The Jonas Brothers are a new Pop sensation, consisting of three brothers: Kevin, Joe, and Nick. I am not interested in the Jonas brothers themselves, (and if you are, excuse me) but their purity rings are something to take interest in. With a minister for a father, the Jonas brothers have put on purity rings as a promise to stay pure until marraige. The Jonas brothers agree not to fornicate, do drugs, drink alcohol, or mutilate cats (the last one I made up). I would say, "good for them!" but I think we should take time to think about this.
First, let's look at the binary oppositions. What seems to be the center of this ring situation is being pure. The binary oppositions would be what's pure and what's not pure. What seems to be associated with pure (in a Jonas Brothers, Christian sense) is: no fornication, drug free, alcohol free, no partying, no swearing, and so on. So what's considered not pure is: fornicating, using drugs, drinking alcohol, partying hard, and swearing non-stop.
Like a lot of bubble-gum boy bands before them (i.e. The Beatles, The New Kids On The Block, Backstreet Boys, Nsync, 98 Degrees, etc), there are sexual elements about these boy bands that earn them their popularity. A core part of Pop music is the selling of sex. Of course these boy bands don't admit it, but rather, they try and fight the accusations of selling sex. They do so by promoting their 'faith,' or by wearing purity rings. The Jonas Brothers' gesture of wearing purity rings is contradictory in itself, because the Jonas Brohers are a pop group.
I am aware that the purity rings are promises to not have premarraidal sex, and someone can argue that if they are not having premarraidal sex then they are doing fine. However, by suggesting the Jonas brothers are pure, suggests that they live up to all the other connotations of being pure: being humble, selfless, kind, innocent, etc. (Of course, these connotations of purity are influenced culturally by Western life, but the Jonas Brothers are from a Western upbringing). Again, the contradiction lies in what they are, a pop group. Pop music sells sex, boosts egos, and is anything but selfless. It is pop music's goal to sell, sell, sell, because it's a business. Therefore, the Jonas Brothers can be distributed with all the aspects of Pop music (sex, sex, sex), and still be accepted by parents because of their purity rings.
"The Boy Band Next Door." http://www.newsweek.com/id/105564. Newsweek
Check this video of the Jonas Brothers and their purity rings...it's, well...see for yourself:
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I think this is a great example of the binary opposition--similar to the exercise we did in class with the J-Lo video.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right on with the idea that as young pop stars they are expected to do the exact opposite of what a purity ring signifies. But at the same time I think that the idea of them being 'pure' will work to their advantage. People are basically over the crazy pop stars such as Brittney Spears...
It will be interesting to see if they can resist the pressures that come along with the pop star life!
Ha, this was a good example and I liked the vid. It reminded me of similar situation with a pop star--Jessica Simpson, who also had a minister for a dad (must be a trend), was all about her virginal purity before she got married but the images we got of her were all not-so-subtley underscored with sex. She's constantly busting out of her tops and has her Daisy Dukes frayed off to just below her butt. Likewise, in Britney's formative years she was hailed as being innocent and pure but then was wearing the kinky school girl uniform. And I am just realizing how much I think of Britney Spears when discussing theory...
ReplyDeleteJust like what H.B. says this is a good binary opposition a lot like the J-Lo video we watched. But what I challenge you to do is where are they being overtly sexual themselves while wearing their purity rings? Besides just the fact that they are in the Pop industry.
ReplyDeleteYou could look at their lyrics, their Rolling Stone Cover or their personal lives to find these oppositions. I think that if they just wore the rings and did not talk about them so much they would be fine and this opposition would be less but of course they probably started it then the media blew it out of proportion.