Perhaps you’ve heard of a certain Rebecca Black recently. She is the 13 year old “sensation” that is sweeping the web due to a video she made with Ark Music Factory. Just a normal video you might say, no different than any other music video made for teenagers in America today. Watch for yourself below:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0]
It is understandable to be in a state of shock right now. Most people are. What can you say to something like this? Is it good music? Is it bad music? What makes music good? And can I laugh at her?
Black’s song ultimately holds its place in society directly as a result of how conventionally bad it is, which also forces us to question how exactly we judge people on the internet. Is it alright to laugh at a person who may be following her dreams simply because she produced a very poor quality music video? Is it alright to laugh at the girl below due to her equally unusual method of perfecting her singing?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2xzWbRwOio]
Just because Rebecca Black’s “Friday” is a horrible song lyrically and perhaps even musically, does its somewhat catchy beat and mostly useless message make it a good piece of music? I don’t think so. And does it have to be respected? Absolutely not, in my opinion.
I think that no piece of information needs to be completely respected as if it were a person on the internet. When watching these videos, we laugh because they represent something funny, not because we are trying to hurt those involved in the creation of the video. As long as people are not criticizing the person directly (which unfortunately happens all too frequently), and thus harming that person, I don’t think there is anything wrong with laughing at a teenage girl having fun fun fun fun!
What do you think?
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Is it okay to belittle someone if it’s not “harmful”? That’s kind of the question, right? If we were to look at the relevant variables out of context we might not be so quick to say yes. Who are we making fun of? A 13-year-old girl. Why? Because she’s singing song on the internet. So far, I’m not comfortable with this. Now other variables:
She has a record deal apparently. So I wonder if those who find this funny in a “laughing at,” not “laughing with” kind of way are really objecting to the prominence of a 13-year-old singing about the mundane life of a middle schooler in pop culture. If Rebecca Black was just some kid singing on YouTube I’m not sure 50 million people would care. BUT, throw in some autotune and an interlude by a decidedly not 13-year-old rapper and you have something worthy of scorn. But are we directing scorn at Black unfairly? Don’t we really hate Ark Music for trying to blur the lines between a young adult genre and Kidz Bop?
Yes, Black (or at least her parents) seem to be a bit vain. But this seems like the equivalent of Glamour Shots (which according to Google still exists!): in which people too young to really be adults play dress up in the mall.