stereotypes

It’s Mr. Dressup, Stay Classy (Halloween)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

When most people think of Halloween, they think of trick or treating, costumes parties, parades, bobbing for apples, carving pumpkins, pranks, haunted houses, lots of monster related activities, and in my case, horror movie marathons as a teenager.

But the thing is that Halloween has history reaching back almost two thousand years. Many believe that it originated with the ancient festival of Samhain, something the Celts practiced every November 1st to help ward off ghosts and other spirits. They would dress up in costumes and light bonfires to achieve the proper ritual.

It wasn’t until the eighth century or so that the Catholic Church decided to change November 1st into a day to honour saints, effectively known as All Saints Day, and it even took on some of the elements of Samhain. Which, a lot of Christian holidays have been prone to do. Incorporate a pagan holiday into its fold, to help the people digest the practice better. But that’s something I could spend more than a whole post unto itself on, so we’ll move on, for now.

With that change over, the preceding night became All Hallows Eve and it was celebrated as such until the Reformation in the sixteenth century.

All Hallows Eve-olution

With the puritanical element introduced, the theology of All Hallows Eve was redefined and the ghosts came to represent evil spirits. After all, many Protestants believe that there was no purgatory, only Heaven and Hell, thusly spirits were demons and incredibly threatening.

As people immigrated to North America in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, the Irish and Scottish peoples brought their version of Halloween with them, watering it down and assimilating it into the mainstream of secular holidays.

Because of this practice, people focused instead on the symbols and rituals as acts of entertainment, maintaining the elements of fear and acknowledgment of the unknown. When the age of adulthood shifted from 13 to 18, more observances shifted towards children and their development, and thus costuming, craft, and activities became a celebration for them.

Let’s be clear for a second, my dear sweet treats, costuming eventually became the focal point and with that shift towards creativity, the tone of the event shifted to one of creativity and inclusion. It’s kind of amazing when you think about it. Out of the unknown and fear developed an event that celebrates the supernatural.

Which is why you probably shouldn’t dress in racist attire. Yeah, that’s right you thought this was gonna be a informative post, but I twisted it around on ya.

I’m not going to wax a ton of poetic on this but consider avoiding the following before you decided to embark on a party or three this weekend.

  1. Turning a racial stereotype into a costume
  2. Hyper-sexualization of women and hyper-sexualization of male genitals
  3. Mockery of a group of people or individuals

pumkin-bikini-worst-halloween-costumes

There is absolutely no reason to offend or induce harm on others during this holidays, no one wins when you do it, and in fact it reduces individuals into debased identities which they are forced to accept or react violently against. It’s super uncool and perpetuate the flaws of culture without helping us to move forward. But that’s just a theory after all.

Enjoy your weekend friends, and I’ll be back on Sunday with something rather stimulating.

Tim!

Mattersville (Savages Adore Life review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Ah anarchist symbolism, you just get me don’t you? It’s funny that a movement so strongly associated with breaking down institutions and challenging globalization can be identified by large “A” and black flag symbols, as well as the raised fist.

By having these symbols, the movement struggles with the mire of misrepresentation and stereotyping.

Opposing the idea that any one person or thing can represent us all is not a new one, for sure, but punk rock still feels like the music which most strongly associated with the importance of questioning ideals and self-governing societies.

But what does love got to do with it?

 

 

 

Savages – Adore Life
released January 22, 2016
******* 7/10

savages

Do you folks ever buy an album solely based off of a single review you read, without doing any other research and trusting entirely in the efforts of that professional critic?

Well I can admit that I sometimes fall into that routine when I get super comfortable with someone. But these days I’m not sure if you can simply trust the opinion of one person to make all of your media consuming decisions.

And that’s what led me to do a review on Savages.

You see, Savages are an English post-punk band with roots in noise rock, and they’ve been around for about 4 years, with their 2013 debut album Silence Yourself boosting their attention into the UK charts and beyond.

As someone with heavy roots in the punk movement myself, listening to this album often feels like coming home and rightly so. With influences like Joy Division, Siouxsie Sioux, PiL, and Bauhaus, its hard not to see the dark and gloomy in Savages sophmore album. But that doesn’t mean it’s garbage and should be discarded like so much trash.

This is art rock with a heavy heart. Somewhere in between the post-modern notes and the torch songs, we find a band that is stirred by the mere notion of life.

“Is it human to adore life?” is repeated over and over in the eponymous album track. How can something so humble turn into an act of rebellion and affirmation? Drenched in confidence and love all at the same time? That’s the power of punk rock.

Manifestos and uniforms aren’t new to the genre, and political leanings often get rocked (pun intended) with every song, but Savages aren’t doing anything new here.

They’re free radicals in a soup of free radicals.

What makes Savages interesting is that this is human life in all of it’s complexity. What so many genres forget to do in their music is explore and be unpolished. Hell, none of us are. Sure we can get dressed up and go dancing, but we still like to wear sweatpants and dig into terrible microwaveable cuisine too.

When you listen to bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, My Chemical Romance, and Death From Above 1979, you’re not doing it to numb the pain, no you want to embrace it and say to the world, fuck you, I’m still here and you can’t get rid of me that easily.

Tracks you will want to watch out for are definitely Adore and The Answer, not because these are the best songs on the record, but because it gives you a better taste for the intensity of the foursome.

The songs are overall an elemental and unquestioning force for love, but I think Sad Person, The Answer, and T.I.W.Y.G. are the ones to pay attention to.

 

 

 

That there is the rub – love doesn’t need to be left out of punk rock considerations, but because love is just as complex as freedom, punk rockers don’t often touch the subject with much emotional vulnerability.

Well Savages are not afraid to jump directly into the water and challenge these issues either. And for that reason alone, you should give this record a listen.

That’s all I have to say about this foursome, but I hope you have a marvellous Monday my friends, and I’ll see you tomorrow with another movie that features an “M” word.

Tim!