{"id":193,"date":"2012-07-09T13:29:08","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T13:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sociologysource\/2012\/07\/09\/heres-my-idea-so-teach-it-maybe\/"},"modified":"2012-07-09T13:29:08","modified_gmt":"2012-07-09T13:29:08","slug":"heres-my-idea-so-teach-it-maybe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sociologysource\/2012\/07\/09\/heres-my-idea-so-teach-it-maybe\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s My Idea, So Teach It Maybe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Unless you\u2019ve been living under a rock this summer, you\u2019ve heard Carly Rae Jepsen\u2019s unbelievably catchy pop song <em>Call me Maybe<\/em>. The song has become an internet phenomenon with lip dub versions of the song being posted online by celebrities like<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=luR4BnfM9vw\" data-rel=\"lightbox-video-0\"> Katy Perry<\/a>, The Harvard Baseball Team, President Obama, and even the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/blogs\/thetwo-way\/2012\/06\/08\/154583514\/listen-npr-hosts-reporters-take-on-call-me-maybe\">hosts of NPR did a cover<\/a> of the song. Given the ubiquity of the song within pop culture, the song is worthy of sociological critique<a href=\"1\" id=\"fnref:1\" title=\"see footnote\" class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/a> and I can guarantee your students will have at least heard the infectious number.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fWNaR-rxAic?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eEWVwgDnuzE?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hX1YVzdnpEc?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"thesonglyricsmessaging\">The Song Lyrics &amp; Messaging<\/h3>\n<p>I\u2019ve talked before about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sociologysource.com\/home\/2010\/9\/12\/teaching-gender-with-itunes.html\">using pop songs to teach gender norms<\/a> and <em>Call Me Maybe<\/em>\u2019s lyrics are ripe for a similar class activity. The song lyrics are vapid, standard pop song romance themes. The crux of the song centers on this girl\u2019s desire to have the object of her affection call her. It\u2019s the same standard \u201cpick me, pick me!\u201d passive feminine messaging. Instead of taking what she wants, the girl in the song is hoping she can lure the boy into pursuing her. The title isn\u2019t \u201cI\u2019ll Call You, Maybe\u201d. Analyzing this song, especially if you are teaching right at this cultural moment, would be a great lead in to a discussion of gender roles and sexuality norms between heterosexuals.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4GuqB1BQVr4?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>To highlight the gendered messaging of the song, play the video for Justin Bieber\u2019s <em>Boyfriend<\/em> right after showing <em>Call Me Maybe<\/em>. Bieber, who is freshly 18 years old, is trying to redefine himself as a mature artist (I just threw up a little). Anyways, the first release off his new album <em>Boyfriend<\/em> is a song projecting his power, affluence, and sexual prowess.<a href=\"2\" id=\"fnref:2\" title=\"see footnote\" class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/a> Jepsen is asking you to call her maybe and Beiber threatens to burn you with fondue gravy.<\/p>\n<p>Bieber and Jepsen are touring together right now (don\u2019t ask why I know this), so their music must be targeted to a similar demographic. I brought up this apples to apples comparison with my class last spring and we had a great discussion when I asked them, \u201cwhy are there such starkly different messages about sexuality and gender between these two songs?\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"thevideo:heteronormativeornot\">The Video: Heteronormative or Not?<\/h3>\n<p>The video for <em>Call Me Maybe<\/em> alternates back and forth between Jepsen playing with her band in a garage and a heteronormative fever dream that she has for the Abercrombie &amp; Fitch male model that lives next door. The video is a straightforward crush flick (just made that up) until (SPOILER!) the boy she\u2019s been eying gives his digits to the guitar playing dude in the garage.<\/p>\n<p>So is the video enlightened and pro-sexual equality? Well another way to look at it is, the guitar player and Jepsen both seem shocked if not distraught. The video is sure to inspire a healthy discussion about heteronormativity, gender roles, and even the relationship between a piece of art and the audiences reaction. That\u2019s not bad for a throwaway, soon-to-be-forgotten, summer confection.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"inconclusion:\">In Conclusion:<\/h3>\n<p>Hey, I just wrote this,<br \/>\nAnd this is crazy,<br \/>\nBut here\u2019s my idea,<br \/>\nSo teach it maybe<\/p>\n<div class=\"footnotes\">\n<hr \/>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<p>I\u2019m certainly not the first to analyze the song. This post was inspired by this <a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/podcasts\/culturegabfest\/2012\/06\/house_hunters_call_me_maybe_and_zoobiquity_on_the_culture_gabfest.html\">Slate\u2019s Culture Gabfest podcast<\/a> and this <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ew.com\/ew\/inside\/issue\/0,,ewTax:1213,00.html\">Entertainment Weekly cover story<\/a>. <a href=\"1\" title=\"return to article\" class=\"reversefootnote\">&#160;\u21a9<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>The song also demonstrates his ability to knock off Justin Timberlake and bite the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nYYjZeErFks\" data-rel=\"lightbox-video-1\">Ying Yang Twins<\/a>\/<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qld7WvHa5kc\" data-rel=\"lightbox-video-2\">David Banner<\/a> style. Amiright? Huh? Huh? (Warning: Both these songs are astonishingly misogynistic).  <a href=\"2\" title=\"return to article\" class=\"reversefootnote\">&#160;\u21a9<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unless you\u2019ve been living under a rock this summer, you\u2019ve heard Carly Rae Jepsen\u2019s unbelievably catchy pop song Call me Maybe. The song has become an internet phenomenon with lip dub versions of the song being posted online by celebrities like Katy Perry, The Harvard Baseball Team, President Obama, and even the hosts of NPR [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1982,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,30604,30617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gender","category-in-class-activities","category-music-for-class"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sociologysource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sociologysource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sociologysource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sociologysource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1982"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sociologysource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sociologysource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sociologysource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sociologysource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sociologysource\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}