seemed alright for him to try his hand at it. His humor is completely different from Leno's: its acerbic, witty and irreverent. It packs a punch. Leno's style, on the other hand, is much more basic. More silly. More plain. Most importantly of all, though, it's more "American" (whatever that may mean).
In fact, Leno' routine landed him in top late night spot for over a decade. In the recent switch, O'Brien's ratings have sometimes pulled this world-famous show down to 3rd place (behind David Letterman and Nightline) in its seven month run. For the businessmen at NBC, this signifies epic failure. If someone doesn't deliver immediately, he gets the axe whether he's is humiliated or not. It's all about the Benjamins, baby.
In truth, I think NBC has made everyone involved in this switch look bad: Co Co's frustrated, Leno looks guilty and they look avaricious. Their insistence on nothing but immediate perfection really speaks to their insecurity as a network. They were too anxious to wait for any kind of turn around in Co Co's performance and didn't trust that the American audience at the 11:30 timeslot would ever be smart enough to catch the biting humor of his show.
All these things aside, I think that Conan could've handled his reaction to this mess a bit better. I got into a discussion with my brother (who's incredibly brilliant and overwhelmingly stubborn) about whether his behavior is "appropriate." If someone stripped me of my show and made me out to look like I couldn't deliver, I'd be enfuriated, too. I'd express my frustrations to the people around me or just release a public statement that encapsulated my how I felt to a mass audience.
It is inappropriate, though, to use the platform of his show that NBC is still providing him with to lash out at the network. On his show the other night, he said "My contract says I can't say anything negative about NBC. But I can sing it....MORONS, INCOMPETENT MORONS!!!" Now, I get that he's hurt and has been wronged. It's a little more difficult to understand why he's using time out of his show to critique a station which is about to pay him the remaining $30-40 million of his contract.
No, I didn't stutter: 30-40 million dollars! That is more money than 99% of people in America will ever touch. In a time with an unemployment rate of around 10% (the highest it's been in recent decades), it's in poor taste to try to tear down a company when he's been so fortunate both to have a job like his and to be rewarded so handsomely for it (even while leaving it). Are Americans really going to root for a rich guy complaining about his mistreatment when they know how greatly he'll be compensated for his losses?
I think many people have too much on their minds to really sympathize with what Co Co's facing. As a fellow comedian Katt Williams once said, "You are not supposed to be at the gas station making life decisions. You just at the pump asking 'Did I eat today? I can't get no half a tank'" which is all too real. Many Americans are struggling daily with all kinds of things: expensive gas, expensive healthcare, relatives being blown up in a pointless expensive war and a general time of unease. This is not a time of America the Superpower but rather America the Struggling Giant.
With all of these especially difficult situations going on, I think it's a little insulting for a talk show host who's been so blessed to enjoy a fruitful career to be so openly hostile towards his network. Is this really a problem we should be concerned with or is it just a time to listen to Co Co's woes? He was wronged, but instead of exiting in a dignified way, he has now stooped to NBC's level by acting in a reckless fashion. I understand his will to fight back but I think it's always more honorable to pull yourself together and to use your show time to entertain people rather than to focus on your own professional drama.
He even had the option of just moving his show to midnight but now he's walked away entirely, leaving all the people of his staff who've uprooted their lives to move from the East Coast to the West Coast with him out of a jobs, as well. He's causing a lot more chaos and crisis for the people around him but in the face of all that he's still focused on himself....and, don't forget, he's gonna have the benefit of a 30 million dollar unemployment check. Not too shabby.
The reason this whole situation fascinates me is because it speaks so much to American power dynamics and issues of masculinity. Men seem to be so heavily defined by their careers that even when they are lucky enough to receive enormous financial benefits from their work, they're never satisfied.Conan will find some other place to work and he'll be able to bounce back....which may not be true of many Americans watching (or not watching) his show. There's obviously a disconnect between the embarrassment he's suffering and the actual crises that Americans face on a regular basis.
Maybe Co Co's just a little too out of touch and that's the reason for his recent demise. Or maybe (let me be frank although it hurts cause I really enjoy him as a comedian) he's the golden example of the term "sore loser"? Whatever the case may be, I still have to ask Conan to try to be the bigger person and if he can't, I guess I'll just have to ask him "what's up with that?"
In fact, Leno' routine landed him in top late night spot for over a decade. In the recent switch, O'Brien's ratings have sometimes pulled this world-famous show down to 3rd place (behind David Letterman and Nightline) in its seven month run. For the businessmen at NBC, this signifies epic failure. If someone doesn't deliver immediately, he gets the axe whether he's is humiliated or not. It's all about the Benjamins, baby.
In truth, I think NBC has made everyone involved in this switch look bad: Co Co's frustrated, Leno looks guilty and they look avaricious. Their insistence on nothing but immediate perfection really speaks to their insecurity as a network. They were too anxious to wait for any kind of turn around in Co Co's performance and didn't trust that the American audience at the 11:30 timeslot would ever be smart enough to catch the biting humor of his show.
All these things aside, I think that Conan could've handled his reaction to this mess a bit better. I got into a discussion with my brother (who's incredibly brilliant and overwhelmingly stubborn) about whether his behavior is "appropriate." If someone stripped me of my show and made me out to look like I couldn't deliver, I'd be enfuriated, too. I'd express my frustrations to the people around me or just release a public statement that encapsulated my how I felt to a mass audience.
It is inappropriate, though, to use the platform of his show that NBC is still providing him with to lash out at the network. On his show the other night, he said "My contract says I can't say anything negative about NBC. But I can sing it....MORONS, INCOMPETENT MORONS!!!" Now, I get that he's hurt and has been wronged. It's a little more difficult to understand why he's using time out of his show to critique a station which is about to pay him the remaining $30-40 million of his contract.
No, I didn't stutter: 30-40 million dollars! That is more money than 99% of people in America will ever touch. In a time with an unemployment rate of around 10% (the highest it's been in recent decades), it's in poor taste to try to tear down a company when he's been so fortunate both to have a job like his and to be rewarded so handsomely for it (even while leaving it). Are Americans really going to root for a rich guy complaining about his mistreatment when they know how greatly he'll be compensated for his losses?
I think many people have too much on their minds to really sympathize with what Co Co's facing. As a fellow comedian Katt Williams once said, "You are not supposed to be at the gas station making life decisions. You just at the pump asking 'Did I eat today? I can't get no half a tank'" which is all too real. Many Americans are struggling daily with all kinds of things: expensive gas, expensive healthcare, relatives being blown up in a pointless expensive war and a general time of unease. This is not a time of America the Superpower but rather America the Struggling Giant.
With all of these especially difficult situations going on, I think it's a little insulting for a talk show host who's been so blessed to enjoy a fruitful career to be so openly hostile towards his network. Is this really a problem we should be concerned with or is it just a time to listen to Co Co's woes? He was wronged, but instead of exiting in a dignified way, he has now stooped to NBC's level by acting in a reckless fashion. I understand his will to fight back but I think it's always more honorable to pull yourself together and to use your show time to entertain people rather than to focus on your own professional drama.
He even had the option of just moving his show to midnight but now he's walked away entirely, leaving all the people of his staff who've uprooted their lives to move from the East Coast to the West Coast with him out of a jobs, as well. He's causing a lot more chaos and crisis for the people around him but in the face of all that he's still focused on himself....and, don't forget, he's gonna have the benefit of a 30 million dollar unemployment check. Not too shabby.
The reason this whole situation fascinates me is because it speaks so much to American power dynamics and issues of masculinity. Men seem to be so heavily defined by their careers that even when they are lucky enough to receive enormous financial benefits from their work, they're never satisfied.Conan will find some other place to work and he'll be able to bounce back....which may not be true of many Americans watching (or not watching) his show. There's obviously a disconnect between the embarrassment he's suffering and the actual crises that Americans face on a regular basis.
Maybe Co Co's just a little too out of touch and that's the reason for his recent demise. Or maybe (let me be frank although it hurts cause I really enjoy him as a comedian) he's the golden example of the term "sore loser"? Whatever the case may be, I still have to ask Conan to try to be the bigger person and if he can't, I guess I'll just have to ask him "what's up with that?"
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Lookin Like a FOOL with Your Pants on the Ground
Mr. Larry Platt is too real for America. I really respect truth speakers and he is a wise one for sure! On American Idol last night at the end of an hour and half long show, "General" Larry Platt stepped in front of the judges and presented them with a predicament: what were they gonna make of this geriatric entertainer? Sure enough, Larry brought something deeply amazing to the table. He reminded hoodlum-looking boys to pull up their pants. It is not, nor has ever been cute for a male to have his pants sagging down to his ankles. Larry put it all out on there when he proclaimed, "Pants on the ground. Pants on the ground. Lookin like a FOOL with your pants on the ground." My goodness.
When Larry first busted out with these lyrics I went into cardiac arrest and I laughed until I ached...and then I ached until I cried. Finally, someone had called out to the men of the world and reminded them that their beauty didn't lie in their ability to wear sagging pants. That instead of looking like hot mess productions, they could look fine without all of that.
Better yet, he was completely earnest. He had this soft, raspy voice and was even kind enough to ask the judges' permission to sing by saying "Ok, you ready?" We weren't ready but Larry came on through for us anyway. He said, "With the gold in yo mouth, hat turned sideways, pants hit the ground, call yourself a cool cat, lookin like a FOOOOOL walkin downtown with your pants on the ground. GET YO PANTS OFF THE GROUND!!!!" As if that wasn't enough he continued by dropping what he had down to the ground in a split formation. I can't do a split. I'm 19. He's 62. How does he do it? I think it's because he's a passionate man with a whole lot of fire within him. And because he has great genes.
In reality I'm not surprised that someone like him could offer this wake-up call to Americans. Who else but a man wearing sunglasses indoors and a black pride sweatbands could deliver this kind of deliciousness? The zaniness of his movements and his presentation speak volumes but the message itself is so real that it's painfully humorous. He's right. Get your pants off the ground. We all deserve to look respectable and Mr. Larry hit the nail on the head. Now every time I encounter people with this style, I can envision his words and feel justified asking myself "what's up with that?"
When Larry first busted out with these lyrics I went into cardiac arrest and I laughed until I ached...and then I ached until I cried. Finally, someone had called out to the men of the world and reminded them that their beauty didn't lie in their ability to wear sagging pants. That instead of looking like hot mess productions, they could look fine without all of that.
Better yet, he was completely earnest. He had this soft, raspy voice and was even kind enough to ask the judges' permission to sing by saying "Ok, you ready?" We weren't ready but Larry came on through for us anyway. He said, "With the gold in yo mouth, hat turned sideways, pants hit the ground, call yourself a cool cat, lookin like a FOOOOOL walkin downtown with your pants on the ground. GET YO PANTS OFF THE GROUND!!!!" As if that wasn't enough he continued by dropping what he had down to the ground in a split formation. I can't do a split. I'm 19. He's 62. How does he do it? I think it's because he's a passionate man with a whole lot of fire within him. And because he has great genes.
In reality I'm not surprised that someone like him could offer this wake-up call to Americans. Who else but a man wearing sunglasses indoors and a black pride sweatbands could deliver this kind of deliciousness? The zaniness of his movements and his presentation speak volumes but the message itself is so real that it's painfully humorous. He's right. Get your pants off the ground. We all deserve to look respectable and Mr. Larry hit the nail on the head. Now every time I encounter people with this style, I can envision his words and feel justified asking myself "what's up with that?"
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Hair Care and a Case of the Crazies
In early 2008 I was flipping through some channels and landed on my feel good favorite, TLC. There was an innocent show about this couple with two sets of multiples. Forget their ridiculous amount of children and the fact that they insisted on having all six embryos carried to full term after having twins....I was more interested in the anomaly of how quarter Asian children could look more Asian than their half Asian dad. The show was John and Kate plus 8, of course.
I became a hardcore fan and was especially fond of their little boy with glasses. There is nothing, I repeat NOTHING, more adorable than a toddler with over-sized glasses. I'm just saying. Anyway, I watched the show over and over again much to the displeasure of my family. My father would always comment that John and Kate seemed so unhappy as a couple but I never took it to heart. They were strong and they were gonna get through all this. In truth I didn't actually know what would happen to them but it was fun at the time to pretend that I did.
I really took the show as a harmless bit of fluff. Flash forward to the summer of 2009 when the show and the lives of the couple in it exploded onto the front pages of magazines and headlines. Kate was on every show possible lamenting her crumbling marriage. John was running around wearing some suurrrriously unattractive t-shirts, smoking some cancer-sticks and chilling with questionable characters of the female race. It became a phenomenon (like so many others in our country) to watch the train wreck that is their lives. I even got into it a bit at first. I kept feeling sorry for Kate and for the way people were calling her a bad mother, even a monster. If there is one thing that troubles me (and trust me, there are PLENTY of things on this list), it is the way women are often portrayed as villains as soon as they show a bit of assertiveness. I thought she was being treated poorly and that this was another example of the way people are quick to jump on women as being evil and manipulative while they merely chastise men for being playboys.
Cut to January 6, 2010 (aka today) when I get a newsflash on my MSN account that Kate Gosselin is 'Starting Over' with a new look. Now, part of me hates myself for clicking the link in the first place but the other part of me thinks it's damn ridiculous that there is even a story about this woman's image. First of all, let's take the headline at face-value. Why does a woman's decision to change her hair mean that she has successfully restarted her life? Doesn't it just mean that she went to a hair salon? Am I missing something?
And second of all (but more importantly), what happened to the adorable Plus 8? You know, the ones who seem wholly Asian despite their genetic makeup? I'll tell you what happened: they fell into the background as their parents got wrapped up in their "fame." As I looked to the link to see what the latest installment of the story is, I realized that what was once a simple guilty pleasure has now turned into a large scale, pointless soap opera. So Kate got some new extensions and looks like ridiculous on the cover of People magazine. What can I do about it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
While there is personal responsibility when it comes to choosing which "news" we want to hear about, I do find it ridiculous that this story is on the same page as a story about the Nigerian man who has been indicted for attempting to blow up a plane in the U.S. Why does everyone get a platform to be a part of the "news"? Whether someone sleeps with Tiger Woods (see older post), exploits his/her children for TV and magazine opportunities or tries to terrorize a post 9/11 nation, she or he will get to make headlines. Everything that happens in our country (whether it's truly news-worthy/ important or not) is turned into a spectacle for our viewing pleasure. Have we lost the ability to separate junk from actual news? Is Kate's weave really as important as planned terror attacks on our soil? What's up with that?
I became a hardcore fan and was especially fond of their little boy with glasses. There is nothing, I repeat NOTHING, more adorable than a toddler with over-sized glasses. I'm just saying. Anyway, I watched the show over and over again much to the displeasure of my family. My father would always comment that John and Kate seemed so unhappy as a couple but I never took it to heart. They were strong and they were gonna get through all this. In truth I didn't actually know what would happen to them but it was fun at the time to pretend that I did.
I really took the show as a harmless bit of fluff. Flash forward to the summer of 2009 when the show and the lives of the couple in it exploded onto the front pages of magazines and headlines. Kate was on every show possible lamenting her crumbling marriage. John was running around wearing some suurrrriously unattractive t-shirts, smoking some cancer-sticks and chilling with questionable characters of the female race. It became a phenomenon (like so many others in our country) to watch the train wreck that is their lives. I even got into it a bit at first. I kept feeling sorry for Kate and for the way people were calling her a bad mother, even a monster. If there is one thing that troubles me (and trust me, there are PLENTY of things on this list), it is the way women are often portrayed as villains as soon as they show a bit of assertiveness. I thought she was being treated poorly and that this was another example of the way people are quick to jump on women as being evil and manipulative while they merely chastise men for being playboys.
Cut to January 6, 2010 (aka today) when I get a newsflash on my MSN account that Kate Gosselin is 'Starting Over' with a new look. Now, part of me hates myself for clicking the link in the first place but the other part of me thinks it's damn ridiculous that there is even a story about this woman's image. First of all, let's take the headline at face-value. Why does a woman's decision to change her hair mean that she has successfully restarted her life? Doesn't it just mean that she went to a hair salon? Am I missing something?
And second of all (but more importantly), what happened to the adorable Plus 8? You know, the ones who seem wholly Asian despite their genetic makeup? I'll tell you what happened: they fell into the background as their parents got wrapped up in their "fame." As I looked to the link to see what the latest installment of the story is, I realized that what was once a simple guilty pleasure has now turned into a large scale, pointless soap opera. So Kate got some new extensions and looks like ridiculous on the cover of People magazine. What can I do about it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
While there is personal responsibility when it comes to choosing which "news" we want to hear about, I do find it ridiculous that this story is on the same page as a story about the Nigerian man who has been indicted for attempting to blow up a plane in the U.S. Why does everyone get a platform to be a part of the "news"? Whether someone sleeps with Tiger Woods (see older post), exploits his/her children for TV and magazine opportunities or tries to terrorize a post 9/11 nation, she or he will get to make headlines. Everything that happens in our country (whether it's truly news-worthy/ important or not) is turned into a spectacle for our viewing pleasure. Have we lost the ability to separate junk from actual news? Is Kate's weave really as important as planned terror attacks on our soil? What's up with that?
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Ra ra ah ah ah
There are so many reasons why I love Lady Gaga. Let's review: She's from New York and she's relentlessly bold as all people ought to be. When I went to see her concert in Boston a while back, I really felt like I was watching some sort of twisted visionary do her thang. She got to me because she's always been so insistent on being out of the box. It's kitschy and trashy and campy but it's never just because she's a stereotypical rebel. All of her craziness actually serves a purpose: to point things out to us about our culture. This is a young woman who wears costumes made entirely of Kermit the Frog puppets and who often wears masks that cover her entire face. For a woman in the entertainment industry to obstruct her face and to present this crazy image and to STILL be successful is a huge feat. She pulls all of these crazy stunts and we don't tire of them (or at least not yet) because, oddly enough, they offer us a bit of information about ourselves.
During the concert, for example, she had one screen that showed all these crazed images of her in bizarre, "high fashion" outfits. Then, out of nowhere, there was one clip of this girl blatantly shoving her finger down her throat to make herself vomit. There's no turning away from something like that. As an audience, we all had to confront this large image of what some people do "to be beautiful." In the midst of all the fun of the concert, she compelled us to see that the entertainment world is not all glitz and glamor. There's more to the story than what we think of when we look at certain popularized images of women.
That's also why her "Bad Romance" video is so damn amazing. She plays with all kinds of images, freaks us the hell out and still exposes us to things we never want to think of. In the video, there are these bug-like images of her and her back up dancers. She frowns and grits her teeth. At some points she even has these creepy, huge doll eyes that left me weirded out for the duration of the video. In some ways, it seems like she does everything in her power to violate the rule book of what a sexy, commercialized artist should do. She then twists that, though, and strips down to a dark bikini. She is still compelled to be a sex object for the men bidding on her.
It's interesting because the set up of the video implies that in the future rather than doing away with the way the objectification of women's bodies (like some of us might hope), women will still be used as playthings for men in the year 2500. She messes with us so much and we never know if we should be repulsed, worried or turned on by this. That's the magic of Lady Gaga: she knows there's no black and white to anything and so instead she messes around in that gray area. She's not going to entirely accept the role of a rebel who's attacking portrayals of the female body but she's not saying they're great either. We know she doesn't think these images are perfect, though, because at the end what happens? The male bidder gets what coming to him! He feels the burn.
Now all of this might seem like an over-the-top analysis and it might be. But I do think Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" video was crafted with much more detail and innovation than the average music video out there today for a reason. It's no accident that it turned out to have all these odd little details (e.g. a frozen, raining diamond scheme, excessively large eyes, a corpse, intentionally tacky red masks for her backup dancers) that are so meticulous. It seems like everything is designed to paint a picture for us. It makes me upset when people can't see any of this because a) it makes me wonder if I'm crazy and just seeing what I want to in a 5 minute music video and b) it makes me wonder if people only want to watch what they can understand at a quick first glance. Why do people overlook your amazingness, Gaga? I mean really. What's up with that?
During the concert, for example, she had one screen that showed all these crazed images of her in bizarre, "high fashion" outfits. Then, out of nowhere, there was one clip of this girl blatantly shoving her finger down her throat to make herself vomit. There's no turning away from something like that. As an audience, we all had to confront this large image of what some people do "to be beautiful." In the midst of all the fun of the concert, she compelled us to see that the entertainment world is not all glitz and glamor. There's more to the story than what we think of when we look at certain popularized images of women.
That's also why her "Bad Romance" video is so damn amazing. She plays with all kinds of images, freaks us the hell out and still exposes us to things we never want to think of. In the video, there are these bug-like images of her and her back up dancers. She frowns and grits her teeth. At some points she even has these creepy, huge doll eyes that left me weirded out for the duration of the video. In some ways, it seems like she does everything in her power to violate the rule book of what a sexy, commercialized artist should do. She then twists that, though, and strips down to a dark bikini. She is still compelled to be a sex object for the men bidding on her.
It's interesting because the set up of the video implies that in the future rather than doing away with the way the objectification of women's bodies (like some of us might hope), women will still be used as playthings for men in the year 2500. She messes with us so much and we never know if we should be repulsed, worried or turned on by this. That's the magic of Lady Gaga: she knows there's no black and white to anything and so instead she messes around in that gray area. She's not going to entirely accept the role of a rebel who's attacking portrayals of the female body but she's not saying they're great either. We know she doesn't think these images are perfect, though, because at the end what happens? The male bidder gets what coming to him! He feels the burn.
Now all of this might seem like an over-the-top analysis and it might be. But I do think Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" video was crafted with much more detail and innovation than the average music video out there today for a reason. It's no accident that it turned out to have all these odd little details (e.g. a frozen, raining diamond scheme, excessively large eyes, a corpse, intentionally tacky red masks for her backup dancers) that are so meticulous. It seems like everything is designed to paint a picture for us. It makes me upset when people can't see any of this because a) it makes me wonder if I'm crazy and just seeing what I want to in a 5 minute music video and b) it makes me wonder if people only want to watch what they can understand at a quick first glance. Why do people overlook your amazingness, Gaga? I mean really. What's up with that?
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Tiger Tiger Woods Y'all
On November 27th when I opened up my MSN account I found a bold headline screaming "Tiger Woods Injured in a Car Crash." When I first saw it, I panicked because I expected the worst. Here's this young beacon of hope for a lot of people who's worked himself to the bone to get where he is in his professional career and now he's been hurt. Though I saw the headlines from two days before on some magazine claiming that he had a mistress, when I looked at the woman I simply thought that Woods had unfortunate taste and that worse things have happened than a professional athlete loving on some woman with too much spray tan. I didn't make the connection that the story about his crash would lead to revelations about his extra-marital affairs. Or that there'd be claims that his Swedish wife (and yes, apparently it's important for us to remember that she's Swedish since no article ever lets us forget it) Elin came after him with one of his golf clubs.
The thing that gets me about a story like this is the way people have reacted to it. The guy is 34 damn years old, worth millions and millions dollars, known worldwide and is incredibly successful. Is this really a surprise to Elin? We know she's blond and that's always a plus, right? And she's young and she's willing to have his children, right? And she wanted to stay married him forever and ever, right? Unfortunately for Elin, so do hundreds of other women! I do feel sorry for what has happened to her and I don't wanna claim absolutely that she couldn't have been shocked about this, but it seems that the REAL reason she has been so upset is that we all found out about it. He's revealed a crack in the picture perfect image of them as a young couple and now she's been humiliated. There are all kinds of sexual taboos that Americans pretend to be astonished by (for example, cheating) but we engage in them all the time. It's always Bad News Bears for the people who are reckless enough to get caught, though.
In our society, a person's sex life is often somehow related to his work life. What in the Sam Hell does his adultery have to do with his ability to swing a club or sell watches in an ad campaign? People keep claiming "he's let so many people down" and he himself said he was sorry about his "indiscretions." Why should Tiger Woods have to apologize to anyone but his wife? The danger in living in a celebrity-obsessed culture is that we tend conflate a person's talent and their private actions as if they're of equal importance. It's like we're looking to celebrities for some model not just of skill but also of moral conduct. I never would've thought about Tiger's sexcapades for a nano-second before but now I keep seeing headlines about his latest lady friend. It doesn't matter to me who Tiger sleeps with and it really shouldn't concern anyone but Elin Nordegren. Like my roommate always says, "Is he paying my bills? No? Then I don't care what he does." She's right.
Actually, I'll take it back. I do care about Tiger Woods' personal life and conduct outside of the golf course but here are the reasons why: 1) I've never liked that he's often tried to downplay his blackness (but those are his own issues to work through or not) 2) I wish he wouldn't have picked cocktail waitresses who looked like rejects from the third season of Rock of Love and 3) I wish he could've kept this all underwraps because if he had, he wouldn't have to keep blowing up my newsfeed saying he's sorry about some stuff that none of us should worry about. So for all of this mess and for American's paradoxical prudish and sex-obsessed nature I have to ask: what's up with that?
The thing that gets me about a story like this is the way people have reacted to it. The guy is 34 damn years old, worth millions and millions dollars, known worldwide and is incredibly successful. Is this really a surprise to Elin? We know she's blond and that's always a plus, right? And she's young and she's willing to have his children, right? And she wanted to stay married him forever and ever, right? Unfortunately for Elin, so do hundreds of other women! I do feel sorry for what has happened to her and I don't wanna claim absolutely that she couldn't have been shocked about this, but it seems that the REAL reason she has been so upset is that we all found out about it. He's revealed a crack in the picture perfect image of them as a young couple and now she's been humiliated. There are all kinds of sexual taboos that Americans pretend to be astonished by (for example, cheating) but we engage in them all the time. It's always Bad News Bears for the people who are reckless enough to get caught, though.
In our society, a person's sex life is often somehow related to his work life. What in the Sam Hell does his adultery have to do with his ability to swing a club or sell watches in an ad campaign? People keep claiming "he's let so many people down" and he himself said he was sorry about his "indiscretions." Why should Tiger Woods have to apologize to anyone but his wife? The danger in living in a celebrity-obsessed culture is that we tend conflate a person's talent and their private actions as if they're of equal importance. It's like we're looking to celebrities for some model not just of skill but also of moral conduct. I never would've thought about Tiger's sexcapades for a nano-second before but now I keep seeing headlines about his latest lady friend. It doesn't matter to me who Tiger sleeps with and it really shouldn't concern anyone but Elin Nordegren. Like my roommate always says, "Is he paying my bills? No? Then I don't care what he does." She's right.
Actually, I'll take it back. I do care about Tiger Woods' personal life and conduct outside of the golf course but here are the reasons why: 1) I've never liked that he's often tried to downplay his blackness (but those are his own issues to work through or not) 2) I wish he wouldn't have picked cocktail waitresses who looked like rejects from the third season of Rock of Love and 3) I wish he could've kept this all underwraps because if he had, he wouldn't have to keep blowing up my newsfeed saying he's sorry about some stuff that none of us should worry about. So for all of this mess and for American's paradoxical prudish and sex-obsessed nature I have to ask: what's up with that?
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