{"id":1143,"date":"2005-06-21T09:56:12","date_gmt":"2005-06-21T16:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/2005\/06\/aguileras_torture_music\/"},"modified":"2005-06-21T09:56:12","modified_gmt":"2005-06-21T16:56:12","slug":"aguileras_torture_music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2005\/06\/aguileras_torture_music.html","title":{"rendered":"AGUILERA’S ‘TORTURE’ MUSIC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prompted by Time magazine’s Inside the Wire at Gitmo<\/B><\/FONT><\/A>, about
\nan interrogation at Guantanamo’s Camp X Ray in which a sleep-deprived prisoner is kept awake
\n“by dripping water on his head or playing Christina Aguilera music,” the legal eagle at Underneath Their Robes<\/B><\/FONT><\/A> has filed a confidential opinion
\nthat asks, Is Christina Aguilera’s Music
\n“Torture”?<\/B><\/FONT><\/A>
\n

<\/P>
\n


\n

This memorandum necessarily focuses on specific musical compositions by
\nAguilera and whether playing each individual song to an unwilling detainee might rise to the level
\nof torture.
\n

<\/P>
\n

<\/A>That such analysis must proceed on an individualized,
\nsong-by-song basis does not restrict applicability of the principles set forth in this memorandum to
\nthe enumerated songs. Rather, the approach applied herein to specific songs from Aguilera’s latest
\nalbum is broadly applicable to the entirety of her artistic output, including her embarrassment of a
\nChristmas album, My Kind of Christmas<\/B><\/FONT><\/A> (RCA
\nOct. 2000), and her unfortunate Spanish-language album, Mi Reflejo<\/B><\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A> (RCA Sept. 2000),
\n[above], featuring “Genio Atrapado,” the Spanish version of her hit single <\/FONT color=\"#003399\">“Genie In
\na Bottle.”<\/FONT><\/B><\/FONT><\/A><\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n

Aguilera’s taunting lyrics have a certain je ne sais quoi<\/EM> when applied to Gitmo
\nprisoners under interrogation, though it’s not clear whether the songs were translated for them.
\nPart of “Genie In a Bottle” goes like this:<\/P>
\n


\n


\n

Oh . . .
I feel like I’ve been locked up tight
For a century of lonely
\nnights
Waiting for someone
To release me<\/P>You’re licking your lips and blowing kisses my way
But that dont mean I’m gonna give it away
Baby, baby,
\nbaby
(baby, baby, baby)
<\/EM><\/I><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n

<\/P>
\n

The relationship between music and war goes back a long way<\/B><\/FONT><\/A>. Music has been used to stir both patriotism<\/B><\/FONT><\/A> and protest<\/B><\/FONT><\/A>. It’s been used both to raise troop morale and
\ndemoralize or frighten enemy forces. Music during the Vietnam war<\/B><\/FONT><\/A> was expecially notable.
\nMore recently, the U.S. military used ’60s and ’70s hard rock as a weapon<\/B><\/FONT><\/A> to
\nchallenge insurgents in Fallujah. I haven’t seen any legal opinions, real ones or parodies, on the
\nuse of pop culture in a military assault. Any takers?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prompted by Time magazine’s Inside the Wire at Gitmo, about an interrogation at Guantanamo’s Camp X Ray in which a sleep-deprived prisoner is kept awake “by dripping water on his head or playing Christina Aguilera music,” the legal eagle at Underneath Their Robes has filed a confidential opinion that asks, Is Christina Aguilera’s Music “Torture”? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1143","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-ir","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}