On Unlecture Week 9: comically weeping to Give me love

• Anderson states that infinite access to entertainment media is accommodating more niche tastes, encouraging exploration away from a hit-driven culture that thrives on “brain-dead summer blockbusters and manufactured pop songs”. Why are these still the most popular, mainstream and successful in our entertainment culture?

Elliot insightfully spoke about how popular culture positions audiences to disrespect mainstream content so its more disposable. We don’t engage too specifically with anything in the mainstream, rather we get tasty sugar fixes when convenient, leaving us thirsty for more. An example Elliot gave was his own analysis of a Katy Perry song (which I’d love to read), which uses a myriad of metaphors in each line, enabling the lyrics to have broad, objective appeal. I wonder which one he’s thinking of, perhaps Roar? A jam of mine recently. In fact, I’d disagree a bit with Elliot in the case of ‘Teenage Dream’ which will one day represent the beautiful stupidity of my teenage years.

I definitely see mainstream culture tapping into certain tropes and conventions in order to appeal to a mass audience, enabling a cosy one size fits all effect. Elliot is right that Katy’s use of metaphor is one of these, but I see One Direction’s use of inclusive language as another potent example.

There is absolutely nothing giddy, hormonal t/weenage girls respond to more than fodder for an imagined romance with a strapping boy band hero. Go back to The Beatles, revisit Poison and douple dip into some Backstreets Back Alright. We have some beauteous examples of boy bands marketing themselves in this way. Sorry, I mean boy band in the literal sense, it perhaps isn’t fair to lop The Beatles in otherwise. However, One Direction have taken this to the next level even from its inception. They started out as a manufactured pop group, thrown together for maximum khaki crispness to drive the ladies wild. Their first song “You don’t know you’re beautiful”, had lady’s hearts swelling due to it’s highly personalised nature. Katy took a general approach, One D did the polar opposite, speaking directly to their audience in the most generic way possible. They positioned the listener as their own insecure dream girl, and if One D fan fiction is anything to go by, created an incredible wave of sexual hysteria. If you ever get a chance, and have a cold shower handy (inwhich to rock fully clothed in), have a look at the stuff ‘directioners’ come up with, a confused collision of sexual inexperience and poor grammar skills.

“You’re insecure, don’t know what for…”

“You’ve got that one thing…”.

Imagine the differing effects of having these songs as

“She’s insecure…”

“She’s got that one thing”

Less heartthrobby and more like a subjective narrative about some girl to send threats to via twitter (Directioners have been known to launch some serious online hatred at love interests for their boys).

In conclusion, I think good on them for tapping into an appeal that absolutely works. Ed Sheeran, who has written some of their songs, does this too ad I saw him live and wept. I claim no superiority.