Britney Shaves Head!
Mar. 4th, 2007 06:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
koganbotPosted this over on the teenpop thread:
Quick point about the Britney headshave and "pop." Thing is, if a high-school punk girl did a headshave, it would certainly be a meaningful act for her, and there's no way that a girl going out bald in a high school (even if she's in Berkeley or some place like that) doesn't put her at risk and doesn't make her a target. But nonetheless, its public meaning is already pretty much defined and encapsulated: "Punk Girl shaves head, punk girl acts punk, dog bites man, we know what this means." So in effect whatever might have gone into the individual act (her shaving her head) can't travel far without being "understood" hence not thought about.
Now, I'm not saying that the tabs are necessarily doing great thinking about Britney. (Frankly I've only looked at the 'bloids' covers so I don't know in detail what they're thinking.) They seem to be trying for a mental illness angle - "SNAPPED!" - and then are taking the thing to "What will happen to the children? Can Britney be a good mother?" And of course to the alcoholism and/or drug addiction. But there's some way that Britney's act is not computing, is still open to interpretation, its public meaning not finished. A friend of mine - a woman my age - says, "It's a big loud FUCK YOU" - which seems right to me, though maybe that over focuses it. According to a customer in the tattoo parlor, "She didn't want anybody to touch her. She said she was tired of people touching her and that sort of thing." A "No!," a denial, tired of being sexy. Something. The thing is, as a personal last-straw desperate act, it actually conveys whatever impulses punk girls might have had for shaving their heads in the first place. And my point then is that within punk "shave your head" is curtailed and limited as to what it can do, whereas within pop it's more potent.
(I also recommend Dave Moore's latest post on Cure For Bedbugs (March 03, 2007).)
Quick point about the Britney headshave and "pop." Thing is, if a high-school punk girl did a headshave, it would certainly be a meaningful act for her, and there's no way that a girl going out bald in a high school (even if she's in Berkeley or some place like that) doesn't put her at risk and doesn't make her a target. But nonetheless, its public meaning is already pretty much defined and encapsulated: "Punk Girl shaves head, punk girl acts punk, dog bites man, we know what this means." So in effect whatever might have gone into the individual act (her shaving her head) can't travel far without being "understood" hence not thought about.
Now, I'm not saying that the tabs are necessarily doing great thinking about Britney. (Frankly I've only looked at the 'bloids' covers so I don't know in detail what they're thinking.) They seem to be trying for a mental illness angle - "SNAPPED!" - and then are taking the thing to "What will happen to the children? Can Britney be a good mother?" And of course to the alcoholism and/or drug addiction. But there's some way that Britney's act is not computing, is still open to interpretation, its public meaning not finished. A friend of mine - a woman my age - says, "It's a big loud FUCK YOU" - which seems right to me, though maybe that over focuses it. According to a customer in the tattoo parlor, "She didn't want anybody to touch her. She said she was tired of people touching her and that sort of thing." A "No!," a denial, tired of being sexy. Something. The thing is, as a personal last-straw desperate act, it actually conveys whatever impulses punk girls might have had for shaving their heads in the first place. And my point then is that within punk "shave your head" is curtailed and limited as to what it can do, whereas within pop it's more potent.
(I also recommend Dave Moore's latest post on Cure For Bedbugs (March 03, 2007).)
