Chris Beaumont
beaumont@ifa.hawaii.edu
2680 Woodlawn Drive
Honolulu, HI 96822
Calvin Chimes
Headline: Unlikely insight from the heiress
Unlikely insight from the heiress
Chris Beaumont
The integrity of the Chimes in general and the Arts and Entertainment section in particular came under recent scrutiny when Calvin student Joyce Dunlap wrote a perspective piece for the newspaper. In her article, she criticized the section of focusing on the lowest common denominator of popular culture products of such banality that dedicating articles to them is both worthless and tragic.
I respect Ms. Dunlaps articulated thoughts, and can sympathize with her desire for a newspaper which more appropriately suits her interests. Nevertheless, my inner cultural discerner compels me to examine these massively popular elements of culture, which remain legitimate sites of meaning. This search sometimes leads me to strange territory. In this spirit, and with apologies to Ms. Dunlap, I would like to defend what I believe to be one of the most brilliant top-40 music videos of the past year.
This video, of course, is Nothing in this World by Paris Hilton.
You may reasonably wonder why a Paris Hilton video deserves such high regard. You might even provide evidence to the contrary: the song contains the pseudo-word da 128 times (seriously), and the line Im gonna make you feel alright is the highest level of articulation achieved in the song. Most importantly, its sung by Paris Hilton, the celebrity who participated in a 2004 voting campaign and never registered to vote.
I readily concede that there is little intentional meaning in the song. What I find brilliant is how the music video for Nothing in this World succeeds in unabashedly and realistically portraying the pop-female vocalist as little else than a sexual object.
The video, directed by Scott Speer, opens with a young (thirteen, tops) scrawny high school boy wearing a white tank top, sitting on his bed. His room is covered with Paris Hilton posters, and he is holding an issue of Maxim with Paris on the cover. As her vocals cut in, Paris appears next to the boy, singing in his year. She is all over him. We quickly come to realize that we are watching the boys fantasy played out in his mind.
Paris shows up in the kids daydreams throughout the video. She is dancing on his teachers school desk. She is flirting with him in the cafeteria. She is in some strange room full of football helmets groping the helmets, of course. Meanwhile, the kid endures harassment and ostracism from his classmates as he dreams of something more. That something more is Paris Hilton.
Everything changes when Paris moves in next door. She escorts him to school, and even encourages his voyeuristic activities in the videos most outrageous sexual statement.
While the flaws of the sexual attitudes in the video are copious, I am impressed by way the video satirizes the typical female pop star by focusing the sexual themes on such a young character. By doing so, the video captures the main dynamic between female superstars and early adolescent males arguably the most powerful demographic in regards to pop culture consumption. These singers have been marketed as teenage fantasies for years; this video is willing to make the statement directly, and to demonstrate just how absurd the concept is.
That female pop stars are marketed towards teenage males is a truth that applies not only to Paris Hilton but throughout the industry. Unfortunately, other performers frequently masquerade as legitimate artists who demonstrate a ridiculous degree of self-importance in their work. While Britney Spears spends her time creating sentimental, self-serving music videos like Someday (I Will Understand), Hilton is producing work which actually communicates something true.
I may be giving Ms. Hilton too much credit I doubt she had much creative input in the music video. However, I have to think that she is at least aware of how ridiculously she is portrayed in Nothing in this World. I respect Ms. Hilton for her good humored willingness to lampoon herself. While shes not about to change the world, she has participated in something interesting with this video, and that fact should not be discounted.
So what are we to ultimately make of Nothing in this World? I believe that the video provides an answer. As it closes, the text sometimes, a loser wins is displayed onscreen. Well spoken, Paris.