Inspired by a post on Mel’s blog, here is Academic (sung with a similar ironic spirit and tune of ‘Supermodel’ by Jill Sobule).
I don’t care what my tutors say,
I’m gonna be an academic.
And everyone is gonna speak like me,
Wait and see…When I’m an academic,
And my books on amazon dot com free,
Everyone will wanna read up on me,
On me…
Cause I’m young and I’m bookish, and so intelligent,
I’m gonna be an academic
I’m young and I’m bookish, and so intelligent,
I’m gonna be an academic
I wish that I was like my professor,
With a job like his and politics like his.
And I show them how, how it was done.
That be fun, that be fun.
And I write my final essay,
Why I love my Zizek, why I love my Zizek.
And oh, on my tattoo its the coolest thing that you have ever seen.
I’m young and I’m bookish, and so intelligent,
I’m gonna be an academic
I’m young and I’m bookish, and so intelligent,
I’m gonna be an academic
I didn’t cheat yesterday,
I’m not gonna cheat today,
I’m not gonna cheat tomorrow,
Cuz I’m gonna be an academic.
So intelligent…….I’m gonna be an academic
I’m young and I’m bookish, and so intelligent,
I’m gonna be an academic
[4x]
I’m gonna be an academic.
I’m gonna be an academic.
Originally posted as a comment on Mel G’s blog http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/~gregg/ and lest I be misunderstood in my playful appropriation of ‘Supermodel’ below, I have decided to cut and paste it here.
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The luxury of having the intellectual space for creative thought is a treasure I never want to relinquish. If that means I am doomed to academia then I should be so lucky. I have worked in the jobs of the new immaterial performance-based economy from lowest ranks of the service industry to the upper levels of writer. I do not want to return to it.
It is odd to think that I am now thinking about investing to prepare myself for the future. I have long hated goody-two-shoes who always seem to do the ‘right thing’ and who embody the spirit of capitalist servitude to see they get what they are told they want. But now I see I am going to have to invest in a little bit of mental real estate. Not investments of money, but of time and effort to secure a future where I am not paid to think someone else’s thoughts for them. Fuck that.
That is the implicit warning I heard in Ien Ang’s end-of-conference comments at the CSAA. The powers that be within Aussie Cult Studs need to take the bull by the horns and ensure that a space for intellectual freedom is produced alongside the forces for the total commodification of research. Unmolested survival is far more important at the moment than revolution.
My song was a bit of a joke – hence the reference to The Joker himself, Zizek – and should not be taken too seriously. Maybe I should add a few winks or something 😉 In fact, they should make more comedies about academics everything about academia is too serious. I have never laughed harder than in the movie Adaptation and the joke about the serial killer English professor who chops his victims into little pieces and is called “The Deconstructionist”.
Maybe a ‘black’ comedy cum sitcom based in a cultural studies department or research centre called: “French Fries and Dead White Guys”