Joseph P. Fisher's long lost group blog with literature and critical theory students at The George Washington University.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
The Good, The Bad, and The Crazy
I figured I'd link us to some of the key multimedia artifacts that Carl Wilson discusses in the first half of Let's Talk About Love. Might want to break out the earplugs:
Just a couple comments about the video "Celine Dion Goes Crazy." First off I just thought that it was completely relevant and actually quite comical when Celine, herself, says, "Maybe I'm not thinking with my head but talking with my heart..." I laughed a little out loud just because it's ironic that she would say something of that nature and in turn fall into our stereotypical feminine "trap."
I couldn't agree more that Celine Dion is a crazy crazy individual- the hand gestures, crying, rambling, etc- BUT I just want to point out that Larry King specifically asks her towards the end of the interview if she would like to sing something in honor of Katrina. In class I thought that she randomly just broke out in song, which would be crazy, but that's just not the case.
A reminder: We should be critically aware of the way that the term crazy resonates here. Again, it's a common use of the term, but that usage is exactly what Lennard Davis encourages us to interrogate. I debated putting the Celine link in quotation marks, because that's not really the title of the clip (rather, it's the title employed by people who google the clip), but I didn't. So I might have fallen into my own trap.
Me being the sappy person I am for these sorts of events, I was honestly touched by Celine's gestures, and I feel her hysterics, as "crazy" as they may seem, were actually justified. Larry King himself said that Celine could relate to those in New Orleans because of her French background, which shows why she felt so emotionally attached to them and wanted to help them. The way this clip was brought up in class, I thought, like Zach, that she randomly decided to happily burst out into song after acting so devastated. It wasn't like that at all when I watched it. She's an singer and not only does she have a powerful voice musically, but she has the power to influence others, which I feel was another one of her motivations for appearing on the show. Yes, she was upset. Yes, she wanted to somehow be able to help them, and yes I feel she was speaking from her heart, particularly as a native of France. I wouldn't define her as "crazy", as when I think about crazy I think of something that is out of place and out of character. Celine was in character, and her actions were relevant to her situation.
Just a couple comments about the video "Celine Dion Goes Crazy." First off I just thought that it was completely relevant and actually quite comical when Celine, herself, says, "Maybe I'm not thinking with my head but talking with my heart..." I laughed a little out loud just because it's ironic that she would say something of that nature and in turn fall into our stereotypical feminine "trap."
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more that Celine Dion is a crazy crazy individual- the hand gestures, crying, rambling, etc- BUT I just want to point out that Larry King specifically asks her towards the end of the interview if she would like to sing something in honor of Katrina. In class I thought that she randomly just broke out in song, which would be crazy, but that's just not the case.
Anyways, just wanted to say that for now...
A reminder: We should be critically aware of the way that the term crazy resonates here. Again, it's a common use of the term, but that usage is exactly what Lennard Davis encourages us to interrogate. I debated putting the Celine link in quotation marks, because that's not really the title of the clip (rather, it's the title employed by people who google the clip), but I didn't. So I might have fallen into my own trap.
ReplyDeleteMe being the sappy person I am for these sorts of events, I was honestly touched by Celine's gestures, and I feel her hysterics, as "crazy" as they may seem, were actually justified. Larry King himself said that Celine could relate to those in New Orleans because of her French background, which shows why she felt so emotionally attached to them and wanted to help them. The way this clip was brought up in class, I thought, like Zach, that she randomly decided to happily burst out into song after acting so devastated. It wasn't like that at all when I watched it. She's an singer and not only does she have a powerful voice musically, but she has the power to influence others, which I feel was another one of her motivations for appearing on the show. Yes, she was upset. Yes, she wanted to somehow be able to help them, and yes I feel she was speaking from her heart, particularly as a native of France. I wouldn't define her as "crazy", as when I think about crazy I think of something that is out of place and out of character. Celine was in character, and her actions were relevant to her situation.
ReplyDelete