Box in A Box! Bush Lied!

[Asher Kelman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xElIik0Ys0

"Bush is ruining our country, but my bush has never lied.
And Taco Bell might make you sick, but my taco's certified.
You might like Starbucks muffins, but my muffin tastes good too."

Here is, perhaps, the flowering of the spring of a more robust challenging humor that is perhaps set to transform our culture a little! It might reset American fuses on sexuality, humor, irreverence and social awareness and also impact even billions of people world wide. Why do I think this is significant?

Although this piece is an amusing satire of a satire, it has built into it the whole irreverent but informed humor of Saturday Night Live (SNL) which in the USA is one of the most edgy satirical programs ever beyond "All in the Family". Unfortunately, the latter went over the heads of many dumb Americans who thought that Archie Bunker spoke his mind on behalf of all WASP Americans. It slipped past them that this was satire! The Brits, however were far more savvy as they really know about statire, irony and ridicule.

This time, "My Box in a Box" song marks a cultural season that has now opened. Perhaps!

Will we return to the clever (but erotic) and socially important lyrics as sung by the blues greats such as Bessie Smith or Heddie Leadbetter, (Leadbelly). Or maybe I'm reading far too much into this.

Well, at the very least, the singer has a great voice and will now be able to show her creativity I'm sure on SNL. That sketch will no doubt be brilliant.

I wonder how this will effect art?

Not at all? I doubt it! Right now folk are going to be producing stories, pictures and advertising campaigns based on this video and song! Farfetched? We'll see!

Maybe, OTOH, this will be an unimportant blip on our cultural landscape. However, in the time that it remains current, people will have a lot of fun! Hopefully it will at least bring back to writers and other artists the power of metaphor to calibrate, celebrate, denigrate or just contemplate what we love or hate.

Asher

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

...Although this piece is an amusing satire of a satire, it has built into it the whole irreverent but informed humor of Saturday Night Live (SNL) which in the USA is one of the most edgy satirical programs ever beyond "All in the Family". Unfortunately, the latter went over the heads of many dumb americans who thought that Archie Bunker spoke his mind on behalf of all WASP Americans. It slipped past them that this was satire! ...

What?! Go wash you mouth with soap mister, our Archie would never have anything to do with satire!!! (ROTF LMAO).

Seriously though, great link Asher. Nowadays we need all the good laughs we can get, thanks .

Cheers,

Cem

PS: This must have been an example of the so-called new society wherein everybody will once get their 15-minutes of fame. I suspect that hers can be a bit longer since she is so pretty and has a good voice ;-).

 

[Asher Kelman]

This must have been an example of the so-called new society wherein everybody will once get their 15-minutes of fame. I suspect that hers can be a bit longer since she is so pretty and has a good voice ;-).

Actually it is important socio-politically. Instead of this being pushed by huge mega companies like Sony or ABC, NBC CNN etc, it is the power coming upwards from the ordinary people. That is the sheer power of the internet.

This will have huge consequences and will be considered important together with numerous other examples. This will be no 15 minutes of fame as she has great humor and artistic potential.

In the French Revolution the songs from southern France came to dominate the culture, not the stuff from court composers.

This girl is refreshing snce she bipasses all the barriers in a very structured commoditized society. I hope she'll produce original material.

I hope it is clever, funny and bears that SNL satirical stamp.

However, once famous, she is eventually likely to be transformed and morph in to a "star" and "personality" needing managers, security and a whole retinue of keepers.

Just for the monent, my friend having to go from one place to another hearing options for treatment of his cancer, this delivered a timely and much needed laugh!

Asher

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Asher,

Once again, I wish you and your friend a lot of strength and determination while going through this (hopefully temporary) period of extreme difficulty. There is always hope, don't you give up on it.

Cheers,

Cem

 

[Joel Slack]

Interesting conjecture! But the fact is that it was a counterpoint to "D*ck in a box" by Justin Timberlake that aired a few weeks ago on SNL. Hence her references to him and that song in various phrases and pictures in her video. It could be interpreted as having significance beyond the follow-up humor it was going for, but that would be an "eye of the beholder" extrapolation. Nothing wrong with that.

Here is (shudder) Timberlake's original piece, if you haven't seen it yet. Somehow I doubt it will engender the same response that "Box in a Box" did...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dmVU08zVpA

 

[Asher Kelman]

Joel the special value of her version is the polish.

It is pure satire and metaphor that allows the song to play at any time without being too offensive. This was the characteristic of the songs of the 30's and 40's when jazz and soul were major social supports for our culture.

The original Timberlake skit was vulgar. That was not even original as it came from a film with a guy sharing a bag of popcorn with a woman who was surprised.

However, the box in a box spoof is wrapped up well.

Best it's funny and served free!

Asher