T-Shirt Alert

Context: Some of my classmates in English teaching classes have some interesting t-shirts that have caught my eye recently.

Descriptions: The first t-shirt I noticed was an unremarkable beige-ish color, but on the front in fancy letters were the words, “Shakespeare Hates Your Emo Poems.” The other shirt was a white, self-created, iron-on t-shirt sporting the heading “A Tribute to America’s Great Women.” Underneath the heading were black and white sketch-effect head-and-shoulders shots of Paris Hilton, Brittney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and other American female celebrities who are constantly making the top headlines.

Analysis: First, the Shakespeare shirt. For one thing, the shirt can make the wearer seem like a poetry elitist. It can send the message that Shakespeare is far superior to anything that can be written by angsty teenagers. However, in my opinion, several of Shakespeare’s poems are just as “emo” as today’s angsty teenage love poems. To be fair, in Shakespeare’s day the language was different, and I’m not trying to undermine his poetical genius. I’m just saying that “emo” is short for “emotional” and to be perfectly honest, Shakespeare’s poetry is about as emotional as poetry can be. So really, the shirt is kind of a contradiction by nature. As for the other t-shirt, the most interesting thing about this t-shirt to me is the fact that it was created by a 15-year-old. This girl clearly has a sense of humor and a cynical view of America’s priorities. She saw what the media portrays as America’s most interesting, noteworthy women, and she chose to point out her skepticism about these choices on a t-shirt with the label “A Tribute to America’s Great Women.” She’s reflecting on the fact that instead of choosing great female scientists, philosophers, or contributors to world peace, America idolizes celebrities.

Educational Context: First of all, t-shirts as media is an interesting concept that could lead to a great discussion about how what we wear and the messages we choose to advertise on our clothing help people determine who we are. We could guess the personality traits of the people who wore the t-shirts and then compare our guesses to the actual personality traits of those people. This could lead to a great evaluation of how the messages we advertise reflect on who we are.