Tom Beaudoin on Gen X Music Videos

I’ve often said that if Baby Boomers rebelled against instutitions, Gen Xers have merely ignored them. Tom Beaudoin, in his book, Virtual Faith, explores popular culture to unpack Gen X suspicion of religious institutions.

Tori Amos Crucify

Tori Amos’s Crucify Video, directed by Cindy Palmano, is included in the 1992 video, Little Earthquakes. On the tape the clip is introduced with the images of a swinging cross and a gilded bird cage. Beaudoin reads this sequence as an attack on the Church as an institution that “selfishly cages its glinting, dubious truth and hyptnotizes its adherents with a gilded message.” The video itself features a baptism. From the Tori Amos site, Hereinmyhead, we’re told “Cindy was always weaving in a sub text – Elizabeth the first getting baptized and then doing her saucy strumpet shimmy after being blessed, of course.”

REM Losing My Religion

REM’s “Losing My Religion”, directed by Tarsem Singh, won many awards when it was released in 1991. Beaudoin zeroes in on the image of spilled milk, one of the many symbols used in the clip that express loss of the sacred. The video is available on REM’s VHS & DVD video, “This Film Is On”, and on In View: The Best of REM 1988 – 2003.

See my detailed review of Losing My Religion at Duncan’s Music Videos.

Soundgarden Black Hole Sun

Soundgarden’s 1994 video, Black Hole Sun, features four ‘sinister ministers’ who ravage the lives of middle class suburban consumers. Beaudoin uses this video to highlight Xers’ “righteous rage ata Christian Church that has fused and confused itself with the American dream so deeply”. The video is available on MTV20 Rock.

Subversive Cyberworld

In his section on ‘electronically leveled institutions’, Beaudoin explores the subversive capacity of the cyberworld. He admits that hierachy and institutional power still make their presence known on the Net. However he points to the pluralist nature of the web community in which ‘orthodox’ and ‘heterodox’ religious groups and traditions exist side by side. The sheer number of people writing on behalf of their religious perspective underminses the ability of any person or group to speak on behalf of all.

The online community provides institutions the capacity to reinvent themselves in a fluid environment. Christian leaders who engage in online conversation have to find a voice that is not compromised by unthinking allegiance to middle class values. Likewise GenXers exploring their own spirituality are able to consider ways in which they can deconstruct the religious institution, redeveloping a new approach even while holding on their irreverence.

Madonna Like A Virgin

Beaudoin considers the significance of the crucifix as fashion statement. He points to the Madonna 1984 video hit, Like a Virgin, as a symbol of the ambiguous use of a Catholic talisman. While it is a poke at the religiosity of previous generations of Catholics, there is a sense of connection with an honoured spirituality. At the same time, this is an exposure of the pre-Xer use of the crucifix as fashion statement.

Nirvana Heart Shaped Box

Tom continues the anti-Catholic theme with the Nirvana video, Heart-shaped box. Slant magazine puts this video as number 81 in their list of the 100 greatest music videos. Their review:

Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” is as ripe with allusions as it is oversaturated with color (the video was shot in black and white and then computer-colorized).
Directed by Anton Corjbin, the clip features surrealistic images including a winged, gluttonous woman reaching for plastic fetuses hanging from a tree and an emaciated Jesus with a Victorian beard and Santa hat climbing onto a cross. While the song makes vague references to cancer, umbilical cords and meat-eating orchids, the video entangles faith and sickness with the clarity of a man who’s damn close to giving up his eternal search.”

Beaudoin uses this hostile video clip to remind Catholic readers they must rediscover Jesus as a vital figure at the heart of their lives. He picks up on the depiction of Jesus as an old man, in both the Nirvana and REM clips, and asks if the Christian Church has distanced itself from the dangerous memory of Jesus’ revolutionary practice. Good point.

Irreverence

Beaudoin is unpacking what he means by irreverence. This is a term many older people find hard to grasp. Religious institutions are knocked off the pedestal of guaranteed awe and respect. Symbols and ideas held precious by previous generations are subjected to derision and mockery.

Irreverence is not a new phenomenon. Dave Allen, Irish comedian who died only a month ago, was the master of irreverence. He made his mark back in the 1970s when he impersonated the Pope doing a strip tease. I remember watching Dave Allen on TV with my parents. Dad was laughing his head off. Mum was constantly offended. Take a look at Dave’s obituary at the Guardian.

Although irreverence is not new, it is certainly becoming the hallmark of GenX communciation and behaviour. I think this trend has been entrenched in Australian culture for some time, much more than in American culture. Just take a look at ABC’s CNNN to see what I mean. Beaudoin’s use of music videos shows us that irreverence has bled out of the comedy sketch, picked up a strong dose of irony, and showed its strength in GenX popular culture as a whole.