Just in case Evelyn Evelyn was not quite enough fail for you.

[stunt_muppet]

Oh my god, Amanda Palmer, just stop fucking talking. (Warning: Link contains images of lynching and murders which may be triggering.)

If you didn't want to click the link, apparently Palmer has tweeted her distaste at the product placement in Lady GaGa's "Telephone" video, stating that " ironic product placement is only ok if you take no money &

Comments

[airie_fairy]

I'm trying to figure out how I want to mentally respond to that tweet you quoted. 'Cause...okay, I get ironic jokes, but I don't think checkbooks do? Why the Klan? You could just...you know...buy something you don't like instead of funding a terror group. It just seems like an extreme thing to...well, to put on Lady GaGa, for one thing.

[stunt_muppet]

I...don't know. The closest thing I can think of is that Beyonce co-stars in the video, so you wouldn't expect them to give money to an organization that wants her dead? That's the closest thing I could think of to irony in that statement. And like you said, it's not like donating "ironically" wouldn't give money to terrorists. I just...what is this I don't even.

[airie_fairy]

It's...weird. Like, the statement itself isn't making me explode, I can see that she's referring to the Klan in a way that removes herself from actually approving of the organization, which would be a whole different matter, so in the end it's...mostly harmless, just...I'm not seeing the context that gives the irony its effect, and without that it is a can of bad fucking idea worms.

[stunt_muppet]

I think my anger can be summed up with "why would you even bring this up". It seems like she's just pulling that out because she knows it'll get people's hackles up without realizing that there are actual good reasons why it gets people's hackles up.

[rainbowstevie]

Wait, what did Amanda Palmer do/say this time? It's like suddenly everyone is yelling, but I don't know why. I don't even understand the tweet. What makes the KKK ironic? *completely puzzled*

[stunt_muppet]

I'm not sure why the KKK is supposed to be ironic - maybe because Beyonce co-stars in the video so you wouldn't expect them to give money from the video to a racial-terrorist organization? That's the closest I've got.

But the reason everyone's yelling - well, at least the reason I'm yelling - is that it's just in such phenomenal poor taste to call up that kind of ugliness for a joke. It's like, if you were going for irony, you could have talked about donating to an anti-corporate organization or Consumer Reports or something.

[rainbowstevie]

So the Tweet is The Incident, then? I hope it's clear I wasn't trying to be flippant - I genuinely just didn't know what set it off; usually Feministing and its ilk are on this kind of stuff within hours, but nobody had mentioned anything, so I wasn't sure where the LJ reactions were coming from (yours was the third I read). Now I see.

Of course, not having seen the music video or heard the song, that probably explains a lot about my confusion too. Even though Amanda Palmer's statement seems like it should conclude with "Your argument is invalid," for all the sense it makes.

[stunt_muppet]

Yeah, the Tweet's what started it. I'm sorry - I hope I didn't come across as confrontational or anything. I wasn't clear on what you were asking. And yeah, I heard reactions about this from LJ before any of the blogs or feeds I check, specifically from a link to the post I linked to above.

The video does have a *lot* of product placement, some of it more blatant than others (there are a couple of shots of a cell phone screen with the Virgin Mobile logo very prominently displayed), but I find myself watching it over and over again anyway because the song is so maddeningly catchy. What is it about Lady Gaga music that makes it get stuck in my head so fast?

[kayliemalinza]

Gaga was IN JAIL and YOU SAW HER TWAT.

WHO THE FUCK CARED ABOUT THE PRODUCT PLACEMENT.

IDK, I went into a deep femmeslash spiral from the first phonecall that hit its feverish peak at the line "You've been a bad girl, Gaga." and just sort of flailed feebly for the remainder of the video. If that's not too TMI to say. >>

Looking back on it with a clear mind, the Virgin Mobile placement was jarring but other than that the products seemed diegetic, at least. The 50 cent HoneyBun was a character detail rather than an endorsement, yanno?

Also, I don't even want to wiki this, but is Amanda Palmer British? That might explain (although not excuse) her blithe mention of the KKK. I'm betting her local paper didn't mention that a rally was held nearby a few weeks ago, as mine did.

[stunt_muppet]

I NO RITE. I'd heard that the video was a huge mindscrew, so I went in trying to figure out what was going on and...got totally distracted. It's hard to figure out anything with that much perfect lipstick and studded underwear and leather and whatnot.

(Though I only saw the YouTube version of the video, so I did not realize you could see that much. To iTunes I go.)

I thought that the Plentyoffish and Virgin Mobile product placements were the most egregious of the lot, but yeah, like you said, most of the rest (like the Wonder Bread and Coke cans in her hair) came across as part of the story or characters rather than as "Wonder Bread gave us money". I actually thought the Coke-can rollers were really clever, given the cigarette-sunglasses in the previous scene - a continuation of the utilitarian theme.

Wiki tells me that Palmer was born in Connecticut, and has lived in the US all her life. So yeah, she might not even be aware of how prevalent they still are.

[kayliemalinza]

I only saw the iTunes version, too, and it was blurred out but STILL. I have an imagination and have actually seen a picture of her vulva thanks to a fandomsecrets post.I was about to comment that the cigarette-sunglasses were anti-utilitarian, almost, since the function of the cigarettes is being wasted, but then I considered that maybe the point is that Gaga has so many cigarettes that she can afford to waste them. Rather than view this as a comment on the culture of consumption, I wondered what Lady Gaga had done, exactly, to acquire all those cigarettes. Prison commerce being what it is, and all. :3

[stunt_muppet]

I'm curious as to where said fandomsecrets poster obtained said image. Not surprised, mind you, just curious.

Ah, see, I thought "utilitarian" as in "using whatever was lying around to make herself look fabulous" without considering that in order to make cigarette sunglasses she had to not smoke the cigarettes, though as they were at least lit perhaps she just isn't a very heavy smoker and still has enough left of the cigarette when she's finished to add to the sunglasses. That and I was a little sidetracked considering what a miracle it was that her hair hadn't caught on fire. And quietly squeeing that there was an actual butch woman in a music video omg omg.

she could have mentioned numerous other organizations that would have made her point more clear.

Exactly! There are ways she could have made a comment about product placement - donating to the company's competitors, maybe, or one commenter suggested Consumer Reports. But those would apparently not be offensive enough.

[finmagik]

and Neil Gaiman wants to marry this chick... what are they putting in his tea these days belladona?

[stunt_muppet]

I know. I mean, if this was coming from someone I loved, I'd feel obligated to make it stop because it was stupid and racism/ablism/general fail is not a quality I like in people.

[drho]

I can't believe there are people who can look at pictures of murders and go on with their trolling. Amanda Palmer is desperate and awful, but some of her fans are even worse.

[stunt_muppet]

The comments on the post I linked to are incredibly disheartening in spots, especially the people saying that we should let it go because it's just a joke. I really don't know how you can defend something as a joke after looking at those pictures.