{"id":3444,"date":"2021-04-05T16:22:52","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T20:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/?p=3444"},"modified":"2021-04-05T16:52:06","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T20:52:06","slug":"coffee-conversation-april-9-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/coffee-conversation-april-9-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Coffee &#038; Conversation: April 9, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>This week&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/programs\/coffee-convo\/\">Coffee &amp; Conversation<\/a> topic:<\/strong> From Old Town Road to Hell: A Conversation about Lil Nas X. Join us on <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonu.zoom.us\/j\/94839921053?pwd=c3pEQytGWGhQQ214dzA2cjZBTDMxUT09\">Zoom<\/a> this Friday, April 9 at 3 PM EST.<\/p>\n<p>On the eve of the Christian Holy Week, rapper Lil Nas X gifted families something new to discuss around the Easter table: his music video for the song, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6swmTBVI83k\">Montero (Call Me By Your Name)<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The video, which he wrote and co-directed, uses religious symbolism to explore queerness. Unsurprisingly, it drew widespread criticism from conservative political and religious leaders across the country. Lil Nas X is no stranger to controversy &#8211; his debut single, &#8220;Old Town Road,&#8221; saw similar levels of backlash in response to the ways he challenged the country music genre.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6swmTBVI83k\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>But, &#8220;Montero&#8221; is different. Conversations about the video exist at the intersection of queerness, Blackness, and Christianity. Join us on Friday as we consider questions like:<\/p>\n<p>What does it mean to be a &#8220;good Christian?&#8221; Who decides?<\/p>\n<div><span>Given that love is central to the teachings of Jesus Christ, can it ever be considered a sin?<\/span><\/div>\n<p>What makes the criticism of it so different from other overtly sexual music videos like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4Rg3sAb8Id8\">Christina Aguilera&#8217;s &#8220;Dirrty<\/a>?&#8221; In what ways has the criticism and backlash to those two videos been similar?<\/p>\n<p><span> Will &#8220;Montero&#8221; shift the Overton Window for Black queer sexuality in mainstream media?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Art doesn&#8217;t necessarily care about your feelings &#8211; should it?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Suggested Reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/mojo-wire\/2021\/04\/stream-montero-call-me-by-your-name-lil-nas-x\/\">Stream &#8220;Montero (Call Me By Your Name)&#8221; If You&#8217;re a &#8220;Good&#8221; Christian <\/a><em>(Mother Jones)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/show\/what-lil-nas-xs-montero-says-about-black-queerness\">What Lil Nas X&#8217;s &#8216;Montero&#8217; says about black queerness<\/a> (<em>PBS News Hour<\/em>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2021\/music\/news\/lgbtq-music-video-history-lil-nas-x-montero-1234940834\/\">How Lil Nas X&#8217;s Groundbreaking &#8216;Montero&#8217; Fits in LGBTQ Music Video History, From Bowie to Frankie to Kehlani <\/a><em>(Variety)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/music\/2021\/03\/30\/lil-nas-x-why-critics-missing-point-montero-call-me-by-your-name-video\/7058837002\/\">Lil Nas X&#8217;s Satan imagery angers parents. But advocates say critics are missing the point.<\/a> (<em>USA Today<\/em>)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week&#8217;s Coffee &amp; Conversation topic: From Old Town Road to Hell: A Conversation about Lil Nas X. Join us on Zoom this Friday, April 9 at 3 PM EST. On the eve of the Christian Holy Week, rapper Lil Nas X gifted families something new to discuss around the Easter table: his music video [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6091,"featured_media":3432,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3444"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6091"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3444"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3452,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3444\/revisions\/3452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}