Not too long ago, I’ve read in the papers that the US military in Iraq uses certain music during their “interrogation sessions”. Passing over the suffering that the prisoners must undergo as easily and indifferently as anyone else who never really suffered in their life (now I would like to point out that vacuum cleaning is not suffering) I focused on different aspects of this tragicomic tale.
The US army is supposed to have selected a couple of popular songs that the inmates just can’t get out of their heads (mainly owing to their limited options). One of the featured bands, which I believe was Metallica, is a logical choice when one needs to inspire fear. And while the band members of Metallica are proud of their help to TWAT (The War Against Terror), another Iraqi prison chart topper Bruce Springsteen is considering suing for royalties for the use of his ‘art’. But aged rock stars do little to capture my imagination, I needed a song that I could relate to…
Aah. It was 2002. I was young, naive and X-tina just released ‘Dirrty’. I liked the song, because in my view, it was about liberation and emancipation (life is tough for nerds). But my fond memories aside, this was one of the song that the female inmates ‘loved’. Apparently because it shows the declining moral values in American society, something that terrified the humble Iraqi women. There is nothing better than to take a skanky American girl dressed in a bikini and have her dirrtiest sexual fantasies placed around her while the powerless pious inmates cannot look away. Nice…
Nevertheless, this seems to show that US army (presumably, the government, which command the army) is embracing and acknowledging the ‘moral decline’ in USA. This is somehow is funny and sad at the same time, yet not relevant to my argument. How are inmates to know what X-tine (as known back then) looks like in the video, when supposedly all they hear is music (even though the music is frightening enough by itself).
But consider the song, its lyrics and the music. Could anyone have made a different video for Dirrty. Would any other image suit a song called Dirrty? NO. In this case, the video is instanteneously tied to the song and together, they form a coherent whole, which is not only honest in its expression, but totally appropriate because content reflects the packaging. There is no pretence.
Therefore, if a song is raunchy, dirty, slutty; the music video should be as well. If a song is romantic, the video should NOT show half naked girls shaking their bootays, even though we all like to see that. Even ‘Candy Shop’ by 50 Cent can therefore be redeemed, for if a song relies on innuendo that heavily, it must show itself somewhere somehow. Remember, you either do thisngs properly (either all dirrty or all ‘good’, or you shouldn’t do them at all).
In passing, I must therefore condemn the ‘Baby One More Time’ video with Britney Spears for NOT including S&M imagery, even though the chorus has a rew enough sound and lyrics. Another music video, this time deserving praise accompanies a She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named song ‘Erotica’. It is perhaps one of the most ‘evil’ music videos ever, but the accompanying music leaves little room for another interpretation.
The ability to see things in context is truly a gift from God (even if I am an atheist). In context, ugly and beatutiful are interchangable and, frankly, irrelevant. I suppose that the meaning of the word approriate is now more appropriate than ever…
Peter
Sources:
- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/DirrtyVideo.png
- http://tramafotografica.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/madonna-erotica-fever.jpg
