- Re-watch the "Cheerleader" video carefully by St. Vincent. Link below.
- Read the lyrics carefully. Link below.
- Post a 100-word interpretation of the video here.
- Try to tie your interpretation into our discussions in class about the short stories, gender, and body consciousness.
- video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEY9GJAm8bA&x-yt-ts=1422579428&x-yt-cl=85114404
- lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/st_vincent/cheerleader.html#!
- If you enjoy interpreting music videos or other short popular texts (visual or language), let me know and we can do it some more.
Friday, January 30, 2015
"I've seen America with no clothes on..."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This song has a really nice beat, but that is not relevant to this at all. I think the song is about her not wanting to have to pretend to be happy anymore and finally be able to express her true feelings. I think that is clearest in the line 'I've told whole lies with a half smile." Her use of the word "cheerleader" is obvious because cheerleaders are there for the purpose of getting everyone pumped up and are supposed to be happy and well...cheerful. The video is also a representation of the meaning behind the song because instead of standing there and amusing everyone, she begins to fall apart. Publicly falling apart discloses that she is not happy with her current situation.
ReplyDeleteChristopher Bijou
The message that St. Vincent is trying to send across to people in her song Cheerleader is that she doesn't want to be average person. She describes that she does certain things even thought she doesn't truly want to but does because it is expected of her. I assumed that when she said "I don't want to be a cheerleader anyone" she meant she didn't want to be expected to do things but rather be a more free flowing person. At the end of the video she breaks and crumbles to the ground, I interpreted that the destruction of her represented no physically but mentally.
ReplyDeleteJoseph Ledo-Massey
St. Vincent’s video, “Cheerleader”, was meant to portray how people coerce you into their own perception of “normal.” She wants to break away from the expectations that other people give her, and she wants to be an individual. The movie shows this by how she is exploited as a statue for the visitors of the “museum” to gawk at. She is shown to want to express her individuality, but she cannot because she is chained down. In the end, however; the girl breaks free of her chains (to symbolize breaking free of society’s control), and begins to run away, which causes her to collapse and break into pieces. The society’s media had won and tore her into pieces, but she was her own person as she lies in half on the floor.
ReplyDeleteI think the song, Cheerleader, is about her wanting to be herself and not changing for other people, especially guys. In the short story, "Sonny's Blues", Sonny just wanted to do his own thing and play the piano for a Jazz band; despite what his older brother had in mind for his career. I think she is tired of pleasing other people and doing things to get people to like her. "I've played dumb, when I knew better" is a great example of this. I also think this song can be interpreted about a single person, assuming a male "I've had good times with some bad guys", or it can be about society as a whole. She doesn't want to be a cheerleader anymore, meaning she doesn't want to fake her opinions so people will like her. She says she doesn't know what good it serves, "Pouring her purse out in the dirt" (her baggage that she carries around), but realizes later that when she does let go and be herself again, she is free.
ReplyDeleteMy interpretation of Cheerleader by St. Vincent is that it's about a young woman who is tired of making herself something that she is not just to fit society norms. The lyrics, "I've played dumb // When I knew better // Tried so hard // Just to be clever" perfectly depicts how she tried to fit in. I believe the title "Cheerleader" also has a significant meaning. The cheerleader stereotype is portrayed as being the gorgeous, outgoing girls in any school that all the other girls are jealous of, but the woman in the video just wants to be herself.
ReplyDeleteI think that this song represents a girl who is trying to break free from the grasp of a very controlling person. She intensely changed to please someone. "I've had good times with some bad guys, I've told whole lies with a half smile, held your bare bones with my clothes on, I've thrown rocks then hid both my arms." She did self destructive things just to be someone's cheerleader. She did knew better than to carry on this erratic behavior. When she falls apart in front of a crowd of people, it represents what would have happened if she continued to carry her false persona.
ReplyDeleteAngela Beabout
I believe the song Cheerleader by St. Vincent represents a young girl who feels very scrutinized and always feeling like she has to please someone. She is looking to break free from her ways and it is eating at her so bad she is harming herself. In the music video she is a giant display in a museum to show that people are watching her and she does not like what she has become. In the end she stands up and shatters, expressing herself breaking down under the intense scrutiny of people. Being a cheerleader is helping someone else out and always cheering someone else on. She wants to do this for herself before she self destructs for real.
ReplyDelete--Natalie Diciaula
Demetrius A. Jones
ReplyDeleteMark Shealy
ENC 1102
February 3, 2015
America With No Clothes On
The songwriter shows a personal side that most artists do not. She like some of our discussions and readings has reached some sort of climax in her life. She clearly feels disconnected with possibly someone or possibly is tired of being put on display. In this way she shows her mind and body connection, in one hand she can't keep smiling or 'cheerleading' for this life or person she has chosen.And on the other hand she almost alludes to the fact that she must keep smiling on the outside.The split between possible physical abuse clearly has reached a point that she must scream mentally that she can no longer be the cheerleader on the sidelines.
Between the video and lyrics for “Cheerleader”, it is clear that St. Vincent is trying to make a statement. The statement seems to be that is you pretend to be something you are not for the sake of others, eventually you will break down. The main character of the song feels as if she is on display, putting on a show to make other people happy, when it is not what she wants. This is indicative of how in life, we act how people expect and want us to act, and that can sometimes contradict what we want to do. The act is exhausting, and at the end she breaks down because of how it has worn her down.
ReplyDeleteAllison McDowell
In the song she says "I've had good times with some bad guys, I've told whole lies with a half smile, held your bare bones with my clothes on, I've thrown rocks then hid both my arms." I think she's illustrating the self-centered, destructive, self-reliant attitude of contemporary society. When she repeats the line: "I don't want to be a cheerleader anymore," she is basically saying that she won't condone or support that kind of behavior. She doesn't want to stand by and be a ''cheerleader'' for all of the negativity going on in the world. Instead, she would rather do something about it.
ReplyDelete-Ryan Kay
The song "Cheerleader" tells of a woman that is tired of pleasing everyone else. She is tired of hurting herself to make others happy. She is going to be make herself be happy for once.
ReplyDelete-William Canaday
In the song “cheerleader” it is clear that the girl always feels she has to please other people instead of pleasing herself. She is tired of pleasing others, especially other males. She feels it is her time to be the person she wants to be and not what others want her to be. She says “I've played dumb when I knew better” meaning she knows she has done what others want even when she knew she was doing it. She is ready to break out of her shell with society and become her own person and be what she wants to be.
ReplyDelete-Stephen Stroop
I think the song “Cheerleader” by St. Vincent is about her breaking from her old ways, such as doing things for people (males mostly). She is tired of how everyone has treated her and wants to break away from her situation. Such as the lyric “I play dumb when I knew better”, this means people will accept you for being dumb and treat you as such. Also what I interpreted was that you should be someone you’re not because it can drive you crazy knowing what you really are to society
ReplyDelete-Hampton Schaffer
I think this song is St. Vincent's way of expressing that she is tired of cheering everybody else on, and wants to stand up on her own, and be herself. Some of the lyrics such as "I've told whole lies with a half smile" suggest that she only does some of the things she does, in order to please other people. This song could relate to "cathedral and "Sonny's blues" by demonstrating that one should be comfortable in their own skin. I think the end may symbolize her mental destruction and her final breaking point.
ReplyDeleteI think that this song and music video was obviously made in order to portrayed a huge statement. The woman in the music video seems tired of her past life and ready to move beyond it. She also shows all that she would do in order to fit in and feel accepted. I believe this song is also about stereotypes and how people are judged for the way they choose to live their lives. The woman is wanting to break away from all past ties and become a new person. This music video also gives insight into other people treat each other and the effect that it can have on a person. She has grown old of doing everything to please others and has decided to live a life that will make her more happy. I very much enjoyed this music video and song. I hope we are given more opportunities to interpret more music videos like this.
ReplyDeleteI think this song is about someone trying to change the way the deal with the world. Before she was just trying to placate everyone while allowing herself as much entertainment as possible, now she is trying to establish a new future and be more accountable for her actions. However, at the same time she doesn’t want to completely cut her previous self off. She is singing about finding a balance between the past and the future. She says she doesn’t want to be a cheerleader, but she doesn’t want to be a “dirt eater” anymore either.
ReplyDelete-Joshua McGlone
I think the video is about the woman wanting to break away from society’s hold on her and be who she is without being judged. She is tired of feeling like she is being put on display for everyone to see, like an art piece in a museum. She wants to be herself but in the end society has broken her spirit too much and she falls apart. The lyrics also suggest that she is tired of being happy for everyone when she is unhappy with herself.
ReplyDelete*Megan McNeely*
In the song "The Cheerleader", the girl is in a dilemma between being herslef and someone she is not. She is tired of pleasing people and is no longer happy with herself. In the music video she is displayed in a museum as a porcelain doll to entertain the public. She's at her breaking point and in the end destroys her doll figure to escape the pain she feels. She's no longer happy with who she has become, as she clearly states, "I've told lies with half smiles". Over all, a "cheerleader" is someone who is expected to always be happy and peppy to please the crowd. Therefore, the girl doesn't want to be a cheerleader anymore and instead be herself for once.
ReplyDelete- Sidney Freeman
Maybe she is tired of trying to please other people before herself, maybe she hangs out with the wrong people, or she is regretting a past relationship she was in. I guess she is trying to change her old ways to better her future, and trying to forget the past where she was hurt or made a mistake. I didn't really care too much for the song, but that is just me.
ReplyDelete-Shane Parent`
The song portrays a prostitute that is finally fed up with her pimp. She regrets many of the decisions she has made under him. She's disgusted with her actions and her lifestyle. She's had enough and no longer wants to continue down the same path she had been traveling.
ReplyDeleteDaniel Dearing
Delete