Britney's New Look

Human sacrifice is a remote topic to most. Modern people realize that human sacrifice has occurred for thousands of years, and still does in some parts of the world, but don't think it relates to modern life in any way. This episode of South Park mocks a celebrity-obsessed culture by explaining it as modern human sacrifice. The full episode is available on the show's website:


http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s12e02-britneys-new-look

Britney Spears arrives in South Park in the midst of extreme obsession. In classic South Park style, the adults behave like children and the children are the ones to ask questions. The first part of the episode shows the town's adults obsessed with Britney Spears and harassing her to an extreme. A botched suicide attempt leaves her with almost no head and the townspeople become excited over "Britney's new no-top-of-the-head look!" The boys are confused by the older generation's commitment despite overlooking the fact that she has no head.

As usual, the plot takes a turn and the boys discover that Britney Spears is being prepared for human sacrifice to ensure a bountiful corn harvest. The adults explain that in a modern civilized society it is better to drive the victims to suicide rather than stoning them to death, which is what happens. Near the end of the episode:

Paparazzo 8: Look, kid, throughout history people have found it necessary to engage in... human sacrifice.

Bob Summers: In ancient times, humans would commonly pick one lovely girl, adorn her with jewels, treat her like a goddess, and then... watch her die.

Paparazzo 9: We like to think we're more civilized now, but the truth is our lust for torture and death is no different than it was in gladidator times.

Paparazzo 10: Only difference is that now we like to watch people put to death through magazines and photographs.

Canadian Paparazzo: It's a damn shame too. Old ways were bettah. Used to be we just picked someone by lottery and then stoned them to death.

Woman: Stonin' to death was too violent. Rather have the sacrifice kill itself.

Kyle: You mean everyone has been wanting Britney Spears to kill herself?

Man: Britney was chosen a long time ago, to be built up and adored, and then sacrificed. For harvest.

The episode ends with the townspeople in South Park's supermarket. The residents comment on the good corn harvest as Miley Cyrus appears on the TV news. Ominously, Randy Marsh comments on how next year's harvest will be even better.

People have not lost any of their bloodlust just because in this century they have cars, cell phones, and Netflix. South Park is famous for poking insightful fun at topics in American culture, especially if they are surrounded by hypocrisy. They do not argue that Americans should take the high moral ground and stop coming together to mercilessly mock the same person. They argue that it should be called what it is, a modern human sacrifice.

Death to Justin Bieber?

I have always found society’s preoccupation with and response to violence and death involving celebrities intriguing. There is certain a sufficient amount of drama in any average Joe or Jane’s life, but what makes violence perpetrated against other humans (who by chance happen to be more popular) so compelling?

Recently, through our short forays into understanding Tupac, we got a glimpse into the man’s incredible paranoia and insecurity. Chock full of prophesies of his own death and the violence prevalent in his own personal life, Tupac’s albums were critical and commercial successes. Additionally, the theatricality and controversial manner of his death and that of fellow rapper Biggie Smalls has fueled such a continued obsession with these two figures that their own mythology has been developed in the contemporary consciousness. It’s also enduring even today rappers still mention their names with reverence even as the 15-year anniversary of Tupac’s death approaches. Off the top of my head, I can cite the (possibly) violent deaths of Amelia Earhart, Marilyn Monroe, and Princess Diana as having incited a maelstrom of controversy and buzz. Perhaps in modern culture, we’re given so much access into the private lives of others that we begin to grow attached to them or even believe that in some way, there is a chance that we can live vicariously through them. All of this, of course were some of the thoughts I harbored before watching the following video.

What I found slightly disturbing were the comments this video prompted. While the violence and death depicted in this scene are obviously fake, the hatred directed at a particular character’s on screen death seemed genuine. Even the title of the video file makes clear what the poster intends for the viewer- the acceptance of this particular death as something worth celebrating. While that statement was probably a sensationalistic over generalization, it does indeed seem that should Bieber actually perish, that many would be satisfied with it. I can accept that civilization has been constructed in a way that we respect mortality and celebrate the destruction of enemies and the triumphs of heroes, but my question is why is reveling in the death of this particular celebrity so easy and widespread?

Perhaps it’s just my tendency to exaggerate-may be it’s ok to laugh and celebrate his on screen demise because it is what it precisely is…fake, staged, and harmless. In that case, can anyone enlighten me on the boundary that delineates the perception of violence as innocuous from violence and death that occurs in say Iraq, and can anyone inform me the presence or absence of what qualities of violence allow for it to be acceptable to solicit laughs instead of shock and horror?

Red Hair Don't Care

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xd2w3j_mia-born-free-video-official-real-a_music

This is a video for M.I.A.'s controversial "Born Free" video which shows the rounding up and slaughtering of red-headed people. I happen to love red hair and find it absolutely beautiful, but enough with my fetishes. When watching this video I remember being very confused about what was going on. I thought that I would have some more context with which to frame the premise of the video but sadly that never happened. However, this video is very suspenseful in the sense that you cannot fully buy into what's going on into the video. I kept thinking that maybe at the end of the video we'd found out that they were gathered up for a non-violent reason. Unfortunately all hopes of a happy ending went out of the window when a red-headed child was shot in the head at point blank range.

The violence in this video doesn't really seem to serve a purpose or some sort of commentary. I know that M.I.A. is from the UK and there is definitely a prejudice towards those with titian hair, but it's not like she's advocating tolerance for the gingers. I, for one, have become accustomed to expecting some sort of social commentary whenever I see videos that are tailored to have a good amount of shock effect; however, M.I.A. doesn't seem to be saying anything in this video besides the lyrics to her song. All of the redheads are massacred and the audience is left wondering why. Maybe M.I.A. is playing with the notion that all artists need to make a statement with their art whether it be visual or auditory. Or maybe, just maybe, the video is violent for the sake of being violent.

The Real Slim Shady

The following link is a 60 minutes interview with Eminem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-svXcxBYdk

In this interview with 60 minutes, Eminem is asked why in the song “Kill You,” does he rap about hating faggots and killing lesbians. The answer boils down to being a product of his surroundings as Eminem responds by saying, “in the scene I grew up in, those words were thrown around constantly in places like battling.”

Although in class we analyzed Eminem through his music videos and lyrics, we only touched the tip of the iceberg. Our approach in class was to analyze the personas of Eminem through his songs, similar to what we did with Tupac, however with Eminem, we left out a tactic that we used with Tupac but not with him. This was the history of Marshall Mathers, who he was before the term Slim Shady even came into fruition. The interview with 60 minutes probes the mind of Eminem by giving us glimpses into his childhood, without a Dr. Dre beat in the background. What is revealed is a kid who got beat up before, during, and after class. He dropped out of high school in the 9th grade, and frequently participated in battles, specifically free styling back in forth in a competition where the goal is to “out diss” the other person through your clever and assaultive rhymes and gain the respect of the crowd.

Chris asked the question in class, why does Eminem use violence in his lyrics? We touched on things such as shock value but never really came upon anything concrete. After listening to this interview though, its seems that Eminem was just doing what everyone around him was doing and what people were doing to him. Its hard for us to understand, and by all means I’m not claiming that I have figured Eminem out, but Eminem was the subject to a lot of violence both physically by bullies, and metaphorically through rapping. The vocabulary he used is what every other rapper around him used and in order to win battles, he needed to go the extra mile in being, extreme, vulgar, and offensive. I even brought up the shallow comment that he does it because it sells but he really does it because that is who he is. I think it is tough for the average middle class teenager to relate to his level of expressive violence because few of us have ever been the subject of multiple beatings or were raised in the projects of Detroit. Nevertheless, we are all the product of our hometowns, schools, friends, and parents; everyone is impressionable in same shape or form. I don’t think Chris says “you all” so many times just to make us chuckle but rather it is something he grew up around. Eminem mimics his rap style during battles, replaces his opponent with various subjects that have hurt him in some way, and makes records out of them. Effectively, introducing us to the Real Slim Shady.

Violence...On Ice

One of my favorite sites to visit on the internet is a site called hockeyfights.com. This site catalogs, rates, allows for fan voting, and records all the major fights that happen in the NHL and farm leagues of hockey. As a big fan of hockey it’s nice to sit back at the end of a long day of class or schoolwork, and watch two grown men beat the hell out of each other. Watching players make finesse backhands, blast slap shots, or fly around smashing into each other just make my day. But then again there is always high risk involved in such a high-contact sport. Just Wednesday night I checked hockeyfights to watch the daily uploads and instead saw this one video of a single hit (even though the site normally pride itself by only showing fights) by Boston Bruin Captain and the tallest man ever in the NHL, Zdeno Chara.

Normally we watch sports to see violent material. We can all recall a ton of those videos of guys breaking an arm, a big hit in football, or the sickly sight of a compound fracture or some other gruesome injury. But this video is different. This hit on Max Pacioretty was just vicious. Straight violence. No other word for it. The reason it’s so hard to watch is the fact that it’s a life-altering hit on Pacioretty. Hopefully he will recover but a hit like that is a tough one to merely shake off. A malicious blow to the head like that is an absolutely devastating sight and could change the course of his life forever.

There is always a violent risk players take when stepping into the rink and that possibility of violence draws the fans. But no man should ever take a blow like the one Pacioretty took and I believe there needs to be increased safety precautions on that specific area of the ice to prevent a horrific injury like this from ever happening again.

Beauty of Violence

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Sufjan Stevens' "John Wayne Gacy Jr." is an incredibly emotional song about John Wayne Gacy, one of the most notorious serial killers ever. Gacy, who dressed as a clown, killed 33 boys and young men, hiding 27 of them underneath his house. Stevens takes this incredibly macabre subject and turns it into a song that evokes a great deal of "mixed" emotions from the listener. I feel like many people who listen to this song react strongly, because violence is such an extreme subject. We are used to hearing about violence in gangsta rap or hardcore metal, yet, when real-life violence is portrayed in a song as melodically beautiful as this one, the words are laced with a tranquil sadness.

AMERICA'S FAVORITE SPORT IS...

No, not baseball, and no... not NASCAR racing. Professional football has grown tremendously over the recent decades into an estimated 9 billion dollar industry. Yes, there's uncertainty with the current collective bargaining agreement, but NFL headlines like Brett Favre has "finally" retired, Tiki Barber has unretired (are you kidding me?), the NFL Draft, and even more mundane stories like Braylon Edwards going to court for a DUI and stating he wants to stay with the Jets goes further to show how fascinated America is with football. So many families gather grill and to watch football on Super Bowl Sunday it is practically a holiday/American ritual. I myself am football crazy, I honestly don't know what my life would be like without it.

I think what's most unique about football is the grittiness and violence that drives the players onto head on collisions and tackles. Normally, people don't look at a soccer player and say, "Wow, that guy's a bad ass." But man, if I see someone like Ray Lewis laying someone out and then stomping and screaming, I'm on the verge of pissing my pants. If you don't get what I'm talking about, watch the video up top. I'm sure most of you get some thrill from watching players get trucked and tackled right off of their feet. Even when people are being carried off the field, I can't help be still excited but think how brutal of it hit that was.

Now that we have talked so much about this innate human attraction to violence in class, I think it seems pretty obvious why football is beloved by so many people and is continuing to rapidly grow. I know I'm addressing supposedly well-mannered, intelligent, Ivy League students, whose sports interests allegedly lie somewhere in the area of polo or croquet, but come on, who doesn't love football?