Sunday, May 11, 2008

Pop Kulture Korner

So I was reading a post over at Jezebel (and I'm assuming that you already read Jezebel since I mean, why wouldn't you?) and it referenced the Pink song "You and Your Hand" (or "U + UR Hand" for my younger, hipper, more textually gifted readers).

And I couldn't help but notice what's listed under "related videos". By which I mean, I couldn't help but get lost in the giant time suck that is YouTube. What fascinated me was how two songs could be superficially related, a la "related video" window, but still worlds apart when it came to registering on my feminist offense-o-meter.

Don't get me wrong, pretty much all pop culture is so saturated with misogyny that in my post-patriarchy gynotopia there will be no pop culture because it will have all been destroyed in the revolution. But I digress..

So I'm down with Pink. She's a'ight for the most part, although "Stupid Girls" kind of left that bitter taste of "I'm special! Not like those other yucky girls" in my mouth. But whev, more on this later. I do enjoy rockin' out to "You and Your Hand" so lets see YouTube thinks I might also enjoy.

Hmm.. "Before He Cheats", maybe he'll remember his last ex who trashed his truck with a baseball bat. I'll admit this song is actually kind of awesome, although not as awesome as Goodbye Earl. I mean, vandalism is totally wrong and I'm not condoning it but I am 100% supportive of Carrie Underwood decision to DTMF. I can see how it relates to telling skeezeballs to go fuck themselves but points off for taking a pot shot at fruity drinks.

"Call Me When You're Sober". Let me just say I would also completely support the decision of Amy Lee to dump her band, she has a powerful voice and it's painful to hear it drowned out by mediocre instrumentals. Anywhoo, Amy Lee DTMF for excessive drinking. Less skeezey than just kind of sad since presumably Carrie Underwood's ex-boyfriend was just a douchebag but Amy Lee's ex-boyfriend was an alcoholic.

Okay, "Girlfriend".. I don't really know where to start with this train wreck of a song. I realize that when you like somebody and they don't like you back it can make you wallow in self-pity for a bit. That's just pride fucking with you. But this song and "Sk8r Boi" are all pretty much about how the dude is a special and unique snowflake that other girls are too stupid to appreciate. This really pisses me off.

Systemic sexism means that you don't get to opt out. If you're cool enough and like enough "dude" things, you don't get to be an honorary dude. When you tear down a woman for not drinking whiskey, or for wearing make up, or for waxing her cootch you're tearing all women down. Discussion about the various concessions that we make to get by in a sexist society is one thing, taking a piss on other women because you personally don't do all that stupid girl shit? Well that's a whole 'nother game.

I hope that one day women realize they're shooting themselves in the foot when they tear down other women.

I think it's interesting that "You and Your Hand" has a bunch of links to other grrl power (I think? I'm still confused about how to characterize the relatedness) songs by other artists and in other genres, but the "related videos" for other songs tend to stick to the same sing.

Conclusion: I can't believe I spent my Saturday evening watching bad pop videos on YouTube and then writing a blog post about it. I see myself turning into a crazy cat lady, sans cats. I am done rambling now. A hot shower sounds way better than proofreading my post.

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