3 ms·

Everything is political. It's just that some things are so comfortably deep inside the overton window you don't even see it that way.

beaconstudios 5y ago
/s? Baby shark isn't exactly a commentary on neoliberalism.
- cool_dude85 5y ago
  Sure, but the decision to allow e.g. baby shark, and not dubbed Soviet children's cartoons about how good of a leader Stalin is, is certainly a political decision.
- tehjoker 5y ago
  If you go deep enough, there are criticisms of the nuclear family structure which Baby Shark assumes lol
  - beaconstudios 5y ago
    I'm familiar with some of them (primarily criticisms that the nuclear family is the /only/ acceptable family structure where other forms exist and are healthy) but simply presenting a nuclear family is fairly innocuous.
    - tehjoker 5y ago
      Well yea, but it does implicitly encode a definition of normality and that's a political statement. It's just so deeply ingrained it is not perceptible as nearly everyone involved in creation and consumption has that assumption. EDIT: As I pondered this there are two more angles to consider. (a) Baby Shark is a product of South Korea is at war with North Korea and arguments against nuclear family structure are laid out in the Communist Manifesto (b) some people consider that nuclear family structures are not merely co-existing with other healthy structures, but that the nuclear structure is harmful and other models are superior. I'm not trying to debate these points (not totally sure where I stand myself), but it's helpful to break through the bubble and see what assumptions cultural forces are embedding in media. You can imagine a Baby Shark that talks about the network of relations that care for baby instead of a hierarchical biological lineage.
      - beaconstudios 5y ago
        I'm not sure that a tenuous link to communism based on the location of production, that doesn't make any appearance in the work itself, would be considered a political element (can't believe I just referred to baby shark as "the work"). I get what you're trying to point at but some things don't even make an implicit value statement like it would if baby shark somehow showed the nuclear family as an inherent good. Regardless, that's enough media analysis of kids youtube songs for me for one day!
jchw 5y ago
“Everything is political” is one of those technically true, but ultimately meaningless platitudes. Yeah sure, technically there is implicit ideology in everything, but there’s also a pretty vast difference between something that is passive and only has ideology by virtue of existing in the world and portraying it and something that is politically charged. Most of the time, the passive kind is too benign for anyone to care. There are exceptions, of course…

beaconstudios 5y ago

/s? Baby shark isn't exactly a commentary on neoliberalism.

cool_dude85 5y ago
Sure, but the decision to allow e.g. baby shark, and not dubbed Soviet children's cartoons about how good of a leader Stalin is, is certainly a political decision.
tehjoker 5y ago
If you go deep enough, there are criticisms of the nuclear family structure which Baby Shark assumes lol
- beaconstudios 5y ago
  I'm familiar with some of them (primarily criticisms that the nuclear family is the /only/ acceptable family structure where other forms exist and are healthy) but simply presenting a nuclear family is fairly innocuous.
  - tehjoker 5y ago
    Well yea, but it does implicitly encode a definition of normality and that's a political statement. It's just so deeply ingrained it is not perceptible as nearly everyone involved in creation and consumption has that assumption. EDIT: As I pondered this there are two more angles to consider. (a) Baby Shark is a product of South Korea is at war with North Korea and arguments against nuclear family structure are laid out in the Communist Manifesto (b) some people consider that nuclear family structures are not merely co-existing with other healthy structures, but that the nuclear structure is harmful and other models are superior. I'm not trying to debate these points (not totally sure where I stand myself), but it's helpful to break through the bubble and see what assumptions cultural forces are embedding in media. You can imagine a Baby Shark that talks about the network of relations that care for baby instead of a hierarchical biological lineage.
    - beaconstudios 5y ago
      I'm not sure that a tenuous link to communism based on the location of production, that doesn't make any appearance in the work itself, would be considered a political element (can't believe I just referred to baby shark as "the work"). I get what you're trying to point at but some things don't even make an implicit value statement like it would if baby shark somehow showed the nuclear family as an inherent good. Regardless, that's enough media analysis of kids youtube songs for me for one day!

jchw 5y ago

“Everything is political” is one of those technically true, but ultimately meaningless platitudes. Yeah sure, technically there is implicit ideology in everything, but there’s also a pretty vast difference between something that is passive and only has ideology by virtue of existing in the world and portraying it and something that is politically charged. Most of the time, the passive kind is too benign for anyone to care. There are exceptions, of course…