Bohemian Rhapsody, Rap and Paternalism

Although it may seem nonsensical, trailer reactions are my favourite videos on YouTube. Yes, I am basically watching someone else watch something I’ve already seen. It’s not really just about the uploader’s reaction. I think what I love is the effect that movies can have on people. I love watching the excitement and the conversations that films can lead to.

However, these conversations are not always positive. I am a Rami Malek fan due to Mr. Robot and thought that his casting as Freddie Mercury was perfect. With the teaser, Malek already made it clear he could transition from a schizophrenic, anti-social character in Mr. Robot, to a charismatic frontman for Bohemian Rhapsody.

My musical tastes cover everything from reggae to metal, so the trailers were also great due to their use of Queen songs, the type of songs everyone knows even if they don’t usually listen to rock music. That was another thing that made me love the reactions to this trailer: People with a wide array of music tastes embraced every song they heard.

I have always noticed that the people who don’t listen to rap often think of rock and rap as being diametrically opposed: They think there is no way to appreciate a band like Queen and an artist like Tupac. For these closeminded people, the few rap songs they hear on the radio represent the entire genre. Migos becomes a perfect example of rap music. It would be like me saying Maroon 5 represents all rock music today. Even if you hear something on the radio a lot, that does not mean it’s the only game in town. The people who complain about music (as a whole) being bad nowadays also demonstrate their own lack of initiative to find new artists. You don’t have to listen exclusively to what’s on the radio. The Top 40 is a minority of the songs released every year. If you don’t like what you hear, go find other artists.

With that said, let me get to my point. Scrolling through the comments on the above video, I came across a comment from “Im The Worst Musician Ever.”

“Love to see more black people finally starting to discover Queen and Freddie Mercury. Black people have been indoctrinated with rap music which is really not too good for people. It makes people stupid eventually. Now, Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson are the two most important artists the world has ever seen. But one of them isnt noticed as much and that is Mercury. But this dude was a musical god. And the best singer ever lived on this planet. Check out Queen the show must go on, one of his last songs sung in a wheelchair. And his absolute last song was Mother Love. He actually says hes gonna die in the song. SPINE CHILLING SHIT. Dies soon after the song.”

So let’s focus on that bold part. There are a lot of problems with this comment.

I didn’t want to bring race into it to start so the first thing I let this commenter know is that people used to think bands like Guns N’ Roses had the same effect. Some of the old school rock bands we cherish now were controversial at the time. They also faced a lot of the same close-minded stereotypes that rap music faces nowadays e.g. it’s all about sex, crime and drugs.

Here is the response I got.

Take this from a real musician. Rap music is not even music. Its mostly there to turn people stupid and in the end violent. Music is tones, notes, rap music is speech over a repetitive beat which will eventually make your mind stupid. Its science.”

I love the first sentence in this response. This man joined YouTube in 2017 and has put up two videos since. Both videos were uploaded a week ago and have less than thirty views each. Now, I am not saying popularity equals quality. However, if you want to start an argument with a condescending “Take this from a real musician,” shouldn’t you have some pedigree? I’ve written four books and a bunch of poems and blog posts, but I would never start an argument about writing by saying “Take this from a writer.” Even if I was published, I still wouldn’t be obnoxious enough to say that.

Anyway, I argue that pop music as a whole is speech over a repetitive beat. The musician then responds that pop music is just as bad as rap, going back to the point that the music makes you stupid.

“Music these days, such as pop is noise, just as bad as rap. Also , have you thought about that maybe you’re the idiot since you’ve been listening to rap too long maybe? Just a thought since rap music and todays music destroys your mind.”

If someone wants to keep going back to a point they have no evidence of (e.g. rap makes you stupid) and won’t present any new arguments, then there isn’t much debate to be had. I advised the commenter his attitude is paternalistic and got a great response (which I made the mistake of reporting). Unfortunately, the comment is no longer visible on my account, but anyone scrolling through their own account should be able to see it.

Basically, this commenter says he is a man who wants to see black people step away from the bad musical influence of rap.

Firstly, white people listen to rap too. This commenter demonstrates his own ignorance by assuming that rap is only enjoyed by the black community. Also, there is the paternalistic attitude. This commenter says he is Middle Eastern, but make no mistake, he is still racist. He argues that rap music is created by white elites to increase criminality in the black community. Alright, metal has a reputation for being a “violent” genre too but I don’t hear this man attacking it. Maybe because he doesn’t associate it with black people? Yes, he did say Michael Jackson was a great artist as well, but some token love for a black artist doesn’t mean you can’t be racist.

When we break down Im The Worst Musician Ever’s  argument, he reduces black people to uncivilized savages with no agency who need rock music to become less violent, or more civilized. I worded his argument differently, but I don’t think my rewording changes the message. His argument is no different than the arguments that supported colonialism. Hundreds of years after colonialism began, you can still find threads of those thought processes.

The Power Rangers Trailer Is Not Too “Serious”, “Dark” or “Gritty”

The first trailer for the Power Rangers (2017) was released over the weekend and in short, I think it sucks. I wasn’t intending to write about the trailer at all since I was underwhelmed by it and figured that this would be another film that would come and go under the radar for me. However, a friend on Facebook linked to an article that criticizes the trailer as being too serious and dark. If you’ve read some of my previous posts, you know that this is one of my most hated criticisms. I always thought that the mindset that films need to be “fun” was limited specifically to comic book films, but it seems that it is becoming more widespread.

power-rangers

The writer also criticizes the abundance of night-time scenes, as if she doesn’t realize that “dark” does not usually refer to the lighting, it refers to the tone. This just made me think the article is satirical, similar to The Onion. Even if the writer is joking, the comments are serious and many of them share the view that the trailer was too dark.

Nothing in this trailer struck me as being “dark” or “gritty” in any way, shape, or form.  The trailer has a Breakfast Club meets Chronicle vibe, beginning with the rangers in some sort of detention program, then cutting to them finding the rings and discovering their powers. There is grade B acting and some cheesy humour, which just makes me wonder what it takes for a film to be regarded as “fun” if it doesn’t have a Marvel logo in front of it. The trailers for Doctor Strange are much more serious than this, yet Doctor Strange doesn’t have droves of people saying that it’s too serious. Maybe the trailers need to start with the actors doing a stand up-routine, Seinfeld style.

seinfeld-plane-family-guy                                                                                                             And what’s the deal with the villain anyway?

 

I was hanging out with a friend this weekend, and he remarked that the poems on my @wmoviegrapevine Instagram account are dark and depressing. I didn’t mind him saying that, but it made me realize that I may have a different perspective than some people when it comes to my views on entertainment. Since I am used to writing dark stories, maybe I am less sensitive to “darkness” than the average person. This is a valid point but I think that some of my previous arguments about the “make it fun” mentality still stand. Everything is relative when it comes to entertainment. People see DC as dark in comparison to the MCU films, and it appears that people think this trailer is dark in comparison to the old tv show.

For anyone who remembers the tv show, or is bothered to look up a clip on YouTube, you will see that the show was ridiculously cheesy and campy. It seems like people are comparing the tone of this trailer to the tone of the show. So of course, anything that isn’t as campy will be viewed as too serious, “dark” or “gritty” in comparison. There are plenty of people complaining that the trailer doesn’t have any of the cheesiness or “fun” in the original tv show. My question is, why would you want this film to have the same cheesiness as the show? It makes me wonder if people thought Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) was too dark when it came out, since it wasn’t as “fun” as the Adam West show.

We should strive to copy the same tone if it fits the story and the characters, not just because we want to copy the original. The trailer does have humour and some lightheartedness (although the dialogue and some of the acting sucks). A film as cheesy as the tv show would be horrible. People need to stop thinking that “fun” always equals good. Batman and Robin was fun too. Batman and Robin also captured the tone of the original Adam West tv show, but that didn’t mean it was the right way to go