Sunday, September 21, 2014
Modern Gadfly
I think a modern gadfly is comedian Bo Burnham. Personally, I think he's hilarious and not at all annoying, but his comedy does have critical undertones. He has a song called Repeat Stuff in which he makes fun of people like Justin Bieber and One Direction that have meaningless, vague lyrics that trick girls into thinking the song is about them. By the end of the song, everyone at the concert is singing along, repeating whatever he says, so he stands up and does a Nazi salute. I didn't even realize until that moment that he was accusing these artists of brainwashing their listeners. It's funny, but makes also us aware of how media affects us. That was a less vulgar one, but Bo does a great job of criticising famous people (including himself) in his other songs and poetry book.
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Is it strictly for comedic purposes or does he have some other purpose?
ReplyDeleteI think this a good example of how many gadflies in our society get their message across through comedy. It is scary how mindlessly people sing lyrics, with no thought about what they're actually saying. I think it's important how you included that Bo Burnham criticizes himself as well, because I think this is a large quality in a gadfly-realizing that they aren't above the downfalls of the rest of society.
ReplyDeleteNo, I wouldn't say it's strictly for comedic purposes. In interviews, Bo is completely different than his onstage persona, and I genuinely believe he doesn't like how other people in the music industry behave. I think he doesn't really have a better way of dealing with or changing it, so he settled for making fun of them.
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