Ypulse Quote
Posted by anastasia on 07-11-2007This is from an OpEd in the New York Times (paid subscription required) by conservative writer David Brooks on the social forces behind the new heroine portrayed in this summer's hits "Before He Cheats," by Carrie Underwood, "U + Ur Hand," by Pink, and "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne:
Now young people face a social frontier of their own. They hit puberty around 13 and many don't get married until they're past 30. That's two decades of coupling, uncoupling, hooking up, relationships and shopping around. This period isn't a transition anymore. It's a sprawling life stage, and nobody knows the rules.
Once, young people came a-calling as part of courtship. Then they had dating and going steady. But the rules of courtship have dissolved. They've been replaced by ambiguity and uncertainty. Cellphones, Facebook and text messages give people access to hundreds of "friends." That only increases the fluidity, drama and anxiety.
The heroines of these songs handle this wide-open social frontier just as confidently and cynically as Bogart handled the urban frontier. These iPhone Lone Rangers are completely inner-directed; they don't care what you think. They know exactly what they want; they don't need anybody else.
The entire OpEd has been posted here.
July 11th, 2007 at 8:07 am
Conservative David Brooks writes of characters like the narrator of Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend, "They know exactly what they want; they don’t need anybody else."
Does that sentence make any sense? The character in Girlfriend wants to be the guy's girlfriend. What does that have to do with not-needing anybody else?
Brooks also attacks the lack of "sentimentality" and "romance" of the characters, saying they would have been who would have been "socially unacceptable in a megahit pop song 10, let alone 30 years ago."
In the old "Heart" song, All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You and the old Joan Jett song, I Love Rock N' Roll, the female characters don't even know the guy's name.
July 11th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
David Brooks' description of the characters as "Lone Rangers" is also dubious.
"Before He Cheats" - if she's a Lone Ranger, then why is she so angry that he's cheating?
"U + Ur Hand" - if she's a Lone Ranger, then why is she with her friends?
"Girlfriend" - if she's a Lone Ranger, then why does she say, "I want to be your girlfriend"?