#16
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Interesting post, all of it, I appreciated the Virgin Mary-based analysis. I think that the "she" Richey references in She Is Suffering is an analogous she (as in, the concept of desire/beauty being given a female personification, which as I'm sure you're aware is used for lots of things, like liberty, justice etc. as well, but of course envisioning desire/beauty as female rather than male has extra connotations) while the "she" in Bath of Bleach and a few other songs is more of a generalization of the circumstances of women. I'm not explaining very well, but I mean the former kind of generalized "she" is more of an artistic device (an artist, though I don't remember who, has said women's bodies are easier to see as analogies or public statements than those of men- this obviously brings up issues related to whether women's bodies are seen as public objects rather than extensions of the self) while the latter is using the pronoun to group experiences of women together to make a point about their political status. However, given that we're talking about Richey here, it's possible that he had thought about the implications of using "she" as an embodiment of an abstract concept, and was intentionally trying to invoke the idea of women suffering as a result of men's desire, as you explain in your post.
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Phrases like "through staring blankly at my navel" and "choice is skeletal in everybody's life" implicitly underscore both the empty reality behind this and the fact that whatever motivated her actions (rejecting or embracing them), the patient's superficial choices were governed by ideas about restraint, sexuality and the body that are beyond her control (the imagery of the "skeletal" choice- that she has the choice to deplete the meat on her bones, but barring stunting growth or osteoporosis, cannot alter the skeleton itself- is analogous to the idea that the patient can choose to react to her sexuality in different ways, but must do this in a framework of ideas about female sexuality that are beyond her control- and controlled, in a society still subject to the influence of patriarchy, by males). None of this really upsets the main point of what you were saying- that 4st7lb discusses the suffering of a woman that is brought about by ideas about sexuality and beauty- it's just a different angle. * Though I wouldn't at all say 4st 7lb simply glorifies anorexia I think that is the intent of the voice of the narrator and the more critical perspective in the song is hidden in the subtext and the way certain images seem more disturbing to the reader/listener than the personality behind the text appears to think. Last edited by theperfectcat; 01-11-2009 at 19:26. |
#17
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