By now, everyone and their mother has read or heard about the Taylor Swift-Kanye West controversy at the MTV Video Music Awards. I have nothing to add to the conversation beyond what's already said. Instead, I've been thinking about something else that I've noticed recently. Needless to say, the thought crossed my mind while watching highlights of the MTV Awards. How much is enough? What does it take to shock us these days? Is the bar on "shock value" being raised and is the term being redefined everyday? Let's try and tackle these questions...
How much is enough? Honestly I think I've had my fill. But I think "That's enough, already!" every time something over-the-top and totally unnecessary happens. For the purposes of this blog, let's just stick to the world of music.
Take the Superbowl a few years back when Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake were involved in a bizarre incident, famously titled "Nipplegate." Then, there's the paparazzi favourite Britney Spears who shocked and scandalised everyone with her bald look, drug addiction problems and childcare concerns (not necessarily in that order!).
Another example could be taken from this year's VMAs. Lady Gaga performed a song with her over-the-top costumes and larger-than-life personality. I'm all for artistic expression and being dramatic - it is a show after all! But what I didn't really "get" is the need for the rather gruesome ending to her act. Blood being sprayed over her face and body to depict her death is not really my idea of entertainment! It just threw me off and I thought, "Hmmm, that was bizarre!" But was that her attempt at shocking the audience? Or was that some kind of theatre trick that was just beyond me? I don't think it's that easy to define how much is enough but I do think as each year goes by, it's taking more and more to shock the general public.
This particular train of thought began while I was listening to Lil' Wayne featuring on Keri Hilson's Turnin' me on (a song that I really do like a lot!) and noticed that in the uncensored version, the language used could be intepreted as offensive. In fact, I didn't even notice the word till someone I know mentioned it to me.
Sure, rap and hip hop have been blamed a thousand times over for hurting sentiments, disrespecting women, foul language and a whole lot of other things... but when I think about it, initially all you heard were a few common swear words. Then it became more explicit and now it's almost normal to hear a song with some swear or sexually explicit words thrown in. Is that acceptable? I'm in no position to judge and I don't think I'd want to pass judgement on that. But I couldn't help noticing the particular brand of language that you hear in some songs these days. The song mentioned above mentions women's genitalia in one part of the song and although the song has a sexual connotation, the use of the word made me sit up and take notice. Is this what it's about? "Shock value?"
So what does it take to shock us these days? I don't know... Every single day, we're inundated with information about bizarre behaviour. It almost seems like we're becoming thick-skinned about things around us. I'm not sure if that means we're just used to seeing and hearing things that shock us? Or that we're beyond the point where we are are easily shocked?
It's an interesting world we're living in... Lyrics, music and videos - the boundaries are being shifted as we speak. One could argue that if you set boundaries, then there's always bound to be a reactive force that inches and pushes that boundary just a bit further. Maybe that is what's happening to us. Maybe, it's just evolution?
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