Core Response #4

Dyer's article on "Judy Garland and gay men" seemed particularly relevant post-Rufus Wainwright's "Judy at Carnegie Hall" concerts that were played to sold-out audiences around the country. Gay culture's affection for Garland is still alive and well. Examining Garland in this way makes me think (for the first time, really) that artists may have a kind of responsibility in their image. Though Garland clearly wasn't thinking about the "homosexual demographic" when she sang her songs with such passion and lived her life under such turmoil, she became a figure that symbolized a very important movement. When interviewed by the New York Times in 2006, Wainwright attributed Garland's magnetism to the fact that "when she sings, she is beautiful without actually being beautiful...she believes in it and you believe in it..." Certainly, in the past (and in most cases presently), the gay community is not celebrated within American society. The U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is just one example of homosexuality being viewed as something "ugly" or "repulsive." Garland's ability to overcome the fact that she was not considered a physically beautiful woman within the context of celebrity at the time and her ability to not only sing beautifully, but enrapture audiences with her dynamic, emotional performances serves as an example of the beauty of talent and (without sounding too cheesy) of what is within.

The article also made me think of contemporary figures through which groups of people find solidarity, release, or encouragement. I have always been intrigued by the music choices of the boys with whom I went to high school. These (predominantly) wealthy Caucasians would drive around suburban Minneapolis in their expensive, foreign cars listening to Tupac and DMX. At the time, I found it sort of awkwardly offensive. I had friends who had known only prosperity and comfort that could rap every word of a popular song about the struggle of inner-city life. I never understood the connection. Recently, I was talking to a professor when this topic arose and he attributed the sensation to the fact that at it's base, rap music addresses feelings of anger, resentment toward "higher powers," and confusion as to how to "pursue happiness" in a country that misrepresents its "dream." Though I'm still not entirely comfortable with the glamourization of "thug life" exhibited by rappers like Nelly, this conversation made me realize in some ways, those boys in my high school were facing what for them was an adolescent crisis that involved anger, a feeling of misplacement, and a confusion regarding their identities. In my opinion, there is a similarity between this solidarity and that between the gay community and Judy Garland.