Growing older

Bluejuice, one of my favourite Australian bands (they’re very funky) released a new single this week called Act Yr Age.  I watched it because I thought, “Hey, awesome… new song by cool band” and then continued watching it wondering what the fuck I’d just seen.  My initial reaction was revulsion, because that’s what we’re trained to see in this clip, that’s what society tells us is revolting and wrong and icky, and that’s what I want to explore.  (Clip and the rest under the jump)

Ok, so here is the clip:

*Clip description at bottom.  Sadly no lyrics yet published

Did that make you feel uncomfortable?  Does the idea of a grandmother and a 25-30 year old man snogging make you feel uncomfortable?

I love what Bluejuice have done here.  I don’t know if it was their intent to push the envelope and make a clip which many people would feel is rather controversial/gross, but I am seriously impressed.  It was only the next day when I was thinking about the clip that I looked at my reaction and why I had reacted the way I did (it was a whole lot of “EW!!”).

When was the last time a woman like the grandmother was viewed as a sexual being?  As someone who might be interested in sex, and younger men, and not someone who had ceased all sexual function?  When was the last time was it acceptable that younger men be attracted to significantly older women (even the whole “cougar” thing suggests that that is not acceptable)?

It’s interesting that when the genders are reversed, and you have a young woman interested in an older man, that it is deemed to be more socially acceptable, because men never lose interest in sex, and women, clearly, aren’t interested in sex at all.

I applaud Bluejuice for making this clip and challenging what people think as acceptable relationships and acceptable people to be attracted to.  I love that someone has made a clip where an older woman was a sexual being, and that it was also a larger woman.

I love the different interpretations of this clip that pop into my head when I think about it – was Jake’s character (one of the lead singers of Bluejuice) actually acting 25 – 30 years old instead of his “real” age?  Was the whole “Act Yr Age” about finding appropriate people to be attracted to, or was it about not bumming around in the park and going off and doing something productive?  So many different things to see, and different things to find when watching the clip.

I am curious what will be said when they eventually are interviewed regarding this clip.

 

Clip description:

A man sits on a park bench eating an icecream and smoking (possibly a joint).  The clip shifts between him sitting on the bench, and a barking dog.  A man leans over his shoulder and sings the lyrics.  The man on the park bench spots a woman pushing a pram, with a red balloon tied to it, and an older woman walking along side.  The man eats his ice cream thoughtfully while watching the two women.  He stands up and the older woman continues walking towards him even though the younger woman had stopped to check the child in the pram.

The man walks towards the older woman, and throws his ice cream over his shoulder.  He collides with a younger, blond woman, and falls over.  He stands up again, barely noticing her and continues walking towards camera.  He dances while walking, and the older woman strokes her hair in a flirtatious manner.  The older woman rubs her face on the red balloon (even in porn that stuff looks silly).  The man peers over his sunglasses at her as he continues to walk towards her.

The older woman dances while walking towards him.  She suddenly appears self conscious and returns to walking in a normal fashion.  As they approach each other the man takes off his sunglasses and throws them on the ground.  They reach each other and stare into each other’s eyes while the camera pans around them.  He reaches over and touches the side of her head, and she puts her arms around him.  They touch and rub faces.  They start to kiss and the younger woman notices, as does another male passerby.  The younger woman stands up looking concerned and the male passerby looks disgusted.  The couple continue kissing passionately.  Two other men film the couple on their phones while shaking their heads.  The couple continue kissing and caressing each other.  There are more clips of beautiful long haired dogs interspersed with the couple kissing.  The clip ends.

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2 thoughts on “Growing older”

  1. My interpretation was that you *expect* the person not acting his/her age is Jake ’cause he’s singing the song and, well, he’s part of Bluejuice (a band not exactly known for behaving like grown ups … *cough* streaking through the ABC lobby *cough*). BUT it ends up being that the old woman isn’t “acting her age.” I think it’s a really clever clip for a pretty fab song all around. I love Bluejuice. I love their never-take-anything-too-seriously sense of humour. 🙂 I maintain that the clip for Vitriol is one of the best video clips ever made for a song. Ever. Yes, I like it that much. 🙂

    1. Vitriol is one of the best songs ever. That’s how I found Bluejuice and fell in love with them. We downloaded it from the Triple J website, and when I heard it I was instantly hooked.

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