Looney Tunes Logic
My daughter is in college now, but when she started fourth grade, it was in a new school near us with a reputation for fostering the arts. A few months in, [daughter] was thrilled to discover they were having a talent show. We met with the parent volunteer who was directing it.
Director: “Our theme this year is Classics. So, if there’s anything she does that comes from the forties, fifties, or sixties, that would be ideal.”
Me: “She’s a dancer at [local studio], and they’re getting ready for their spring showcase. Her modern dance class is using Nancy Sinatra’s version of Bang Bang.”
For anyone who has never heard of it, ‘Bang Bang’ was a 1966 Sonny and Cher hit that made it to number two in the US. It’s been covered by artists ranging from Petula Clark to Lady Gaga to Dua Lipa. Nancy Sinatra’s 1966 version is arguably the most famous.
Director: “Oh, that’s perfect!
The dance teacher/choreographer happily adapted the dance as a solo. At the talent show’s first rehearsal, the director and everyone else associated with the show told us how perfect the song and dance were and how glad they were to have [daughter] in the show. That lasted until about a month into rehearsals. Then the school principal contacted me to say the song was inappropriate and [daughter] couldn’t use it. The issue was that it referenced guns. [Daughter] wasn’t even allowed to rehearse anymore.
Me: “The song isn’t about guns. It’s about the emotional devastation the singer feels when her husband leaves her.”
Principal: “Well, it says things like ‘bang bang’ and ‘he shot me down, ‘ so we can’t have it in the show. It’s just the chorus; the rest of the song is fine.”
[Daughter] was devastated and didn’t want to quit, so I looked for a solution. The universe was kind to me, and I was able to find a karaoke version of the song that was identical to the version [daughter] used. An hour of GarageBand later, I had a sanitized recording with Sinatra’s voice on the verses and instrumental choruses. The principal approved it right away, and [daughter] was back in the show.
At the performance, I sat in the audience eager to watch [daughter] and the other kids do their acts. Before they began, a giant screen played clips from Classics era of TV to get us in the mood. Mostly it was Looney Tunes (cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny and friends). If you grew up with these as I did, you might guess where this is going.
Yep, it was Yosemite Sam.
Angry little guy with a big hat, big mustache, and even bigger guns, one for each hand. Smoke poured from the pistols as the sound of the shots pounded through the school’s speakers. Yosemite Sam fired again and again, alternating hands, aiming directly at us, the audience. There weren’t that many clips on the reel, so this scene repeated a couple of times that night. Then again, for the second performance the next night. Nobody cared.
I didn’t care either, but I couldn’t help wondering in what world a song metaphor about being emotionally wounded is more dangerous to schoolchildren than depictions of actual shooting?
