Thursday, February 05, 2004
I promise I'll discuss the abortion issue next entry.
Now, last entry was an Angry David piece.
It's time to see Analytical David come out.
You all know that I found JJ's little halftime show stunt to be insulting. That is all good and well to talk about. However, there's something more interesting to talk about here.
If we operate under the assumption that CBS, MTV, and the performers involved knew what they were doing-wait, you say they're claiming they didn't know? They're saying it was an accident?
Hmmmm.....
1. Why would Janet and Justin feel compelled not to tell MTV that they were going to do a bra reveal? Britney Spears has done much the same thing on MTV shows, with hardy approval.
2. There are indications that everybody, from the performers to executives at CBS, knew about the stunt. The Drudge Report is claiming that "The decision to go forward went to the very top of the network." I've also heard a volunteer for the event claim that Janet and Justin did do a red bra reveal during rehearsals.....which is inconsistent with current statements that the stunt was "unrehearsed" and planned by the performers after final rehersals without MTV approval.
3. "I'm gonna have you naked by the end of this song."
As I was saying, let's operate under the assumption that all parties were willing participants. We'll give the NFL the benefit of the doubt, as they had no involvement in producing the show itself.
There's something more interesting to talk about here than how awful and deplorable the stunt was.
How have we arrived to the point where something like this would even be considered, much less approved by the networks?
There's a genesis to this problem. A reason why the moral fiber of this country has been withering away. A reason why teenage pregnancy is rampant among our young generation.
Well, consider the main influence on pop culture, MTV. Those who care about the idea of "coolness" have typically looked to MTV for a definition of the term.
MTV, being a business, is out to make a profit.
So what group has the most money to spend, and the greatest desire to spend it on "cool" things? What group works part-time jobs, making minimum wage or more without having any bills to spend this income on?
Teenagers.
So MTV caters to them. They hold up Britney Spears as their icon, a performer who has never been able to survive without using overt sexuality as a crutch. The rest of their performers rely on either pimping badassness (DMX, Snoop Dogg), whiny teenage angst (A Perfect Circle, Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach), or simply throwing as much shit on stage as possible and seeing what sticks while relying on songs other, more talented people created in order to look like "a genius" or an "exciting performer." (Puffy, I'm looking at YOU.)
Talent simply isn't as easily to sell as generic marketable personas, nor is it as readily availible. That's why there's so few Michelle Branchs, Vanessa Carltons, and Linkin Parks.
So now most performers use sex as their weapon to sell records and tickets.
I'm not talking about a performer being sexy as a part of their persona. That's fine, and being a male I encourage it. Christina Aguilera is quite wild, but she's using sex to make a point (valid or not), and she has the talent to back it up.
I'm talking about those who use shock sex as their base. Think about it: has there ever been a single memorable Britney Spears performence that wasn't based on shock sex? Nope. Not one.
And it's the purchasing power of teenagers that make it all possible. That make it all profitable. In a capitalist society, you vote with your wallet. Our children have out-voted us.
Oddly enough, the genesis for all of this was the passing of child labor laws that put a limit on where and how a child could work, coupled with laws that require children to be in school until a certain age.
Obviously, these laws are just. However, they have had an unexpected side effect. Since children legally have to be in school, all of them are placed in an enviorment that chews up those who buck the popular trend.
For every generation of teenagers, the popular trend is to rebel.
Hence the swing movement of the 50s. The chemical inducement movement of the 60s. The free love movement of the 70s. The wild, colorful, bubble gum, indifference to the world movement of the 80s. The dark inner rage of the 90s.
Children are now deciding what our society will accept before they reach maturity.
I have no idea what to do about it.
Now, last entry was an Angry David piece.
It's time to see Analytical David come out.
You all know that I found JJ's little halftime show stunt to be insulting. That is all good and well to talk about. However, there's something more interesting to talk about here.
If we operate under the assumption that CBS, MTV, and the performers involved knew what they were doing-wait, you say they're claiming they didn't know? They're saying it was an accident?
Hmmmm.....
1. Why would Janet and Justin feel compelled not to tell MTV that they were going to do a bra reveal? Britney Spears has done much the same thing on MTV shows, with hardy approval.
2. There are indications that everybody, from the performers to executives at CBS, knew about the stunt. The Drudge Report is claiming that "The decision to go forward went to the very top of the network." I've also heard a volunteer for the event claim that Janet and Justin did do a red bra reveal during rehearsals.....which is inconsistent with current statements that the stunt was "unrehearsed" and planned by the performers after final rehersals without MTV approval.
3. "I'm gonna have you naked by the end of this song."
As I was saying, let's operate under the assumption that all parties were willing participants. We'll give the NFL the benefit of the doubt, as they had no involvement in producing the show itself.
There's something more interesting to talk about here than how awful and deplorable the stunt was.
How have we arrived to the point where something like this would even be considered, much less approved by the networks?
There's a genesis to this problem. A reason why the moral fiber of this country has been withering away. A reason why teenage pregnancy is rampant among our young generation.
Well, consider the main influence on pop culture, MTV. Those who care about the idea of "coolness" have typically looked to MTV for a definition of the term.
MTV, being a business, is out to make a profit.
So what group has the most money to spend, and the greatest desire to spend it on "cool" things? What group works part-time jobs, making minimum wage or more without having any bills to spend this income on?
Teenagers.
So MTV caters to them. They hold up Britney Spears as their icon, a performer who has never been able to survive without using overt sexuality as a crutch. The rest of their performers rely on either pimping badassness (DMX, Snoop Dogg), whiny teenage angst (A Perfect Circle, Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach), or simply throwing as much shit on stage as possible and seeing what sticks while relying on songs other, more talented people created in order to look like "a genius" or an "exciting performer." (Puffy, I'm looking at YOU.)
Talent simply isn't as easily to sell as generic marketable personas, nor is it as readily availible. That's why there's so few Michelle Branchs, Vanessa Carltons, and Linkin Parks.
So now most performers use sex as their weapon to sell records and tickets.
I'm not talking about a performer being sexy as a part of their persona. That's fine, and being a male I encourage it. Christina Aguilera is quite wild, but she's using sex to make a point (valid or not), and she has the talent to back it up.
I'm talking about those who use shock sex as their base. Think about it: has there ever been a single memorable Britney Spears performence that wasn't based on shock sex? Nope. Not one.
And it's the purchasing power of teenagers that make it all possible. That make it all profitable. In a capitalist society, you vote with your wallet. Our children have out-voted us.
Oddly enough, the genesis for all of this was the passing of child labor laws that put a limit on where and how a child could work, coupled with laws that require children to be in school until a certain age.
Obviously, these laws are just. However, they have had an unexpected side effect. Since children legally have to be in school, all of them are placed in an enviorment that chews up those who buck the popular trend.
For every generation of teenagers, the popular trend is to rebel.
Hence the swing movement of the 50s. The chemical inducement movement of the 60s. The free love movement of the 70s. The wild, colorful, bubble gum, indifference to the world movement of the 80s. The dark inner rage of the 90s.
Children are now deciding what our society will accept before they reach maturity.
I have no idea what to do about it.
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