The Man
Just who is The Man?
“STICK IT TO THE MAN,” a phrase that is part of our national lexicon. What does it really mean? Just who is The Man? How did The Man come to be and how do we actually stick it to him?
According to Wikipedia (not usually a valid source), The Man is a slang term that refers to an authoritarian figure like the government, corporations, or some other group or person in a position of power.
The term may also have a negative or positive connotation depending on how one uses it like “You're The Man,” meaning that you did it, whatever it is, you've accomplished a great feat or did something worthwhile. The Man seems to have been around for quite some time in books, movies, songs, comics and today it’s even the title of a video game.
In the late 50s The Man was an establishment of any kind that the youth and culture of the day deemed the enemy. Parents, teachers any person who seemed to take away a person’s freedom was The Man. That particular generation would say things like, “THE MAN is keeping me down.”
The Man was also a codename for police or other law enforcement. Totally understandable, the police represent one of the most visible authoritarian figures in our society, well besides politicians and CEO’s.
Counter culture groups took on this mantra and continued the torch of sticking it to authority figures. How they did it is not fully comprehensible to me. Getting yourself arrested for protesting or going on a hunger strike doesn’t sound like a way to “stick it to The Man” at all but rather sticking it to one’s self.
I recently watched a YouTube Video of kids sticking it to The Man by way of Post-It notes on public landmarks, buildings, stairs, light poles and the like. I wasn't sure if they were sticking it to The Man so much as sticking it to objects, but maybe that was the metaphor they were shooting for. Either way the video made it’s way to YouTube.
When I think of sticking it to The Man, I think of thumbing my nose at what society expects of me. Like when the HOA in my subdivision tells me I better mow my lawn or be fined.
What do I do? I get mad, I rant about how they are full of it and how come they didn’t send our neighbors the same note. Their lawn is longer than ours. But when push comes to shove, I give up and mow my lawn. I think about letting it grow, but I don't want to pay the price for my indignation and notion of what is or isn't fair. I give in because The Man is going to win and I'll end up paying for it in the end.
I recall a professor telling a story of a pink sweater—and how it wasn't her favorite color but when she wore it, it empowered her to “Stick it to The Man.” But she was the only one who knew this, so although the sweater empowered her, everyone else just thought it was a pretty pink sweater.
“Sticking it to The Man” seems mainly to mean fighting back or resisting, and much like the pink sweater, or the kids in the video, doing it covertly or with sabotage.
Today, the phrase actually has a more humorous connotation. Case in point, the 2003 movie from Paramount Studios entitled— “School of Rock.”
The actor, Jack Black, plays a down and out rocker who is about to lose it all when one phone call to take a job as a substitute teacher changes his life. Of course it’s not his call to take, but he takes it anyway.
When Jack Black’s character, Dewey Finn, arrives at the school he discovers his class is full of talented musicians. Albeit young, middle school, AP/Honor student type of musicians. He takes advantage of this fact to make them practice for a big Battle of the Bands rock competition. When one of his students asks him why he isn't teaching them anything or why they aren't learning something useful this is what he tells them…
“What? Ya wanna learn something?”
“Yes I do.”
“What? You want me to teach you something, you wanna learn something?
Alright.
Here’s a useful lesson for ya. Give up. Just quit because, in. This. Life. You can’t win.
Yeah, you can try but in the end, you’re just gonna lose big time because the WORLD is run by The Man.”
“Who?”
“THE MAN. Oh you don’t know ‘The Man?’ Oh well, he’s everywhere—
in the White House, down the hall,
Miss Mullins…she’s The Man.
AND, The Man ruined the Ozone
AND he’s burning down the Amazon,
AND he kidnapped Shamu,
and put her in a chlorine TANK,
Okay?
AND, there use to be a way to STICK it to The Man
and it was called
Rock and Roll. But guess what?
Ohh no. The Man ruined that too with
a little thing called MTV.
So don’t waste your time trying to make anything
cool, or
pure or
awesome, cause The Man is just gonna call you a FAT washed up loser
and
crush your soul.
So do yourselves a favor and just…
GIVE UP.”
Wow, pretty harsh right? Poor Dewey has been deflated by all of his efforts to get what he wants and in doing so seems to think that he must thumb his nose at authority. But has he? Although Dewey want’s to give up and gives a great speech about it, he ultimately doesn’t. Just like I always keep mowing my lawn, Dewey keeps trying despite the odds against him, namely himself. Is Dewey “The Man?”
Sometimes we are our own worst enemy and we fight against ourselves more than anyone. Dewey, reluctantly at first, establishes a kinship with the children in his charge. He grows a deeper bond with the other adults in the story. He finally grows up and becomes the adult he was trying so hard to fight against.
He takes the children to the Battle of the Bands competition and although they don't win, they are successful in a much deeper and meaningful way.
Dewey finds his niche’- he no longer resists the changes going on around him and within him. He literally creates a “School of Rock” and in his own way, like many of us, sticks it to “The Man” by becoming The Man to realize his dream.
Credits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man
“School of Rock,” Paramount Pictures (2003)
Kim A. Brillante Knight PhD, University of Texas at Dallas, Asst. Professor EMAC Studies
HOA
YouTube Video of Kids “Sticking it to The Man” courtesy of- https://www.facebook.com/ConnectTheBlotsHiddenPsychPlan
