...dreadlocks, facial hair, veganism, vegetarianism, starving artists, tree-huggers, activists, philanthropists, people who care about shit, smoke a lot o’ weed, no ‘real’ job, hippies...In order to deal with these concepts in further detail, I've decided to examine the 'folk' stereotype through 4 major characteristics that may be true, untrue, or yet to be proven:
1. They're hairy
beards, dreads, and overall unkemptness
Whether it’s a ducktail, a French fork, or just a luscious goatee, the folk beard is by no means a misconception. Cat Stevens, Bon Iver, Devendra Banhart, William Fitzsimmons and Iron & Wine’s Samuel Beam are all fans of the fuzzy chin.
I'm by no means adverse to facial hair, but I find it fascinating that the feature is being used as a calling card for fans. An example of this was an online article by The Independent entitled Fleet Foxes: Are a hairy bunch of young folk-rockers inventing a new sound of Seattle?
Maybe there are more people out there who share this interest than I originally thought?
Dreadlocks, despite having implicit spiritual and religious connotations at some point, have been utilized by the majority as fashionable homage to either Bob Marley or the 60s. Fans of the hairstyle include the previously-reviewed Dallas Frasca, and until recently, Ani DiFranco, and John Butler. Personally, I’m a bit skeptical about this craze since watching a fellow student get her hair formed into dreadlocks for the price of $400.
2. Vegan/Vegetarian
you better learn how to cook for yourself!
I'm sure I'm not the only one being constantly guilt-tripped by Peta.org during my online escapades. Common statements include, "meat is murder", "fish are friends, not food", "I am not a nugget" and the like. I'm anaemic. I'm not going to sustain myself on spinach and iron folate tablets. I need my meat.
Overall, this craze of animal libertarianism has become implicit in the folk musician community.
- Ringo Starr = vego
- John Lennon = vego
- Joan Baez (folk singer and musician) = vego
- Zooey Deschanel (collaborated with M. Ward as She & Him) = vego
- Eddie Vedder (frontman for Pearl Jam who recorded a recent folk-influenced soundtrack for Into the Wild) = vego
- Pretty much all the members of The Levellers are vegetarians, and the band has long been seen as 'archetypal vegan crusties'
- Axella Johanesson (American-born folk musician) = vego
- James Yorkston (Scottish folk musician) = vegan
- Michael Franti (from Spearhead) = vegan
P.P.S. tofu tastes like shaving foam mixed with solidified gelatin. Without the flavour.
3. Activists/philanthropists/tree-huggers/people who care about shit
charity today is what product endorsement was in the 90s
- John Butler or the ‘million dollar hippie’ as they call him in Freemantle has raised money for a number of causes
- Joan Baez has had her say on the social or political progress of everything
- Michael Franti is known for his opinions on peace and social justice issues
- Jewel Kilcher is a renowned singer-songwriter and philanthropist since 1995
4. Smoke a lot o' weed
puff the magic dragon
So I was intrigued by an article I found mainly due to the title: The content and validity of music-genre stereotypes among college students. In evaluating and reflecting on the statistics gathered, the authors maintained that,
“for the folk-music stereotype, agreement was
lowest for personality but highest for drug preferences”
(Rentfrow, P and Gosling, S 2007: 9).
So with these investigations in mind, maybe it’s true what they say? Are these some of the various conceptions or misconceptions of the folk musician?As constantly reiterated by many who debate the issues and origins of stereotypes - they had to come from somewhere. Breaking away from the predetermined constructions of stereotypes seems to unacceptable for some, and that's where socio-cultural systems become negative constructs.
No comments:
Post a Comment