(Untitled)

[angstbunny]

I gotta admit something

Comments

[angstbunny]

I totally disagree that the whole song is geared toward the boyfriend. The boyfriend is one line of the song. "I hope my boyfriend don't mind it." I read the rest of the lyrics as fundamentally about the girl's own personal questioning of her own stance and view of the world, which happens to include a boyfriend as well. Not exclusively about the boyfriend. There's a lot of "I" in that song. I kissed a girl, and I liked it. That's not the way I planned, not my discretion. Etc, etc.

But, good point about the other girl though. 'Cause she's totally getting used, and that's not cool.

She didn't intend to do it, but she characterized it as "brave". There is some activeness involved. She made the move. Again, I agree. Problematic. She inflicted herself upon somebody else, for sure. That's a good second point. Women treating other women like sexist men do is not cool. My point is that I don't think the song is as static as first glance would be. IE: I don't think it's 100% irredeemable. There's a lot of bad, but there's some good there.

[angstbunny]

Unfortunately, I can't commit on the video or the album, because I haven't seen the video or listened to the rest of the album. That's a lot of missing context. Again, like I said, I don't deny that most of the world sees it one way. I'm saying there is another way you can look at it if you want to. While they're ideologically opposite, I don't think it's mutually exclusive, in the sense that you can't squeeze something positive out of it. IDK

[angstbunny]

I gotta say, I can't believe I did a close reading of IKAG of all things. I almost felt like I needed to cite line numbers or something, like you would with a poem.

I guess intent doesn't matter, but context certainly does.

Is it terrible that I kinda like Katy Perry's voice? I can't stand her, but her voice is lower-pitched (if that's the right word) than most pop girls. I mean, visually, she's still wrapped in hyperfemininity like all pop girls, but her VOICE isn't.

There may be rambling

[redfiona99]

Part of the problem is that obviously, bisexuals don't exist. (I take it everyone is reading the sarcasm inherent in that statement) I know lots of people who have had heterosexual sex before realising that that's either not what they want or that it's only one of the things that they like, but they're looked down upon because they didn't realise this straight out of the womb. So I can at least go with the message of the song being experimentation, yay! but there's also the way that she doesn't seem to take into account the feelings of the other party involved in the kiss (although then we get back to the old chestnut that no woman who is sexually interested in women is also interested in promiscuous sex, which is also wrongish). That much is the song, the rest of any problematicalness is in the way it's presented in the video.

Re: There may be rambling

[angstbunny]

Yeah, that's kinda my thing. I think I'm reacting to some of the dismissiveness in the criticism about the song. I mean, a LOT of it is valid, and I agree with it. There's definitely a huge undertone of straight privilege, as I said. The pandering to male gaze. The disregard for the person who is being used for experimentation. But I wanted to see the other aspect of the song. The sexual awakening aspect, and it being depicted as something somewhat positive. Certain criticism of the song, I detect a whiff of scorn regarding those who are in an experimental phase of their lives. As you said, some people take a much longer time to figure things out. The song sort of celebrates experimentation. I wanted to drag that aspect out. But I definitely still think IKAG is still all sorts of messed up.

[barometric]

This!

Though I confess, this is the way I wanted to read the song the first time -- as a bubblegum pop song that acknowledges the possibility of teenage girls exploring an alternative sexuality. But then, sadly, I listened more closely to the lyrics, and I really don't think I can read it as anything other than "Katy Perry's ode to exhibition lesbianism", as I saw it awesomely described somewhere.

I still really like the song, though, and so I listen to it in the same way that I like Harry Potter or Alias: thinking of the awesome other thing it could have been, but isn't.

[angstbunny]

That's a really good description.

To read the song as I do, you really do have to divorce it from a lot of context, and you can't just yank something out of context. The predominant reading is still gonna be gross, but as you say, I LIKE the idea of reading it that way. The fun and awesome way.

[aurora_84]

Heee, Katy Perry song analysis.

For some reason, the 'hope my boyfriend doesn't mind it' line sits the least well with me and it annoys me every single time.

[angstbunny]

Urgh, yeah, I really don't like that line, too. I think the whole song would be less gross if that line were gone. As much as I can try and read it as something transgressive (screw you, boyfriend), I know it's actually much more about asserting the heteronormativity (I kissed a girl, but I'm not really gay, 'cause I have a boyfriend!). Much like how they like to introduce girl of the week to buddy cop shows lest it gets too gay for the audience.