I was confused, and somewhat excited, earlier this week when I first saw a link to a video that purported that the Norwegian Army was captured on video doing the Harlem Shake. Memories flooded back to my time in high school in Flint, MI, and watching my classmates pull off the moves associated with the dance in the darkness of the gym. I clicked, curious to see how a dance associated with Harlem had made its way to Norway after all these years.

That hint of excitement soon gave way to disappointment. Expecting the smooth choreography that I had known, what I was greeted with was a mass of flailing to an electonica song I’d never heard before. The song wasn’t the issue, called “Harlem Shake” and released by Harry Rodrigues, also known as the producer Baauer, last year. No, my problem was with the dancing itself. No unity, no precision, no sense that anything was going on other than pure chaos hiding under the label of a dance that’s existed for years.

That disappointment in turn gave way to dismay when I realized that the Norwegian video was by no means a fluke, but instead just one entry in what has become a meme of global proportions. That meme reached what I can only hope is its breaking point as the anti-debt group “The Can Kicks Back” posted their own version of the video, showing former Former Comptroller General David Walker and former Office of Management and Budget Director Alice Rivlin taking part:

If that truly is the death knell of this meme, I certainly will not miss it once it’s gone.
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I’ve been following Bunheads, Amy Sherman-Palladino’s kind of delightfully weird ABC Family show about a showgirl who impulsively marries a guy, moves to California with him, discovers his eccentric mother runs a ballet studio, decides to stay in California after her new husband is killed in a car accident, and starts spending time with her mother-in-law’s students. It’s a weird, fun, female-centric little show. And it got me thinking about an interesting question. We have a lot of shows and movies about people who defy the odds and make rigid, exclusionary institutions realize their potential. But are there situations where it’s unproductive or unrealistic to encourage a character to dash themselves against a norm or organization that’s unlikely to yield?

The character who occasioned those thoughts is Boo, a student who’s heavier than some of the other girls. She’s not fat by any means, but she doesn’t have a naturally willowy figure, and we see her improving as a dancer through the episodes that have aired so far, as she prepares to audition for a prestigious summer program run by the Joffrey Ballet Company (which is real, not merely an invention of the show). Boo’s nervous about her chances, but hopeful. “I’m a better dancer, I’m in better shape,” she tells her mother as they shop at a farmer’s market, only to be crushed when she finds her mother’s already ordered a cake with “Better Luck Next Year” iced across it. When she’s cut in the first round, rather than consoling her, Fanny whips out a wig and outfitting Boo as another girl, declaring “You were not cut. No one cuts one of my girls that fast. Now, you’re Trina from Simi Valley if anyone asks.” Boo gets cut that time, and another time after, telling Fanny that the judges have offered praise for her other identities, but not for her original self. She’s buoyed, even though she doesn’t get in.

I hadn’t really considered this until I talked to a friend who danced for a long time about the show, and she mentioned that she thought there was something cruel about suggesting that Boo could get in to Joffrey’s program. All the talent in the world, she suggested, would never overcome Boo’s body type. So is it misleading to tell a story in which she’s encouraged to keep trying, that suggests Joffrey might divert from the deeply established priorities of the ballet world? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with stories that encourage people to pursue their dreams and changes to established structures that would keep them out. But there’s good drama, and perhaps fair warning, in stories that illustrate how difficult it is to make those boundaries fall, and that sometimes they stay standing.

The bridge is yours.

-It makes a lot of sense that in our multi-threat environment, American talent agencies would be going after Bollywood stars.

-The weird rationales foreign countries give for banning American movies.

-Even if La Scala’s gotten better about anorexia treatment, firing someone for blowing the whistle about what the environment used to be like there seems a tad defensive.

-Lifetime takes on the Columbine massacre. I doubt this will be as scary was We Need to Talk About Kevin.

-If Wes Anderson made Batman.