Moderator: Ambre Dromgoole, Cornell University
LaTasha Bundy, “The Whole Hood Watched Dragon Ball Z: Megan Thee Stallion, Anime, and Black Culture”
Megan Thee Stallion is the culmination of decades of the intermixing of East Asian and Black American cultures. Her use of specifically anime in her style and even cosplaying characters, has endeared her to fans of both hip-hop/rap and anime alike. Megan is not the first Black American super star to use East Asian and even specifically anime influences in her style and music. She comes from a long line of artists borrowing from East Asian culture (i.e. RZA, Kanye West, Thundercat, Lil Kim, and Nikki Manaj). She is however the most outspoken woman artist that exhibits “nerd culture” in both her music and her aesthetic.
Japanese artists have also benefitted from this relationship over the years. Anime like Cowboy Bebop, Lupin the Third, and Samurai Champloo use jazz music and hip hop as their backdrop to go with visuals that are seemingly irrelevant to the music. While all these anime end up a part of the zeitgeist, no show has the unanimity of Dragon Ball Z. The show was the biggest reason for the proliferation of anime in American culture at large, but more importantly Black Culture in America.
From Blaxploitation and Kung Fu, J. Dilla/Nujabesu, Black aesthetics in anime in Japan, Frieza calling Goku a “monkey” with a hard ‘R,’ and how a Black woman broke through the nerd fandom bubble and became a popular artist that specifically embraces what was once a niche interest. I would like to explore how we get to a figure like Megan Thee Stallion, who is uniquely positioned herself as the most famous vocal anime nerd in 2024.
Sean Davis, “Sounding Cool: The Aural Politics of Style in Video Games”
While the digital age may seem far removed from the era of James Dean, the specter of an aloof male in jeans and a leather jacket continues to haunt portrayals of so-called cool characters in film, television, and video games. Whereas the visual of coolness remains somewhat consistent in popular media, albeit with variations that reflect contemporaneous style and fashion, the sound of coolness continues to be elusive. This paper seeks to identify what, if any, the commonalities are among representations of implied cool characters in video games. The complex relationship between style, emotion, and gendered expression with depictions of coolness in game characters reveals multifaceted approaches to cool, ranging from the tongue-in-cheek critiques of game culture in Goichi Suda’s No More Heroes to the stereotypically standoffish attitude of Sonic in Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Using sociological and psychological conceptions of cool (Haynes, Brown, Frank) as a framework through which to apply semiotic and topical analyses (Tagg, Hatten, Monelle) to the music ascribed to cool characters in video games, I argue that portrayals of cool often emphasize masculinity, emotional avoidance, and aversion to authority by highlighting contextual cues in the music (genre or topical association, thematic development, character motif, etc.).
As Brown and Frank argue, coolness routinely assumes a predominantly masculine category determined in part by lack of emotional expression and perceived indifference in the face of challenges; however, when women are portrayed as cool, the expectation includes performance of male sexual fantasies (Brown 2021, Frank 1997). Using Sonic and Shadow from Sega’s Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, Travis Touchdown and Sylvia Christel from Grasshopper Manufacture Inc.’s No More Heroes, and Bayonetta from PlatinumGames’ eponymous title as examples, I will explore musical characterizations of cool as they relate to these parameters, engaging in either the subversion or fulfillment of cultural expectations.
Morgan Bates, “‘Is That My Camera?’: Voicing Camp on RuPaul’s ‘Snatch Game’”
Since its second season, RuPaul's Drag Race reality competition series has brought the practice of celebrity impersonation to the limelight in its seasonal, highly anticipated "Snatch Game" challenge. A parody of The Match Game, each contestant impersonates a celebrity with the goal of attaining the most laughs from RuPaul and the guest judges. These contestants are expected, if not required, to engage in camp aesthetics through volleyed jokes and cultural commentary. On All Stars Season 7, Jinkx Monsoon revitalizes camp by portraying and singing as Judy Garland. While Monsoon’s audience extends beyond the queer community, many of Monsoon’s jokes, vocal stylings, and gestures speak directly to a queer audience across generational and social divides, from Garland’s longtime fans to young Drag Race connoisseurs. Amidst corporatization of drag performance, Jinkx-as-“Judy” asserts her own power through camp performance designed specifically for her queer audience members.
In this paper, I position camp as an invariably queer artform, allowing members of the queer community to situate themselves in a heterosexist world. Reflecting upon Susan Sontag’s seminal essay “Notes On Camp” (1964), as well as writings by Newton (1972), Meyer (1994), and Ross (1999), I engage with Monsoon’s performance to showcase four foundational functions of camp as 1) queer code and social commentary, 2) an act of parody and failure, 3) a “time machine,” bridging the gaps between temporal spaces, and 4) a radical act of queer worldmaking. Further, I identify the complex web of vocal references from queer popular music that tie these purposes together, notably the reallocation of RuPaul’s house music and the Drag Race title sequence, as well as Monsoon’s “hauntological” play with vocal “Judy-isms.” Through camp, Monsoon serves far more than looks and jokes; she brings viewers into a world where queerness is understood amidst the constraints of capitalism and heterosexism.
Chris Molanphy, “Mad Men and the Forgotten ’60s”
How the most over-lionized decade in pop culture revealed its fundamental squareness on the charts—and how a 21st-century TV show depicted the decade’s music as it was actually experienced“Blowin’ in the Wind.” “A Change Is Gonna Come.” “For What It’s Worth.” “Purple Haze.” “Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud.“ “My Generation.” What do these ’60s anthems have in common? They came nowhere near the top of Billboard’s Hot 100.
Now here are some ’60s songs that did reach No. 1: “Stranger on the Shore.” “Telstar.” “Sukiyaki.” “Dominique.” “Love Is Blue.” “Harper Valley PTA.”
Incidentally, these chart-toppers also appeared on Mad Men, the 2007–15 premium TV show that depicted, over seven seasons, a stylish advertising agency plying its trade across the 1960s. As ring-a-ding cool as Mad Men was—from its fashions to its set design—the music that show creator Matthew Weiner chose as syncs schooled modern audiences on how square the ’60s really were.
Ten years after Mad Men completed its run, it remains the most accurate depiction in popular culture of the lived ’60s, especially as reflected through popular music. By portraying a team of Silent Generation and older adults selling the American dream back to their fellow Americans, Weiner was presenting the ’60s as they were actually experienced—not so much a hippie decade as a kitsch decade; less a sociopolitical watershed than a pop-culture curiosity shop.
In this paper, I will walk through categories of ’60s hits—from instrumentals to quirky novelties, easy listeners to deep cuts—and discuss not only the songs featured on Mad Men but other Hot 100 chart-toppers that defined the decade but are largely forgotten today.
