Reply To: Lyrics and gender
Briefly, I agree that TTMC isn’t misogynistic, and I’m not too sure that “Always the Moon” can be seen as unreliable-narrator. Not that the giant-oyster part (nor, by extension, the Eve/apple part) should be taken literally, but I’d think of it as figurative, not unreliable-narrator.
For this to be an unreliable-narrator device, I’d have to think that JoCo wanted us to distrust the guy, and I don’t think that’s so easy to demonstrate. It doesn’t look as though we’re supposed to laugh at him or think he’s crazy or biased or something. Externally, JoCo Himself refers to the lyrics as “impressionistic“. And it is a lovely song with striking imagery.
In that case, it’s fair to judge the song on the impressions its images evoke. [Not that it wouldn’t be unfair otherwise. I mean that we can (a) take it literally / (b) take it figuratively / (c) take it with a grain of salt, and this looks like option (b).] And the Garden of Eden reference does carry a lot of connotations, for better or for worse, including its associations with misogyny.
I think the rest of the songs where we’ve found (to quote) “problematic gender relations” have been easier to diagnose because they have strong narratives. I don’t think “Always the Moon” is actually misogynistic (although I do feel that three08 has firm grounds for his objection, mild though it be), but I don’t think it can be dismissed as easily as the others, with their obviously unreliable narrators.
(This must be what it’s like to be a They Might Be Giants fan.)