Confession: I suffer from acute pop cultural illiteracy. And I’m pretty zealous about staying that way. But every now and then my wife or kids, exasperated at my utter cluelessness, will force me to watch or read or listen to something not hopelessly passé.
For example, I stopped following sitcoms in the early post-Seinfeld and -Frasier era. Until recently, that is, when my wife corralled me into watching The Big Bang Theory reruns; there seem to be an unlimited supply of these. And, yes, I must admit they are all addictively enjoyable. And good-spirited.
As for pop music… well, I hear way more than I want to, just driving my teenage kids around (especially rap and hip-hop). One morning last week, on the way to school, I heard and noted the sexist lyrics of the Robin Thicke samba-powered “Blurred Lines.” And that same evening I got an email from a blog reader—a woman who is head of house in a female led family (HOH in an FLF)—asking if I’d seen the video.
If not, she instructed me, check it out on Youtube, then check out a delightful feminist parody, “Defined Lines,” for which she sent me the link. I did as instructed (in keeping with Sam’s aphorism, “Life is so much better when we do as we are told by Women”).
But let’s begin with the parody (you can find the original linked at the end of this post*): DEFINED LINES
I thought it was simply sensational, and I was tickled to learn that the lovely Kiwis who put it together all attend Auckland University Law School (on Twitter: @LawRevueGirls). I was also tickled to learn that their parody had gone viral (after initially being taken down by YouTube, then reinstated).
But only after I got around to watching the original did I understand what the girls were sending up in their saucy, sarcastic way. You can watch them talk about the genesis of their parody in this online interview from Australian TV:By the way, for old fogies like me who have trouble tracking fast-talking girls (including my own daughter), the Law Revue Girls were considerate enough to put out a subtitled version.
* Here’s a Youtube link to the original “BlurredLines.” My sophisticated dominant female correspondent told me she isn’t bothered by the video because “the tone is playful rather than heavy-handed.” However, with a college-going daughter, I am put off by the depiction of young women as slutty mannequins. Brava! Law Revue Girls!