"Ricky Martin Ain't No Dixie Chick": Or, How We Can Learn A Few Things about Citizenship and Invisibility from Popular Culture
2012; University of North Carolina Press; Volume: 24; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1538-6279
AutoresCarmen R. Lugo‐Lugo, R. E. Carmen,
Tópico(s)Asian Culture and Media Studies
ResumoABSTRACTIn a San Juan, Puerto Rico, concert held in February 2007, pop singer Ricky Martin made an obscene gesture with his finger while singing a line about having his picture taken with President Bush. This essay uses backlash emanating from gesture to illustrate a two-part argument: (1) after September 11, 2001, citizenship (both political and cultural) became a tenuously tied to ideas about patriotism and non-immigrant status, and (2) patriotism was linked to an unyielding support for President Bush and his administration. We can see demarcations between notions of the citizen versus the other in United States mainstream discussions of finger incident. Responses to reports about Ricky Martin's gesture showed a distrust of his Puerto Rican body, which stemmed from a general distrust of deemed non- and un-American bodies. The essay outlines a specific relationship between social narratives, popular culture, and post-9/11 constructions of citizenship. [Key words: Ricky Martin, citizenship, colonialism, popular culture, Dixie Chicks, (un)Americanness]The big bill dead for now. Some are saying Republicans didn't really want this bill because it's really more useful for them to have a wedge issue of illegal aliens, same they had gay marriage in 2004.That poor Ricky Martin. He just can't catch a break.-bill maher. quoted in daniel kurtzman's (2008) immigration jokesThe pride of Ricky's star persona based on fact that a certain packaging of Puerto Rican performative talent can be competitive in marketplace and able to integrate internal colonies to metropolitan-and global-circuits of accumulation without need to alter current political status or assimilate to United States of America.-frances negron-muntaner (2004)Introduction: The Incident and Purpose of this EssayIn February 2007, on a warm Friday night, Ricky Martin gave a two-hour concert in San Juan, Puerto Rico. According to local press, concert was an average Ricky Martin show, nothing all that remarkable, with one particular exception: while singing song Asignatura Pendiente, an indulgent song about perils of fame and draining anguish of having too much money and material possessions, usually well-behaved Martin proceeded to make an obscene gesture with his hand. But more than a random and momentary jump to wild side, hand gesture was strategically deployed during a specific line in song about having his picture taken with President Bush. To be more precise, Ricky Martin showed middle finger of his lefthand when he sang President Bush's last name.When studied in depth, reactions in mainstream United States to this seemingly trivial event support two-part argument of this essay: (1) after September 11, 2001, category American (including notions about citizenship- whether political or cultural) became a tenuous category tied to ideas about patriotism and non-immigrant status; and (2) patriotism was synonym with an unyielding support for President Bush and policies of his administration. In Containing (Un)American Bodies, Bloodsworth-Lugo and Lugo-Lugo argue that beginning with statement Either you are with us or you are with terrorists in wake of 9/11 attacks, administration of former President Bush reinvigorated a series of oppositional pairs through rhetorical means (2010: 1). Another important feature of Bush administration was consistent attempt to (re)construct notion of the or Americans, which, they argue is constructed in a unified way (2010: 19). Moreover, '[t]he people are taught to guard against what 'un-American,' while implicitly defining very categories 'American' and 'un-American' in process (2010: 19). This constant quest to articulate un-Americanness as something distinctly separate from Americanness, leads post-9/11 U. …
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