Out-Doing the Outsiders

Contrary to what the individualistic mindset might offer, asserting our own self-worth does not require a high school cafeteria or locker-lined hallway. Nestling in next to Americans’ favorite insults is the all-too encompassing term: “basic bitch”.

Participants in Instagram trends, such as “Women Crush Wednesday”, offenders of the messy bun hairdo and those who open the smart phone app, Snapchat, out of habit are all participants in the normative behaviors of the basic bitch. Spiteful from its origin, the term was born and bred in the environment of the modern epidemic—social media.

 

You might have uncovered a basic bitch if he/she has a Starbucks beverage in hand.

In the NY Mag article, “What Do You Really Mean When You Say ‘Basic Bitch’?, Norene Malone asserts that this derogative is exclusively reserved for the female victim.

“She runs her gel-manicured hands up and down the spine of female-centric popular culture of the last 15 years, and is satisfied with what she feels. She doesn’t, apparently, long for more.”

A great variation from the static archetype of the apron-clad housewife with hot curlers in her hair, the basic bitch embodies sexism of a contemporary kind. Though the basic bitch is normalized outside of the home, the sexist lashes of being deemed “basic” keep her within identifiable confines. What’s worse, is that those being called basic often are unaware of their overt segregation. Pushed out of ear’s reach, these women aren’t even aware of their exile to the bottom of society. Then again, life might not feel so incomplete at the bottom of her second Pumpkin Spice Latte of the day.

You might have uncovered a basic bitch if she can readily tell you her favorite emoji(s).

Taking the bliss out of simplicity, “the basic bitch conforms to the most bland and uncreative stereotypes of late capitalist femininity”, as stated in The American Reader.

Despite popular thought, it must be said that the male sex is not a shield of immunity to the basic bitch jabs. Men, too, can publicly partake in commonplace actions and be publicly ridiculed all the same. Gay men and the interests they adopt, are often viewed as overlapping with the null interests that comprise basic status.

American culture as a capitalistic incubus is not newsflash worthy. The social capital gained in ostracizing one another is certainly a staple of the 20^th century, however. From racial labels and warfare to the more petty discrimination of basics and elitists, privilege is a sought after commodity that Americans cannot buy and hang in their closets of consumerism. Instead, privilege in the 21^st century is perpetuated by the self-entitlement that results when helping to draw the scales of hierarchies that separate the worthy and the outcasts.

In a very repetitive way, the solitude you felt when scanning the rows of empty cafeteria seats and being met with gazes of disdain in those teenage years has taken new forms in your adult life. Let’s just hope your adult life interests and actions aren’t deemed too mundane, or you’ll forever wear your Ugg boots in isolation.

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A Bouffant Silhouette Behind the ‘Tonight Show' Desk

Spanning several decades and a slew of networks, the figures behind the wooden desks of late night television have touted raspy voices and well-kempt, combed-over hair while detailing the latest in news and popular culture for the masses. It was a silhouette solidified in American media facets—the informed, polished American man—but with her beehive hair and string of pearls, Joan Rivers became the first woman to break into the boy’s club of late night with just as much crass and intrigue as the rest.

In 1965, when Rivers first appeared on ‘The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson’, the American ideology of television front liners hardly included the female voice, let alone her opinion and individualism. In contemporary sociology, the term ‘ideology’ encompasses the images and standards to which individuals and groups make sense of what they encounter in a culture. What this indicated for Joan Rivers and her unabashed one-liners was that the American audience was left to re-think the ideology of the worthy faces of television, as Rivers would soon chalk 80 guest-hosting gigs next to the man she deemed her mentor, Johnny Carson, on ‘The Tonight Show’.

Joan Rivers and Johnny Carson during Rivers' second appearance on 'The Tonight Show' in the '60s.
Wenn Photos/ Newscom

"Johnny was the one person who said, 'Yes, she has talent; yes, she is funny.' He was the first person in power who respected what I was doing and realized what I could become,” Rivers said in an interview with People Magazine in 1991. What is important to note about the mentor-mentee relationship of Carsons’ and Rivers’ is not that this man and woman duo made late night television a laugh-loaded and honest viewing experience, but that Carson—the power holder for the show—had welcomed the change.

With a considerably modest beginning, the dirty dialogues from Rivers lent greatly to the ideology of able and quick-witted women. Rivers stunned Carson and the masses with innumerable insults and star-studded slurs in order to ultimately stir the ideology of hegemony in America.

Hegemony, which works to frame and promote the identities, values and normative actions of a culture’s power holders, is in itself an exclusive concept. Exclusivity, however, was not a deterrent for Joan Rivers and her pathway for a career in comedy. Rather, exclusivity of women was an opportunity she felt was befitting of her talent.

Now, the archetypal male in media and the hegemonic role in which he fits remains challenged by today’s femme forerunners. But if not for Rivers’ pioneering footsteps and cheeky choice for words, the non-gendered silhouette of media platforms today may not have transitioned into the state it has, though there are plenty more screens befitting of the modern maven—’60s bouffant not required.

Watch Joan Rivers on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, 1986

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Trying my own

...at a more formal environment for blogging (no offense to my love affair with Tumblr-- http://furledbrow.tumblr.com/).

 

 

In an attempt to render my own restless fingers syndrome, an utterly fictional illness that I've diagnosed myself with, I will start to use this page for text and photos regarding not-so-hard-hitting news items from popular culture, life in Colorado, and the running world.

Let's watch as I fumble with a couple of these initial posts, before shedding the training wheels. I hope you'll find something worthwhile, or non-sensical enough to intriuge you within these posts. If not, I won't be offended if you return to channel surfing between The Voice and that re-run of FRIENDS in which the gang plays a game of Thanksgiving football.

Cheers.