What we talked about in class today reminded me of this. I saw it on Facebook. I wonder, what does this say about the original Harlem Shake? Does it infer that the original isn't cool? What does that say about the Harlem culture? I Googled "Harlem Shaking Before It Was Cool" and found many similar memes, including this one:
What does this say about our culture? I highly doubt that Michael J Fox was doing the "Harlem Shake", since he has the medical condition. Personally, I think this is a slap in the face to Fox and the original Harlem Shake.
Wow, great finds Sara! I'm completely shocked at the Fox one, it is unbelievable how ignorant/emotionless/inconsiderate some can be...making a joke out of someone's medical condition. Secondly....what also got my attention was that- notice that neither of these have to do with the original/real Harlem Shake?
ReplyDeleteThis whole notion of taking something (whether it be, a dance, a fashion style, or other characteristic) reminds me of a discussion we had in my linguistics class, Language and Identity. We were discussing that we take certain words/slang/accents and use them to attempt to "be cool," and that cultures are constantly exchanging and changing certain characteristics of the way they are in order to be different or cool. Not sure if this makes much sense in comparison to this topic, but it came to mind. Anyways, thanks for sharing!