Sexual Symbols
Teenage culture was artificially created shortly before the arrival of rock and roll. There was suddenly a new phase of life, between childhood and adulthood. Rock music emerged as the anthem for this new phase. Musicians like Elvis and the Beatles drew criticism for the raw sexuality evinced in their dancing, lyrics, beats, and fans. Different analysis of this effect popped up in the media.
Ehrenreich et. al. considered it as the announcement and ratification of teen sexuality and frustration (533). Beatlemania was a result of changing social roles and aspirations. While it was a form of conformity, giving meaning and validation to girls awakening sexual personas, it was also a form of personal revolt. Girl’s protested the sexual repression that was their role. They laid claim to feelings of desire and accepted the role of pursuer instead of the inactive recipient and blocker of sexual advances. It was a ‘safe’ form of sexuality where they could escape the invisible life of housewife, never ending in “the tedium of marriage” (532).
Bloom focused more on rock’s “attempts to capture the rawest passions” (73). He feared that the tribal beats and explicit lyrics resulted in a deadened generation that would never enjoy life. They would be incited to anarchy and rebellion by the base emotions rock called forth. The sexuality roused in the youth was a dangerous consequence that would ruin our society.
I agree with both of them in some respects. Elvis’s hip wagging and the Beatle’s hysteric fans were symbols of the growing sexual revolution. Women were beginning to lay claim to a more active role in sexual relations. Young girls wanted more than a fancy house filled with children and a husband to pay for it all. There was a desire to claim the perceived power inherent in sexuality. It was also a form of conformity, legitimizing the new social desires and confirming ones trendy status.
Bloom also had a point in the excessive exposure to ‘obscene’ lyrics that run counter to the dominant ideology can lead to what I like to think of as ‘rebels without a clue’. It can incite extreme passions with no real link to the underlying reality that inspired the song maker. Elvis’s pelvis stirred many a young girl’s fancy without her really grasping the sexual nature so obvious to adults. Beatlemania resulted in proper young women performing lawless acts. It is important to note that sexuality is ever more present, but there is still a strong sexually conservative stance in American culture. There has not been a complete collapse of morality, no performer will ever have an influence that strong.
Nyssa Shawstad
WORKS CITED
Bloom, Alan. “Music” in The Closing of the American Mind (1987) p.68-81
Ehrenreich, Barbara, Hess, and Jacobs. “Beatlemania: A sexually defiant consumer subculture?” in K. Gelder and S. Thornton (eds.) The Subculture Reader (Routledge) London, 1997 pp. 523-536