Rock n’Roll vs Chinese Love Song

My creative response to my Writing class about Rock and Roll: ( I love Elvis, he's so cute!)whispered the whole class of female:P

Despite his ‘vulgar’ movements, Elvis Presley gets attention. People are drawn to his true self. Is the revelation of ‘self’ the same as revelation of body? Not everybody wants to see a bare self, stripped off. The older generation reacts as if he is nude in public. Nudity symbolizes both beauty and vulnerability. If young people see beauty in nudity, I would argue that the older generations see Elvis ‘nudity’ as a revelation of their own vulnerability.

Similarly, vulnerability is in Rock n’ Roll. Rock n’ Roll is about a generation of young people expressing their vulnerable selves: they have no control of their own destiny, for they are ordered to go to war. In other words, they have no freedom and are powerless.
America, as God’s country, fails to give freedom to the people because they stand by the notion of being responsible for the world. Even if one argues that Dostoevsky’s idea of being guilty for each other is what drives America to war, America is wrong to use their power in the process. The war and the peoples’ reluctance have shown that equality has been removed from Christianity’s notion of Love and responsibility for each other, leaving people powerless.
However, Rock n’ Roll manages to change the powerless to the powerful. Through the electric guitars, expressive musicians like Jimmy Hendrix and Santana provide an imaginary space of freedom and power. Their anger in their rhythms conveysa young generation who do not submit themselves to America’s power.

The other side of the world experiences a different phenomenon. None of the music resembles the expressiveness of Rock n’ Roll. Most Asian music is about the Love song, in which the singer is willing to sacrifice for an impossible love. The submissiveness to love portrays a society that is submissive to the authority. People are willing to ignore the flaws of reality (in both love and power) and only sing about the utopia of their dreams. Unlike Rock n Roll, through which people find the mysterious space of freedom in the musicians’ single note, the space of idealism is revealed through the lyrics in the Chinese love songs.

Therefore Rock n’ Roll and Chinese Love Songs portray the submissiveness of people towards power. If Americans escape to Rock n’ Roll to express their anger for their country, Chinese escape into the songs of utopia that they have yet to get from their country.

Once in a while, I replay some cheesy love songs. Perhaps, I too, crave the ideal Prince-charming that only exists through songs but not real life, because we can only dream about someone with ‘”5 Cs” (Singaporean dream: Cars, Condo, Credit Cards, Cash and Career)!