Aimee Mann Lyrics and Gendered Language Patterns

Aimee Mann Lyrics and Gendered Language Patterns

Paul Thomas Anderson claims that many of the characters for his film Magnolia[1] were inspired by Aimee Mann lyrics and from knowing Aimee as a personal friend. As the film unfolds, the main theme of connectivity between the characters becomes apparent. If they are not connected in a physical way, they each are in a symbolic way linked as they deal with the necessity of love. Several times it is spoken in the film how someone has love to give, but does not know how to show it. The character Claudia, which Anderson said was played “with a true sense of Aimee Mann insanity”[2], is so desperate for love and to be needed; yet when Jim offers his love to her, she is so terrified that she runs from it. Here Anderson decides to not only refer to Aimee Mann, but actually has Claudia state to Jim a lyric from Aimee’s song “Deathly”: “Now that I’ve met you would you object to never seeing me again?”[3] As Claudia runs from the restaurant it is clear that being needed in a relationship distresses her, the same emotion Aimee[4] reveals in her song lyric.

As Anderson uses a song lyric as text in the film’s dialogue, the question of how lyrics can be looked at in terms of conversational content is raised. In showing how men and women speak differently Tannen cites many kinds of examples in You Just Don’t Understand. Not only does she look at experimental and observational studies, she also includes excerpts from plays and short stories to show that speech patterns carry over into artistic expression[5]. Lyrics then can be examined in this same manner though they are a different type of conversation. If a play is two or more characters conversing with one another on stage, a song lyric can be viewed as one side of a story of dialogue. It does not become any less conversational because of this, but is a different way to interpret a relationship.

Deborah Tannen has achieved scholarly and public praise for her conclusions about how women and men differ in conversational styles. You Just Don’t Understand[6] clarifies stylistic differences in how the two sexes communicate with each other.