tainted love deconstructed

[prosewitch]

I caught a few snippets of Not Another Teen Movie yesterday. I think I'd like to watch the whole thing at some point, because I really enjoy parody. I also saw the music video of Marilyn Manson's cover of "Tainted Love," which is on the soundtrack and features actors and actresses from the film ... and I've since proceeded to obsess over the song

Comments

[drydem]

1. I believe technically you are referring to NOT another teen movie, just to clarify.
2. I don't think that the acts in the music video are that bad overall. I mean, c'mon, men looking at women? Sure, it's not a bastion of gender perfection, but it's a music video. They are notoriously misgynistic. All in all, I don't think it's disempowering, because genre-wise, it's normal. Looking for a feminist music video is like looking for a racially empowering racist joke.

[prosewitch]

1. Thanks for the correction, I've gone ahead and changed it.
2. I don't think the acts in the music video are that bad either, I'm just curious about how its subversive aspects interact with its normative aspects. The first time I saw the video, I liked that it seemed very tongue-in-cheek a lot of the time, but it also employed commonplace filming strategies without necessarily interrogating all of them. I wouldn't say that this one video is disempowering, either... sorry if that didn't come across in my post.

[kreie]

The song is awesome. The video...it's still downloading, but I had some similar thoughts about Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up" video.

[prosewitch]

Hm, don't think I've seen the video to "Smack My Bitch Up," but I can imagine where they might go with it... ;p

[erik3k]

smakc my bitch up is actually a fun video. a great video. luckilly i love the prodigy, when they are not in trituna.

[erik3k]

i think the video is a happy coincidence

[prosewitch]

I can tell you're pretty passionate about this issue. ;p

I agree that there's a lot of hypocrisy wrapped up in current subcultures in America, and I guess I'm wondering how much this video questions that hypocrisy or just buys into the assumptions behind it. I think the video does a bit of both, which is related to but on a different level of meaning from the whole empowerment/disempowerment issue. Because if you think about it, how can a person be empowered by purchasing consumer goods that ultimately benefit a capitalistic corporation? What does that person get out of it? Superficial group acceptance, which can change as quickly as fashion trends?

[erik3k]

fuck empowerment. fuck the other one too.if you need a label, or a jerk off that the only thing he cares about is making you buy his shit, or a group of people telling you you are cool, or a shirt or some other innanimated object to feel that you belong, you are a fucktard. marxism forever!!!!

[lillornyn]

Yeah! Marxism forever!!!

I'm so passionate about the disempowerment of the masses and am so anti-people telling you you're cool that I'm going to go make a post about it on my Livejournal.

OMGWTFBBQ.

P.S. - Reznor rules.

[doctorcurly]

Definitely empowered me. Cheerleader-to-super-hot-and-willing-goth-chick metamorphoses do it for me every time.

[prosewitch]

Hey, I never said it wasn't hot. ;p

[moonandserpent]

I'm with you until this: "-again, the intermingling of goth and hip hop countercultural artifacts privileges an insidious consumerism over authentic individuality"

Could you unpack that a bit?

[semiconsciously]

I think this has the same basic meaning as erik3k is trying to convey: the "goth bling", hip hop clothing, style-over-substance phenomenon.

[prosewitch]

You get a gold star! :D

[erik3k]

tee - hee!

i mean... word up!