Just 'cause I want to, here is some more on "Video Games".
I'll start by taking you way back to a song that I think has a lot in common with Video Games (this association may make people who already hate Lana Del Rey hate her more).
That is not a song about Billy Joe. He and all the Southern Gothic stuff that goes with him is just decoration around the real theme of the song. Billy Joe and his fate are a projection by a girl coming to terms with her sexuality just like the creature in The Creature from the Black Lagoon is really about a boy coming to terms with his. What really makes Billy Joe so haunting is not what might or might not have happened to him but that this girl is coming apart at the dinner table and no one is noticing.
If we pay close attention while we listen to and watch Video Games we will see that it too features a lot of Gothic enhancement but underneath it all is really the story of a girl coming apart and nobody's noticing, least of all her boyfriend playing video games.
In this song and video the symbolism comes in the form of a whole lot of David Lynch style neo-noir touches. But, at base, the song is about exactly what its lyrics tell you its about: a girl has invested everything in the idea of love and getting a boy and now he's ignoring her to play video games. Like the Ode to Billy Joe, there is an experience here that speaks to millions of teenage girls. And that is what makes it pop music: if it doesn't speak to girls from 15 to 19 years old, it isn't pop music.
Notice the bit in the footage where the security guy tells the drunken "Lana", "I can't let you in". In where? It doesn't matter because it's just window dressing. The fantasy noir stuff merely adds an overtone to the real life stuff:
Get past the exotic imagery and we have a pretty ordinary predicament.
But ordinary doesn't mean it isn't horrible for the girls it happens to. Let's look at some of the lyrics:
Continue on with the lyrics and you can see why some people hate Lana Del Rey so, she's blowing the cover on the whole "girl power" mythology here:
Actual girls trying to live the girl-power fantasy ended up saying to boys, "Hey honey, want me to be a bad girl? Anything that turns you on." You know this girl, she lives on your street, maybe she's your daughter ... or your girlfriend. There are a lot just like her. Go read the articles and the comments over at The Frisky and you can see hundreds of examples. And that is why this song caught on like wildfire. Millions of girls and young women heard it and recognized their predicament in it. This is hell in little boxes where they live.
And now the most important line in the song:
And yes, that is the way it works in real life. That's how assholes play girls. And it works. It really does. It always has and it always will.
So let's go a step deeper and ask about her motives. He's cutting her down with these tactics but what about hers? Is she honest with herself? Well, there is nothing in the song to tell us so we have to supply that part up for ourselves. Irony shouldn't have to tell us it's irony after all.
And this song is dripping with irony. "I heard you like bad girls". There is nothing terribly wrong with that but if you tell yourself that all you want is the power of self realization that comes from making someone want you while secretly craving to be Cinderella in love, well that's a problem.
But it's a problem all girls have now because the whole culture tells them it's all about empowerment. "Be sex positive and you'll feel better about yourself." But girls haven't changed: they still go for all the romance of true love. All this sex positive stuff has done is to make them more vulnerable to manipulative bastards who know that if they ignore her she'll try harder and harder to win their attention by putting out in new and creative ways she's read about somewhere.
In The Guardian reviewer Sam Leith notices all his and says it disturbs him. He asks:
And you have to wonder how obtuse a critic can be when you read Leith saying this:
UPDATE: This long and rambling post has attracted a significant amount of traffic. In order to lessen the pain of readers a mite, I have tightened it a bit here and there on December 28, 2011. It remains a long and rambling post only maybe just a little bit less so.
I'll start by taking you way back to a song that I think has a lot in common with Video Games (this association may make people who already hate Lana Del Rey hate her more).
That is not a song about Billy Joe. He and all the Southern Gothic stuff that goes with him is just decoration around the real theme of the song. Billy Joe and his fate are a projection by a girl coming to terms with her sexuality just like the creature in The Creature from the Black Lagoon is really about a boy coming to terms with his. What really makes Billy Joe so haunting is not what might or might not have happened to him but that this girl is coming apart at the dinner table and no one is noticing.
If we pay close attention while we listen to and watch Video Games we will see that it too features a lot of Gothic enhancement but underneath it all is really the story of a girl coming apart and nobody's noticing, least of all her boyfriend playing video games.
In this song and video the symbolism comes in the form of a whole lot of David Lynch style neo-noir touches. But, at base, the song is about exactly what its lyrics tell you its about: a girl has invested everything in the idea of love and getting a boy and now he's ignoring her to play video games. Like the Ode to Billy Joe, there is an experience here that speaks to millions of teenage girls. And that is what makes it pop music: if it doesn't speak to girls from 15 to 19 years old, it isn't pop music.
Notice the bit in the footage where the security guy tells the drunken "Lana", "I can't let you in". In where? It doesn't matter because it's just window dressing. The fantasy noir stuff merely adds an overtone to the real life stuff:
- in real life the girl's boyfriend shuts her out by playing video games
- in the fantasy video, security guy shuts her glamorous alter-ego out of the guy's life.
Get past the exotic imagery and we have a pretty ordinary predicament.
But ordinary doesn't mean it isn't horrible for the girls it happens to. Let's look at some of the lyrics:
It's you, it's you, it's all for you"Love" is her goal. And there she is all depiliated, trussed up in her push-up bra and scanty panties and dressed in his favourite dress and perfume. All of this was supposed to be empowering. It was supposed to make her confident in her sexuality. Unless, of course, the real reason she did it all was just to get a guy to love her. Because if that is what is really driving girls, then they are just making themselves vulnerable to boys.
Everything I do
Continue on with the lyrics and you can see why some people hate Lana Del Rey so, she's blowing the cover on the whole "girl power" mythology here:
I tell you all the timeYup, the whole girl power thing of "I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want" has gone from that to girls telling boys, "tell me what you want, what you really, really want". Well, actually, it always was that. Was the success of the Spice Girls really about girl power or was it about things such as Scary Spice bouncing her braless breasts for our entertainment in their first video? (By the way, notice the lyrics intentionally mock this Belinda Carlyle song.)
Heaven is a place on earth with you
Tell me all the things you want to do
I heard that you like the bad girls
Honey, is that true?
Actual girls trying to live the girl-power fantasy ended up saying to boys, "Hey honey, want me to be a bad girl? Anything that turns you on." You know this girl, she lives on your street, maybe she's your daughter ... or your girlfriend. There are a lot just like her. Go read the articles and the comments over at The Frisky and you can see hundreds of examples. And that is why this song caught on like wildfire. Millions of girls and young women heard it and recognized their predicament in it. This is hell in little boxes where they live.
It's better than I ever even knewThere's the mythology thanks to the supposedly liberated Belinda Carlyles, Madonnas and Lady Gagas of the world. That's the thing that never changes. Girls who watched Gidget movies fifty years ago believed that and now girls who listen to hip, indie music believe it. It's hard wired into girls to think this way.
They say that the world was built for two
Only worth living if somebody is loving you
And now the most important line in the song:
Baby now you doThat comes after the line about life only being worth living "if someone is loving you" and it seems to say he does except the entire context of the song says he's busy pulling a power trip on her by playing video games to shut her out. She's put on this whole sexual persona just for him and he's ignoring her. And because he is ignoring her, she will try even harder to impress him.
And yes, that is the way it works in real life. That's how assholes play girls. And it works. It really does. It always has and it always will.
So let's go a step deeper and ask about her motives. He's cutting her down with these tactics but what about hers? Is she honest with herself? Well, there is nothing in the song to tell us so we have to supply that part up for ourselves. Irony shouldn't have to tell us it's irony after all.
And this song is dripping with irony. "I heard you like bad girls". There is nothing terribly wrong with that but if you tell yourself that all you want is the power of self realization that comes from making someone want you while secretly craving to be Cinderella in love, well that's a problem.
But it's a problem all girls have now because the whole culture tells them it's all about empowerment. "Be sex positive and you'll feel better about yourself." But girls haven't changed: they still go for all the romance of true love. All this sex positive stuff has done is to make them more vulnerable to manipulative bastards who know that if they ignore her she'll try harder and harder to win their attention by putting out in new and creative ways she's read about somewhere.
I'm in his favorite sun dress
Watching me get undressed
Take that body downtown
In The Guardian reviewer Sam Leith notices all his and says it disturbs him. He asks:
I find myself wanting to shout: "Hel-LO! Any feminists in the house?" As it is, you watch the video for this bruised and beautiful song – and it's almost as if the Spice Girls never existed.But what could a feminist say? Feminism is all about how women are oppressed by men. That women might be living out silly girl-power fantasies that only lead to dead ends isn't something feminists can attack because that would make it, you know, kinda women's fault. And that is the really disturbing thing about Lana Del Rey; she dares to say that maybe there is something going wrong with girls themselves.
And you have to wonder how obtuse a critic can be when you read Leith saying this:
The lyrics are somewhat impressionistic, but if you had to guess who's playing the titular videogames, you wouldn't be putting your money on our Lana.Sam baby, here's a hint, you're watching the creation of a persona for a character named "Lana Del Rey" who doesn't really exist any more than "Ziggy Stardust" did and that character is being created by splicing together a whole lot of video found on the internet. Can you see the "video games" yet? If you can't, you need to resign your position at the paper and get a job you're more qualified for like brick laying.
UPDATE: This long and rambling post has attracted a significant amount of traffic. In order to lessen the pain of readers a mite, I have tightened it a bit here and there on December 28, 2011. It remains a long and rambling post only maybe just a little bit less so.
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