Pushing the Envelope

The media continues to push the envelope to get our attentions. Things seem to keep happening in clusters. By now the airwaves have been saturated with talk about the 2009 American Music Awards. ABC aired the show on Sunday, November 22, 2009. Isn’t it funny that we have hundreds of cable channels, yet they all air the same stories simultaneously? They all jumped at the chance to comment on the American Music Awards finale.

The show was already lackluster and seemed to be a platform for aging artists trying to remain relevant. The live performances were flat, at best, and many of the artists appeared to be on life support without the help of pro tools and/or auto tunes. The show has been trying to reinvigorate its audience each year and restore the glory of the 80s. This year producers enlisted a string of popular artists to perform and promoted the highly anticipated AMA debut of Adam Lambert.

Lambert is the flashy, feisty, and fearless American Idol runner up of 2009. He was scheduled to close the show and he did just that…SHUT IT DOWN! His performance was big, bold, and simply over the top. There were many instances when I just wanted to turn off the TV for fear of what was coming next. Adam Lambert was determined to make more of a name for himself and he succeeded. While the performance was laden with S&M references, gender bending, and overtly sexual situations and innuendo, Lambert pushed the envelope to get us to watch and talk about it and him. To that end, he succeeded, as did ABC. I found the performance to be completely inappropriate for broadcast television and it put a blemish on an otherwise viewer-friendly awards show. It was, however, what show producers ordered.

The performance was a sexual statement and it made me uncomfortable. It put many stereotypes of homosexual men on display. My discomfort was echoed by thousands across the nation and makes a bigger statement about our society. In the days following the show, there was a firestorm of controversy swirling around the show and Lambert. The public was outraged by the sexual antics. Lambert responded, in part, by saying that the performance wasn’t rehearsed and he was just caught up in the moment.

Should we be more concerned about programming of a sexual nature or our acceptance of violence as a regular part of television? Europeans are much more comfortable and at ease with sex and have more sexual programming available to the public. They also seem to have less violence as part of their culture. We promote violence and killing as art and our violent crimes seem to escalate and sexual deviants continue to roam.

Perhaps we need more Adam Lamberts on television. We need more fearless performers who aren’t afraid to work for their art, push that envelope, and create more open dialogue. It is unbelievable that our society is still so intimidated by those who challenge conventional wisdom. I do not fault Adam Lambert, but I applaud his efforts.

-Daphane is a blogger for The New View. Check out her bio to see where her view comes from.