I was intrigued by the account we read about the Grass Mud Horse, which in Chinese is pronounced similarly - but not identically - to "f*** your mother." Author Bingchun Meng discusses its political ramifications as a battle against government censorship and a secret way of supporting the democratization of China.
The first thing I thought of as a parallel in the US was Britney Spears' single "If You Seek Amy." Not exactly taken as a political message, was it? How DO we use profanity, sneakiness, cheekiness, or anything similar to E Gao in the States for something other than titillation or the celebration of our affinity for irreverence?
My second thought was "This Film Is Not Yet Rated," which is an interesting exploration of "standard-setting" in the States (although, of course, as with every media product you consume, it's to be taken with a grain of salt). From Wikipedia, since it's been a while since I saw the film: "The film discusses disparities the filmmaker sees in ratings and feedback: between Hollywood and independent films, between homosexual and heterosexual sexual situations, between male and female sexual depictions, and between violence and sexual content." Whereas you might not see any inherent political message in whether a major recording artist is allowed to drop a few F-bombs on a content-light record, there's certainly one to be found in gay vs straight sex scenes, or female vs male orgasms, being allowed under a certain rating scheme (a lower rating allowing the film to be marketed more widely and seen by more people).
Anyone have better examples of (perhaps quieter) American media/social media products flying under the radar for a political or social purpose? Those are the first two that came to mind, but they're pretty mainstream. I don't have as much connection with internet memes as some of you. The only one I've got a real understanding of is the much-revered Broccoli Squid, and I think that's going to get old for a certain someone pretty quick here......
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Sorry, unfortunately I don't have anything significant to add, except that when you were talking about media that makes it under the radar, I think a lot of family-friendly films by say Pixar, that tend to have jokes and references that work on both levels - the children's and the adults - which is part of why they're so popular. And conservative countries use symbolism and such in movies and other entertainment to get things under the radar.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ashley - Pixar is a good example! I remember rewatching Toy Story some years later and being a bit surprised at some of the content...
ReplyDeleteSo funny story... If You Seek Amy came out while I was teaching in France... and I honestly didn't hear it. French radio stations play the same songs over and over until your ears bleed though, and eventually even my middle school aged students felt confident enough to sing the lyrics in school. One day I was writing on the board and I heard this adorable 11 year old girl say, "F-U-C-K ME!" and I whirled around, furious, and she had her headphones in, and was dancing around. Talk about embarrassment... all of the other students saw me and wanted to know what had freaked me out- oops! ALMOST as awkward as when one of them asked me what a "womanizer" was.
ReplyDeleteThe point I'm trying to make here is that there's something very gratifying about understanding something and knowing that there are many others who don't/can't. After spending so much time as an outsider, it felt good to be an insider, even with trashy pop music. I can only imagine how good it felt for the creators of E Gao when it took off.
ps- by "trashy" I meant awesome... or not?
Em, that IS a funny story. It's also a good example of how we don't fully know (or love) our own culture until we leave it, as many of us discussed earlier in the semester. What a great country we live in that a song like "If You Seek Amy" can hit the airwaves in (nearly*) full force. And you could definitely see how that creates a national culture - whether you love it or hate it, generally we were all still talking about it. A bit of a departure from the national novel or Protestant reformation, but hey, we work with what we can.
ReplyDelete[*I heard many a debate about whether it was censored for radio by making it "if you see Amy," clever, no?)
And for the record, I can't say the authors of this blog have released an official position on pop music (awesome or trashy?!) but stay tuned for a killer presentation on December the 13th.