UDA: THE RULES THAT SOME OF US MUST BREAK:

HOMOSEXUALITY AS SUBVERSION  OF GENDER STEREOTYPES IN BRITISH POP SONGS OF THE 80s di Monica Manzolillo  

 

INTRODUCTION

Homosexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by sexual desire or romantic love exclusively, or almost exclusively, for people who are identified as being of the same sex. Because it subverts cultural and gender stereotypes, it is often subject to every sort of prejudice and discrimination.

In my personal teaching experience I have often noticed that students have a phobic attitude towards the topic and this is why I have decided to introduce a series of activities in the curricula in order to sensitize them and help them gain the necessary background information to consider diversity as a richness and not as something to be feared.

These activities range from adequate space given to homosexual writers in English literature classes to listening and analysing songs on this theme. It is worth stressing that students find the last one extremely pleasant and motivating and this is very useful to create a relaxed atmosphere.

Doing this, students widen their cultural horizons and get a deeper knowledge of the English literature and language. The organisation of lessons obviously include a brainstorming phase, listening procedures, a close text analysis as well as follow up activities such as personal response, researches on the historical and cultural context and creative writing.

This article presents what often comes out from a close study on the theme of homosexuality as a subversion of gender stereotypes in British pop songs of the 80s, with reference to two cult lyrics of the period: What Makes a Man a Man (1988) by Marc Almond[1] and Small Town Boy (1984) by Bronski Beat[2].

It is divided into two sections analysing a song each and ends with a conclusion, which is not meant to say the last word on the topic but to propose new suggestions and insights to be developed by students, followed by a bibliography. The script of the songs is given in appendix and their audio versions should be carefully listened to because music sets the atmosphere and thus helps to create the final meaning.

What Makes a Man a Man (1988) by Marc Almond

Translated into English from C. Aznavour’s Comme ils dissent, this song presents a narrative structure since it tells the story of one day in the life of a homosexual boy. At the same time, it is also the story of his life since the use of present simple conveys the idea of actions and situations which happen repeatedly.

The lyric is divided into three stanzas ending with a refrain which is also the title of the song. What Makes a Man a Man contains a formal repetition of the word “man” used in its double meaning of “male human being” and “person, mankind” thus questioning the idea of sexual identity but also the concept of humanity, kind-heartedness, solidarity among living creatures.

In the first 12 lines, the speaking voice describes his daily routine. He lives with his mother but there is no evidence whether she accepts and understands her son’s homosexuality or not. All we know is that they live alone into a “big apartment” (lines 1-2) so we can guess that maybe she is discriminated as well since nobody ever visit them. Probably the boy is not free to talk to her openly and in fact the sense of loneliness and frustration is conveyed through the recurrent use of adjectives such as “alone” (line 1), sentences like “I have to keep me company” (line 4) and the reference to the presence of “two dogs, a cat, a parakeet, some plants and flowers” (lines 5-6). Moreover, the general climate of sadness is vehicled by the slow rhythm of the music.

His activities during the day are those traditionally attributed to women such as shopping, cooking and washing up since he helps his mother in housekeeping even though he claims to do these things better than her: “Though mum does too, I must admit I do it better” (lines 11-12).

The rest of the stanza describes his activities during the night when he acts as a transvestite “impersonating every star” (line 14) into a striptease show. Just like during the day, also in the night he is not free to be himself since he must fit the role generally attributed to gays and do what people expect from him. This is conveyed through the use of expressions such as “my masquerade” (line 51) and “I am quite deceiving” (line 15).

In the second stanza he describes what he does after the show when he has something to eat with his friends and talks to them freely because they are the only persons who can understand him. These pleasant and completely innocent meetings among friends are always ruined by people who judge and make fun of them because of their “women-like” hair style or gossipy behaviour. In this stanza in fact we find an opposition between the personal pronoun “we” used to refer to the company of friends and “them” used to refer to the people accusing and discriminating as exemplified below:

WE

THEY

Have a bite to eat and conversation

Spoil our games

Love to empty out our hearts

Find fault

Spread some gossip just for fun

Call names

Let our hair down

Draw attention to themselves at the expense of someone else

Mock ourselves

Make fun of how I talk

Have to pay for having fun and being gay

Imitate the way I walk

It is worth stressing that in the sentence “So many times we have to pay for having fun and being gay” (lines 38-39) the word “gay” is used in its double meaning of “merry, joyous or gad” and “homosexual”.[3] This pun or play on words suggests that happiness is denied to homosexuals but it also stresses the hypocrisy of society since the people judging them are maybe the same who watch the night show.

The third and final stanza presents the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist when he goes to bed and before sleeping he can finally be free to give voice to his own desire of happiness. He is in love but he knows that he can only experience this feeling in his imagination since the kind of relationship he is longing for won’t be accepted by society.

The main opposition here is between dreams, associated with “search of love and happiness” (line 61), and reality, associated with “masquerade” (line 51). The dream-like dimension is explored through the use of verbs such as “I think of” (line 54), “I fantasize” (line 55), the word “dreams” repeated twice (line 56 and line 58). The clash between the real and the ideal produces again a feeling of frustration and loneliness and in fact the protagonist considers himself to be “alone and friendless” (line 53). At the same time, by the end of the lyric he starts asking himself a series of questions but ends stating that his life “is not a crime” (line 69) and that people have no rights to judge him “nobody has the right to be the judge of what is right for me”(lines 72-73). For this reason the song ends with the profound awareness to have no faults and that, on the contrary, society has all the responsibilities for marginalizing people on the basis of sexual orientation: “I know my life is not a crime, I am just a victim of my time” (lines 69-70).

Small Town Boy (1984) by Bronski Beat

Small Town Boy is a much shorter lyric centred on the theme of escape from a social environment and family atmosphere which discriminate diversity. Thus the title also alludes, on a connotative level, to the narrow-mindedness and provinciality of mentality. The desire to escape is conveyed in the refrain through the obsessive repetition of the verbs “run away” and “turn away” and is also emphasized by the musical “crescendo”.

The first and the last stanza present the image of a boy standing on a platform in a railway station on a windy and rainy morning carrying only a little black suitcase which could stand for his unpleasant memories. The sense of solitude is conveyed thorough the use of adjectives such as “alone” (lines 4 and 32), “sad” (lines 6 and 34) and “lonely” (lines 6 and 34).

In the second stanza, we find a reference to the mother who nevertheless “will never understand” (line 7) the reasons why he is leaving home and is unable to love him for what he is “ the love you need will never be found at home” (lines 11-12).

Stanzas 3 and 4 present a flashback which is made evident through the shifting from the present simple and future simple of the former stanzas to the use of past simple. Past images present an opposition between the boy and the social environment through the use of the personal pronouns you/they and refer to discrimination: “pushed around and kicked around” (line15), “you were the one that they’d talk about round town” (lines 17-18), “they’d hurt to make you cry” (line 21).

The sense of humiliation and frustration produces internal tears “you never cried to them just to your soul” (lines 24-25) but also provoke anger and the desire to go far away.

CONCLUSION

The two songs analyzed here belong to the same historical period and present the theme of male homosexuality. It is in fact during the 80s that gay issues start being openly talked about, partly as a reaction to the climate of anxiety and incertitude of the Thatcher era, partly as a consequence of the cultural revolution of ’68. It is worth stressing that female homosexuality is very rarely present not only in pop music but also in arts and medias in general and only recently more attention has been given to the topic.

The two lyrics both revolve around a series of dichotomies such as we/they, dream/reality, happiness/loneliness, acceptance/escape and both make use of rhetorical devices such as metaphors or puns. While Almond’s song laments the lack of freedom for homosexuals but ultimately accepts a reality in which everybody stands “defenceless” (line 71) and the only means of evasion is through dreams, Bronki Beat present the story of a boy who finds the courage to go away and cuts the bonds with a situation which is unbearable to him. We could wonder where his voyage could take him since escape is not a resolution of the problem as long as society stays the same.[4]

It is also interesting to notice that in both songs we find a reference to the mother which may not be casual since Freudian and post-Freudian theories stressed that male homosexuality may derive from the relationship with the mother.[5]

However, these two songs and their authors have had the great merit of introducing the theme of homosexuality to a wide audience and, through the mixture of lyrics and music, presented their point of view, which is often a story of loneliness and discrimination. 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Frith S., Music for pleasure. Essays in the sociology of pop, Cambridge, Polity, 1988.
Frith S., Performing rites. On the value of pop music, Cambridge (Ma), Harvard University Press, 1996.
King J., The Bronski Beat, London, Paperback, 1996.
Longhurst B., Popular music and society, Cambridge, Polity, 1995.
Reed J., Marc Almond: The Last Star, London, Paperback, 1999.
Sibilla G., I linguaggi della musica pop, Milano, Bompiani, 2003.

 

 

APPENDIX 1

WHAT MAKES A MAN A MAN

My mum and I we live alone

A great apartment is our home

In fair home towers

I have to keep me company

Two dogs, a cat, a parakeet

Some plants and flowers

I help my mother with the chores

I wash, she dries, I do the floors

We work together

I shop and cook and sew a bit

Though mum does too I must admit

I do it better

At night I work in a strange bar

Impersonating every star

I'm quite deceiving

The customers come in with doubt

And wonder what I'm all about

But leave believing

I do a very special show

Where I am nude from head to toe

After stripteasing

Each night the men look so surprised

I change my sex before their eyes

Tell me if you can

What makes a man a man

At 3 o'clock or so I meet

With friends to have a bite to eat

And conversation

We love to empty out our hearts

With every subject from the arts

To liberation

We love to pull apart someone

And spread some gossip just for fun

Or start a rumour

We let our hair down, so to speak

And mock ourselves with tongue-in-cheek

And inside humour

So many times we have to pay

For having fun and being gay

It's not amusing

There's always those that spoil our games

By finding fault and calling names

Always accusing

They draw attention to themselves

At the expense of someone else

It's so confusing

Yet they make fun of how I talk

And imitate the way I walk

Tell me if you can

What makes a man a man

My masquerade comes to an end

And I go home to bed again

Alone and friendless

I close my eyes, I think of him

I fantasise what might have been

My dreams are endless

We love each other but it seems

The love is only in my dreams

It's so one sided

But in this life I must confess

The search for love and happiness

Is unrequited

I ask myself what I have got

Of what I am and what I'm not

What have I given

The answers come from those who make

The rules that some of us must break

Just to keep living

I know my life is not a crime

I'm just a victim of my time

I stand defenceless

Nobody has the right to be

The judge of what is right for me

Tell me if you can

What make a man a man

Tell me if you can

Tell me if you can

Tell me if you can

What makes a man a man

APPENDIX 2

SMALL TOWN BOY

You leave in the morning

With everything you own

In a little black case

Alone on a platform

The wind and the rain

On a sad and lonely face

Mother will never understand

Why you had to leave

But the answers you seek

Will never be found at home

The love that you need

Will never be found at home

Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away.

Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away.

Pushed around and kicked around

Always a lonely boy

You were the one

That they’d talk about around town

As they put you down

And as hard as they would try

They’d hurt to make you cry

But you never cried to them

Just to your soul

No you never cried to them

Just to your soul

Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away.

Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away.

Cry , boy, cry...

You leave in the morning

With everything you own

In a little black case

Alone on a platform

The wind and the rain

On a sad and lonely face

Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away.