Amanda Palmer is an exceptional performer who is known for writing very hard biting, sometimes cynical, sometimes scathing, and always interesting music.
***TRIGGER WARNING****
She's writen a public blog about her tongue in cheek song "Oasis" being rejected for airplay in the UK due to the topics of a girl getting drunk, dated raped, having an abortion, and yet shrugging it all off because she received an autographed picture from the band Oasis. "making light of rape, religion and abortion".
As Ms. Palmer's blog makes clear the upbeat 'everything is fine' attitiude is intended to highlight the disconnect between the events and the people experiencing the events.
It doesn't offend me. In fact my first reaction was the realization I wish there were more mainstream songs about abortion and girls' and women's experiences around rape and abortion. Perhaps if there were more artistic expression about these subjects through the entire spectrum of feelings we as surviors and supporters might have an easier time selecting what to accept and reject on a personal level rather than requiring an agency to do so on our behalf.
The song made me want abortion to be free of public shame and I felt pain for all the girls/women for whom date rape is par for the course, normalized through denial and folded between pages of glossy fashion magazines.
What do you think?
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I actually really love this song, and I totally agree with what you've already stated (sorry, I'm not adding anything to this). It's pretty damn satirical, tongue in cheek, whatever, and just because she's not crying/acting victimized doesn't mean that it's offensive.
Was it banned by the government or a business?
The video was pulled by the media stations in the UK.
When Amanda asked who specifically:
"i emailed back and asked which outlets. the reply:
'NME tv, Scuzz, kerrang, MTV, Q, the box ... to name a few. There is only a few networks: bauer, chartshow and MTV. They control all stations and they all had the same issue....'" (her blog entry in the main entry)
This also brings up the issue of the power the media has on women's issues and what they choose to play, and not to play, affects the views towards those issues in a society.
i like how happy, colorful and fun the abortion scene was. her friends and her boyfriend were there, supporting her all through it, i think that's pretty cool.
As I've mentioned before when this song came up, how can people see it as being about anything other than that disconnect, escapism on behalf of the narrator of the song? When I was raped at age 14 I didn't want to think about it even, despite having nightmares almost all the time. Like the girl in the song, I focussed on my favorite bands and escaped into music. Later on I began to process and deal with what had happened. But sometimes it can be overwhelming to deal with traumatic circumstances immediately. This can be known as "Delayed Shock Syndrome."
I also find it clever that the band the girl obsesses over is Oasis, as the word "oasis" can refer to a place of respite from turbulant circumstances(originally a place where water spring up in a desert.)
This was the first I had heard of her song being removed from air, and I admit I am more than a tad disturbed.
If Amanda is "making light" of any of those topics, then where are the songs that take it seriously? Are they being played? More than likely, they're not either. In the US I've heard very little music around rape or abortion. What I have heard is from Amanda [including her works under The Dresden Dolls] and other feminist artists, which I found only through friends and the internet and not the public radio.
If rape, abortion, and religion are such serious issues, then why aren't more nations taking it seriously? There's controversy in the news constantly, and legislation on the table. What society doesn't seem to realize is that it's more than a taboo subject in the media, but a life experience and life altering experience for many more people than just the senators and news anchors on TV. To deny someone the right to express their own life views and experiences because of the way they choose to approach or explain the subject is also a denial of the significance of the issue at hand. Maybe if nations started playing more music of female perspectives of rape and abortion (I say female perspectives because of the often derogatory and sometimes violent language against women in some male works), then maybe the issues could begin to be addressed and resolved, not just left as the R-word and A-word.
It could be because I love her work, but I don't find this offensive at all. Like "Mandy Goes to Med School," it has a kind of dark, subversive grotesque cheer (Mandy even has the lyrics "a 9 month vacation/and a two foot coffin"). I think the point about the disconnect it the truest. It's a great juxtaposition, the cheerful sound/look and the hideous things that actually happen.
i think it's the context of her work that makes the song not offensive - to people who know her work. if you didn't know her then it could very easily betaken the wrong way. i also liked the abortion scene and how matter-of-fact she was about it. but i'm not so happy about how the rapist didn't face any repercussions. now that is reality, but we often fault sexist videos for portraying "reality," and not portraying anything that can be done differently. so the video interpretation depends on whether you know amanda palmer.
Looking from as much of an analytical view point as possible as opposed to subjective, the rapist being seen over and over represents not only the fact that they aren't often punish for what they have done, but that most rapists personally know their attackees (I don't like the term victims) and the ever-present fear of the rapist and others like him/her.
It address much more than the repercussions that a rapist should face, such the lackadaisical attitude towards and by women who have been raped. Even if new punishments are presented and legalized, the new repercussions won't have the desired affect if society still maintains the idea that it will all be ok if you ignore it. By omitting any punishment the rapist may have faced, the viewer/listener is forced to experience a typical post-rape mentality from the view point of the [younger] woman.
I think the song is about how the music you love can get you through anything, no matter how insane (it seems to me that's a theme in the album - Strength Through Music and Guitar Hero also pick up on this). The peppy tone and style is partly a parody of Oasis... the contrast between it and the total insanity of what's going on with her life is part of the point. So I totally agree with everyone here; it's not unfeminist at all...
I've always liked the song, and I think that it's satirical like a lot of her songs but also I think there's a positive message hidden in there that abortion doesn't *have* to be a big deal (though rape certainly is). You'll notice that she says "the barbarian raped me," which isn't exactly positive language. But as far as abortion itself goes, certainly it can be very emotionally difficult but that isn't a requirement. For some women it's an empowering experience, as I learned working in a clinic. Especially in cases of rape, it should be a cut and dry thing, and that's how she presents it, not as something shameful or life-destroying. You'll notice that the negative part of the abortion is the fundamentalist Christians, not the experience itself.
Good point. Even rape itself: it may or may not be emotional. Some rape survivors act and feel very differently from the norm, and it may or may not be a real reaction. Some people move on fairly quickly, and it is life-destroying for some. I have a friend who was raped when we were teenagers, and although she was upset, she didn't grapple with it for very long. Not to say that there's a right or wrong way to deal with it, but looking back, I find it pretty amazing that she handled it so well.
I love Amanda Palmer and I preordered this album, so suffice it to say I have no objections to this song or any of her other songs which deal with darker elements of life with humor and irony. Amanda makes an excellent point in her blog - that people deal with shit through humor. It's not all darkness and pain and sorrow - and that sometimes people DON'T deal with shit in healthy ways. Sometimes they deny it. By approaching abortion and rape in a new way, she's saying that it's okay not to fit into the conventional narrative that demands that everyone be permanently scarred and wounded by these things. She's not making light of the situation - male comedians who joke about getting women drunk so they can sleep with them are making light of rape. She's presenting one perspective on a serious issue, and by denying that her perspective has validity Britain is reinforcing the idea that rape and abortion are shameful things we can never talk about openly.
I am a huge Amanda Palmer fan, and even though I had heard this song many times before, I was shocked by the video - not offended, but truly just shocked. I think Amanda is a genious and has the ability to create some really interesting cognitive dissonance in her music. I LIKE being shocked by Amanda because ususally it really makes me think. That said, I think when you produce something that is pretty far outside a cultural norm, when your goal is to shock people, you can't be too surprised when private entities decide not to air your work. I hate to trot out the old "won't somebody think of the children!?!?!" line, but "Oasis" deals with serious topics in a way that might be really confusing to kids or young people. I don't think it's wrong for media outlets to consider this when making programming decisions. No one is telling Amanda she can't make, sell, or perform whatever music she wants to.
FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am soooo going to favorite that on you tube!
Hell I might write this woman and complement her personally!
I can’t tell you how good this makes me feel reading this. I thought I would be kicked out of a training session at planned parenthood for voicing the opinion that abortion is no big deal except in the minds of women getting them. I was told I didn’t understand because I am a man and one woman actually said planned parenthood was there to try and make sure no woman had to make that “terrible choice” It’s time we started respecting shame free choice as much as we respect other attitudes toward abortion.
Genuine self-esteem consists not of causeless feelings, but of certain knowledge about yourself. It rests on the conviction that you--by your choices, effort and actions--have made yourself into the kind of person able to deal with reality. It is the conviction--based on the evidence of bedroom furnitureyour own volitional functioning--that you are fundamentally able to succeed in life and, therefore, are deserving of that success.