Some of you probably watched the Superbowl yesterday. My husband, he did, he usually does. He didn't have a strong favorite this year, but sort of favored the Seahawks, so was happy with the results.
I could care less about football, so I didn't watch the game. But I was curious about how Bad Bunny would sound, so I watched the halftime show. Full disclosure, there are very few people as ignorant about pop music and pop culture in general as myself. My choice to watch Bad Bunny might have had something to do with the fact that Trump dislikes him so intensely.
I mentioned my intention to watch the halftime show when I was talking with some friends after church. One of them said, "Well, his lyrics are pretty gross if you translate them. He once dressed up as a nun on SNL, and another time he wore some kind of woman's clothes. He says he's straight but kissed a man on stage after someone basically dared him. He's pretty immoral." All of which sounded to me like he is a bit of a provocateur rather than immoral.
Anyway I watched Bad Bunny, and for a rocker I thought he wasn't half bad. The show seemed happy and joyful. We need more happy and joyful. And I like Lady Gaga, who also appeared with Bad Bunny. Overall, I give it a good rating.
I watched it (both the game and the halftime show). At the risk of going full Archie Bunker, I wish he would have sung in English, at least a little bit. Had no idea what he was singing/saying. At least a translation crawl along the bottom of the screen? Although I have seen a few comments that his lyrics are too filled with forbidden-to-broadcast words to show them on-screen. So for me it was mostly something to be endured. But in fairness: I'm told that a couple of the songs he sang have been monster hits (1 billion+ views on the videos on YouTube), but I was not familiar with them. And I dislike the Super Bowl halftime show every year.
ReplyDeleteI think it was one of those things where you just listen to the music and the beat. And Lady Gaga did sing her song in English.
DeleteI don't know, did anyone see any good commercials? My husband did say there was a cute one with the Budweiser Clydesdales. We saw them in person one time.
Katherine, I’m as clueless about current pop music culture as you. I watched the game with my husband until the end of half- time. I too wanted to see Bad Bunny since trump hates him so. I imagine some lyrics were suggestive - they always have been, at least since the 60s. This is a copy of my comment on the Salt and Lightt thread.
ReplyDeleteOpinions on Bad Bunny? The rap- music isn’t to my taste, but I loved the joy, love and hope his performance embodied. Only very subtle criticisms of trumpism. The emphasis was love not hate. I think it was far more powerful than open criticism of this administration, which, from the first speeches in 2016 , reeked of hate and now has gone far beyond just words.
I watched part of the halftime show live, and I have the rest of it on my DVR. I'm still stuck in the 1960s as far as popular music goes, and I am not a fan of rap, but the show was a lively spectacle, and iI think it was absurd that there was such a negative reaction even just to the idea of it. Anybody who thinks it's bizarre to listen to vocal music in a language you don't speak is missing out. I have attended the opera and vocal recitals for the last several decades, and I loved Linda Ronstadt's albums of Mexican songs.
ReplyDeleteBack in the days of my youth, older folk came by their disdain for young people's music honestly. They were old fuddy duddies. Now it's political.
David,The music of the 60s and early 70s still gets my husband and I singing along. In my public high school choir we sang Latin and Italian as well as English. We listened to Latin at mass during my growing up years, so music in Latin was normal.
DeleteSince I spent a year in Paris in college I listened to French singers and still play some of the records (vinyl) I acquired then. I don’t mind listening to music in other languages. I like music with a Latin beat and Spanish guitar also. Very never listened to music in the Eastern European languages or Russian so I don’t know if I would enjoy them. Music isn’t only lyrics - it can create a mood no matter what the words mean.
I liked the part where he fell through the roof of the house.
DeleteI see that the wedding scene actually was a real wedding. That will be a story that the couple's friends can't top!
ReplyDeleteI readn an analysis earlier today that Taylor Swift's high-profile skybox appearances the last couple of years at Kansas City Chiefs games (she is engaged to their star tight end) have earned the NFL ~$1 billion in incremental revenue, primarily by piquing the interest of Swifties who otherwise wouldn't be NFL fans. The analyst's thought was: having Bad Bunny (reportedly the most-played YouTube star ever, in any category) on during the halftime show is intended to do the same: try to extend the brand to viewers who otherwise might have taken a pass on the telecast. As a target market, they're sort of the inverse of me: I watch the NFL but don't follow Bad Bunny, whereas they would be Bad Bunny fans who don't tune into the NFL.
ReplyDeleteIn case anyone's interested: I don't listen to Taylor Swift, either, but I do find her easier to listen to than what I saw of Bad Bunny yesterday. I wish him nothing but the best, but the show didn't turn me into a fan.
Have to admit, I was blissfully unaware that Trump was on an anti-Big-Bunny tirade. I read that Turning Point USA mounted its own counterprogramming halftime concert, featuring Kid Rock. As the valley girls reputedly used to say: Whatever.
I do kind of like Taylor Swift. There was a song of hers, "Safe and Sound" that I heard when I was in a store shopping one time. I found out that it was featured in the first Hunger Games movie. And I suffered through watching that miserable movie to hear the song. It never played until they were rolling the credits at the end. I was so mad. So it is true that they can get people to watch something they wouldn't ordinarily watch to hear a singer that they like.
DeleteWho would not love this Taylor Swift song and video?
DeleteShake It Off
I’ve heard of Taylor Swift but haven’t heard any/of her songs and don’t know what she looks like. I’m really out of it!
DeleteDavid - I like Shake It Off, too. I've had to play it on piano before - it's not really a piano song, but there was a guitar, bass guitar and drums, too. It was fun.
DeleteOkay - while I was out on Youtube watching a younger Taylor Swift in "Shake It Off", I took the opportunity to re-watch the Bad Bunny halftime show. It wasn't so bad. There were some parts I enjoyed, especially the wedding celebration scene. And I liked Gaga's and Ricky Martin's cameos. I enjoyed the joyful dancing, and I like the brass arrangements. And he can sing when he chooses to. I liked when he invoked all of the Americas at the end. Really, there was a lot to like.
DeleteFirst time I saw Taylor Swift was in the movie “Amsterdam”, fictionally based around the actual attempt by rich men (who else?) to remove FDR with a coup. I thought she did a good job.
DeleteI was invited to dinner and SB by friends. I’m not a sports fan but I am a good food and alcoholic beverage fan. We were all of us enthusiastic Trump and ICE haters but, being almost all of my age cohort, passed on Bad Bunny. Just not tuned in. And we pretty much agreed, following the anti-antisemitism commercial, that the best thing to fight antisemitism would be for Israel to stop dropping bombs on children and militarily helpless people.
ReplyDeleteOff topic - the Buddhist monks Walk for Peace arrives in DC tomorrow and will head to the Washington National,Cathedral. There will be an outdoor gathering on the grounds, followed by an interfaith service in the cathedral. I had hoped to go but have read that various routes to the Cathedral will be closed. Since they are obviously expecting a huge crowd I think I will not make it after all.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great ending to their beautiful witness. Wish I could be there, too. Might calm me down a bit. I hope they don’t have to walk all the way back.
DeleteThe Interfaith service will be live-streamed on the Cathedrals YouTube channel,and on its Facebook page
Deletehttps://www.commonwealmagazine.org/spellbound
ReplyDeleteCommonweal has an article I find interesting. There is a rock solid 40% that still support Trump. This is, of course, scarier than Trump himself. I don’t think these people, some to whom I’m related, are capable of rationally evaluating what Trump and his administration are doing. They even vote against their own interests. I have never been very good at dealing with crazy people. I think we have to find out what the other 60% share and what can motivate them. I don’t think the Democrats have a clue about that, either. One thing that might unite the 60% would be a withdrawal from world empire, reduction in military spending, cessation of sending money to other countries including Israel. The 40% might believe some of these things but they are cuckoo for Trump and I expect nothing from them. The big problem is there are issues uniting the 60% but I don’t see the Democrats defying their megadonors and doing anything about it. As far from hope as it us, I’ll stick with the third party candidates. I just don’t see a path forward otherwise.
I saw the article. It aligns with every thing else I’ve read and experience with my MAGA family members. So depressing.
DeleteI think the 40% can be subdivided into people who are perfectly okay with hatred and racism, as long as it doesn't happen to them. There is truly no way for anyone except God to change their thinking. But there is another segment of the group who are tribal and willing to be gaslit. They can't bring themselves to vote for a Democrat. I think a third part might be able to peel off some of them. Anything that can peel off some of the base, dilutes the base.
DeleteAs for involvement in military adventurism, it would really help if the requirements that wars require the authorization by Congress could be enforced.
About sending money to other countries, it shouldn't be about financing wars. But I would really like to see USAID to be brought back in some form.
Our state government wasn't too bad until pretty recently, but now the wheels are falling off. A moderate Democrat, Lynn Walz has declared her candidacy for governor. She would be good. But the Repubs are really playing up that her husband is Tim Walz's second cousin once removed, or something like that. Sadly there are some people who will count that as a strike against her. The incumbent governor is from our town, and I have sat next to him in church. But he has changed and not for the better.
Ironically, USAID was the arm of the US’ soft power which Trump is too gross to understand. USAID did good which is good but it was transactional. Even without USAID, I think the world would be a better place if the US stopped meddling in everything and stirring up trouble everywhere.
DeleteSo our governor announced that he plans to start a teen chapter of Turning Point USA in every high school in Nebraska. He doesn't say how he's going to do it or who is paying for it. The "who is paying for it" part is going to be a particular sticky point because the governor is presiding over a several million dollar budget shortfall in a state with a balanced budget requirement. By far most of the comments I have read are saying that this is inappropriate, and why doesn't he focus on his actual duties? Not to mention a brewing scandal over a 2.5 million dollar contract given to a friend without getting outside bids.
ReplyDeleteTurning Point - will it be essentially mandatory at some point
Delete- Iike Hitler Youth? The son of my husband’s cousin is a teacher in Tennessee. Apparently he’s looking for a new job in a blue state because they are doing the same thing - making every high school have Turning Point. They plan to move north this summer. It’s the last straw for him and his wife.They have two children and don’t want them pressured to conform to Kirkism.
And isn't Turning Point sort of a quasi religious group? Of course separation of church and state doesn't mean anything to them.
DeleteThe first amendment means that students can start any kind of club they want to, but they can't do it during school hours or on school property. This seems to be adult driven.
Erika Kirk was a contestant in the “Great Race” reality show. One of the things she said during the interview was “sex sells”. She is a shape shifting opportunist and TPUSA is her latest and most successful gig. These people are turning a lot of people against God, Jesus and religion. “If that’s all there is ….”
DeleteJim, you initially indicated that you didn't think much of the half-time show, but made an effort to watch it again and saw some of the really good stuff about it. This popped up today on my FB feed. The author of the comment works for an ecumenical spiritual institute in Canada, and has a Master's in Theological Studies from Regent College, an ecumenical evangelical school in Vancouver.
ReplyDelete"Some folks have asked me (in genuine good faith) how I could find anything positive or defensible in last weekend’s Super Bowl halftime show, given some of the raunchier elements. It’s a good question, one I’ve been pondering. Here are some musings:
1. I resonate with what David Tia Maldonado wrote about the Super Bowl halftime show as a "sign of our times" or a cultural symbol, a "liturgy of the empire" just like Rome had the Colosseum and France had Versailles (but without the executions and whatnot). As such, I'm always interested in watching the halftime show to see what our culture is currently preoccupied with. And, of course, as a musician (and perhaps less pompously), I'm curious to see what sort of music is resonating with the masses, and how the artists involved will meet the challenge of rendering it in 13 minutes on a very large stage in a very challenging acoustical environment.
2. I understand the NFL chooses whatever is popular, and I don't feel like they owe me 13 minutes of music that suits my taste, my sense of morality, or my theological convictions. I can handle almost anything (musically speaking) for 13 minutes, and I think it is generally healthy (within reasonable limits) to occasionally listen to things that are outside my normal range of preferences. (Granted, I don't have young kids at home. If I did, I might well turn a halftime show off if I thought there were going to be elements that were damaging to their development.)
3. Because of the points above, the idea of an "alternative halftime show" seemed a bit silly to me. I mean, if someone wants to put on a nourishing show of faith-filled music, I'm all for that (like, that's totally my jam), but why try to shoehorn it into the 13-minute halftime window? Also, it seemed to me that *some* folks (not all) were objecting to this year's halftime show primarily because it was in Spanish and featured a minority … which seems, if we don’t want to call it racist, at least self-centred. That said, it would be very uncharitable of me to assume that everyone who chose the alternative (or just didn’t watch at all) was racially motivated, and I don't assume that. Truly, if you watched the alternative halftime show, I’m certain you could share some compelling reasons why you did. I'm just sharing why I didn't.
Continued. 4. OK, so about the show itself. First, the lyrics. I don't speak Spanish, so I didn't understand what any of the songs were about in a literal sense. (I have now seen an English translation of what I understand to be the raunchiest song of the set, and gosh, it is SUPREMELY vulgar. Although I'm told those lyrics were carefully edited for the live performance, as one would expect, I am reminded that our culture has become shockingly comfortable with sexually explicit song lyrics, which is the same unwelcome revelation I receive when I hear the lyrics (from all sorts of artists) playing at the gym. Yikes! Nothing I would routinely choose to listen to, but as an old married gal - especially one who doesn't understand Spanish - I think probably not a serious threat to my mortal soul. And sidenote: the headliner for the "alternative" show also has some very raunchy lyrics in his catalogue – including at least one song which goes beyond describing consensual acts and focuses on sex with minors - and, while he didn't share those lyrics on Sunday, I think we can notice again the general point about popular music being a reflection of popular culture ... the music being offered in a 13-minute halftime show is likely more a thermometer than a thermostat, if you catch my meaning.) All of that to say, bottom line, because I don't understand Spanish, I really have no idea if I liked any of the lyrics or not.
Delete5. Second, the music. I'm pretty much clueless about Latin music. Loved that there were horns. Loved the intricate, danceable rhythms. Had a hard time picking up melodic hooks, and there didn't seem to be much melodic range. I'm sure if I became an apprentice of Latin music, I would pick up WAY more nuance. But in a 13-minute dose, it was interesting without being a musical homerun for me.
6. Third, well, here, for me, was the surprise. I watched out of cultural curiosity and got something WAY more than I bargained for. The set, the storytelling, the jubilance, and the generous sharing of a culture - WOW. The narrative arc took us from an engagement to a real wedding and a family-centric wedding reception, and there was just so much joy and community and vibrancy and celebration. Wow. Wow. Wow. It was beautiful, and the staging was SUCH a feat of creativity and ingenuity. Seriously, if you watched all that joy and culture and connection and community and found only "offensive" elements to focus on ... ask yourself why. There's an old saying: "Everything is received in the mode of the beholder."
How can I sum this way-too-long post up? The halftime show is a 13-minute mirror of the culture that does not owe me alignment with my theology - I actually expected depravity (on account of human beings and human cultures being naturally sinful) and yet discovered the Giver of Good Gifts actively present in the joy and community and celebration on display. (Why was I surprised? Jesus was always accused of hanging out with "sinners" and being too fond of a party.) Meanwhile, a lot of my fellow Christians either didn't watch or watched with their "sin detection" googles on - they found lots to prove their thesis but missed all the grace on vivid, glorious display. Which doesn't make them jerks, and certainly doesn't make them my enemies, but is kind of sad.
Although the antics of ICE are a horror, the genocide of Palestinians is worse. It would have been more courageous if they had made some reference to it. I am amazed that people can ignore this. But the Patriots are owned by a Jewish billionaire and such things must always be taken into account.
DeleteAnne, thanks for sharing that post. Thoughtful and generous-minded.
DeleteIn the moment, I felt kind of excluded by the Bad Bunny performance, primarily because I couldn't understand the lyrics. I always feel excluded, though: I'm simply not the target market for any pop music performer. They don't need or want my approval of their "product".
I understand that scholars who have studied people's reactions to advertising (and any Super Bowl halftime show is, among other things, an extended ad) have assigned a term for reactions like mine: discontent. Of course, that word has a common meaning that may be reasonably applicable to this situation but in this case, "discontent" has a very specific meaning: the negative emotions experienced by consumers who are exposed to promotional messaging that doesn't target them.
Discontent in this sense is always a risk for an event like the Super Bowl that draws a broad and diverse audience.
I don't know, Stanley. ICE is not the same at all as Gaza. But I would prefer that events like Super Bowl remain as unpoliticized as possible. Bad Bunny was protesting ICE a bit I suppose, but, more than that, he was trying to enlighten Americans (especially white Americans) about the good things in the Puerto Rican culture, and in Latino culture in general. It's my observation that they embrace joy more than the descendents of white Europeans like my Irish-German families, my husband's English- German family heritage, and just in general, non-Mediterranean Europeans and their descendents in America. I've traveled a lot in my life and I've seen the differences. There is more open expression of joy in Italy and Spain than in Germany or Poland or the UK etc. I saw the Latino joy of life growing up in southern California- in the Mexican-American community. Basically, even though often poor, they lived life more enthusiastically and with more joy than most white Angelenos. Trump politicized the Kennedy Center, and killed he joy, aaway ffecting all in the DC area who loved going there - People brought together by love of music, dance, opera, and theater, now driven by MAGA politicization of it. I see plenty of politics in everyday life - before the shaky cease-fire I saw Jewish protestors on the overpass I used regularly and pro-Palistinian protestors on the next onedown the road. Every weekend. I would like to be able to get away from it now and then, and watch a football game and half-time show with my husband. I enjoyed Bad Bunny for the exuberance and creativity even if the style of music wasn't my taste. I don't even like football particularly, but Super Bowl is a big American tradition. Was it only up to the Patriots to protest? Or should Seattle also have protested? Are they also owned by a Jewish billionaire?
ReplyDeleteThat anti-antisemitism commercial (bought by the Patriots owner) was pretty interesting as if antisemitism is the biggest evil today. If you look at the body count percentages, not even close. I’m sorry, but the “fragile peace” in Gaza has been violated many times by Israel (whenever they feel like it) in addition to the blocking of aid. Anne, if you got a mental break from the Bad Bunny halftime, you certainly deserve it. I guess I’m shut down on public celebrations in general for the time being. I think I’d have had the same reaction to a Polish-American halftime. If the Bad Bunny thing can enlighten someone wrt hispanic cultures, good. I already respect and like (even love) all of them anyway and wish we’d leave their countries of origin the hell alone.
DeleteI didn’t see the commercial you are referring to. I almost never watch TV with commercials ( generally stream shows from PBS or, occasionally, Netflix). On the rare occasions I see a tv program with commercials I tune them out, leave the room or whatever. I generally read escape fiction or watch a Poirot mystery, That’s about it for TV. I watched half the Super Bowl game to keep my husband company. I left after half- time. Seattle was way ahead and the Patriots hadn’t scored even a point so the game wasn’t very exciting to watch. I guess the Patriots finally scored in the second half. I am not a sports fan, but I married one, and raised three others. My husband and sons live to watch games together (football, basketball, and soccer), so I could leave the tv and do other things. But my husband is housebound now, and has nobody to watch the games with. He often calls one of the sons after games to talk about them. Or they call him. It’s one of his few pleasures these days. So I watched half of superbowl with him.
DeleteI have no faith that the current sort- of cease fire will last. It never does.
As someone who spent a lifetime of very little TV viewing it should come as no surprise that I probably have never seen a complete super bowl game or one of its half-time shows. I am absolutely sure that when I had a TV that I never turned it on for any football, basketball, hockey, or baseball game. I occasionally watched some of the Olympics, and I followed a couple of the America's cup yacht races.
ReplyDeleteI did see small parts of some college bowl games during the holiday season when I visited with my family. However usually I sat in the kitchen with the women rather than joining the men in the TV room. At home I would watch Penn State with Dad. Joe Paterno had a great reputation in PA until it was eventually found out that he had "over looked" the sexual abuse of young men by one of his assistant coaches.
Football holds an even lower place that TV in my questioning of the values of American Culture. I went to a public high school in SW PA at a time when its football teams were a recruiting ground for college teams.
Football dominated the high school. One of my true enemies in life was its coach who taught biology. He was against the space program and of course I was big on astronomy, math, physics, and the space program. He knew that and when I smirked during one of his tirades, he threated to ram a microscope down my throat. Needless to say, I never developed an interest in biology.
The athletics coaches lived a life of leisure. They often gave their classes some homework to do while they talked at the water fountain outside the classroom.
I got along extremely well with the math, physical, and chemistry teachers. They were my friends. I never complained about the biology teacher. I just thought he was weird. Of course, as a National Merit Scholar who was headed toward a career as a Jesuit scientist, I was just eager to leave high school behind. I had much different choices that the rest of the students. Very few of them were headed to college, most of the guys were hoping for a good paying job in the mills that would soon disappear.
TV and football seem to have found their place in our cultural pursuit of money, status and power. None of any of this has ever interested me. Just as religious catechesis fails to engage some young people our American cultural catechesis has failed to engage me. It not that I am against American culture, I have just never found it relevant to my life.
Jack, I share your dislike of football. I am fine if family members enjoy it, as long as they don't expect me to pay any attention.
DeleteI have found that when a big game is on tv, it is a perfect time to go grocery shopping. Won't be any crowds in the store.
I liked Jim's words about "discontent" above:
ReplyDeleteJim says: I understand that scholars who have studied people's reactions to advertising (and any Super Bowl halftime show is, among other things, an extended ad) have assigned a term for reactions like mine: discontent. Of course, that word has a common meaning that may be reasonably applicable to this situation but in this case, "discontent" has a very specific meaning: the negative emotions experienced by consumers who are exposed to promotional messaging that doesn't target them.
I think Jim's extension of this word from the narrow field of advertising to the broader field of cultural promotion is very insightful.
Much of the "discontent" we see in all promotional media, whether business, political or church, has to do with the feeling that it just does not apply to us. They (the media) are talking to someone else.
I think that promotes our withdrawal into siloes. We just don't want to listen to promotions that do not respect us for who we are but rather want us to be somebody else, e.g. a sport, religious or political junky. It is marketing to the base but turns off the rest of the world.
Jim, do you feel discontent when watching an opera in Italian or German? Or listening to hymns in Latin? I like some of the more traditional Latin (as in Spain or Latin American, not Catholic) music. Bad Bunny was closer to American rap than traditional Spanish or Latino music. I don’t like rap or hip hop or country or even most real jazz. I like Classical and 60s-70s pop and folk The sexual innuendo in American pop music has been there for decades, and hip hop and rap are especially explicit and vulgar. Music videos are too. Have been since at least when my 40 something sons were teenagers. So the pearl clutching about BB seems a bit of hyperbole.
ReplyDeleteI see so few ads that I don’t register any emotion at all with advertising.
Most of the sports show ads I glimpse when my husband watches a game and I go in and out of the room seem to be for junk food, cars and car/home insurance. Or maybe Home Depot.😁 Or medications that have a thousand side effects but the ads don’t say what the med treats. These ads don’t address me, but they don’t offend me. I just ignore them. About 75% of what we watch is on PBS. The rest is Netflix. The Viking River Cruises ads haven’t changed for years! They do target us- travel down beautiful rivers and visits to beautiful cities and towns. But we never took one because only one day per stop, and we are explorers. Rent a car and take off, making hotel reservations as we traveled because we seldom had a set itinerary. So we never did a river cruise even though we were in the target market.
But since trump came on the scene I have retreated pretty much into a political silo because I think he’s the death of America as I knew it. Haven’t gone to church since Covid started. So I read religious and spiritual stuff but no longer part of a community. But the Catholic parishes around here now seem like silos for very conservative Catholics, based on what I read in their bulletins. The EC parishes were decimated by Covid I think - three local EC parishes going from 3 services/ Sunday to a single service, and moving most extracurricular stuff like Bible study or book club to zoom. So we are unchurched.
"Jim, do you feel discontent when watching an opera in Italian or German? Or listening to hymns in Latin? "
DeleteTo some extent, yes. It's always kind of a downer when communication is going on in a language one doesn't understand.
In the case of opera, many people are turned off by opera singers, regardless of the language, because the sound and power of their voices is so different from the kind of singing we're exposed to in our everyday lives of pop music consumption. That aesthetic experience can generate discontent in people who aren't opera buffs or who aren't really immersed in the world of singing.
A few years ago, when Lady Gaga sang The Sound of Music (was that also at a Super Bowl? - can't remember the occasion), conservative commentators treated it as a revelation, because they didn't know she could sing that way. It turns out that, like a lot of pop stars and actors, she had done musicals in high school and is perfectly capable of singing well in that style. And really, anyone who had checked out her big pop production numbers shouldn't be surprised - she has a really well-developed theatrical sense.
Here is Lady Gaga singing selections from "The Sound of Music" at the 2015 Oscars. A more-than-creditable job:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4XOT14Ku94&list=RD-4XOT14Ku94&start_radio=1
...and here is Julie Andrews' reaction to that performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7uj8flByqs
Btw, regarding opera in Italian or German: I read somewhere recently that performing operas in their original languages to English speaking audiences to operas in their original languages was a 20th century innovation; previously, operas performed in the US would have been done in translation.
DeleteI've only seen live opera performances a handful of times, but on those occasions, there were subtitles (technically, I guess supertitles) projected on a screen above the stage.
"Discontent" in the ad biz means creating dissatisfaction or inadequacy in the consumer--their hair, their dish soap, their weight, etc.--and to get them to fix it by buying something. Often shame (you've got ring around the collar) or desirability (be an AquaVelva man) help build the consumer's discontent.
ReplyDeleteJim and Jack seem to be talking about some sense of irritability or alienation they feel when ads or programs are not aimed at them.
I'm not a music lover. But speaking as a former lit teacher, I know that rap and hip-hop employ pretty sophisticated literary conventions across a strict rhythmic structure. Sometimes compositions are extemporaneous or adjusted in the moment based on audience reaction. A good performance requires focus, wit, and linguistic skill.
Bad Bunny works with slang-y Puerto Rican Spanish and English lyrics (yes, there were English lyrics in there) because he is bilingual like 25 percent of the US population.
So I'll salute the creative effort even if most music sounds like bad noise.
And, yah, sure, some rap and hip-hop is vulgar. So was Shakespeare, Chaucer, Defoe, Fielding, Smollett, and on and on--bathroom humor, and stuff about drunkenness, violence, and sexual misadventures. But the MAGA crowd usually eats that stuff up in country music lyrics. So it makes me laugh when they get huffy about vulgarity served with salsa.
Jean “ But the MAGA crowd usually eats that stuff up in country music lyrics. So it makes me laugh when they get huffy about vulgarity served with salsa.”
ReplyDeletelol!
Different kind of cultural question, have any of you seen the new Emerald Fennell Wuthering Heights movie? I haven't, and don't plan to, even though Wuthering Heights was one of the darkly brooding books I liked as a teenager. I saw the Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon movie on tv years ago, and liked it. But basically I think the story is too complex to be a movie. What I hear is that the Fennell movie left out half the characters, half the timeline, and smoothed out the rough edges so that it is basically a bodice ripper. And added some jarring 21st century juxtapositions.
ReplyDeleteKatherine, I have read enough about it to not want to see this version. I agree with you also that movies based on great books usually fall short of the books themselves. Maybe that’s why I love reading, but have never been an avid movie (or TV) fan.
DeleteI recommend a movie now on Netflix: “Train Dreams”. There’s a good review in America.
DeleteMy daughters saw it this past weekend - said it was terrible. I have to admit, I've never read the book, so would have no expectations.
DeleteAnother one your daughters might find terrible is “The Testament of Ann Lee”, about the founder of the Shakers and how they emerged from Quakerism. The movie seemed to imply that, since sex with her husband only resulted in miscarriages, that was why she demanded celibacy in her movement. Ann Lee was nuts by any secular metric but the Shakers were creative. Being a Catholic, I don’t find celibacy crazy, if voluntary. I think there are two Shakers left. I find that sad. I think they were a positive thing.
Delete"Discontent" in the ad biz means creating dissatisfaction or inadequacy in the consumer--their hair, their dish soap, their weight, etc.--and to get them to fix it by buying something. Often shame (you've got ring around the collar) or desirability (be an AquaVelva man) help build the consumer's discontent.
ReplyDeleteJim and Jack seem to be talking about some sense of irritability or alienation they feel when ads or programs are not aimed at them.
Thanks Jean for a more precise definition. I think the intent of many of the ads is to create the type of discontent that would motivate a consumer to buy a product or a least continue to watch the ad.
But I think discontent is also generated by being forced to listen to an ad as the price for watching TV, and also by watching mediocre TV when trying to find something interesting.
"But I think discontent is also generated by being forced to listen to an ad as the price for watching TV, and also by watching mediocre TV when trying to find something interesting."
DeleteYes, this is closer to the sense in which I was using the term. Discontent are the negative emotions, such as irritation or impatience, we feel when the marketing message clearly is not meant for us, but we're exposed to it anyway.
For example, ads that feature celebrities make me feel somewhat negative, because it's rare that I recognize the celebrity, even though, if I were part of the audience the ad was targeting, I'd be expected to know who it is. Sometimes I feel like I've seen the person before but can't put a name to him/her; and sometimes I am not sure whether the person is a celebrity or not, but from context clues it kind of seems like they are. Often, the latter turn out to be stars from television shows (e.g. White Lotus) which have a certain cultural cachet but which I haven't seen.
There was an article in Harvard Business Review, years ago, called Marketing and its Discontents which described the phenomenon, but the content is behind a paywall. If I get ambitious and have the time, I'll go to the library later this week and see if they can get me a printout of it.
Btw, not all marketing messages make us feel irritated or negative. I'm sure all of us can think of ad campaigns we've enjoyed. I like the long-running Flo from Progressive ads because the comic writing is pretty good; on the other hand, the Geico Gecko never has charmed me. So it's not that I like insurance ads; but there is something about the 'Flo universe' that speaks to me, whereas the gecko doesn't. I am not sure what the difference is (it can't be that I dislike animals, because I kind of like the LiMu Emu commercials, too), but there certainly are people at ad agencies whose job it is to understand, very deeply, the particular demographic and psychographic characteristics of someone like me and how a character like Flo or the gecko is written to appeal to me.
It's funny how different people react to commercials, I kind of like Flo, but my husband doesn't. I like the gecko and the emu, and the Aflac ducks. But I didn't like the pig who shouted "wheee" out the car window. And I didn't like the ones with the guy who just randomly caused wrecks, and the ones with the deer that crashed through walls. I think those were the same insurance company. Honestly, commercials have zero to do with which insurance carriers we use. Pricing, reputation for settling claims, and not being a pain in the neck to deal with are the deciding factors.
DeleteAnd both of us can't stand the drug commercials with the endless litany of side effects.
"I like the long-running Flo from Progressive ads because the comic writing is pretty good; on the other hand, the Geico Gecko never has charmed me. So it's not that I like insurance ads; but there is something about the 'Flo universe' that speaks to me, whereas the gecko doesn't. I am not sure what the difference is (it can't be that I dislike animals, because I kind of like the LiMu Emu commercials, too) ..."
DeleteThe point of advertising is not to be likeable as much as memorable and to create "buzz" by turning people into walking talking billboards. Jim just buzzed us the names of three different insurance companies. Mission accomplished!
Raber complains to all his buddies about the Coach bag ads with Emma Stone that he gets on YouTube. (Coach is a luxury leather goods brand for women 18-45.) It's wholly outside his demographic of elderly skinflints. He hates the ads so much that he's gone to the Web site "to see what's so great." (Nothing in his view.) But now his geezer friends with daughters or granddaughters know all about Coach.
Of possible interest is this piece that tells how advertisers are trying to exploit the current climate of outrage and polarization to create "buzz":
https://wapo.st/46dNbt
Blessed Ash Wednesday. Memento mori.
I probably actually see no more than a couple of dozen different tv commercials in a year because we don’t watch cable or anything but streaming,, except for my husband’s sports shows.But I don’t watch them - Super Bowl for a while each year. That’s pretty much it. Masterpiece theater on PBS has used the same Viking River Cruises ad for years and years. We are definitely in the target market, but, as I said, never took one because it’s not our style of travel. I think that the Progressive commercials have changed little over the years. Since they always use Flo, I recognize them even in a brief glimpse, walking through the room. Same with Geico. Both those ad characters seem to have had enormous staying power - years now. I once read a story about the actress who plays Flo. She hadn’t had a role in a year, wasn’t sure if she would be able to pay her rent or if she would need to look for a cheaper place rather out, in spite of going to dozens and dozens of auditions. She was ready to give up and look for some other kind of work ( a lot of actors work on restaurants so they have flexible schedules for auditions and filming) but decided to go to the Progressive audition. It changed her life. Not just one commercial that would disappear in a few months, but a whole career as Flo. Steady work - a rare thing for most actors in LA. Very few have regular employment. A friend who has been there almost 30 years gets bit parts in TV and movies, occasional tv commercials, and voiceovers. She worked as a ( medical) massage therapist when young to have a flexible schedule. But legit massage is physically hard work and she gave it up as she got into her late 50s. She rents a 1 bedroom apartment in downtown LA to be close to studios for auditions, because she can’t afford to buy a house. A regular gig like being Flo in Progressive is rare and amazing. My friend would LOVE to have landed something like that!
DeleteBesides Viking, Progressive and Geico, I have no idea who advertises what, or even what is advertised. Except medications - seem like many of those and I never know what they are for, only the many ways they can hurt or kill you.
Maybe the drug ads cause “ discontent” for me? The Geico and Progressive ads don’t. No emotional response at all. Viking now causes discontent because we can’t travel to all those amazing, beautiful places anymore - Even on a river cruise because they don’t accommodate paralyzed wheelchair passengers very well.
Raber went to the website, so Emma Stone earned Coach a "click" (sort of), which is (sort of) a mission-accomplished moment for them. But the commercials leave him with a negative impression of Coach, which is undesirable for them and gets to the nature of discontent. The whole point of that Harvard Business Review article I mentioned was: in an ideal world, a company would send effective advertising to their target market, and would send nothing at all to consumers outside that target market. That they're mistakenly targeting Raber means they're spending promotional dollars ineffectively. Of course, it's probably costing them a fraction of a cent to deliver those ads that Raber sees, but if there are hundreds of thousands or millions of Rabers being similarly mistargeted, that could add up to some real money.
DeleteMy wife and I think the Viking cruises sound pretty great, although I'm too cheap to want to spend the money on it. But retirement is not far off for us, so maybe our priorities will change in a few years.
Yes, the new-medications ads are everywhere. Unless one happens to have the condition the medication is intended to treat, then one might feel some level of discontent. I'm not diabetic, so medications that treat diabetes symptoms aren't of particular interest to me. Except that they turn out to be effective weight-loss drugs, too; that catches my interest!
DeleteWhat I hear about those new weight loss drugs is that they're not living up to the hype. For one thing you have to keep taking them basically forever or the weight comes back. Which is a plus for the drug companies, they are very expensive. Some doctors also feel that they screw up your endocrine system over time.
DeleteDrug advertising is a scourge. It drives up drug prices for one thing. And it also creates unrealistic expectations in some and terror over side effects in others.
DeleteA decent doc can usually lay out statistical data--benefit parameters vs probable side effects vs price--that helps patients decide on a course of treatment. But having to correct the misperceptions that people drag to the clinic from ads they've seen (or misperceptions of their not-a-doctor-but-pushy friends who have seen ads) takes a lot of extra time and energy for providers.
Katherine, re: undesirable details of new weight-loss drugs: I believe I heard somewhere that one of the ways they cause you to lose weight is by reducing muscle mass.
DeleteSomehow I have gotten on the email list of The Christian Century. I have read several articles of interest. Today there is an email@bout the half- time show and a link to an article.
ReplyDelete“ When joy breaks through
Something our editors wrestle with as we make the monthly magazine (and, microcosmically, I wrestle with as I write this weekly email) is how much coverage to give to the hellscape of US politics. We need to pay attention to it, because it affects so many of our readers’ lives. But so many of us are already overwhelmed by the headlines—and the rage or despair they can produce—that we need some reprieve. Not a retreat from reality, but a grounding, a new vision, a sense of hope.
For a lot of people, Bad Bunny’s halftime show brought a joy that cut through the headlines. I know this is true for many of you because of your email notes to me. Here’s some of what you had to say about his halftime performance:
“It carried historical weight and human truth.”
“It was spectacular.”
“I LOVED it. I watched it twice.”
Whether you loved it, didn’t care for it, or haven’t watched it yet, I hope you’ll read our two brand new essays about the show. Ricky Padilla, a Puerto Rican ministry leader, reflects on how the show connects to his own upbringing—and to the history of “danced religion” among enslaved people. Chris Thiessen, who lives in Nashville and writes about the music industry, describes how different this performance was from other concerts.”
Article links
Deletehttps://www.christiancentury.org/features/danced-religion-halftime
https://www.christiancentury.org/features/bad-bunny-and-us?utm_source=Christian+Century+Newsletter&utm_campaign=67e8ef3718-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_EdPicks_2026-02-17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b00cd618da-67e8ef3718-224055984