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sp4cetiger
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- #61
- Posted: 03/04/2015 14:53
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| RockyRaccoon wrote: | | In my experience, the misinterpretation comes from a few things: 1. Sting has a pretty voice, 2. The song is slow, 3. People don't listen closely to the lyrics. All of these come together and people think it's a love song or something because they here "Every breath you take" and "you belong to me" and they go "oh it's a love song" without thinking too hard about it. I do think the way the song is presented musically affects that though. If that song was sung by, say, someone with Alice Cooper's voice and inflection as opposed to Sting's soft, pretty soprano, it would sound immeasurably creepier and that misinterpretation might not have happened. That's just a guess though. |
My guess is that the misinterpretation also wouldn't have happened if it had been sung by a woman. 
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Saoirse
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- #62
- Posted: 03/04/2015 14:56
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| sp4cetiger wrote: | I think it's important that we make this distinction: music can't be misogynistic, only people can be misogynistic. Music is incapable of feeling or expressing, all of that goes on in the artist and listener. So we can pick apart a piece of music and try to decide if the artist was a misogynist, but even if we decide that they are, it doesn't necessarily imply that the public consumed it in that way. And the inverse is true, too. Just because an artist had no misogynistic intentions, that doesn't mean that the message received by most of the public will be completely innocent.
For example, when Sting wrote "Every Breath You Take", he was writing (critically) about stalking. However, judging from how often it's played at proms and on easy listening radio, I'm guessing most of the public didn't interpret it that way. Is his "true" message still subtly influencing people, causing them to view stalking in a more or less favorable light? I think that would be a stretch. However, I would say that the widespread misinterpretation of the song speaks to the misogynistic tendencies of American culture. "Oh can't you see, you belong to me..." |
Kind of like when the Reagan-ites played "Born in the USA" at their rallies, thinking it was just a nice flag-waving patriotic anthem when it really was a critical study of both the overall social and literal effects of the Vietnam War on america- and the eventuall disregard for the poor and disenfranchised, who were drafted by the rich and powerful, when they came back in a time of declining wartime popularity and often in need of critical care that few seemed willing to give. But because it had a nice, sparkly production (it originally was intended to be a rawer acoustic-based release), most people just disregarded the non "BORN IN THE USAAAA" lyrics and thought it was just a nice straight-faced Glory of America anthem (and I remember when we had a controversial post in an old thread (wish I could remember which one) that gave an in-BEA example of a major interpretation of Bruce's lyrics). That mis-interpretation ended up speaking more to our smiley-face, glorification-heavy, disconnected-from-reality culture that any one song probably ever could.
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HigherThanTheSun
Gender: Male
Age: 33
Location: UK
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- #63
- Posted: 03/04/2015 15:28
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Surely we know each other well enough by now to not be suspicious that people are motivated by racism here consciously or subconsciously
If hip hop has been unfairly targeted it's because misogyny in hip hop is much less subtle, it's very easy to find nwa quotes that are categorically sexist while even blurred lines is partly up for interpretation
_________________
Shut up mate you're boring!
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Temporary33
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- #64
- Posted: 02/02/2016 09:03
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Lol
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