Sexism

[elizabeth]

Ok- I haven't started a new post in like...a whole week or something....so I hope this doesn't offend anyone.

But I was just listening to "Playboy Mansion." Now, the bass line isn't much, I think it is really Edge's guitar that add the funk...but I listened to the words carefully and read the lyrics a bit and it made me question a few things.

Could there be some sexist thoughts in Our Boys minds'?

I mean, getting through the gates of the mansion, is that *heaven*? Are they serious?

I'm giving them credit for being brighter than that and using that metaphor facetiously, but I'd like some other opinions.

I've read tons of quotes from Adam (and others) regarding their opinions on sexual relations between men and women (I mean the power issues....not who's more powerful in bed...but you know, *social* power.) And there seems to be plenty of respect for women, that's why a song like that sometimes makes me wonder.

Maybe they were just having fun, like with "The Wanderer." I'll have to poke around a bit and investigate. (Maybe i'll investigate some bits...and pieces...thanks Austin!)

Anyway- has anyone ever thought about this with other songs?

 

[madonna's child]

i dunno. i don't listen to that song for a purely musical reason: IT'S HORRIBLE. (though i find miami to be even worse.)

------------------
Happy Hannukah!

"Revolution starts at home, in your heart, in your refusal to compromise your beliefs and your values." - Bono

"And I wear gray underwear." -Bono

Love,
Emily

Visit my webpage for U2 wallpapers:
www.geocities.com/springtime5348/index.html

You hurt yourself, you hurt your lover, then you discover what you thought was freedom is just greed...

 

[FishNeedsABicycle]

To me it's always seemed like the word "Playboy" was just thrown in at the end. When I first heard the song, I thought it was very powerful, because through the whole song the just call it a mansion, then at the very end they throw in Playboy, I think it's just general song about our wants in life, but Bono may have thought without that addition at the end it would be to heavy of a song. Just my thoughts. Could be wrong...have been know to be...

Fishy <><

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It's fascinating to think that all around us there's an invisible world we can't even see. I'm speaking, of course, of the World of the Invisible Scary Skeletons.

 

[WildHonee]

O MY TOTAL GOODNESS

nnnnnnoooooooooo!!! *excitement bc I feel smart right now*

I used that song as a big part of my presentation on postmodern poetry in the new media, in AP English back in...geeeeez when was that, Oct? Sept?

OK Maybe I was just manipulating it to make it fit my presentation, but this is from my paper:

Since it creates and is created by the new media, postmodern poetry also often contains references to pop culture. The assumption created by this mixture of "high culture (art) and popular culture" is that "popular cultural signs and media images increasingly dominate our sense of reality, and the way we define ourselves and the world around us (Strinati). In U2's song "The Playboy Mansion," the speaker has found overwhelming influences in the images of pop culture:

If Coke is a mystery
Michael Jackson...history
If beauty is truth
And surgery the fountain of youth
What am I to do
Have I got the gift to get me through
The gates of that mansion?

The speaker perceives these images as semblances of reality; and they seem to be necessary in order to achieve perfection and therefore the ultimate fantasy. This need not be the Playboy Mansion in the literal sense, but just anything rumored to be ideal. The speaker's sense of reality is affected by these icons, and he now strives for what is portrayed as a model life.

Yay, me!

That's just what I get out of it.

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~*Mona*~ 97% compatible with Bono
Love me, give me soul.

A little less circuitry,
a little more poetry.

"For the good of the nation, you must defile Bono!" ~Echo~

The Latin Americans have the sexy end[of Catholicism]~BonoBaby~

7:00pm Bono plays Tetris on Powerbook instead of writing lyrics.

 

[elizabeth]

You expressed it much better than I could...I was not quite sure where I wanted to go with it all. But I think you are taking things along the right lines.

Bono uses "playboy mansion" as sort of the pop-culture symbol of heaven...even though Bono might not agree with playboy, he's using it to convey the message that you VERY ELOQUENTLY stated:

"...they seem to be necessary in order to achieve perfection and therefore the ultimate fantasy. This need not be the Playboy Mansion in the literal sense, but just anything rumored to be ideal. The speaker's sense of reality is affected by these icons, and he now strives for what is portrayed as a model life."


wow- you ARE really smart!

 

[WildHonee]

I was so excited to use U2 in a presentation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I played that song and also a Tori Amos Song (Mr. Zebra) in class and everyone was like...WTF is THIS?

heheh FORWARDS no backwards
and always

twirling
twirling
twirling.....

------------------
~*Mona*~ 97% compatible with Bono
Love me, give me soul.

A little less circuitry,
a little more poetry.

"For the good of the nation, you must defile Bono!" ~Echo~

The Latin Americans have the sexy end[of Catholicism]~BonoBaby~

7:00pm Bono plays Tetris on Powerbook instead of writing lyrics.

 

[elizabeth]

Originally posted by WildHonee:


heheh FORWARDS no backwards
and always

twirling
twirling
twirling.....

OMG- what was that FROM? i KNOW that but can't think of it....Simpsons?

you pull out the craziest sh*t!

 

[OnTheEdge]

I like that song a lot and I think it's interesting. I think Bono said once that it was about winning the lottery... which goes hand in hand with pop "reality". And it's a good observation that Playboy is only said at the end. It's like a little revelation: Oh, that's the mansion I'm trying to enter!

Okay, so I just echoed thoughts there. Whatever.

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"The idea is to eroticize the male body instead of the female." - Bono

Well, again, within that spirit of not-seriousness:
"To all intents and purposes, the mystery and power of the penis is, what will it become?" - Adam

 

[Discoteque]

*has new appreciation for Mona*

Originally posted by WildHonee:
The speaker perceives these images as semblances of reality; and they seem to be necessary in order to achieve perfection and therefore the ultimate fantasy. This need not be the Playboy Mansion in the literal sense, but just anything rumored to be ideal. The speaker's sense of reality is affected by these icons, and he now strives for what is portrayed as a model life.
[/B]

Um...I think I'm agreeing with you! That perfection seems to be the ultimate goal, and in order to be successful (heaven/Playboy mansion) you have to be close to perfect...at least physically anyway. Sooooo...guess that means I won't get through...the gates of the Playboy mansion...anytime soon!!

(not that I want to, of course)

 

[WildHonee]

Originally posted by Discoteque:

*has new appreciation for Mona*

Um...I think I'm agreeing with you! That perfection seems to be the ultimate goal, and in order to be successful (heaven/Playboy mansion) you have to be close to perfect...at least physically anyway. Sooooo...guess that means I won't get through...the gates of the Playboy mansion...anytime soon!!

(not that I want to, of course)

I had SO much flippin' fun writing that paper. I get a kick out of some papers. I don't know WHY!!! That was fun, and my Crime & Punishment project was fun, and my Hamlet thing was fun. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?

------------------
~*Mona*~ 97% compatible with Bono
Love me, give me soul.

A little less circuitry,
a little more poetry.

"For the good of the nation, you must defile Bono!" ~Echo~

The Latin Americans have the sexy end[of Catholicism]~BonoBaby~

7:00pm Bono plays Tetris on Powerbook instead of writing lyrics.

 

[elizabeth]

nothing...as long as you are not in grad school. I, too, had fun writing papers and thought it meant I was suited for a life of intellectual explorations, deep ruminations on the frighteningly orwellian intersections of genetic theory and sexism within our heady new consumerist early twentieth century america...and then I one day I saw the pants...and it all came crashing down.

(that's not really true. i finished grad school about a year before I saw the pants. but i'm sure my IQ has decreased since meeting the pants. I believe I may be developing an addiction to Vitamin P.)


(P for pants, y'all.)

 

[WildHonee]

*feels scared* bc she is only in high school and is already in love with Bono, with or without pants.

------------------
~*Mona*~ 97% compatible with Bono
Love me, give me soul.

A little less circuitry,
a little more poetry.

"For the good of the nation, you must defile Bono!" ~Echo~

The Latin Americans have the sexy end[of Catholicism]~BonoBaby~

7:00pm Bono plays Tetris on Powerbook instead of writing lyrics.

 

[elizabeth]

Originally posted by WildHonee:
*feels scared* bc she is only in high school and is already in love with Bono, with or without pants.

i did a pants song...in the "bastardize your U2 songs" thread...it was about pants...

 

[Sherry Darling]

Originally posted by WildHonee:
I had SO much flippin' fun writing that paper. I get a kick out of some papers. I don't know WHY!!! That was fun, and my Crime & Punishment project was fun, and my Hamlet thing was fun. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?

::Sherry's English teacher heart is warmed::

SD

 

[wildhoney22]

OMG I found out today we're doing Hamlet next month in my AP English class, and all I hear from Mona is how great that was, so I'm really looking forward to it.....

And later in the year we might study lyrical meanings in music, and we can bring in songs that we like or we want to study.... purrrfect

By the way Mona- there's nothing wrong w/ you. I luv English & I luv writing so much now.. you should have seen me 2 months ago- I hated it!

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*~*?*~*~ Katie ~*~*?*~*

I wonder what's gonna happen to you
You wonder what has happened to me

 

[WildHonee]

Originally posted by wildhoney22:
OMG I found out today we're doing Hamlet next month in my AP English class, and all I hear from Mona is how great that was, so I'm really looking forward to it.....

And later in the year we might study lyrical meanings in music, and we can bring in songs that we like or we want to study.... purrrfect

By the way Mona- there's nothing wrong w/ you. I luv English & I luv writing so much now.. you should have seen me 2 months ago- I hated it!

HHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMLLLLLLLLEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!

HAMLET - H + A = TAMALE.


------------------
~*Mona*~ 97% compatible with Bono
Love me, give me soul.

A little less circuitry,
a little more poetry.

"For the good of the nation, you must defile Bono!" ~Echo~

The Latin Americans have the sexy end[of Catholicism]~BonoBaby~

7:00pm Bono plays Tetris on Powerbook instead of writing lyrics.