Becoming Pop Cultured

            I first heard the song “Alone Again” by Gilbert O’Sullivan when I was in college. It had been out for a few decades at that point, but my friends and I were discovering “older” music and found this gem. It is a relatively upbeat song with easy rhythms and tones, but the lyrics make it an incongruent in my opinion. I especially find the repeated, matter-of-fact tone, notes, and rhythms to be somewhat incongruent with the message of the song. Still, in some ways the straightforward beat, vocals, and notes add to the resolve the lyrics convey.    I do not know at what point while singing the song that I realized he was singing about possible suicide and the death of a parent. At first, I was drawn in by the music. In the first verse the song uses tragic lyrics with dramatic illusion to describe his plans while the phrasing gives a little intensity then ends in a release with the phrase “alone again, naturally....

            From the outside people might not consider my mom a feminist. Honestly, I am not sure she even would. She believed women should take care of the home and children, but she also believed women should be strong and do what is right for them. Therefore, when she saw the movie Grease in the theatre she was appalled and did not want me to see it. I am sure other parents had objections to its content, but she specifically did not like the ending and the message it sent to girls. You could say she thought it was a good example of what Walsh et al talked about in their article “Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast.” In the article they point out that “The beauty commonly ‘liberates’ the beast by finally accepting him ‘as is’.” In the movie Grease this scenario is taken a step further and Sandy does not only accept Danny as he is but changes her entire look and actions to match his. Just as Walsh et al stated, she was able to “com...