Okay, so I was watching Saturday Night Live a week or so ago with Pammy and they had, as a musical guest, the apparently inert gas known as Taylor Swift. She is your standard fare pop waif with non-existent pipes and three chords at her disposal.
She sang a song that's been bugging me since I heard it. It's awful, generic pop (not a shock) but it bothers me on a different level, sort of like the misuse of the word "ironic" in that song ironically called Ironic.
The song is about a girl who likes a boy. Uh huh. And she calls him Romeo and he calls her Juliet. According to Google, the song is called Love Story. The end of the song is this young couple deciding to get married.
Harmless pop dreck. Except, of course, the use of Romeo and Juliet. Who, you know, die tragically. DIE. That's the meaning of their f*cking literary existence. It's not called The Happy Story of Romeo and Juliet. These kids wind up poisoned and stabbed because of miserable hatred. It's a story about intolerance, not love.
Calling someone your Romeo might as well be calling him the guy who bought your ticket to cross the River Styx.
Just for the f#cking record.
Going back into my cave now.
About Me
- Freeman
- Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.
3 comments:
I think Matt Freeman should end every week with an Andy Rooney moment about what's wrong with the bippy-boppy music the kids like.
I also think that Matt Trumbull should rebut these comments about Taylor Swift, since I'm sure he had that song on his iPod.
It's a problem. If only they had gone the Dire Straights route!
Alternately, they could follow the Reefer Madness: The Musical direction, which is to have Romeo and Juliet unaware of their tragic future. You can see that here: http://bardfilm.blogspot.com/2008/09/stop-reefer-madness.html
Thanks!
kj
I seem to remember that the way it ends was "and thus with a sniff he died". Quite sure there was a shoe involved....didn't hear about that in her teen pop romance.
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