Rebecca Black's Moment
"Rebecca Black borrows from one of hip-hop's more powerful narrative-engines, the presupposition that everyone is against you:
Weren't you the one who said that I would be nothing?
Well I'm about to prove you wrong.
I'm not the only one who believes in something.
Which works, if you grew up as a musical prodigy in the Marcy Projects. But Ms. Black didn't — she is the daughter of Orange County veterinarians whose spayedings and neuterings paid for the "Friday" video — and so she has a problem. The grand cause separating her from the nihilism of the day is in fact merely her own dank puddle of that very nihilism: an unwavering belief in the cosmic justness of her own celebrity despite any basis for it — the triumph of want over talent."
—Rebecca Black expert Dana Vachon takes a look at her new song and tells us What It All Means.
I dunno. This kind of deconstruction brings too much club to a putting green.
SPAYINGS. Spayings. Ugh. Dana Vachon!
What else is a young teenager supposed to do? She's the product of a Disney Channel era whose touchstones are Hannah Montana and The Suite Life With Zack and Cody, a hermetic, self-referential tween culture whose ambitions barely exist beyond the desire to become famous to themselves. When you're a 14-year-old in a decade where every nickel has been hoovered up by 400 smirking plutocrats, and the difference between the Marcy Projects and a degree from Cal State Fullerton is less than you might imagine, rich and famous is the only dream left.
If Black has managed to luck into a glitch in the time-space continuum that allows her a minute or two of glory, well – hats off! Something to tell the kids about! And Dana Vachon is veering a little too close to kiddy porn.
DV's original essay is the the greatest thing on the internet and to think otherwise is insane.
I could have sworn that the headline read "Rebekah Brooks' Moment".
First thought was, "Oh now what."
@Yamara Oddly enough: http://www.esquire.com/the-side/feature/rebecca-black-quotes-6113028#fbIndex1
But Rebecca Black's supposition that the whole world is against her is actually pretty accurate.
The whole word has mocked and dissed her mercilessly. Her video was famous because it was an occasion to laugh at the idiot girl who sang the idiotic song.
So other artists who use this device are actually LESS honest than Rebecca Black, because the majority of the world is actually NOT attacking an mocking them. It's just a bullshit thing so they can pretend to be a victim.
Black, however, is one of the few performers who can adopt this attitude with some real-world justification.
@MisterHippity Boy, is the world going to love her once they realize that she is right and they are all stupid.
It's as if no one's ever heard of the term détournement.
@Butterscotch Stalin Well, Yoko Ono has.
I agree with @MisterHippity– MILLIONS of people mocked her video. People sent her hate mail. Let this girl have her moment! I think she's adorable. She looks like Danica McKellar when she was young (Winnie from the Wonder Years) and I admire her positive outlook, and the fact that she didn't just run in tears and hide in her room for the rest of her life. She's got balls. Screw this Dana guy. Seriously– he's probably just a writer taking his chunk of Rebecca Black SEO $, and trying to kick down a KID so he can make some cynical one-liners and call it a career. Please.