"You see, Dad, Professor McLuhan says that the environment that man creates becomes his medium for defining his role in it. The invention of type created linear, or sequential thought, separating thought from action. Now, with TV and folk singing, thought and action are closer and social involvement is greater. We again live in a village. Get it?"
Speechless
Medium is Message
The music began with the lights low, near pitch. Against the dark, a woman's curved hips and shoulders are revealed, bathed in spotlight, dancing slowly behind a big blue pair of lips. Her arms snake out from her sides in slow waves, mimicking wings.
She slides over the top couch-lip as seductively as possible, [round, shimmering] ass first, followed by long legs and high heels... all spotlit in blue, she slides her rear into the mouth between the giant pair of lips. The lights go up, and Beyonce begins to sing...
medium message mother mouth
For my previous pattern post, I had to do a little soul searching. The pattern of symbols and themes in this bizarre line of research (starting with the(Bee)yoncé(Know)les) has become more complex than I'd anticipated, but once the pattern began to paint Beyonce as a whore, I had to take a step back. Were the connections telling a story, or was I searching for meaning in something meant to be fluff? Fortunately, an impromptu analysis from my brother Husan helped clarify my uneasiness. The writing on the facebook wall;
Husan: Just remember to stick close to the core thesis, there is room for conspiracy theorists, but ...
Toure: How would you define "conspiracy theorist"?
Husan: Conspiracy Theorist is connecting so many dots they loose the forest for the trees. I think a conspiracy theorist falls into this trap: While the connection from x-to-y is valid, x-to-y is not relevant to the actual point; it does not further the essential thesis.
Herein lies the curiousity of the pattern. Husan states here that connections alone don't validate a thesis unless those connections prove relevant. What if the pattern itself is the thesis? The connections are the point. Perhaps one can always find meaning in the pattern because meaning is the pattern. These patterns exists to call out attention to things that need attention. In theory, of course.
red message, blue medium
In Gnosis/Hypnosis/Hypocrisy/Heresy and Know/Now/No/Gnosis/Hypnosis, I toyed around with the ideas of hypnosis, possession and meditation as they related to the sacred feminine, and the concept of the Medium. A medium relays a message by channeling spirit through trance, and in films like The Messenger, Stigmata and Constantine, the messenger and the message got mashed together as the star actresses became allegorical characters representing the concept of spiritual rebirth through gnosis a la the metaphorical phoenix fire. This particular pattern appeared to have left my radar as I got caught in the web of synchs surrounding Beyonce and Ciara (and their robots), but soon enough, both artists revealed themselves as both hypnotizers and hypnotized in their own words, and it became clear that they also represented the medium. In Ciara Learns Hypnotism, message and messenger were again mixed as Ciara, who admits to hypnotizing her listeners, became a message of pattern confirmation.
Herbert Marshall McLuhan keeping one eye on the medium
Herbert Marshall McLuhan keeping one eye on the medium
In my study of the concept of a Medium, I came across the work of H. Marshall McLuhan (raised in Winnipeg), the communications theorist who coined the term Media when describing popular culture news and entertainment. In the aphorism he is now famous for, he postulates that The Medium is The Message. Think about that for a second [I did].
"...the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived."
There is much depth to be explored within this concept, but basically it means this: when you hear music, your brain registers the message of the song lyrics, but subconsciously, you know you're hearing music, and knowing that affects how you interpret the message (think of the difference between reading and hearing song lyrics). On the surface, the message is embedded in the medium, but underneath, the medium is embedded in the message. The avenue by which you receive the imagery of pop culture not only affects your understanding of that imagery, the two (imagery and avenue) become entwined, reflexive.
The reflexive property of mathematical equality
If a = b then b = a.
(if medium = message then message = medium)
If a = b then b = a.
(if medium = message then message = medium)
In the performance video above for the song "Speechless", Beyonce gives arguably her most sexualized performance to date without even standing up. In a related post at You Dare To Dream Really Do Come True, my new favorite blog, author 48lawsndreams brought my attention back to the lip sofa by proposing that there was more to this imagery than lazy choreography and a thinly veiled reference to oral sex.
"As this chair is most likely modeled after the Dali design of Mae West's lips as a sofa, we must wonder what it means to literally sit on Mae's face, and Beyonce being a female at that."
Immediately after reading, I felt that brain-splinter thing happening. I figured (due to previous pattern references) there was an allegorical angle besides the blatant sexual overtones, but in order to unlock the mystery of the Lips of Mary Mae, I needed the reflexive symbiosis of Mr. Marshall McLuhan. You may have already figured this one out, but I needed to draw it out before I did;
If
Beyonce = Medium
Beyonce's Song = Message
then
Beyonce's Song = Medium
Beyonce = Message
Beyonce = Medium
Beyonce's Song = Message
then
Beyonce's Song = Medium
Beyonce = Message
In McLuhan's most widely known book on the analysis of the Medium/Message dichotomy, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, he describes the content of the messages we receive as distractions from the effects the medium has on our minds. In this sense, the extreme sexuality of Beyonce's bejeweled, flesh-colored, face-sitting performance is revealed as the distraction we all [subconsciously] recognized it to be. How perfect it is, then, that the song "Speechless" was chosen for this particular pop-culture conditioning. Beyonce isn't "saying" a thing; her heavy-handed sexual innuendo are the distraction. She is being emitted -as voice personified- from the lips of Mary Mae West. She is the message.
In the Speechless vid, Bey plays the medium while portraying the message. But just what is that message that she...um...is? This was supposed to be a short piece (funny, right?), so I'll skip the blah-blah and let her image speak...
..For more depth, check my last few posts.
Defining Beyonce as both message and medium isn't really breaking new ground, but in the age of the internet, the effects of this symbiotic messaging deserve a second look. We all understand the idea of "role models" in pop culture; how a celebrity becomes the personification of certain concepts and ideals in the eyes of of the masses despite/due to what they portray in interviews or write in lyrics. I'm reminded of Disney's newest pedophilic pop princess, Miley Cyrus, and her alter-Ego, (how appropriate) Hannah Montana. While Miley's public image and lyrical content is technically quite wholesome, she relates a message with her private image that I wouldn't want my kids anywhere near. There was a time once when an artist could be praised for their shiny public performance while the dirty details of their private lives were disregarded completely. No more.
"...with TV and folk singing, thought and action are closer and social involvement is greater..."
I could write all day about such ridiculousness, but like McLuhan says, one must not become hypnotized by such well-crafted distractions. The overt messages (sex, sex, sex) have within them a pattern of meaning (divine cosmic union) displayed by the medium itself. The medium is the message, and the message of the medium is revealed by the pattern. Like the pattern, the medium is constantly evolving, and our understanding evolves along with it. By recognizing the evolution of medium, we can better control the growth of our global village, and spend less time hypnotized by the disarming intracacies of our pattern's message. The sacred feminine painted as a temple prostitute may shock our conditioned sensibilities, but a goddess is a goddess is a goddess, even when she is not a saint. Respect her accordingly.
Peace.
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