roblog

Rob Maas
Leslie Gore and Lil’ Kim
I’d like to start by saying that I think Lil’ Kim’s “How Many Licks� is vastly inferior to Khia’s “My Neck, My Back� when it comes to modern rap songs about cunnilingus. That being said, the comparison between Kim and Leslie fundamentally shows us the changing sexual roles and societal expectations which arose as the result of the sexual revolution.
Leslie Gore’s 1966 hit “It’s My Party� is a story of the monogamous longings of a girl during the first years of the sexual revolution. She is firmly ensconced in the idea of monogamy, and her realization about Johnny’s perceived infidelity is met with tears. Gore typifies the pre-sexual revolution woman: she desires only one man, and sees other women as her competition. She passes no judgment on Johnny’s apparent disloyalty, nor is there an implicit indictment of his behavior. If anything, Judy is presented as the immoral character in the song. The setting of a birthday party, at which both boys and girls are present, indicates a coming of age. Gore (or the song’s narrator, if Gore is taking on a persona) is entering into the adult world of courtship and sexuality, but her first experience is a bitter one: that of infidelity. Of course, her response of tears is childish, but she also reminds us that “you would cry too/if it happened to you.� Romance and sex create strong emotional responses, regardless of our age. I have always found it humorous that in the sequel to this song, “Judy’s Turn to Cry�, that our singer takes Johnny back with open arms and gleefully informs us that her rival is now in tears. Apparently, there are no hard feelings toward Johnny at all.
Interestingly enough, Gore’s video was probably much more controversial than her song. The well-dressed dancing couples are probably dancing inappropriately (from an older generation’s perspective), but the choreographed go-go style gyrations of the women in slacks behind Gore were no doubt exceedingly risqué for their day and age. Gore herself, however, is wearing very conservative clothing, in keeping with the tone and delivery of her song.
We fast forward thirty-five years, and things are exceedingly different. First, I think it is important to deal with the difference in race. Black musical audiences have always been much more accepting of an open sexuality than the more puritanical white American audience. African American performers as far back as Ma Rainey and Dorothy Dandridge were exploiting sexuality in their works. So the idea that a black female would push the envelope is nothing new. That being said, the full effect of the sexual revolution is apparent in Lil’ Kim’s work. In “How Many Licks� Kim is not seeking any sort of relationship; in fact, she revels in her promiscuity. Sex –with very few, if any, of the trappings of a relationship- is a recreational activity for her. In fact, this song is primarily about oral sex, which is undertaken for pleasure’s sake, never for procreation. Kim mentions a variety of sexual partners, and fantasizes about being the object of masturbatory fantasies for men in jail. She is much more comparable to the character of Johnny in Leslie Gore’s song than she is to either of the female characters. Frankly, Johnny probably couldn’t handle her. Kim certainly would never cry if Johnny pursued another female. She would probably encourage it!
Visually, we see a drastic shift in tone and message. While both videos employ back-up dancers, Gore seems to be singing at some kind of party. Kim seems to be acting out her lyrics. Her back up dancers might be other sexual partners. Kim also presents herself as a sex doll. Her desire – as opposed to that of Gore – is to be used strictly for physical pleasure and fantasy. Kim’s recompense for this activity will be solely physical pleasure.
I do think it is interesting, however, that Kim is asking a question: “How many licks does it take to get to the center?� While I realize this is a play on words from an old candy commercial, I do wonder about Kim’s center. Is she, on some level, seeking a partner who will go beyond the pure physical and reach some sort of inner core? In her sexual experimentation with multiple partners, is she seeking a man who will get to her emotional, rather than physical center? And if she does find that man, and he chooses another woman, would she cry - or would she even want to?

Posted by maasx088 at 5:21 AM | Permalink

Music and Myself Through Time

One of my earliest memories is of riding with my father in his yellow Toyota Celica and digging through his tape case and picking out music to listen to. He had the Stones and the Eagles and Waylon Jennings in his tape case. Fleetwood Mac, but we never listened to that one. My dad liked music that was masculine, and with an edge to it. I remember listening to music with my mom, too (Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was a favorite album in my mom’s car); her music wasn’t dangerous like my dad’s. “Mommas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.� “Satisfaction.� “Hotel California.� These were songs that were about adults. Even as a kid I knew the Stones were singing about sex. I still don’t really know what the hell “Hotel California� is about, but my dad gives a great interpretation that it’s about addiction.
See, my dad was tough. Hell, he still is, even though he’s sixty and can barely walk because he’s got arthritic hips. My dad owned guns. He hunted and fished. His dad had been a Marine, and died when my dad was only twelve. My dad grew up poor and got rich the old fashioned way: he worked his ass off, constantly. My dad had friends who drank beer and listened to rock and roll and outlaw country. His music was always tough, too. When my dad got home from work (always after we were done with dinner), I’d know he was home because I’d hear his music from his car all the way in my bedroom. He’d be blasting Elvis or the Stones and singing along. My brother and I would run out to see him. Later, when he took us hunting, it was Johnny Cash and Waylon and Willie. Kris Kristofferson. Conway Twitty.
It’s interesting, because I don’t remember him ever listening to a woman singer. Now he loves pop country female vocalists; I tell him he’s going through a second adolescence. But all that early stuff stuck with me. I’ve got all those old artists (except the Eagles, I guess) on my iPod today. And when I’m headed to deer camp, I still listen to Waylon and Johnny and Willie. But my dad always loved music. He’d tell my brother and I stories about Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels in concert. The Beatles. Sinatra. My brother and I both became music nuts as a result.
I branched out. I grew up with my dad’s music, but I also was there for the birth of gangster rap and metal. Guns N Roses and NWA were tough, too, and I listened to them in middle school. Hell, I still listen to them. I grew to love rap. It was music about protest and being tough. And you could dance to some of it; I’m a dancer, too. My musical tastes know no bounds. So I got into West Coast rap – Snoop Dogg, Dre, Eazy E, Tupac. That was my soundtrack for parties all the way through college. But I was also simultaneously exposed to folk stuff; my roommate was similarly eclectic, and introduced my to James Taylor and John Denver. And we both loved Sinatra, so that got played constantly, too.
So in the end, I listened to almost everything. I literally listen to it all. Crazy house parties with Michael Jackson and Snoop Dogg Soundtracks. Dinner parties with classic stuff like Dean Martin and Sinatra. Folk-y music from James Taylor sung to my kids at night. I sat up all night once in college with a group of friends, drinking beer and listening to Bob Dylan and then Pink Floyd and having deep conversation. I’ve gotten drunk to Jimmy Buffett more times than I can recollect. I’ve driven at night with the sound of “Riders on the Storm� and “The End� from the Doors freaking me out. I’ve had my heart broken and the soundtrack was anything cheesy on LITE FM.
And now I’m married with two kids, and I go back to it all, and still pull in new stuff. My daughter loves “The Year 3000� by the Jonas Brothers. My son listens to John Williams’ themes from Star Wars and Superman and Indiana Jones and hums along and smiles. And whenever Lionel Ritchie comes on the radio with “You are the sun / you are the rain / you make this life a foolish game� I crank it up and my wife and I smilingly sing along, because that’s our song. It has no significance for us at all; it was just on the radio one day and we decided it was our song.

Posted by maasx088 at 3:41 AM | Permalink

Rob Maas

Response to School of Rock

The most basic underlying assumption about teachers, especially private school teachers, in The School of Rock is that they are the diametric opposite of rock stars. If a rock star is about rebellion, freedom, and a disavowal of the traditional lifestyle of family, home, job and responsibility, then the traditional teacher is the agent who works to curb any “rock star� tendencies in the individual student. Central to this premise is not Jack Black’s Dewey Finn, but Rosalie Mullins, as played by Joan Cusack. Miss Mullins plays the straight-laced administrator who acts as the voice of the school, the voice of authority, and the foil to Dewey Finn. However, as the movie progresses, we see both the human side of Miss Mullins, as well as the sources of her tendencies toward control and conformity.
It is interesting that the straight-laced and disciplinarian Miss Mullins is really a fan of rock and roll. It seems that it only takes a couple of beers to bring out the Stevie Nicks fan in the uptight principal. I think that School of Rock does a good job of breaking down the stereotype of the “jailer� or “drillmaster� in the character of Miss Mullins. We see the source of her attitudes and insecurities when she talks about her perceptions of the teachers’ attitudes towards her, and the pressure she feels from parents. Similarly, when the students leave school to attend the battle of the bands, we empathize with her plight; she will be blamed for any mistakes made by her staff, or by the students themselves, regardless of her own culpability within the situation. This is, of course, the ultimate reason for her inability to allow derivation from the standard and rigid practices of education.
Dewey Finn, of course, follows an opposite course. He begins his job as a substitute teacher as a wannabe rock star, intent upon NOT teaching. He eventually does the opposite. In spite of his hatred of “the Man�, he becomes a teacher and an authority figure, assigning students into various roles and managing their lessons in an attempt to achieve a tangible goal. And while his initial goal is simply self serving – to win the battle of the bands, and make money for himself – he eventually continues to work with the kids even when there is no particular benefit for him to do so. I guess this places him into the “agent of social change� category, but I don’t think that’s really what School of Rock is all about.
School of Rock – as well as Mr. Holland’s Opus, Dead Poet’s Society, and a million other films about teachers – is about making education engaging. It is about taking the most easily bored section of human society – adolescents and pre-teens – and making them interested in a subject which would not normally be interesting. The average teacher is fricking boring. Boring, boring, boring. Their classes are snooze-fests. And they shouldn’t be – history, literature, art, even science and math, are filled with some of the most exciting topics known to humanity. But the cinderblock walls and the fluorescent lights and the quizzes and tests and learner-based pedagogy work to destroy anything fascinating along the way. And since the average teacher is more worried about getting in trouble with his or her principal than with engaging his or her students, classes tend to stay boring.
Until Dewey Finn comes along (or Mr. Holland or Mr. Keating). Because Dewey brings passion. Dewey brings humor. Dewey believes in what he says. Dewey wants his students to have fun. And most importantly, in this film, Dewey brings music.
What better way to engage an audience? Humanity responds to music. Do you think Raiders of the Lost Ark would have been nearly as good without that Indiana Jones theme music? Would several hundred thousand young hippies have gathered at Woodstock for peace, love and happiness if there had been no bands? People don’t travel across country to see their favorite poet read at some coffeehouse. But they will follow the Grateful Dead for several decades. (I personally drove to Alpine Valley in Wisconsin –eight hours- to see Jimmy Buffett). Young couples have “their song�. Superheroes have theme music. Every TV show starts with a musical introduction. Music is engaging to humanity, and is therefore all the more reason for it to be included in the classroom. If the students are not engaged, they will never learn a thing.

Posted by maasx088 at 12:26 AM | Permalink

Rob Maas
Informal Response to the Readings.
6-19-08

Rambling thoughts in no particular order in response to the readings.

Beginning with a definition of literature.
Literature is a body of written works related by subject-matter, by language or place of origin, or by dominant cultural standards, according to Wikipedia and the Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. The italics above are mine. I begin with the position that modern, and even (God forbid) popular music is part of our society’s literature, whether it is recognized by English teachers/professors or not. The snobbery of those in charge of the canon and canonization do not change the fact that music (both its lyrics and melody) is written, and is consumed en masse by our society. It defines American society as much as – if not moreso than- any work of Walt Whitman or F. Scott Fitzgerald or Zora Neale Hurston.
For some reason, academics feel the need to protect the morality of their students. In the 19th century, “pop� works by Poe, Twain, and Whitman were eschewed by the elites of the universities and secondary schools. They were considered too violent or too “low-brow� or too sexual. Today they are embraced and touted as works of literary genius. What works of art are considered too violent or sexual or low-brow today that will be held up to the next generation as brilliant art? (I shudder to think that the work of Britney Spears or any Boy Band will ever be described as art, but who knows? Maybe I’m just a blue-blooded English teacher snob).
I guess my thesis statement for the above two paragraphs should be a simple assertion that I agree with the thoughts of Gerald Graff. Especially:
I see my goal as a teacher, and the bottom-line goal of education, as that of demystifying the “club we belong to� and breaking up its exclusivity. I want to help students enter this club, which often involves flushing out and engaging their resistance to entering, addressing questions about why as well as how. Demystifying the club, furthermore, means changing the club itself as much as it means changing students. It means widening our notion of who qualifies as “intellectual� and building on the argumentative talents students already possess.
(Graff, 2003)

Brief discussion of race, re: the Wikipedia Article.
Black music defines American existence. I find it not at all surprising that the first thoroughly “American� popular music came out of minstrelsy and black-face. Minstrelsy was black music co-opted by white men. Jazz was the same. Rock was the same. Rap and hip-hop were never considered important (let alone dangerous) until white kids in the suburbs started listening to it. Eminem remains the best-selling rapper of all time, and he’s white. Chuck Berry invented rock n’ roll, but Elvis is the King. Robert Johnson defined the Blues, but Eric Clapton sold more records.
We value (as a society) the art that Europeans invent. Leonardo da Vinci is in history books. Shakespeare is studied. But I’ve never seen the founders of American Music studied in class. Our literary and historical canon has (until just recently) managed to completely ignore the contributions of any African Americans, even in the areas which they invented.

Posted by maasx088 at 4:57 AM | Permalink

Just checking to see if this works.

Posted by maasx088 at 9:32 PM | Permalink