California Gurls

California Gurls (feat... von Katy Perry...
© Katy Perry featuring Sno...-Videos bei Clipfish

By Ricarda Schmiede & Linda Mohaupt

Born in Santa Barbara, California, the singer and songwriter Katy Perry contributed with her song California Gurls to the unbroken myth of California. However, the lyrics as well as the music video leave the audience with a little smile on their face over-emphasizing California as the dreamland.

Perry characterizes the stereotypical Californian girls as 'undeniable fine, fresh, fierce, [...] toned, tanned, fit, and ready' and 'west-coast represent'. They are 'unforgettable' with 'sun-kissed skin, so hot'. The phrase 'These are the girls I love the most' even seems to lift them up to the most desirable creatures on the planet.

According to the song California is 'a place where the grass is really greener' and it offers the assumption that 'there must be somethin’ in the water', implying that it is naturally outstanding. Moreover, the song defines California as a state where 'summertime is everyday'. In the end the lyrics create the impression that California is inhabited only by pretty girls and that it is just a fun place where people spend their lives in an endless vacation 'sippin' gin and juice', 'layin' underneath the palm trees' and have 'sex on the beach'.

California Gurls thus becomes one of manifold pieces of popular culture that depict California as a lush place that's naturally sexier and more fun than anywhere else in the world. But not only does it seem to advertise and uphold the everlasting, glowing Californian promise, it also makes the listener feel invited by claiming: "Once you party with us you'll be falling in love" as if California (and its 'gurls') were already waiting for the implied listener to come and join them. Thus, the song characterizes California as a naturally magnificent place full of gorgeous, open-minded, happy people who bid whoever wants to come welcome, in short: as paradise.

This notion is taken to extremes in the California Gurls music video which depicts California as a gigantic candy store named 'Candyfornia' in a rather childlike (but at the same time highly sexualized) manner. This can be read critically as a hint towards the mainly hedonistic opportunities that people so naively (i.e. without any awareness of or interest in the great dangers inherent in both California's natural condition and its lifestyle) strive for when heading towards California. In that setting, the plot is being depicted as a board game within which Snoop Dogg embodies a stereotypical sugardaddy-gambler who holds the dice and makes the California Gurls his tokens. This could on the one hand be interpreted as referencing the tradition of gambling dating back in Californian cultural history to the California Gold Rush and persisting ( in varied forms, of course) to the present day. On the other hand it's worth paying attention to what happens in the course of the game: the Katy Perry - token has to fullfill the task of releasing the 'Queens of Candyfornia' who she finds trapped along the way. On that route she has to face and master some severe challenges, such as having to traverse a sinister - looking gorge on a candy cane. Another scene shows Perry trying to climb to the sky. In the process of choosing a candy cane to hold on to most of them turn out to be snakes. Can this be read as a rather bashful hint at the hidden dangers, the dark side of the Candystore California appears to be but isn't? Probably. But just like in California's public perception this notion gets quickly wiped away: Candy - Perry overcomes all troubles and ends up proning naked on a pink cotton candy cloud, smiling her Californian toothpaste grin, flirting with the camera (resp. the viewer) as she praises California and its 'gurls', not being concerned with anything but their "daisy dukes" and "bikinis on top" anymore. After all, the Candyfornia Queens emancipate from the sugardaddy and the rules of his game and end up having fun, looking lush and happy on the beach. Thus, the video seems to fail at - if intended - making the viewer aware of the flipside of the shiny, glittering facade of the concept of California as being promoted widely. If criticism is implied, it is immediately enfeebled by distracting the viewer through its spectacular images and catchy tune. In a way one could argue, though, that this again works analogous to the widespread (maybe even deliberate) denial of the dark aspects of the Californian dreamland - such as the often experienced cruel denial of its promise, the partly inhumane parts of its history or its natural desasters.

After all, one could conclude that Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg's California Gurls affiliates itself to the tradition of advertising the utopia of California and its lifestyle (as indicated by the framing Beach Boys quotes) but, especially the video, can also be interpreted, if looked at very closely, as cultural criticism in so far as it does point at problematic cultural phenomena such as gambling, cautiously hints at the misleading Californian promise and at the same time demonstrates how easily, broadly and willingly this all is being ignored.

Phantom Planet & Otis Redding

By Reingard Hagemann & Pia Koffinke

Following, we will introduce you to two famous songs that were written by artists who themselves have experienced living in and dreaming of California. We chose these songs because each of them has very different views on California. Whereas ´Phantom Planet` have a rather positive point of view, Otis Redding is wondering whether his long journey to California was worth all the trouble.

Phantom Planet, “California“
We've been on the run
Driving in the sun
Looking out for number one
California here we come
Right back where we started from

Hustlers grab your guns
Your shadow weighs a ton
Driving down the 101
California here we come
Right back where we started from

California!
Here we come!

On the stereo
Listen as we go
Nothing's gonna stop me now
California here we come
Right back where we started from
Pedal to the floor
Thinkin' of the roar
Gotta get us to the show
California here we come
Right back where we started from
California!
Here we come!

“Here we come!“ might have been chosen for being the motto of thousands of people in the 19th century, moving to California for gold digging, farming, or just being there. As much as they had wanted to start a new life in California, the boys from ´Phantom Planet`, the band which sings this song, only want to get back home, as for they come from Los Angeles, California.
Many Germans know this song because of the television series ´O.C., California`, showing the fictitious life of four young people, spending their last year at school, and experiencing all the problems life, parents, and even California can keep them busy.

For anyone who has never visited California, so far, but has seen the pictures on tv, it must be THE place on earth to be…and to stay forever…if you were able to ignore the earthquakes. But, I bet you will, because: “it’s Californiaaaaaa”! This state offers sunshine, jobs, wealth, a lot of free time and, obviously, a lifestyle worth striving for?! ´Phantom Planet` also see California as the “number one”, and you get the impression they are really looking forward to driving back to “where they started from”. It seems like that they can’t wait to arrive - they are full of anticipation.
And who can blame them for hurrying? “Pedal to the floor” doesn’t only mean they are driving home. It means that they are driving as fast as they can to get where they belong. Because in contrary to all the gold diggers, who came to California, their bags filled with hopes and dreams, facing an uncertain future, ´Phantom Planet` know what they can expect from California. They grew up with what California can offer. And for them this American state turned out to be their fortune, in terms of being successful and making a lot of money.

´Phantom Planet` and their song are one example for the way in which California is able to fulfill expectations and to be the centre of  someone`s life. But as much as they long for California, they also mention that going back to CA means to go back “to the show”. They slightly give a hint to what California can also be: superficial, crowded, and false. It is that much a show that it nearly perfectly promises to become a star to everyone who wants to be. That this doesn’t always work we don’t have to tell you! ;)

Otis Redding, “Sitting on the dock of the bay”
Sittin' in the mornin' sun
I'll be sittin' when the evenin' come
Watching the ships roll in
And then I watch 'em roll away again, yeah

I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Ooo, I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time

I left my home in Georgia
Headed for the 'Frisco bay
'Cause I've had nothing to live for
And look like nothin's gonna come my way

So I'm just gonna sit on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Ooo, I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time

Look like nothing's gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I can't do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I'll remain the same, yes

Sittin' here resting my bones
And this loneliness won't leave me alone
It's two thousand miles I roamed
Just to make this dock my home

Now, I'm just gonna sit at the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Oooo-wee, sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time

Otis Redding’s song “Sitting on the dock of the bay” portrays the other side of the coin, namely, that sometimes all the expectations and dreams somebody has, of how life in California might be, can turn out to be just an illusion.
The first verse of Redding’s song seems to be about a vacation, spending the time relaxing, ‘sitting in the morning sun, watching the ships roll in and then watch’em roll away again’.

One has the impression, that he traveled from Georgia to San Francisco Bay with his hopes raised high, full of expectations to find something worth living for, that he had not been able to discover at home. Arriving in California he slowly realizes that those dreams and hopes cannot be fulfilled and that moving to a new place doesn’t necessarily lead to a new life: ‘looks like nothing’s gonna change.’

‘I can’t do what ten people tell me to do, so I guess I’ll remain the same.’ Additionally to his unfulfilled ideas he had of living in the state where dreams come true, he is being confronted with too many opportunities, which he could use in order to change his life. It’s such an excessive demand, he cannot handle: ‘So I guess I’ll remain the same.’

On one hand, he seems to be questioning his decision of traveling all the way to California without anything having changed. He is asking himself, whether it was worth all the effort, when he both is still feeling lonely and hasn’t found anything worth living for yet. On the other hand, it doesn’t look like as if he wants to change his current situation, one senses a kind of calmness in his voice, him living from day to day and not carrying too much for the future that will eventually come.

The personal story behind this song is very interesting, because Otis Redding himself is originally from Georgia and came to California to go on tour and to record his music. Besides, he wrote the first verse of this song on a houseboat at Waldo Point in Sausalito, California.

At last we want to mention a song called “We don’t need another song about California”, performed by the band ´My Chemical Romance`. It’s exactly about what it says in the title - it reduces California and uncovers its airy promises, which make California itself unimpressive, and songs about it unnecessary. The most interesting about the link underneath are the comments of some Californians. They totally agree with the content of the song. So, let’s ask ourselves: Why do ´all` people want to go to California, if even Californians don’t want to stay? Because it’s a myth and will always be one!

Ted Williams

By Chanel A. Ahmad, Matthias Phelps & Julius Wolf

Ted Williams was born on September, 22nd 1957 in Columbus, Ohio. He was adopted and never met his real parents. He first became interested in radio and being a DJ when he was 14. On a school trip to a radio station he discovered that a DJ, whom he listened to and still counts as the major inspiration to go into the radio business, who had a deep, smooth voice, was in fact a tiny and odd looking man. He realized that you don't need to be good looking to be on the radio. Ted Williams went on to become one of the major radio personalities in the 70's and 80's. “At the top of my game”, as Williams says, at age 26 his life turns for the worse. He is introduced to Crack and quickly becomes addicted. The first part of his life reads like the Californian dream, as all the promises of a rich easy life are laid out before him. Get rich quick, enjoy these riches and be someone. The second part is a play by play how to lose it all. Due to his addiction he loses his career, his family and later, in 1994, his house. The last 17 years Williams has lived in crack houses, slept in cars, he broke into, tents or just on the street. He went in and out of jail for theft, forgery and other misdemeanors and prostituted his girlfriend in order to satisfy his addiction. At last he was begging for spare change on the ramp of the I-72 in Columbus with a sign advertising his great voice.

We have chosen him as our topic, because his whole life is a perfect example for the making and the fall of a star close to Hollywood proportions. One specific incident in his life, we think, relates a great deal to the ideas we have when we speak of California or especially Hollywood. Though he never spent much time in Hollywood or even lived in California, you could assume upon hearing his story, that it took place there.

On the January, 3rd 2011 the Columbus Dispatch published an interview with Williams which overnight, went viral and made him famous again. The clip shows Dispatch reporter Doral Chenoweth approaching Williams in his car.  - “Work for your dollar” - And Williams does. He amazes the reporter with a perfectly conducted radio promo. A short interview with Williams explaining where it went wrong for him concludes the short video.

Within a week Williams's video is clicked over three million times and has been seen over 25 million times until today. Ted Williams, the crack addict, the homeless man with the “Golden Voice” is rediscovered. Two days after the video hit the internet he is offered a home and a voice over job by the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA basketball team. Kraft Food instantly made him their new voice in a TV commercial. A fundraiser website was set up to support him and he was interviewed by Today and The Early Show all within 5 days. A highly addicted homeless man is catapulted into the glamorous world of the show business again after 27 years. The public is ecstatic as Williams is hauled from one talk show to the next to tell his story.

On the 12th of January, only a week after the video he went to California and talked to Dr. Phil, admitting to drink heavily again. Since then Ted Williams has broken his sobriety twice and went back to rehab. He walked out on his first try on fighting his addiction in a rehab center in Texas. He went, following Dr. Phil's advice, but left after only eight days feeling that his problems were being used to make money by. The support stops. The embracing viewers turn on Williams as if he betrayed each of them personally. Every mood change and every slip up has been closely watched and met with instant condemnation. Although he services the public just by being the observable underdog, he is only tolerated as long as he is on someone's idea of right behavior. If the standards are not met he is likely  to be treated as the “Outcasts of Poker Flats” (Brett Harte).

Ted Williams is not the typical star. But he will be around as long as there is money to be made. In May 2012 the book „A Golden Voice: How Faith, Hard Work, and Humility Brought Me from the Streets to Salvation“ was released, which he has co-written. The book covers the bad years of his life. It is not far-fetched that a follow up about his rise from the ashes is yet to come. As long as there are people looking there will be stories like Ted Williams's. Even if the worship like interest for a person roots in a fluff piece of one minute and thirty-eight seconds, which sole purpose in the first place was to feed the vain concern in other people's misfortune.

For Ted Williams this could turn out great and a Hollywood like society could give him a life in wealth and fame after all. Or it could take it away and bring him to his knees again, just as easily.

This Ain't California

By Carsten Riepel & Borys Zil´berman

The documentary movie “This Ain`t California shows the friendship between three young teenagers that are part of the skateboard subculture movement in the GDR in 1981 and gives excess into the fact that there has been certain niches in which for a period of time also the Californian dream, and that promise, that is carried with it, came true to a certain extent for the adolescents which were part of that Skateboard subculture. The waves of that dream even made it into the minds of the young adults despite the constant control from the authority of the cruel political system and that of the state security (Stasi), which wanted to extinguish, uproot or block every seed of otherness or movement  against the GDR. Even this very system could not withstand that golden bright shimmering Californian Dream.

A group of teenagers driving over the Alexanderplatz 1981 in Berlin, where you could not even buy a Banana or and Orange or a 501 Jeans in a common supermarket, where a skateboard was indeed something very different. This difference was the elixir to overcome this dullness and boredom the young adults were confronted with in a bleak communistic daily life. This was also a vivid and big contrast to the young adults, which joined the FDJ (Free German Youth) which were trained to strengthen the communistic GDR and fight against the imperialistic system e.g. of the BRD. Skateboarding was definitely the sensation in those days and showed that there was also something else besides communism and this had given a certain image of freedom, fascination and otherness to the teenagers. It is also important to take into consideration that this otherness, was not easy to live out under the GDR regime because of the state security. The state security had its constant supervision, over everything, which was not in line with the ideological concept of the state system, and if something did not stood in conformity with it, you were faced with severe consequences such as loosing your work or educational opportunities .

What the three could not recognize is that not everything what glitters is gold. This means that the California Dream didn´t exist for everyone, though after years of hearing about sunshine, beaches, mountains and movie stars can´t help, but inspire them at first to turn their own life into something greater than just communism, but are not able to see the other side of it, because of their imprisonment in the GDR . Californian´s were not under the rule of dictatorship., like the teenagers in our film, but like in every other country young adults are facing their problems too, especially immigrants. If we look back in history, California was the last hope for many immigrants who came there from all over the world, but for many of them their dreams were not fulfilled. If we take for example the Chinese, then we see it very clearly. Their immigration began during the Gold Rush and continued with large labor projects, such as the building of the First Transcontinental Railroad to San Francisco. Already to this point of time one can see how the Chinese were abused, though tolerated because they provided essential tax revenue, which helped to fill the fiscal gap of California, and were very cheap laborers. By 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed. Many families were faced with a dilemma if they should stay in the USA alone and face discrimination or go back to China to their families. This was the breakdown of the California Dream for them. As described in the Sui Sin Far story fathers and mothers were ready to give up everything they possessed in order to bring their child back because they believed in the US government system. Lae Choo and Hom Hing believed so deeply in this system that they gave their Little One into the hands of officers thinking that he will be back tomorrow.

Another example of exclusion happened with American Japanese people who were sent to camps during the WWII after the Pearl Harbor Attack (7th December 1941) although those Japanese people lived in California already for decades. Many families  structures split up during those camp internments, which was absolute against their traditional customs and had its affect for generations to come as well. The whole situation is very well described in the book from Jeanne Wakatsuki and John D. Houston “Farewell to Manzanar”. Manzanar was one of ten camps where over 110.000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned. The prisoners lived there very poorly and many died in those camps because of the bad conditions there.

All in all, we can see that the life in California, as history shows, was, and is not that nice and wonderful and free even if one thinks of it while being far away in the GDR.

Antoine de Saint Exupéry once said in his famous work called “The Little Prince”: “No one is ever satisfied where he is”. This means that people in GDR wanted to seek for happiness, as in the film “This ain´t California”, because they were so maltreated by the government. The fact is that no matter where you live, you want to see other countries and experience different things because you think that there is a better life forgetting that every country has its own problems.

But the movie “This ain´t no California depicts very well how young adults escape a cruel daily communistic routine and transform their life’s into their own Californian Dream.

Californiaddiction

An essay based on the song ‘Hotel California’ by The Eagles

By Romy Neise & Yannick Seeger

‘It is our interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles’ said The Eagles front singer Don Henley when he was asked about their song ‘Hotel California’. Due to the song’s high amount of symbolism and imagery many people have interpreted it in many different ways since it was published in 1977. In ‘Hotel California’ the state of California is used as a metaphor in order to describe a lifestyle that embraces a rollercoaster of different feelings. However, it is a kind of life difficult to escape from. Some people have said that even though California was chosen to portray this particular way of life, any other state could have been used for the song in order to realize this intention. They claimed that this way of life has been lived all over the United States at that time and that the choice of California was due it being the place where film (Hollywood) and music industry developed.

However, we are of a different opinion and think that there is a certain reason why California is the setting for such a story that is told in the song. We claim that California is the right place to depict a life which constantly shifts between good and evil. The contradictions and extreme opposites of such a life are very well represented in every single area in California.

In the following analysis we would like to show this duality with the help of lines in the song which stood out to us in particular. In every line we saw a close connection to certain themes which we have discussed so far at the seminar. In the first stanza the speaker describes that he is forced to stay the night at a place that could be ‘heaven or hell’. The words could be no more oppositional. That the place is either heaven or hell implies that there is nothing in between. The duality expressed in this line can be referred to many aspects we have already dealt with at the seminar – natural catastrophes vs. a landscape full of resources and flourishing nature, welcoming migrant workers vs. using them as scapegoats during a time of crisis. This reference might seem a little too far fetched. Nevertheless, the phrase ‘heaven or hell’ can be applied to many areas in Californian life, may it be the high life of The Eagles or the life of the nature. After the speaker recognized this duality immediately, he is being deluded into staying at the place by the mystical ‘she’. The listener can soon figure that this woman plays a significant role in the song. The question ‘who or what is ’she’?’ slowly emerges. We think that ‘she’ is the embodiment of seduction. It is striking that the speaker planned to stop at the place for only one night, however, ‘she’ represents everything to him that makes California so appealing. ‘She’ is the California promise. ‘The hotel’ becomes a metaphor for a place which constantly feels like a holiday. A hotel with ‘Plenty of room’ supports the notion of a California that welcomes everybody at any time. The speaker looses himself in this place where he lives a cheerful and reckless life. It seems as if the promise of leisure and excitement can be fulfilled – people are pretty and the summer sweat is sweet. In the end, however, the speaker becomes an inmate of the California prison on his own demand (‘We are all just prisoners here, of our own device’). He is trapped by the seduction California at first presented to him and now he is not capable of letting the place behind. The very last lines of the song ‘You can check-out any time you like, But you can never leave!’ show that he might be able to leave temporarily but there will always be something that pulls him back as if there is magic involved. Even if he would leave California physically, he would stay there mentally. Once he has lived there he has consumed California like a drug and is now addicted to it. Every drug has its downside, the detoxification. People know about it and yet they still consume them, because the good side, the trip, seems to outweigh the terrible feeling after the trip. People know that consuming drugs regularly will turn them into addicts. People still do it! This kind of mind game can be compared to life in California. People know about the earthquakes, they know about the risks of gambling and they know that racial discrimination is part of the everyday life, yet there seems to be something that keeps them there …the trip of the Californian life?

What's Going on Here?

Hello and welcome to the ongoing class blog for the course "California in the American Imagination" at the Universität Potsdam. The goal of this blog is to present the work of my students, who will spend Winter Semester 2012 studying California literature and culture with me. In order to enrich and expand our class discussions, I have assigned my students to look to popular culture for representations of California and California-ness and to present them here. I have asked them to "curate" these artifacts of popular culture: alongside the item itself -- be it song, film, advertisement, etc. -- they are to explain the ideas about California that they see reflected in the artifact and then to discuss how these ideas relate to the larger themes of our course.

I look forward to what is to come in the ensuing weeks and months. One of the great pleasures of teaching for me has always been how much I can also learn from my students, and I have high hopes that this project will offer me new glimpses into the the notions of California and its culture that circulate around the world.

Enjoy!