by Jillian Butler, Ampersandology
You know you've been in academics too long when you watch the following trying to parse whether or not a pop song by a almost-fake band is a progressive commentary on the complications of reversing of the male gaze. Man, what happened to me? I used to be cool.* I mean, they're joking around, but...they're also kind of serious, aren't they?
Of course, these guys are still in control of the gaze, even as become (arguable) objects of lust. As Richard Dyer noted in his (baller) 1982 essay "Don't Look Now: The Male Pin Up", the guys in this video are all active and athletic even as they display their bodies--dancing, strutting, even lifting weights and apparently wielding a baseball. No coy or helpless objectification here. Um, okay. I'm reaching. But I don't know, it feels like there's something here! At least I'm not trying to convince you that LMFAO's earlier works are a commentary on the perils of tying ourselves to modern conveniences. OH WAIT JUST DID BRAINWOOOORM.
On another note entirely, why am I obsessed with knowing more about the dancing robot? He's a fascinating creature of mystery. Who is this robot, and from whence did he emerge? He's half-human, half robot, so was he a dancer that became a cyborg or a normal human whose desire to party rock is entirely digitized? I also learned today he was played at least once by playwright Daniel Kanengieter. There are so many layers to this enigma, I fear my thirst for knowledge will be forever unquenched.
That's right, the dancing robot is moonlighting as a playwright. To sum up: will the robot be my wife?
*This is untrue.
You know you've been in academics too long when you watch the following trying to parse whether or not a pop song by a almost-fake band is a progressive commentary on the complications of reversing of the male gaze. Man, what happened to me? I used to be cool.* I mean, they're joking around, but...they're also kind of serious, aren't they?
Of course, these guys are still in control of the gaze, even as become (arguable) objects of lust. As Richard Dyer noted in his (baller) 1982 essay "Don't Look Now: The Male Pin Up", the guys in this video are all active and athletic even as they display their bodies--dancing, strutting, even lifting weights and apparently wielding a baseball. No coy or helpless objectification here. Um, okay. I'm reaching. But I don't know, it feels like there's something here! At least I'm not trying to convince you that LMFAO's earlier works are a commentary on the perils of tying ourselves to modern conveniences. OH WAIT JUST DID BRAINWOOOORM.
On another note entirely, why am I obsessed with knowing more about the dancing robot? He's a fascinating creature of mystery. Who is this robot, and from whence did he emerge? He's half-human, half robot, so was he a dancer that became a cyborg or a normal human whose desire to party rock is entirely digitized? I also learned today he was played at least once by playwright Daniel Kanengieter. There are so many layers to this enigma, I fear my thirst for knowledge will be forever unquenched. That's right, the dancing robot is moonlighting as a playwright. To sum up: will the robot be my wife?
*This is untrue.
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