|
Post by narm on Jul 8, 2014 14:45:19 GMT -4
Well that's kind of the thing, I guess. I wouldn't know Lil Wayne if he bit me on my nose. Perhaps I need to spend some time listening to stuff "the kids" listen to this summer on break, so I'm familiar. I've lectured many a student on Chris Brown (they have pics of him on their binders, etc) but I wouldn't know a single song by him. I listened to rap (NWA, Tupac, Snoop) when I was young. But I view those acts now the same way I view the hair bands of my youth (Poison, Motley, GnR), too: objectifying and sometimes horrifying. Not to be all "think of the children" but I am going to think of the children. I want the young boys and girls I work with to think critically about what they are hearing and seeing in pop culture. Not to censor, but to think about the message. I honestly think too often pop culture sets females up to view each other harshly by the virgin/whore thing, not to mention what it does to males. This has been a great discussion. I'm glad there have been different points of view. I think it all matters.
|
|
|
Post by kanding on Jul 8, 2014 14:54:59 GMT -4
I was struck by what a rip-off the song was the first time I heard it. I also thought it was funny because I assumed it was making fun of PUAs. Then I read differently.
I think the song has attracted a lot of criticism because it represents a kind of misogyny that flies under the radar and is very, very common. The kind of stuff you often hear in bars and at clubs. You may know guys whose thinking isn't that different and who subconsciously uphold the good/bad girl dichotomy. And that may be why a lot of women have spoken against the song because it celebrates something annoying and very familiar. Eminem singing about killing his girlfriend? You don't know anyone like that. But that guy in the club who's telling you that you know you want it (Why yes, yes I do. Just not with you, you sad little man) is depressingly, exhaustingly, spirit-crushingly familiar. And here is this song that celebrates these pathetic lines and ideas and shows these guys as some kind of winners. No, nuh-uh, not today. Because not only do we have to deal with the serious shit like rape and murder, but now we're supposed to think it's hot when you're telling us what we think and feel, and on top of that, believe that you're some sort of prize who can satisfy us?
This is a kind of a straw that broke the camel's back situation, and it got a lot of negative attention because Thicke and Co. put themselves in the crosshairs with the video. They got loads of attention, just some of it was unwanted. Oh well. They made themselves heaps of money, they'll be fine.
The song is nothing without Marvin Gaye's talent holding it up.
|
|
|
Post by Neurochick on Jul 8, 2014 15:44:12 GMT -4
My problem with the song is the video. I just don't like that the models are all naked while the men are clothed. To me, that is a HUGE issue (like on the news where the men are in suits and ties and the women are wearing cocktail dresses).
And I liked the song when it was "Got To Give It Up," when it was done by Marvin Gaye (I think from the album "Live At the London Palladium")
|
|
|
Post by narm on Jul 8, 2014 16:13:48 GMT -4
Yes, the video. It's obnoxious. I read a snippet by the main model in the video (she's in Gone Girl) and she said she liked being the "Blurred Lines" girl, but said that she hates when people say she is the "hottest bitch in this place."
It's like when Kanye is fully dressed but still humping around on a motorcycle with a naked Kim. Obnoxious and sexist.
|
|
|
Post by discoprincess on Jul 8, 2014 16:47:22 GMT -4
It's like when Kanye is fully dressed but still humping around on a motorcycle with a naked Kim. Obnoxious and sexist. That'd be obnoxious even if it weren't sexist, but I see your point. I think I remember that Paula Patton was asked whether she was okay with Robin being surrounded with half-naked women during that video shoot; she reportedly claimed she was fine. In retrospect I wonder whether that was a front or not. ETA: Major eye-roll indeed, Hamatron. TI may be legally married, but if half of the rumors are true, he supposedly doesn't act like it. He allegedly plays around with other females with and without his wife Tiny. Not too long ago there were rumors of serious marital dischord, but no revelations that were as sloppy as the photo of Robin doing the infamous ass grab.
|
|
|
Post by Hamatron on Jul 8, 2014 23:45:42 GMT -4
Well, when they were making the video Robin Thicke was going on about how they were all married men, and this was their excuse to oggle naked women without marital consequences. Which is a major eye-roll for me, and yeah, hello misogyny. His early talk about "Blurred Lines" was just so pathetic.
|
|
|
Post by Mutagen on Jul 9, 2014 8:31:13 GMT -4
Yeah, I actually wasn't that outraged about Blurred Lines, the song or the video. But Thicke's comments to GQ about it are such a thick steaming slice of douche that I really can't get too upset about all the blowback he's getting, either.
|
|
|
Post by discoprincess on Jul 9, 2014 10:52:47 GMT -4
Yeah, I actually wasn't that outraged about Blurred Lines, the song or the video. But Thicke's comments to GQ about it are such a thick steaming slice of douche that I really can't get too upset about all the blowback he's getting, either. Some choice quotes: and ' The whole thing was meant to be tongue in cheek, y'all! ETA: @highondegrassi I noticed Robin Thicke shouting out Marvin Gaye as well. And he wonders why Marvin Gaye's family slapped him and the record company with a lawsuit?
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
May 3, 2024 10:41:44 GMT -4
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2014 12:39:24 GMT -4
That "little something" that Pharrell played was the Marvin Gaye song you claim was simply an inspiration. Without it, there's nothing to work from. Who's kidding who here? If someone does a paint by numbers of Mona Lisa and uses neon colors, do they get to hang it up in a gallery and call it their own? Nevermind. I'm sure that can happen in the art world, if it already hasn't.
|
|
|
Post by famvir on Jul 9, 2014 13:54:20 GMT -4
Yes, it does happen all the time in every art endeavor. The trick is how much you have to change something before it becomes yours. My understanding with a suit in the Kanye song, the "uhh uhh baby" was a direct steal from another artist without their knowledge or an attribution. You can direct steal a certain number of notes from a song, and that's okay, but go one over and you are busted. (My Sweet Lord was found to to closely resemble He's So Fine. The kerfuffle with Vanilla Ice/David Bowie)
Marvin Gaye's family sued, and were either paid off or lost (I don't recall the out come) but basically the courts decide what is stealing and what is borrowing and what is being inspired.
|
|