0:00 — in the Assembly chamber 0:37 — in the rotunda, a Democratic legislator slips on a pile of peace signs 1:14 — a woman has a dog in the Capitol, and the vibration is freaking her out 2:12 — our Assemblyman Brett Hulsey calls it the "Budget Despair Bill" 2:35 — "Oh, oh, freedom..." 3:16 — "Which door do I go out if I don't want to be replaced?" 4:06 — "Is there a door I can go out where someone else won't come in because I went out?" 4:35 — boombox duct taped to a stand made of cross-country skis 5:06 — Meade inquires about a child labeled "planted troublemaker" 5:21 — folkie guy plays "When the Ship Comes In" 6:26 — the folkie switches to rap 7:50 — "I'll be growin' food with all my friends and we'll be livin' on a big farm somewhere."
I watched the video "Head of the State" because the Times sent me there, and now — in addition to fighting nausea — I'm marveling at the embarrassing writing made possible by the newspaper's perversely politically correct need to appreciate rap music and culture:
It’s first-rate parody, and also untested waters. Mr. Obama was a favorite of comedians even before he was elected president, but typically his stiffness and aloofness are their targets. In reimagining the President as an off-duty, fun-chasing tough guy, Baracka Flacka Flames is a different proposition.
On the one hand, it’s witty and incisive parody, as fluent in Mr. Obama’s tics as in hip-hop manners. The clip was filmed in front of an abandoned house in South Central Los Angeles and echoes the video of Waka Flocka Flame’s original song.
As well, it’s seemingly an acknowledgment by the filmmakers that racial stereotypes still shape how some people perceive the first couple, and that many divergent stripes of blackness can be collapsed into one idea.
Certainly, the artists are working the same theme of the proximity of inappropriate pants to the plane upon which the pants-wearer is standing. But I find The Green Brothers' complaint — "The General's song have the same intent, idea and in part the same message" — unpersuasive, though I appreciate the subtlety of "in part."
Surely, the part of the message that is the simple disapproval of giant, saggy pants is the same, but other than that, Platt heads straight for mockery aimed at the pride of the individual. The Green Brothers are imploring young men to become upstanding members of the community, with pants-improvement being merely the beginning or the symbol of an extensive self-betterment project that ought to be undertaken not for the psychological boon to the individual but for the benefit of society.
Platt is an excitable old guy squealing with comic outrage: "You're looking like a fool with your pants on the ground." The Green Brothers, by contrast, sound more like community leaders the public school brought in to lecture to the kids in a musical style the authorities think might reach them about the importance of taking responsibility in all aspects of life to send a message to others about how to be a good role model in the community. The Green Brothers mean well and have come to help, while Larry Platt is mad and venting.
In short, Platt wins in the battle of the pants songs. (And I'm not talking about copyright law. You can't copyright ideas, and even if you could, how could anyone claim to have originated the idea of disapproving of oversized pants?) Platt is more entertaining because he's all about expressing himself, whereas The Green Brothers are earnestly trying to tell other people what to do. And Platt's concern is the dignity of the individual, whereas The Green Brothers want the individual to assume the proper role for the good of the whole.
If this were politics — and it kind of is — we'd characterize Platt as right-wing and The Green Brothers as left-wing. The Green Brothers are kind of Obama, while Platt is McCain.
