Part of what makes some romance heroes and heroines wonky is the way they treat their HEA (happily ever after). There can be a proposal, a marriage and 2.5 kids, a marriage and zero kids, a civil partnership, a we’ll-see-how-things-go. There can be an “I love you,” an “I adore you,” an “I have feelings for you,” an “I don’t ever want to be without you.” There needn’t be a picket fence involved when wonk’s the theme of the day, and I, as a reader, always find that refreshing…just so long as there is a happy ending of some sort.
One of my favorite songstresses today is the lesser-known Kimbra (who has recently achieved much fame for being featured in Gotye’s “Somebody I Used to Know”), and I really enjoy the subtext in her songs and accompanying videos—even the tunes seemingly about traditional HEAs. Her “Settle Down” is a prime example, and the visuals in this music vid are wonky, indeed.
Apologies for the short post, but I hope you enjoy Kimbra. [Her full-length debut album Vows drops on 22 May 2012.]
That is indeed wonked. Love the freaky subtext of the little girls (despite my fundamental disapproval of the hypersexualization of little girls for things like videos – I’ll give this one a pass because of all the irony and context and cultural commentary and whatnot).
Wow, interesting video! I agree with Del, the hypersexualized little girls get a pass here, because the video is so subversive. I love that their smallness and age doesn’t become completely apparent until they’re standing beside the (obviously very tiny) adult Kimbra, who suddenly looks like a giantess — which reinforces the whole visual theme about young girls’ marital aspirations, and the way they carry over into adulthood. And I loved the dresses on the girls in the dancing scene as well, and the choreography as they come in, because it’s very bridal, which made me think of the way we co-opt young girls as flower girls, just one more way we equate “happy female adulthood” with “heterosexual marriage.” Their white girly dresses throw Kimbra’s black dress and heavy makeup into a more mournful register.
And that’s a lot of thinkiness for one music video. Go, Kimbra!
(By the way, she looks a lot like I envision Cath in my head. Different hair, but that’s the body type and face. Interesting!)
Thanks for introducing me to a new artist. That video was amazing. Could write a sociology paper on the meaning there.
I have yet to include a wedding in a novel, but I do show their traditional HEA in the epilogue (which includes babies, retained passion, and contentment). Then again, I write historical.
I have a m/m romance plot in my head that I haven’t started in earnest because, in historical, there couldn’t be a HEA based on modern standards. Maybe I don’t need it. :)
Thanks for posting this. I’ve recently become obsessed with Gotya and by extension Kimbra, and want to hear more of her music. She’s got a great style.