Radical Romance: first impressions, and Gaga

When I heard I'd be creating a blog for one of classes, my first reaction was a profound "hm." The thought had crossed my mind (I'm an English Literature Major, we all want to be writers, don't we?) but I'd never acted on it. Now I'll be doing just that.

The class is Popular Culture, and the professor has added the intriguing subtitle "the Radical Romance." So far, my impression is that class will analyze how love, or the concept of love, influences culture throughout the world- and THAT excites me. Now I've said it. I'm excited. Love is one of those concepts that I believe strongly in, being an idealistic youth from the First Fully Wired Generation.

About me: living in North Hollywood, pursuing a career as an actor by way of working two jobs and slowly (steadily?) moving towards my degree at Cal State Northridge. I've bounced around since high school; I lived in Fullerton for two years and almost moved to Long Island, New York before going with North Hollywood. I'm glad I did. I don't think I would have survived a New York winter.

More to the point. The first two classes have been intensely interesting because the Good Professor encourages DISCUSSION. He brought up something fairly heavy on the second day: the fact that most western culture is inevitably tied to economics. It's pretty Marxist, if we think about it. After all, "The production of popular music, film, television and fashion is in the hands of transnational capitalist corporations." Does that mean that love is engineered in some way too? Or what about the legitimacy of artists and "indie cred" or "street cred"- once an individual or a group is raised above the culture that brought them to where they are or inspired their success, can they still make art about the same things without becoming a parody of themselves?

Take any popular band or singer. Let's say...Lady Gaga.

She started her career as a musician playing in dive bars in Manhatten and now has more money than God. In her music, she demonizes and mocks fame while at the same time desperately wants and needs it- without it, she would have no persona whatsoever.

Does she have the right to do this? She came from the bottom and built her way to the top- hers really is a success story in that regard. And while she makes it a point to thank her fans and friends and family who brought her to where she is now, she has become a product- a brand- an image. Even while being snide and even occasionally (surprisingly, surreally) insightful, her goal is be the most popular in the world of popular music.

I'm not going to defend or attack the Lady. She's a self-starter, more or less, and she does phenomenal things with genre bending. But it will be interesting to watch how she progresses in her career. She wants to be provocative and edgy, yet she still wants to reel in the unsure. Will she succeed? Probably. Even those repelled by her are mystified and curious about her success.

I can't wait to see where this class goes. I have to present something on Williams' Cat On a Hot Tin Roof in a few weeks. Should be fantastic. Keep checking back.

[The quote above is from my Cultural Analysis textbook, by the way. Not sure how extensive my citing must be at this point.]

Read: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/weekinreview/15sisario.html?scp=6&sq=arcade%20fire&st=cse
Listen: "Handbook to the Sellout" by Five Iron Frenzy
Watch: Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I&ob=av2e