A True Piece of Satire: Hairspray's "The Nicest Kids in Town"

Context: I first saw the new movie adaption of Hairspray with my little sister last August. As I recall, I couldn’t stop smiling through the entire movie. It made me laugh constantly! When I asked for the DVD for Christmas, my aunt gave me the collector’s edition CD instead…I think she got confused, but I really like it! Listening to the music from the movie/musical has helped me catch irony that I wouldn’t have caught if I hadn’t listened carefully to the words themselves. One of my favorites is the theme song of the all-important “Corny Collins Show,” which is entitled, “The Nicest Kids in Town.” Watch out! You could easily get it stuck in your head!

Lyrics:
The Nicest Kids in Town

CORNY:

Hey there, Teenage Baltimore!

Don't change that channel!

'Cause it's time for the Corny Collins Show!

Brought to you by Ultra Clutch Hairspray!

CORNY (& COUNCIL MEMBERS):

Ev'ry afternoonWhen the clock strikes four

(bop-bee-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba, bee-ba)

A crazy bunch of kids Crash through that door

(bop-bee-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba, bee-ba)

They throw off their coats

And leave the squares behind

And then they shake it, shake it, shake it

Like they're losing their mind

You'll never see them frown

'Cause they're the nicest kids in town

Every afternoon

You turn your T.V. on

(na, na, na, na, na, na-na-na-na)

And we know you turn the sound up

When your parents are gone, yeah

(na, na, na, na, na, na-na-na-na)

And then you twist and shout

For your favorite star

And once you've practiced every step

That's in your repertoire

You better come on down

And meet the nicest kids in town

Nice white kids

Who like to lead the way

And once a month

We have our "negro day!"

And I'm the man who keeps it spinnin' round

Mr. Corny Collins

With the latest, greatest

Baltimore sound!!

So every afternoon

Drop everything

(bop-bee-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba, bee-ba)

Who needs to read and write

When you can dance and sing?

(bop-bee-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba, bee-ba)

Forget about your algebra

And calculus

You can always do your homework

On the morning bus

Can't tell a verb from a noun

They're the nicest kids in town

R-R-R-Roll Call!!

COUNCIL MEMBERS:

I'm Amber!Brad!

Tammy!Fender!Brenda!Sketch!

Shelley!I.Q!Lou Ann!

Joey!Mikey, Vicki, Becky, Bix,

Jessie, Darla, Paulie!

Noreen!Doreen!

And I'm...LINK!

(All of the girls scream.)

CORNY (& COUNCIL MEMBERS):

So, if every night you're shaking

As you lie in bed

(pony-pony, ooh, pony-pony)

And the bass and drums

Are pounding in your head

(mony-mony, ooh, mony-mony)

Who cares about sleep

When you can snooze inSchool?

You'll never get to college

But you sure look cool

Don't need a cap and a gown

'Cause they're the nicest Kids in town

They're the nicest. Nicest

They're the nicest, nicest

They're the sugar 'n' spicest,

The nicest kids in... Kids in town!

Analysis: This song is basically lampooning the stereotypical teenage “celebrity” obsession. The music is upbeat and happy, but the words, sung with such smiley enthusiasm, are pure parody. Statements such as, “who needs to read and write when you can dance and sing?” and “you’ll never get to college but you’ll sure look cool” are direct commentary on stereotypical teenage thought. Do all teenagers think that music, dancing, and TV shows are more important than education? I sure hope not! For the ones who do feel that way, this song is for you! Also embedded in the song is the racist message of the pre-1960’s era, “Nice white kids who like to lead the way, and once a month we have our Negro day!” The song does a great job of making this statement sound suitably ridiculous. In short, these are extremely clever lyrics sung in an over-the-top, ridiculous style that makes the fake messages show their true transparency. But be careful! If you listen to this song too much, you’ll find “[it’s] base and drums [won’t stop] pounding in your head!”

Educational Value: This song can be used to open class discussions about the value of education. Why is education important? If we all “looked cool” and were the “nicest kids in town” as Corny suggests we should aspire to be, what would our world be like? Also, these lyrics can be used as a perfect example when an English class learns the concept of irony or satire. The racist statement in the song can also open a discussion about equity in America.

"The Golden Compass" turns out to be Not-so-Golden (in the U.S. Box Offices and in My Opinion)

Context: Some good friends of mine recommended Philip Pullman’s book The Golden Compass as a good airplane read for my Christmas trip home. Knowing nothing about the book or its author, I found a cheap paperback copy and decided to take my friends’ advice. After the three hour flight I was about halfway through the book, so I naturally decided to finish it at home. When my sister-in-law saw what I was reading she was surprised and a little upset. She told me she couldn’t believe I was reading the book because it was an atheist devil’s manifesto by an author who claimed he was trying to undo everything C.S. Lewis had done for the Christian world with his Chronicles of Narnia. I have to admit I was surprised at my sister-in-law’s vehement reaction to the book, especially since I was about three-quarters into the book and I had picked up no devilish or atheist connotations whatsoever. At the very end, I started to see how one could read into the ending as a less-than-Protestant take on an imaginary world, but I didn’t think it was grounds enough to refuse to read the book or see the movie. So, when I got back to Provo and saw The Golden Compass was playing in Orem’s dollar theater on MLK Jr. Day with a mere admission price of a non-perishable food item, I dragged my roommates along with me to the movie theater.

Summary: When Lyra Belacqua’s friends start disappearing from her home, she and her daemon, Pantalaimon (in this alternate universe, a daemon is a person’s soul which lives outside his/her body and takes the form of an animal), resolve to travel to the North where the “Gobblers” are rumored to reside with the stolen children. She has the opportunity to do so as the assistant of the deceivingly kind Mrs. Coulter. Eventually, Lyra finds out that Mrs. Coulter is actually the head of the “Gobblers” who have stolen her friends. Lyra teams up with the boat-loving Gyptians, a Texan aeronaut, a powerful witch queen, and an armored bear in order to save her friends. Along the way, she is given a unique golden compass which tells her the truth and aides her in her many adventures. Lyra makes startling discoveries about her parents and their intentions while she fulfills her promise to free her friends.

Analysis: In my opinion, all the hoopla about the movie and book being Atheist is really ungrounded. Apparently the second two books in the trilogy become more and more controversially philosophical, but as far as I’m concerned, The Golden Compass itself was not really a very blatant anti-religoius commentary. After hearing my sister-in-law’s complaint about the story, I read some articles about the movie that told me the film downplays the religious controversy found in the book. After seeing the movie myself, I’ve decided there were more religious undertones in the movie than there were in the book. Also, if I had gone to the movie without reading the book, I think I would have been a little lost in the whirlwind of characters, concepts (i.e. the whole daemon thing), and the unexplained events/appearances (i.e. the witches…where exactly did they come in to the whole thing anyway?). In all fairness, if I sat down and read the book again, I would probably pick out more religious commentary, but isn’t there something to be said for the fact that I didn’t notice much the first time through even though I've been constantly trained to analyze literature for the past three years of my life as an English major? Like so many stories, I think The Golden Compass has fallen victim to overzealous religious enthusiasts who like to condemn any sort of fantasy/adventure story that makes the tiniest commentary about their motives and views (case in point: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The DaVinci Code). Word has it that the film did three times as well in foreign box offices as it did here in the U.S. I whole-heartedly congratulate foreign movie-goers for refusing to be taken in by overzealous critics who know little or nothing about the text/movie they are talking about and probably haven’t even read/seen it. To Americans: will we ever learn to get past the rumor mill and think for ourselves? Overall, I give the movie about two and a half stars (out of five). It was worth it to see, but I’m glad I waited for it to come to the dollar theater.

Educational Value: I’m sure The Golden Compass as a movie and as a book will always be a controversial tool when it comes to educating students in the classroom. Having said that, I think the book/movie can be used as a good example in a discussion about censorship. To me, the whole Golden Compass controversy is a perfect introduction to a discussion about choosing whether to take somebody else’s opinion about a piece of media, or to experience the piece yourself and form your own opinions.

Scott Westerfeld's "Uglies" is "Pretty" Amazing

Context: When I did a three-week practicum at Mountain Ridge Junior High last semester, two series of novels were the cool reads according to my students. Unsurprisingly, one of the two was Stephenie Meyers' Twilight series, but the other one was completely new to me. In the words of a ninth grader, "Miss Andreasen, you have not lived until you've read the Uglies books!" I'm not sure if I quite agree with that statement, but I must admit it piqued my curiosity. So, I eventually procured a copy of the first book, and I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of it's themes and it's tense, page-turner quality. Although it is technically a young adult novel, I highly recommend Scott Westerfeld's Uglies to "kids" of all ages.

Summary: Tally Youngblood can’t wait to turn sixteen because then she will get the operation that will turn her from an awkward “Ugly” to a physically and genetically enhanced “Pretty,” and she will join her older friends in “New Pretty Town” where everyone is beautiful and happy. Two weeks before her birthday, Tally becomes friends with Shay, who takes her to the Rusty Ruins and introduces her to life outside the city and the mysterious “Smoke.” The city’s cruel “Specials” want to destroy the rebellious “Smokies,” so they force Tally to journey into the wilderness to find Shay and the “Smoke” so she can give them the location of the evasive community. When Tally finds friends in the “Smoke” and learns that the operation is more than just an innocent cosmetic change, she decides to leave the city behind for good. Unfortunately, she betrays the “Smokies” unwittingly, and decides to sacrifice herself to save the friends she betrayed.

Educational Value: Uglies is an excellent novel for eighth- to tenth-graders because it presents important themes in a way that teenagers can connect to. It is a quick read, but contains some valuable vocabulary for this age level. Themes of acceptance, diversity, betrayal, governmental ethics, and more provide the medium for a plethora of text-to-world, text-to-text, and text-to-self connections to be explored by teenaged students. The futuristic setting invites students to think about how the things we do now will affect the future. Above all, students will enjoy this novel immensely, and it will inspire them to read more and think more about the world’s societal issues.

Wyview Park: Practically Crazy from the Outside In

In my experience, people who live in Wyview Park are practical. Wyview apartments are newly furnished, spacious, and in fabulous condition, and yet the rent at Wyview is cheaper than almost any off-campus housing. However, while they call Wyview Park “On-campus Housing,” by “on-campus” they mean about-as-far-away-from-campus-as-BYU-approved-housing-gets. Another huge defining factor of Wyview is the eighty-five percent freshmen to 15% upper-classmen ratio. Because Wyview-ites are either very practical or they’re freshmen (or both I suppose), and they have to have some way to get themselves to campus every day, bike racks filled with bikes can be found all over the complex even in the snowy winter. Thus, this picture tells the story of the defining factors of Wyview Park.
You may be thinking to yourself, “Wow! That’s got to be one freezing cold bike ride!” You’re right. But, part of the charm of Wyview residents is that they don’t care about a few moments discomfort as long as they have somewhere cheap to sleep at night (…somewhere cheap that isn’t about to fall down or harbor rats and cockroaches along with residents). Wyview residents are tough, like these brave bikes. They can weather the cold, the snow, and whatever else is thrown at them.
I chose to take this photo at night because I think the night mode on my camera gives the light an ethereal, super-human quality. I wanted these bikes to look super-human, because they are symbols of the all-enduring, ever-practical Wyview residents. I took the photo from this angle because I wanted to try to almost super-impose the bikes onto the building in the background. I was trying to create an effect that would suggest that the bikes belong to the buildings. Thus, I was making the statement that the Wyview-ites are an integral part of Wyview. It’s more than just buildings. Although, I purposely chose this angle because of the way the building appears to continue on in an endless diagonal. The bikes (symbolizing the people) and their buildings are solid, enduring, and continuous. I didn’t set up this picture; the subjects were already there in that exact position. However, I carefully considered the angle and lighting to create the effect I wanted.
My photo essay as a whole is supposed to communicate the practicality, and yet craziness of the Wyview world. The people who live in Wyview are undoubtedly practical (as discussed above), but I wanted to portray the unhinged side of Wyview that lies beneath the practicality as well (hence the crazy mail picture, the ninja turtle, the funny freshmen boys in their dirty room, etc.). I wanted to help viewers understand that Wyview has the crazy qualities of a freshmen year of college (the busy midnight Creamery Rush, the ever-open laundry room, the random pirate-costumed people on the random playground, etc.), but it is undeniably a practical place to live (the bikes, the sleeping person, the neat girls’ bedroom). The essay is organized so that viewers start from the outside of Wyview (notice all the available parking spots which show the practicality of not owning an expensive car couple with the crazy pirate people on the random playground) and work their way into the buildings (where crazy things like home-made Ninja Turtle Costumes are still found, but in the end, it’s just a comfortable place to sleep). Hopefully after looking through the photo essay, viewers catch the idea that Wyview-ites are inherently practical, but they know how to be crazy too.