You know that it's the best of Cheapos

March 1, 2024 7:34 PM

Everyone's favorite queer YouTube Marxist media analyst Alexander Avila looks back at the career of recent Grammy winner Miley Cyrus and her alter egos Miley Stewart and Hannah Montana in his video Hannah Montana's Guide to Life Under Capitalism [1h26m] And there's a LOT he will pull out of this series, and I found it all worthwhile. One small note: automated voices of famous people are used to read passages of text, and it can be a bit jarring.
posted by hippybear (7 comments total)

Everyone's favorite queer YouTube Marxist media analyst

Funnily, I have a different one of thems, but I'll watch this later and subscribe to their channel!
posted by alex_skazat at 7:42 PM on March 1

huh, just watched 'the sanity clause' from 'A Night at the Opera'
posted by clavdivs at 7:43 PM on March 1

Everyone's favorite queer YouTube Marxist media analyst

Funnily, I have a different one of thems

Where have you gone "Tabby" Wynn? Our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you...
posted by Reverend John at 9:45 AM on March 2

Too Long; Watched Anyway

Didn't understand a lot of it. Don't really see how much "capitalism" has to do with it. I think we'd have a widely shared conceptual social framework which enforces norms but fails to fully capture reality and people's lived experiences under any economic or political system. The details might vary, but I suspect the mismatch between the simplifying assumptions and the details of reality always has and probably always will exist, and we will always have to grapple with what that means when we as individuals don't fit into society's expectations.

But maybe I missed the point. I don't have a graduate degree in philosophy and I don't think I've ever seen a full episode of "Hannah Montana".
posted by Reverend John at 2:23 PM on March 2

You might give him a second chance with his video "How WALL-E Made Me a Leftist" where he brings some of the same philosophical analysis, but with much more of a sense of humor and in a much shorter form.
posted by Reverend John at 3:01 PM on March 2

You know, on a little further reflection, while I think the "capitalism" thing is a red herring, I do think he makes some interesting points regarding both the difference between our framework for understanding the world and the world itself and our experiences in it, and being aware of that difference and its significance for our identity and how rigidly defined we should regard that, even to ourselves. The whole Miley-Hannah-Miley thing does highlight that and how society (which is maybe a better label than "capitalism", I'm not defending capitalism, I just don't think its the right label here) uses our perception of our own identity to try to control us and coerce us into certain roles and ways of behaving.

Well, whatever, I don't think I fully understood his whole argument. And it seems like I'm just mostly talking to myself in this post anyhow. :-)
posted by Reverend John at 8:37 AM on March 3

I'll have to rewatch the video to engage with you in a real way, but you aren't talking to yourself.
posted by hippybear at 9:03 AM on March 3