[lbo-talk] abortion poll

Dennis Claxton ddclaxton at earthlink.net
Mon Mar 12 10:55:37 PDT 2007


Chris wrote:


>The song is "Bodies."

Right. Thanks.


>Actually I think being anti-abortion is a lot more
>"punk" than being pro-abortion in the current environment.

The article I referred to shows how Rotten takes on multiple voices to talk about one story of abortion:


>In "Bodies" there is none of the goodhearted
>family humor about the turmoil an unplanned
>pregnancy causes, as in the Irish movie The
>Snapper. Instead, Pistol Johnny takes an ugly
>turn, cursing the world and its cruelties and expediencies.
>
>French feminist Ginette Paris has written of
>"the sacrament of abortion", turning a very
>difficult yet necessary event into a holy moment
>of sacrifice for the greater good of a household
>with only planned, wanted children. This concept
>­ that such an important choice would be
>sanctified and given meaning in any faith ­ resonates with me.
>
>The flipside to such magnanimous spirituality is
>Johnny's exasperated scapegoating confusion. He
>speaks first as the woman's confidant to a story
>he wishes he hadn't heard; then as the
>abortionist; now as a spectator to Pauline's
>fast operation on a steel table (as efficient as
>whatever quickies the band enjoyed with her);
>then back to his growling status as the woman's
>lover and impregnator, or perhaps even her angry
>father (think Danny Aiello in Madonna's "Papa
>Don't Preach" video); and most emphatically, the yowling embryo itself.
>
>Perhaps out of fear ­ I don't think it's out of
>respect ­ Pauline's voice is the one which
>Johnny and group never speak. By going so over
>the top, Johnny effectively lampoons all
>opposition as coming from a male mouth to
>Pauline's abortion decision. In England's
>Dreaming (St. Martin's, 1993) Jon Savage notes
>how "Bodies" has no fixed narrator, its story
>told in both third and first person, from "an
>almost schizoid viewpoint" that may even mirror
>troubled Pauline's. "Bodies" was the last song
>the Sex Pistols recorded in the studio, the only
>all-new song on Never Mind the Bollocks, written
>and assembled by the band in the studio, and
>inspired by their fan's letter and later
>in-person appearance in their lives. Propelled
>by his band's kick-ass beat, Johnny Rotten rages
>at this young woman's abuse, rages at sex and
>death and birth and even those stupid fucking
>fans seeking solace in sexual congress with and
>confession to a rock band. In those 3 minutes 02
>seconds he rages at everything else too. What
>are you rebelling against? Whaddya got?

http://bad.eserver.org/issues/2001/55/mosher.html



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