Take back control
Take back control
Take back control
Take back control Jesca Hoop – Animal Kingdom Chaotic
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In the British 2016 EU referendum, “let’s take back control” was the most resonant slogan of the successful Vote Leave campaign. This spoke to people who were worried the EU was gaining too much control over British law.
Hoop plays off this slogan, but is speaking to a more fundamental loss of control. We rely on machines for all sorts of basic processes: they control traffic, open doors, and send and receive information. While they make a lot of things easier, we’ve raged at red lights, at doors that don’t recognise our key card, and at computers that don’t work properly, and wished we could just do what we want without the machine getting in our way.
But your computer says no
You say it's impossible
But your dumb computer says no Jesca Hoop – Animal Kingdom Chaotic
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“Computer says no” was the catchphrase of Carol Beer, played by David Walliams on BBC sketch show Little Britain.
It’s now widely used whenever someone says they can’t help you because the computer won’t let them. This is very frustrating, particularly when the real problem is that they’re just not thinking about how they could get it done without the computer.
I'm going to spend the next four years getting outraged Frank Turner – The Sand in the Gears
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A change is going to come, come, come:
The only thing to choose is to decide which way you're going to jump Frank Turner – The Sand in the Gears
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The other says "If I believed in God, I'd send you there."
But either way we make some space
In the hell that we create
On both sides Father John Misty – Two Wildly Different Perspectives
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And hand out prizes when someone patents a cure Father John Misty – Pure Comedy
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Like, say, that half of us are periodically iron deficient
So somebody's gotta go kill something while I look after the kids
I'd do it myself, but what, are you gonna to get this thing its milk?
He says as soon as he gets back from the hunt, we can switch
It's hard not to fall in love with something so helpless
Ladies, I hope we don't end up regretting this Father John Misty – Pure Comedy
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Our brains are way too big for our mothers' hips
And so nature, she devised this alternative:
We emerge half-formed and hope whoever greets us on the other end
Is kind enough to fill us in
And babies, that's pretty much how it's been ever since Father John Misty – Pure Comedy
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People (usually straight men) whose sexual or romantic advances get turned down sometimes complain about being in the “friendzone” which is often criticised for perpetuating male entitlement. If your friends don’t want to date you or have sex with you, they’re not being unfair, you just want different things.
One of the stereotypes associated with the “nice guys” who complain about getting stuck in the friendzone is that they play a lot of video games. With over 30 million units sold, Diablo III is one of the bestselling video games of all time.
By channeling the stereotype of a sexless gamer, Thundercat self-deprecatingly pokes fun at the idea of the “friendzone.”
While it might be poking fun at it, Thundercat is an avid gamer and his affinity for Diablo and Mortal Kombat are sincere. In that context, I don’t know that I could definitively say that this is critical.
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This is more of a vent than a caricature. Being so close yet so far away is pretty painful, and this is him just going all out “this is bullshit”.
This perspective seems incomplete to me. At first acquaintance maybe a person doesn’t want an intimate relationship, but is actively exploring compatability. There is nothing disingenious about that.
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@Vesuvius Okay, I’ll give editing it a shot. I think all we really have to do is qualify the language a bit.
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@Reedpanda Just to be clear when I say “I dunno” I really mean it, if you feel confident about it then edit this bad boy.
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He’s clearly actually talking about the friendzone in an earnest way, not satirical…
I think the friend zone thing is being looked at more negatively than it should or as if Thundercat is trying to satirize when I think he’s just speaking to a situation men really go through. Doesn’t mean it’s all about sex either. Being a man and having to woo women and failing is not fun and is frustrating, as he portrays it in the song. Videogames are a fun way to spend your time without the rejection and he isn’t making fun of them either, he plays them.
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@Vesuvius Lol, fair enough. I think Thundercat definitely could be using self-deprecating humor here to poke fun at himself and his love life. But I’m not sure he’s using the gamer stereotype to mock friend zones as your final paragraph suggests. Who knows? Maybe Thundercat genuinely likes video games. I mean dude’s stage name is inspired from an 80’s cartoon.
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@Reedpanda Ah I dunno man, surely nobody’s gonna have this little self awareness? I mean there are loads of songs about unrequited love but most of them don’t say things like “don’t call me unless you plan on giving me some”.
Bear in mind that in that interview he talks about having sex with his cat.
Whilst complaining about the “friendzone” can come across as self-entitled, that doesn’t mean that unrequited feelings aren’t frustrating and aren’t worth writing a song about in literal terms. Also, having unrequited feelings towards someone doesn’t mean you just want to have sex with them.
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@Vesuvius Just read this interview with Thundercat: “…what I say on songs is pretty literal.” I’m not so sure he is mocking the friend zone. Check out the interview and let me know what you think.