never forget that you are not better just 'cause more people know your name.
If you don't understand what is wrong with this, I can explain it with more exclaimation marks and profanity.
It is too bad, really. I mean, I generally liked her music. And Sharpied-on eyebrows.
(It's her response to the criticism that cinches it for me, I'll be honest. There's absolutely no willingness to engage in even the most half- ( Read more... )
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And I agree with you about her response to this - that's what's really upsetting. Goodness gracious. Maybe it'll be different, or more subtle, or more obviously "art" than it seems right now, but at this point, I'm not even sure if that matters.
Graceless.
Jordan's much cooler. Thanks, on his behalf, for the plug. :)
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I know! It's very, very disappointing.
(Especially since I think it's abundantly clear that this is an extremely gimmicky project-- I really can't think of any way to read the concept as even a well-intended-but-flawed way of drawing attention to certain aspects of American culture via dark comedy and satire. It's just: Freaks are whimsical! Disabilities are funny, and sort of cute in a pathetic way! Child rape is edgy! Poverty and neglect are exotic! Isn't it ironic that we, two educated, well-off able-bodied people, are dressed up as conjoined twin outsider artist naifs? Oh, tee-hee!
Even if the songs turn out to be amazing, with skillful instrumentation, gorgeous vocals and inventive, poetic lyrics...well, I'm sorry, but I just don't think there's any way that the metric fuckton of failure involved here can be redeemed through sheer artistry.)
...I like seeing people's "consternation!" icons.
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I wish he'd done this sooner. Or more publicly. Or maybe even that AP had expressed herself the same way he has here. Because I feel like nothing she says now is going to erase the - well, I'm interpreting it as callousness - of her initial and/or what-we've-seen-so-far response.
Yeah. This is just really freaking disappointing.
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Oh! Well, ain't he refreshingly polite and open to taking other people's opinions at least semi-seriously. Thanks for the link.
(You're right, though. It doesn't really ameliorate much.)
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Ugh, yes. I suspect I'll get tired of reading about this very quickly if I continue to lurk around activist and/or music blogs.
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On a random note, before I clicked the thing and knew who you were talking about, I instantly thought "Amanda Palmer" when I read "Sharpied-on eyebrows" XD
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Speaking of which, your pissed-off owl there actually made me laugh out loud. (Of course, it's possible I'm a little feverish.) Right on, Mr. Owl.
Yeah, I just realized that in this post I did that thing I sometimes do where I launch into ranting about my nettling topic du jour without really telling my audience exactly what that topic is beforehand. Sorry. :)
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Evelyn & Evelyn is a just character they perform as, much like a drag character or GWAR. These sorts of characters usually have very fantastic backstories explaining what brings them to the stage that particular night.
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"Gimmick" is a good word. That's all this is-- a parade of gimmickery. And the reason it's insulting, rather than just tacky, is that the perspective here is so very much about laughing at, exoticizing, othering these characters who (supposedly) belong to several categories of person which actually do exist and actually are seriously devalued and marginalized right here in real life. It affirms, rather than subverts, the status quo, and reassures audiences that hey, you don't have to ( ... )
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Well, as I was saying, it isn't the framing gimmick of itself that bothers me so much as it's the framing gimmick combined with the characters and subject matter at hand. If this were a case of the artists taking on fictional personas that made fun of privileged, conceited rock stars (like Spinal Tap), or creating fantasy narratives about things that don't exist and events that don't ever happen outside of fiction (like in the Blair Witch project, or like David Bowie pretending to be the Martian space traveller/rock star Ziggy Stardust), it wouldn't be an issue.
Also, the way Amanda Palmer chose to respond to this controversy was completely petty, arrogant, disrespectful, and immature. Whether or not Evelyn Evelyn was intended to mock or offend and whether or not it turns out to be as bad as all that, Amanda Palmer made it pretty explicit that she, as a person and a performer, has absolutely no regard whatsoever for "disabled feminists." That is why I'm really, really steamed about this, as opposed to just rolling my eyes ( ... )
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