Comments on: (NOT REALLY A) WEEKEND ARTS SECTION: Manic Pixie Songwriting Dream Girls, A History in Youtube and Published Slur

By: Robin

Robin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:22:06 +0000

It really just means “girl?” I don’t hear anyone call Miley Cyrus or Avril Levigne “elfin” or, for that matter, “batshit insane.” Doesn’t it refer to a narrower stereotype of a certain type of girl?

By: Sady

Sady — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 14:58:56 +0000

@littlem: This is just a note to let you know that I’m holding off on that planned follow-up until I hear from you. BUT! I just realized that Tiger Beatdown is (hopefully) running some stuff on women and music next week; do you have a blog, or would you consider writing about the topic? You can reach me at tigerbeatdown@gmail.com.

By: dandelionspine

dandelionspine — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:40:54 +0000

Also, someone made a comment about Bowie being a quirky elfin personality, and I would definitely agree and think Bowie likely would too, and wear it with pride and a fantastic mullet.

By: dandelionspine

dandelionspine — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:39:40 +0000

This is a wonderful article, I should start off by saying so. And, well, I actually love the elfin, whimsical, fantastical, etc, just as much in literature and real-life as I do in music. I don’t think that they’re synonyms for “girl” at all! In fact, in saying so it likely makes it so, even if it wasn’t quite the case before hand. I’m a huge fan of all those artists listed, my first love was Tori Amos, then Kate Bush, then Joanna Newsom, and I feel like the fans of those folks really know what’s up with their music. I’d definitely call Joanna Newsom whimsical and elfin, psych folk, and what not, and it’s definitely a positive thing and evident in her lyrical style with the use of archaic and often whimsical language. Tori, mostly in her early years, was definitely eccentric, whimsical, and esoteric and she knew it (especially Boys for Pele days, my favorite album). And The Dreaming was my favorite by far of all of Kate Bush’s albums, mostly because it’s the strangest of lot. The stranger, more whimsical, spookier, etc it is, the higher the chances are that I’ll like it.

All in all, there are always stupid critics that write ridiculous commentaries on artists, but there are also really great articles out there too, and there’s also the artists themselves that often have something to say about it, and like I said, if you’re really a fan, you probably know their opinions and the changes from album to album. Also, these artists are all really intelligent, wonderful beings and likely don’t really care much about what critics say, and if so, they’ll make mention of it (like Tori’s “I’ll cut your dick of” comment).
I wouldn’t mind being lumped into those categories!

By: Sady

Sady — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:39:31 +0000

@Jill: This is like one of those romantic comedies where it turns out in the third act that Matthew is my soulmate, isn’t it?

Also, I loved that on Twitter he said I was living in a “magical fantasy world.” With JoNew and Kate Bush, apparently!

By: Jill

Jill — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:11:35 +0000

“I think I have a new least favorite person on the internet. Her name is Sady and she is very mean-spirited and rude.”

By: B Michael

B Michael — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:42:19 +0000

I’d like maybe to clarify my thinking on ths and say that I 100% agree with you as a person who is often othered, targeted in racial insult, and considers humanity to be essetially of a kind and not a club for people to be admitted into. My point in the comments-discussion is that I wrote a post about a very narrowly circumscribed subject, which has broader implications, which I welcome everyone else to draw out and expand on–which is something SD started. But, since I had a narrow focus and a finite amount of energy, I had to limit myself. Please stop back because I will in fact write more about the general ideas with different specifics. I understand the entire concept of focus is used to alienate and exclude quote distasteful subjects, and I am not engaged in he rhetoric of exclusion; what I’m for is tight thinking and deep desedimentation of harmful presuppositions, which affect everyone.

By: B Michael

B Michael — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:14:17 +0000

I welcome further breaking down. Please have at, since it entirely eludes me as to how slash why my essay should have countenanced the issues brought up and explicated in the linked to articles. Please keep in mind, I could really go for a spinach salad presently, and I failed to write about that, as well.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:11:54 +0000

@annaham oh yes, yes indeed. I spent some time trying to be reasonable in the comments of her blog in the first flush of the Evelyn Evelyn controversy (I’d thrown up my hands and stepped back some by the time the racism bit kicked in) and dear god it was horrifying. Somebody actually said to me that it’s your own fault if you’re offended because people choose their emotions, what the shit.

I mean, rationally I realise liking the same music as me doesn’t exempt people from being douchebags/trolls/WRONG WRONG WRONG, because there are douchebags/trolls/people who are spectacularly wrong everywhere. Still a bit of a shock.

Nevertheless, I make a point not to dehumanize people I disagree with, and because of the e-circles I move in it’s a lot easier to avoid Palmer’s more horrifying fans than it is to avoid people who think that if I don’t chime in to denounce her as a monster I must be a monster myself. (Not accusing anyone here of that, that’s somewhat further up the scale.) Perspective: it’s tricky.

By: Sady

Sady — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:18:13 +0000

@matthew: Okay, Matthew. It’s clear that it’s sooooo harrrrrrrrrrrd for you when ladies disagree with your bullshit (but how could we POSSIBLY have a problem with music critics re-phrasing press kits instead of coming up with original and descriptive phrases? Writering is HARD, everybody, and if writers are expected to be ORIGINAL on top of everything else… anarchy! Sheer anarchy). It’s clear that it’s hard on you to the extent that you have written an entire blog post, on your blog, about not liking it when the editors and comment moderators of a site do, you know, COMMENT MODERATION and presume positions of greater authority than yourself. It’s clear, basically, that you expect the ladies to receive your Very Important Musical Opinions about whether women’s music is worth anything, and to receive them with enthusiasm, and not to challenge you or do anything other than giggle and say, “oh, matthew, you are sooooo right.”

So, I have a solution. I banned you! Now you don’t ever have to comment on Feministe, and suffer the resultant trauma, ever again.