Something wrong with the Village

By: Marlee Hargis

Queer theory has many facets to it. Including performing one’s identity, hiding yourself, and being labeled as ‘wrong’ or ‘incorrect’. We all know by now that gender is a social construct, just a series of rituals and actions that create what we deem to be of “man” or “woman”. Judith Butler in “Gender Trouble” points out that we are constantly performing our identity, whether that be with our gender, race, or sexuality, etc. We are always trying to perform what others think of a certain group, if we are assigned female at birth and are told that we are female, we will do things that society deems to be feminine. If we are a certain race, we will act accordingly to how the community believes that race to act, regardless of whether that is what we truly are, because if we do not perform how people think we should, we will be shunned.

The song, The Village, by Wrabel is about a queer youth being forced to be what they are not to fit in with their family and peers. The concept of the village is based off of the old adage, “It takes a village to raise a child,” meaning that children need a community of people that love them to let them grow up safe and healthy. In this song, the writer is telling a story about a young child who’s village has wronged them.

They say, "Don't dare, don't you even go there"
"Cutting off your long hair"
"You do as you're told"
Tell you, "Wake up, go put on your makeup"
"This is just a phase you're gonna outgrow"

This stanza shows the performance they have to put on for their family; they have to have long hair and wear make-up, who they’re saying they are is just a phase—another theme in queer literature and life, they are too young to know who they are, everything is “just a phase”.

We can look at the binary of right/wrong with this line: “There's something wrong in the village” this usually would be seen as the queer person being the thing wrong in the village, but in this case, it is the village itself. “There's nothing wrong with you” is a very important line that should be emphasized, queer youth are always worried that they are the problem as it is often advertised that they are. Having this line in the song to highlight that they are not what’s wrong, and it’s the people around them, is vital.

Many religious references make this song relatable as there are scores of queer people that were raised in a religious household that viewed gay people as the ultimate sinners.

“Whispering that same prayer, half a million times”

“Pray the gay away” was/is a coping mechanism for a lot of queer people, hoping that if they prayed hard enough, they wouldn’t be gay anymore, they would just be ‘normal’ and life would be better. To quote Mary Klages, author of “Literary Theory”, “The self might feel jarred or shaken by explosions in the outside world, which rattle the doors of the shelter, but it cannot be substantially changed by what happens outside.” You and the people around you can try their hardest to alter who you are inside, but it’s not going to change, it will just be hurtful.

"One page of the Bible isn't worth a life"

Say it louder, for the people in the back!!