Wilde Ideologies reborn in Twisted Animalistic Pop Culture

[Brasil]

[font=Times New Roman][size=3]Alex[/size][/font]
[font=Times New Roman][size=3]Oscar Wilde and the English Decadence[/size][/font]
[font=Times New Roman][size=3]Dr. Lutz[/size][/font]
[font=Times New Roman][size=3]Final Paper[/size][/font]

[center][font=Times New Roman][size=3]?Wilde Ideologies reborn in Twisted Animalistic Pop Culture?[/size][/font][/center]


[font=Times New Roman][size=3]Their messages are identical. The desire to rebel, the disgust for morality, and the disrespect for authority figures are all qualities of three key figures in the history of societal revolution. While John ?Bluto? Blutarsky of ?Animal House? and Dee Snider of Twisted Sister may have never been aware of Oscar Wilde, they both incorporate Wilde?s beliefs of freedom of expression, his desire to rebel against an oppressive moralistic authority, and his dedication to acting for himself.[/size][/font]

[font=Times New Roman][size=3]Wilde reveled in Dandyism. He embraced the idea of dressing provocatively to achieve fame. For Wilde, the more bizarre the clothing, the better. He sought to violate the Victorian dress code by whatever means necessary. Of course, considering that the Victorian dress code was strictly gray or black clothing and required that a person be modestly dressed, it seems that the slightest variation would prove threatening to the social order. Wilde went above and beyond a mere variation, as he dressed in velvet suits and knee britches, and often carried a green carnation in protest of the particulars of the Victorian emphasis on the natural world.[/size][/font]

[font=Times New Roman][size=3]He also flaunted a deviant sexuality. Though, today, some of us may not consider homosexuality to be a deviant sexuality, the Victorians felt otherwise. They knew of the homosexual population, but had a policy that can be described as ?behind closed doors.? The Victorians did not want individuals to express themselves, because it would become a threat to social order. They may not have had a problem with deviant sexuality when it was subdued, but when people like Oscar Wilde began broadcasting it in the public eye, the Victorians reacted. In Wilde?s later years, he was jailed under the charge of sodomy.[/size][/font]

[font=Times New Roman][size=3]While ?Animal House? is about a fraternity, the Deltas, rebelling against the Dean and the Omegas, a ?proper? fraternity, the true star of the movie is Bluto. We might consider him to be the icon of ?Animal House,? because he illustrates precisely what the Deltas represent. He is similar to Wilde in this sense, as Wilde became the figurehead of the Decadent Movement and came to epitomize the attitude and beliefs of the movement.[/size][/font]

[font=Times New Roman][size=3]Bluto?s distaste for proper fashion sense can be seen throughout the majority of the movie. He often appears in a grungy pair of sweatpants and a stained sweater. Occasionally he is wearing an ugly leather jacket and a pair of dress slacks. For the most part, however, his attire and attitude is a direct assault on the prim and proper Omegas, in the food fight scene, in particular.[/size][/font]

[font=Times New Roman][size=3]In the beginning of the scene, we follow Bluto, again dressed in a grungy and ripped sweat suit, as he peruses the selections of sandwiches, deserts and fruits, grabbing anything that suits him, sometimes shoving an entire cheeseburger into his mouth. He takes a bite of a sandwich, wraps it back up, and puts it back onto the shelves. At one point, he picks up a plate of Jello. He furtively glances around, raising his left eyebrow, and then proceeds to slurp the Jello. We wonder, though, based on his behavior later in the scene, if someone had been watching him, would he have stopped himself from this public display of crudeness? Given Bluto?s character, I think he would have enjoyed the act even more had he an audience. This desire to shock echoes Wilde?s sentiments regarding public (mis)behavior.[/size][/font]

[font=Times New Roman][size=3]Later, when he forces himself onto the Omega?s lunch table, he makes sure to be at his worst behavior. Before he even sits down, he makes a point of grabbing at the Omega?s trays and dumping their lunches onto his. When one Omega asks him if he has any respect for himself, Bluto responds by picking up more Jello and squeezing it into his mouth. This elicits a reaction from Babs, who exclaims, ?That boy is a P-I-G, pig!? This only further encourages Bluto. As he grabs a fried banana ball, he says, ?See if you can guess what I am now.? He proceeds to shove the food into his mouth, work it into his cheeks, and then smashes it out with his fists. ?I?m a zit, get it?? This action is heavily dependent on the image and with the emotion elicited. Bluto has little purpose other than to shock the Omegas, which is very similar to Wilde?s affection for public naughtiness. After he ?pops? himself, Bluto finds himself confronted by a Greg, an Omega brother. Greg is furious, ready to initiate a physical conflict.[/size][/font]

[font=Times New Roman][size=3]Bluto welcomes the clash, of course, because out of the fight he will be able to engage in more absurd and outlandish behavior, catching the attention of Doug Neidermeyer and his ROTC ?Hitler youth.? Neidermeyer attempts to establish order again by restraining Bluto, but due to his neck brace from an accident on his horse, he loses his balance and falls to the floor. At this point, the ROTC begins chasing after Bluto, and running over Neidermeyer. This can be viewed as an example of undermining an authority figure, and crushing them in the process, quite literally, in ?Animal House.?[/size][/font]

[font=Times New Roman][size=3]Neidermeyer is considered a primary authoritarian antagonist in ?Animal House,? and because of the infamy of his role, he has been featured in the Twisted Sister video for ?We?re Not Gonna Take It,? actually reprising his role in spirit. In the video, he plays an overbearing father who finds himself the target of retaliation from the oppressed. His son transforms into Dee Snider in the opening minutes of the video, and then proceeds to wreak havoc on the established order. Snider drags the father down the stairs, converts his family, and continues to threaten his way of life, sending him through walls, windows, etc. Through this action, the importance of ousting authority in order to establish a freer society is stressed. These actions are very extreme, in fact, further impressing the need for such social change.[/size][/font]

[font=Times New Roman][size=3]Further, Snider?s look (the make-up, the glam rock, and the outrageous style) is essentially a modernized Dandyism. Dandyism was an aesthetic feature that emphasized clothing that shocked, or garnered attention. Wilde adhered to Dandyism, dressing in velvet suits, knee britches, and so forth. Snider adopts this idea of the non-conventional attire in order to attract a larger audience so that the band?s message may be heard.[/size][/font]

[font=Times New Roman][size=3]While there is certainly a heavy focus on the image of the band, their lyrics are also noteworthy in comparing Twisted Sister to the Decadent Movement. The lyrics to ?We?re Not Gonna Take It,? for example, echo the sentiments and themes of the Decadence.[/size][/font]

[size=3][font=Times New Roman]Particular verses of interest include, ?[color=black]We'll fight the powers that be just/Don't pick our destiny 'cause/You don't know us, you don't belong.? Oscar Wilde and the Decadents were indeed fighting the powers that be, because they wanted to be in control of their own lives. While the Decadents may have desired a total freedom more suited to their adrenaline junkie lifestyles, they still craved freedom that they would be unable to possess if they did not overthrow the Victorian order.[/color][/font][/size]

[size=3][font=Times New Roman]The pretentiousness and heavy-handed Victorian nature would have enraged anyone, and the Decadents were no different. They viewed the Victorians as a stifling and pompous social control that believed in absolute morality. To the Victorians, anything without morals was wrong, but the Decadents thought of this as wholly arrogant. This is echoed by Twisted Sister, ?[color=black]Oh you're so condescending/Your gall is neverending/We don't want nothin', not a thing from you.?[/color][/font][/size]

[size=3][font=Times New Roman]When we read of the Victorian literature of the time, we find it incredibly boorish and rather difficult to digest. It is so heavy-handed and overly dramatic that we cannot help but find ourselves numbed by it. It is trite and boring, and offers a very tired worldview. It is completely understandable that the Decadents were revolted by this, and the Decadent view of the life and literature of the Victorians is again repeated, ?[color=black]Your life is trite and jaded/Boring and confiscated/If that's your best, your best won't do.?[/color][/font][/size]

[size=3][font=Times New Roman]The final verse in the song, ?[color=black]No, we ain't gonna take it/Oh you and your uniform/We're not gonna take it anymore,? attacks the dress code of the societal structure. Twisted Sister did not appreciate the insistence that everyone dress the same, and their image reflects this. Glam rock is a style of music that concentrates a significant focus on the image of the band. A glam rock band often rejects the conventional norms of dress, covering themselves in leather, velvet, and sometimes even a jumpsuit, as worn in recent years by The Darkness. The Victorian dress code can certainly be seen as a uniform. It was strictly black or gray, and very modest. Very little space was given for variation of any type, and this social requirement was something that Wilde fought against.[/color][/font][/size]

[font=Times New Roman][size=3]It is always fascinating to see the influence that older authors and public figures have. While there are the obvious effects from prominent civil rights leaders and presidents, we often overlook the invaluable contributions of people like Oscar Wilde. Thankfully, his message is not forgotten, as it still lives on under the guise of a lewd college student like Bluto, or a lunatic lead singer of an 80s glam rock band like Dee Snider.[/size][/font]
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[font=Times New Roman][size=3]Obviously, I don't take this paper too seriously. I was having fun with it, especially with the comparison. I don't believe too greatly in what my thesis is. I mean, I honestly don't think that Dee Snider or John Landis had Oscar Wilde in mind specifically when doing what they were doing, but whether or not they were thinking Wilde, Wilde's message and ideologies of a freer society are very apparent in the works.[/size][/font]