‘Teenage Dream’ Doesn’t Go ‘All the Way’
Jan 10, 2011
Due to a faculty complaint to principal Kaine Osburn, the Turnabout theme of “Teenage Dream” has been changed to “Not Just a Dream,” upsetting some students who say the school is sending mixed messages.
The lyrics of Katy Perry’s song “Teenage Dream” is said to be inappropriate for high school students. One verse states, “We drove to Cali/ And got drunk on the beach/ Got a motel and/ Built a fort out of sheets/ I finally found you/ My missing puzzle piece/ I’m complete.”
“The lyrics are pretty inappropriate for a high school [to use as a] theme for the dance,” said student activities director Jessica Ogulnik.
On Wed. Jan. 5, the NWN posted to their Facebook wall, “Do you think ‘teenage dream’ is offensive for turnabout?” The feelings of the student body were displayed within the 33 comments on the wall post.
“As a senior, I have come to realize that the school is constantly holding and enforcing double standards. We read books with incest, rape, murder, watch movies with nude scenes and are forced to take a class that essentially teaches us how to get and use condoms, dental damns and birth control pills. (Health),” posted senior Mikko Jimenez on the NWN Facebook page. “It is expected that we are mature enough to handle these subjects and most students are. And yet, we are not allowed to use a song with lyrics like ‘Lets go all the way tonight?’ That is absurd. I’m not saying the song isn’t suggestive because it is, but since when is that news? If we are old enough and mature enough to read about rape and incest, watch Scarlett Johansen naked, and put condoms on a fake penis named Richard in health class, believe me, we can handle Katy Perry.”
Some students, however, disagreed with comments like Jimenez’s.
Sophomore Jason Lupas commented that the song is “completely inappropriate” and asked to “ban the song plz.”
Sophomore cabinet members said they were upset with the change in theme.
“I think that it is redonculous that we had to change the name,” said sophomore Amy McBride, a member of the cabinet.
“We were a little disappointed because we liked the way the theme flowed with the girl’s perspective,” said sophomore cabinet president Lyba Zia.
The theme of the dance was changed to “Not Just a Dream,” which has no relation to Nelly’s song “Just a Dream.”
“The sophomore cabinet wanted to keep the dream theme,” said Ogulnik.
“We didn’t want to change [the theme] too much [due to] colors and decorations planned,” said Zia.
Regardless of theme for Turnabout, the sophomore cabinet is still expecting a good dance.
“We realized it’s just a title. We’re still working hard on the dance,” said Zia.
Jayna Shah contributed to this article.
Zareen • Jan 25, 2011 at 1:05 PM
The song obviously is pretty suggestive and it’s understandable why the school is changing the theme. I don’t think people should be making such a big deal about the change, but the people quoted above in the article do have a point. It’s not like the song is entirely as explicit as the stuff we learn about in school. But then again the school was probably afraid that parents would be complaining about the theme being inappropriate, so they’re just taking precautions. Either way, the new theme is almost the same so it shouldn’t make a difference.
samchao • Jan 25, 2011 at 12:54 PM
When I first saw the signs advertising turnabout, I burst out laughing. “Live your Teenage Dream tonight” made me think that the school wanted us to live Katy Perry’s dream of sex the night of the dance. It’s obvious that both the song and the slogan have inappropriate implications, but the only reason the theme is being changed is because the school is trying to hide the fact that high school students are pretty familiar with intimate relationships. It’s fine that the school changed the theme, they’re just trying to satisfy people who aren’t comfortable facing the truth. Teenagers know about sex, sorry to burst your bubble. But people shouldn’t freak out about the theme change as if it’s attacking student rights. The school is just doing what a school is supposed to do: attempt to control what we think and say until we toss those graduation caps into the air.
Nashiha • Jan 24, 2011 at 10:06 PM
If the theme was kept, I don’t agree that it would have changed any activity of students that night or any other night for that matter.
However, I agree that as a school, they are responsible for keeping from reinforcing such behavior in any way. This is obvious because of all the school does to show us that such behavior IS harmful.
John • Jan 14, 2011 at 4:01 PM
While I did initially disagree, this does hold some ground after thinking about it. I don’t think I can argue this issue effectively. I will say I think some people are a bit drastic about the issue – it’s not promoting anything – but I understand why the song and theme were rescinded by the school and won’t argue about that.
I find the ‘theme’ idea a bit pointless however. I don’t think it enhances the appeal of the dance to concentrate on a particular song or artist.
AgnKra • Jan 11, 2011 at 10:25 PM
We can’t deny that the lyrics to Katy Perr’s song are promiscuous and send a wrong message that no high school should enforce. What strikes me is that there is so much reference to the song, when for the last 17 years of my life I’ve known the “Teenage Dream” to be something very different then booze on the beach and a night at the motel. Before Katy’s song, the Teenage Dream meant spending time with friends, finding a high school sweetheart, expressing your personality, experiencing new things and just overall enjoying your teenage years to the best of your ability and making them fun while they last. The dance could’ve easily kept it’s theme by completely ignoring Katy’s song and creating it’s own innocent, fun definition. I know the decision to change hte theme was already made and it isn’t the end of the world, but next time we can avoid controversial situations such as this one by creating themes of our own, regardless of the media and pop culture.
jack • Jan 11, 2011 at 8:41 PM
Does this mean that we won’t be hearing any of Ms. Perry’s music at Turnabout?
Vishal Piryani • Jan 10, 2011 at 9:07 PM
The change in the dance’s theme feels like another thing for people to complain about. The slight change in the name of the theme and the removal of Katy Perry’s song is not the end of the world, and it really shouldn’t affect the dance for anyone, let alone ruin it for people. Everyone’s getting distracted by the theme change and getting caught in the whole argument about the school’s efforts in being politically correct.
Those who argue about the presence of sex and drugs in books we read make it sound like those books are telling their readers that promiscuous sex is awesome and we should all have it. They’re confusing the presence of sex and drugs with the promotion of the two, like in a pop song. We read those books to interpret deep meaning that deals with life: the sexual acts are neither given much attention in class, nor are they promoted. Our school lets us read banned books to learn about literature, not to teach us about how people abuse sex.
The school may have overreacted in the views of some. The use of the song in the dance’s theme probably wouldn’t have caused anything. But even so, there is no real harm done in the school doing what they think is best, and being politically correct. There really is nothing to rationally complain about.
jaslup • Jan 10, 2011 at 8:42 PM
Since when is the collective girls’ perspective to want to get knocked up and have a baby at 16? This is a terrible theme and I’m glad it didn’t carry through.
Kaine Osburn, Principal • Jan 10, 2011 at 5:04 PM
Foremost, I would like to make clear that I did not deny the use of “Teenage Dream” as a Turnabout theme because of a faculty complaint. A faculty member brought to my attention that the lyrics might be inappropriate. I accessed the lyrics, then concluded that they did, in fact, make the song an inappropriate promotional theme for the dance. This decision is not a criticism of the dance organization committee or the sponsor. This decision is not a criticism of the song, in fact. Rather, this decision reflects a recognition by the administration that some themes are inappropriate for the purposes of promoting school activities. Furthermore, I would like to comment on the content of some student comments in the above article.
Examining the role of rape or sexuality in a work of literature or art or providing information for the purpose of prevention are distinctly different from using a song to promote an event. While the issue of underage sex or sex outside a committed relationship might be a moral issue for many, science tells us such activity brings with it more dangers than when conducted later in one’s life, whether in a committed adult relationship or not. Knowing this, a school should not be promoting such activity. The quote by Mikko Jimenez in the article ignores the line from the song about getting drunk on the beach; again, that activity’s moral value can be questioned, but public schools clearly have no place putting such activity in a promotional context. In an analytical or preventative context, examining such activity might be appropriate.
To reiterate: There are many activities with questionable moral or ethical value. The value of those activities should be questioned in the proper context. However, those activities should not be promoted by the school. Inquiry and promotion are two distinctly different purposes, and those different purposes make clear why using Ms. Perry’s song to promote our turnabout dance is not appropriate.