Some thoughts on Spring Breakers, Beyonce, Resilience, and Race
I just watched Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers last night (I know, I know, so so so late to this party). There’s already been a ton of great criticism written about the film, but here I want to think about it…
Rihanna’s Unapologetic Shadow Feminism, part 2
As always, this is pretty raw, first-draft stage material. I welcome your feedback 🙂 Thanks to everyone who has read and given feedback on part 1 of this series! The continued outcry and worry about Rihanna and her album clearly…
Beyoncé, Gaga, Race, and Sexuality, or, 1+1 Doesn’t Always Equal 2
[This week I’m going to attempt a few “year-end” type posts. Being on semester break, now’s a god time for me to collect some thoughts that have been rattling around in my head all term, but I haven’t had time…
The Gender Difference That Race Makes, The Race Difference That Gender Makes, And The Race/Gender Difference That Music Makes: Joe Calderone, take 2
This post is significantly revised from the 30 August version. After Lady Gaga’s drag king performance at the 2011 MTV VMAs, many people are talking about the gender politics of her performance, its queerness (or not), and especially Britney Spears’…
The Beautiful People: Gaga as Post-Goth
So, the Gaga-Madonna connection is a totally overworn topic. Gaga encourages some of the comparisons, but I think that Madge is NOT the artist we need to see as Gaga’s immediate aesthetic ancestor and interlocutor. It’s Marilyn Manson. Yep, Gaga…
Whatever Philosophy Is, It’s Most Certainly Not About Girls: Or, why people hate Nancy Bauer’s NYTimes column on Beauvoir and Gaga
Readers of this blog have probably safely assumed that I totally endorse Nancy Bauer’s recent contribution to the New York Times philosophy blog, “The Stone”. Her reading of Lady Gaga through Beauvoir (mainly through The Ethics of Ambiguity’s first few…
On Gender and Misogyny in Mark Dery’s Anti-Gaga Argument
Recently, Mark Dery published a piece in “True/Slant” arguing against Lady Gaga’s intellect, artistry, and cultural value: http://trueslant.com/markdery/2010/04/20/aladdin-sane-called-he-wants-his-lightning-bolt-back-on-lady-gaga/ First, I’ll put my cards on the table (and some of you may already be quite familiar with these cards): I’m adamantly…
“This is a song about faking orgasms!”
The title of this post comes from the introduction to the Au Pairs song “Come Again”. So, I’ve been thinking recently about Gaga’s relationship to post-punk — With all her homage to “The New York Scene,” the connection isn’t too…
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