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People are bashing Katy Perry's "Part of Me" video for "glamorizing" war
By Jeff MillsMarch 30th, 2012, 9:00 amComments (16)
The new video for Katy Perry's number-one hit "Part of Me," off Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, was released last week, and it showed us a Perry quite unlike the California Gurl we're used to. Filmed at California's Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, it features the singer in full-on G.I. Jane mode, joining the Marines in a paean to girl power — Perry actually trained with real boot-camp instructors in preparation for the role.
But not everyone was impressed. Third-wave feminist author Naomi Wolf (The Beauty Myth) is calling on Americans to boycott Perry, calling her new video "a total piece of propaganda for the Marines." Wolf wrote on her Facebook page:
"I really want to find out if she was paid by them for making it. It is truly shameful... I would suggest a boycott of this singer whom I really liked — if you are as offended at this glorification of violence as I am."
Pretty strong reaction to a Katy Perry video. Hollywood publicist Angie Meyer had Perry's back, saying:
"Naomi Wolf is a living, breathing contradiction. Her anti-military sentiments against the men and women fighting to defend the freedoms she exercises regularly, speech and protest, is [sic] absurd and disturbingly disgraceful. What an enormous slap in the face for our servicemen and women. Naomi Wolf's blatant disrespect for the United States Military, and her political irreverence should be completely disregarded, and her rants and writings, boycotted."
We didn't see this kind of to-do when Katy Perry shot fireworks from her chest.
Wolf wasn't the only one disturbed by the clip. Damian Abraham, lead singer of the hardcore punk band Fucked Up (who looks like a combination between wrestler George "The Animal" Steele and Jello Biafra), had some pretty harsh words for Perry. He tweeted, "Seeing Katy Perry as a soldier in 'Part Of Me' really makes me think that we need to start a war so she can go die." Reflecting on what he wrote, an hour later he tweeted, "Yes I'm aware my last tweet was kinda dumb but so is glamorizing war to sell records to idiots. Katy Perry Still Sucks." He then went on to retweet the various death threats he received from a number of Perry fans.
The only reaction I have to this bizarre beef is: why was Damian Abraham watching a Katy Perry video in the first place?
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Commentarium (16 Comments)
I'm weirdly turned-on by that picture of her.
Now in the the news; irrelevant people making absurd comments to draw attention to themselves!
Couldn't agree with you mor
Ahhh that reliable arrow of "if you criticise anything military you are anti-American"
"Perry actually trained with real boot-camp instructors in preparation for the role. "
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Aaaaaah. That was good.
Yeah, great acting.
Also, you don't watch Katy Perry videos: they find you. She's an army of one, that one. But she's definitely not defending anybody's freedom, I'll tell you that.
Heyyyyyy! My music sucks balls! But heavy rotations of my well-crafted videos keep them pop culturally relevant. I've done bubblegum protoporn, funny, what can I do now? Oh, I know: "patriotic," i.e. me in the Army! Unexpected! I'm the next Goldie Hawn now.
Barf.
I hope this video inspires other women to take a similar path, instead of letting things like failed relationships get them down. I know that the military has changed a lot of people's lives for the better.
There's no bad relationship that can't be fixed by a good killing session in faraway lands.
Oh, I just bashed Katy Perry because she did a terrible cover of Queen and generally has no talent whatsoever.
See the Left's reaction to disagreeing with someone. Attack her livelihood (boycott) or kill her. So much for civil discourse.
Katy Perry would never join the military in 10 million years, but she is glad to exploit the idea of it for additional profit. She is a chameleonic fraud in every respect.
Similarly she was happy to exploit cancer patients in the promotion of her other video. Inauthentic.
Simple minds think alike. Naomi Wolf, and the lead singer of a band called Fucked Up hold zero weight with me. Perry's video could be interpreted as motivational. The military has employed over 200,000 female soldiers who have fought in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, this could possibly be addressed to them, life changes when you get back home, but the strength, and the leadership you learned while serving doesnt have to go away... something like that. But of course it's simply propaganda for a violent and oppressive military force right? The military doesnt do anything good right? Tell that to the people of Somalia, Libya, Japan who was eager to host an entire carrier group who came to help after the tsunami...
This is propaganda. Especially scenes showing women fighting along side men. Doesn't happen.
Of course this video doesn't show us helping Japan or Somalia. It shows us invading some small country
I know it doesn't matter much the opinion of one female Marine, but I'm going to give it anyway. I didn't join the Corps because some guy pissed me off, although some may have. I joined because I felt an obligation to my country, and a sense of honor by doing so. I didn't cut my hair short or tape my boobs down or any of that craziness. I'm proud of who I am and feel no sense of changing my physical appearance, just improve myself from within and the rest will come. We train every day, have physical appearance standards and grooming standards as well. We may not all have short hair but we all have a sense of self empowerment and a drive to perform to our highest standards. And I think that's what we can take away from this video. Someone feeling a calling to do something bigger then themselves. We give up our freedoms so others may have theirs. I also feel that if you have not served in the Corps, you have no right to comment on this video. So shut the hell up already Wolf.
"Her anti-military sentiments against the men and women fighting to defend the freedoms she exercises regularly, speech and protest, is [sic] absurd and disturbingly disgraceful. What an enormous slap in the face for our servicemen and women. "
Why is it that any time someone expresses anti-war sentiment all the righties pop up with this "you hate the troops, you wretched cow!" nonsense? I don't think Wolf's comment was a bird-flip to the service men and women. It's more a matter of Perry's young audience, who might see a video like this and go, "oh, look at Katycupcaketits singing and dancing and kicking ass in the marines! Maybe I'll consider that if my boyfriend dumps me." Which really doesn't give kids much credit. I mean, we all saw her shoot fireworks out of her tits and as far as I know there haven't been any resultant skin grafts. You can't really deny that the video fluffs the shit out of the military, though. And that it presents service as the way to heal a broken heart. And it just generally sucks, and I actually like Perry's music. I don't know why anyone would try and defend this steaming turd of a video.
Just to point out to all of the nay sayers, celebritys visit military instillations across the nation all of the time, and it is common practice for them to partake in limited training events so they have a better understanding of OUR day to day lifes then perform for the serviceman/women, 90% of the footage of her "portraying violance" was her in the grime with real marines training. How many of you armchair opinionated quarterbacks can say the same for yourselves oh thats right none, do you have any idea how hard it is to get cami paint off once it is on? And so what if this helps the military recruitment program? Honor, courage and commitment are part of every marines day to day existence. Correct me if I am wrong but these are not values been portrayed by 99% of popular artists these days? Last I heard it was more of the same, drugs, money, women, drunk driving and partying.