Hip To Be Overthinking

[fengi]

Watch on YouTube

It's a worn phrase, but there's a lot going on here.

A cosplay / makeup / fashion vlogger has dressed up as a sexy version of Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, the 2000 film about white male anxiety, misogyny violence and capitalism. This film likely came out around when they were born or before.

They're lip-synching lyrics from The Real Slim Shady by Eminem, also released in 2000. His persona fluctuated between parody and genuine expressions of male anxiety and violence.

His vocal track has been remixed with Lone Digger by Caravan Palace, from 2015. They're a French electro swing band with a female lead. It's a simple tune about dancing though "Leave that old record spinning" is a nod to the band's retro style.

Lone Digger samples a 1947 field recording by Alan Lomax of “Rosie” a prison work song by inmates of the Mississippi State Penitentiary. Sampling of black music by white artists, particularly Lomax's recordings, is controversial as not only is the work of the oppressed profiting artists in the oppressor group, but sampling obscures the history.

Which is interesting given the Eminem lyric in the clip is about the white rapper killing his black mentor, who was key to his being accepted by other rappers at all.

Then there's how lip-syncing connects to queer / drag culture, especially given the gender swapped character. [As the performer's sexual identity is unknown, this may not be appropriation. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt.]

Plus there's the layers of the "You Like Huey Lewis And The News?" scene being referenced.

When Bateman says "It's Hip To Be Square" reflects "a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor" than Elvis Costello, that seems like Mary Harron making a direct argument.

"Square" is satire: it recognizes his race, class, age, gender, sexual orientation, habits, etc. is the dominant culture that takes hipness from the marginalized and ruins it. "It don't look like a lot of fun / But don't you try to fight it / An idea whose time has come" implies square becomes hip due to oppression. Six years into Reagan, "It's Hip To Be Square" is as ironic as Devo's 1981 "Beautiful World" (which has video that relies on ironic juxtaposition of archival footage).

But Harron then has Patrick Bateman miss the point, saying it's "about the pleasures of conformity and the importance of trends". This fits how Bateman shifts between awareness and denial. It's also how satire is received: even if people get the intended meaning they may unironically engage the surface. Consider the Reagan campaign's misuse of Born in the USA or the initial censorious reaction to the 1991 American Psycho novel or the issue of sincere misogyny is in Eminem's work.

Getting back to the video - how much intent informs this 14 second clip? The maker has watched the scene, but have they thought about every source used? Do they think about how a satire written by a gay man 33 years ago then adapted by a lesbian 24 years ago might be obscured by the sexy halloween costume trope? Do they know the 14 seconds of music has links going back 77 years?

This of the moment clip seethes with nostalgia. Is the feeling of time compression a symptom of the possible end of civilization or the age and sense of mortality of the person writing this post?

At this point you may look down at the floor and see it's covered by printouts of Notes On Camp. You barely have time to wonder why before I bring the ax down.