To show just how far out of the pop culture loop my husband Mark and I are, a few weeks ago we went to a classic matinee showing of the 2007 movie “Mamma Mia” at a local theater — and neither of us knew it was a musical.
We figured it out pretty quickly, and by about the fifth song, Mark started muttering, “Are they going to sing again? Please make them stop singing.” I responded, “Shall we leave?” But we stayed because we wanted to find out who the father of Meryl Streep’s character’s daughter was. Afterward, we agreed that while the movie wasn’t bad, it wasn’t something we wanted to see the sequel to — which we had also missed when it came out in 2018.
There’s a lot to be said about being pop culturally ignorant, mainly that there’s always something that is brand new to you because you missed it 20 years ago.
The afternoon wasn’t a total loss since it sparked an interest in ABBA. Even though Mark and I went to high school in the 1970s and heard ABBA on the radio constantly, I never really listened to the Swedish pop phenomenon. After seeing “Mamma Mia” I looked up some of their videos on YouTube.
Talk about your blast from the 70s past. The hair. The outfits. The graphics featuring kaleidoscopes causing instantaneous vertigo. But, as someone in the comments section said, there are two kinds of people — those who like ABBA and those who like ABBA but don’t admit it. In high school it wasn’t especially cool to like ABBA. Now I’d say it’s even less cool to not be an ABBA fan.
Needless to say, there were hundreds of comments about each video. A few comments noted how unpolished the foursome looked in comparison to today’s singers. One person wistfully commented, “They don’t have Chicklet teeth, and their hair is kind of messy. It must have been nice to live when everyone wasn’t expected to be perfect.”
It was nice. It was better than nice; it was normal. In 1977 we didn’t expect anyone to be perfect with the exception of possibly Farrah Fawcett and Bruce Jenner. If you catch an early Meryl Streep movie from that era you might notice that even Meryl Streep’s teeth were a tad less Chicklet-like earlier in her career. Of course, social media didn’t exist back then so no one could publicly and repeatedly comment on Ms. Streep’s incisors, hairstyle, weight, relationship status or anything else. If it’s harder on regular people not to be perfect these days, I can only imagine what it must be like for famous people.
Would ABBA make it as a new group today? Even though we’ve supposedly evolved to the point where everyone is accepted regardless of how they look, think, dress and so on, the online police are quick to point out the tiniest of flaws in any and all public figures the moment they spot one. There are probably people who’d like to amend the poem featured on the Statue of Liberty to “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free … as long as they have straight white teeth and impeccable fashion sense.”
Today’s world has impossibly high standards mixed with confusing messages. “You’re fine exactly as you are, but you might want to consider a GLP-1 to be even more fine.” “You’re free to think whatever you like, but if you don’t agree with exactly how I think, I’m cancelling you.” “Feel free to express yourself through your wardrobe, but good luck getting a decent job if you do.”
The world is definitely more complex than it used to be and yes, we expect perfection far too much, from ourselves and everyone else. Listening to ABBA takes me back 50 years to a simpler, less judgmental time.
From now on when I’m feeling overwhelmed by the demands of modern living, I’m heading for YouTube to watch vintage ABBA and forget everything else because, as one more YouTube commenter observed, “No matter what kind of mood you’re in, there is more than likely an ABBA song to match it.” Skol!