Anything Goes - A Riverdale Thesis Statement
So, I was listening to "Anything Goes" of the Riverdale album recently to luxuriate in the majesty that is Ashleigh Murray. (She is so sorely missed.)
I find this song to be so deeply important to Riverdale as a way of understanding where it's coming from on all levels.
There are a few songs they've done over the years that I consider to be "thesis statements" for the show. Seventeen is another big one, but let's focus on this one for now. I'll talk about that song another day.
In-depth rambling beneath the cut. <3
I think Anything Goes is appropriately positioned in Season 3 because this is the season where the style of the show starts to reveal itself as more heightened and abstract.
Riverdale, if anything, is a burlesque number. Slowly peeling back its more accessible layers into something entirely unique and strange.
Season 3 is when the show starts to reveal that it's not your typical teen drama and it never was. (This is why a lot of people struggle with this season and drop off. It really is the culling blade. I will release my essay on this in due time.)
Anyway.
For those that might not be aware, "Anything Goes" is the title song of the musical "Anything Goes" by Cole Porter.
Here's the original version in one of my favorite performances of the song by Sutton Foster in a rehearsal. Seriously, she's incredible. (Maybe I just love giant tap numbers, but this fills me with delight every time I see it.)
In any case, the song's lyrics are about how the times have changed. Standards of morality are lower than ever before. I think that, in its original meaning, it does apply to Riverdale, but there's a bit more to it than that. Let's unpack.
As Cole Porter puts it:
"In olden days a glimpse of stocking was
Looked on as something shocking now
Heaven knows
Anything goes"
This easily applies to the salacious nature of Riverdale, especially in the earlier seasons. I mean, could Cole Porter have even conceived of a kinky lesbian sex scene intercut with violent boxing? Anything goes, indeed.
And sexual stories have a heavy stigma attached to them. Eroticism, though one of the most popular topics and genres since the beginning of time, is often treated as a lesser form of art. Too much sex in your story and it becomes "pornography", a word often spit rather than said.
Moving on.
The second verse says:
"Good authors too who once knew better words
Now only use four letter words
Writing prose
Anything goes"
Though Riverdale doesn't really use a ton of "four letter words", this verse can easily apply to Riverdale's low-brow plots and ideas. Bloody serial killers. Secret siblings. Murder. Mothmen. Etc. Etc.
Horror and melodrama, two of Riverdale's most beloved genres, have also been treated as second-class citizens in the art world for ages. This is especially true nowadays even with the rise of prestige, high-concept horror. The genre, on the whole with notable exceptions, is still treated as a lesser art form.
"The world's gone mad today
And good's bad today
Black's white today
And day's night today
And all the guys today
That women prize today
Are just silly gigolos
Anything goes
Anything goes"
"Everything is wrong," the song declares. The world is upside down.
A couple of things about this section.
1: It sounds to me like the haters lamenting the state of art and the world today. "I can't believe that show has seven seasons." "It got too weird." Etc. Etc.
2: I feel like the first two lines are a tongue in cheek praise of Camp.
3: The line about the guys of today that women prize makes me think back to my first point about the thirsty nature of this show.
Do I sound insane yet?
Regardless, the lyrics can be taken either sarcastically or sincerely. So, in one version the singer is lamenting the state of affairs and in another, they're delighted with how much freedom there is.
Riverdale obviously falls in the latter interpretation, but I can't help but hear the first one as well because it echoes criticism of the show.
Two more bits I want to mention.
"So though I'm not a great romancer, I
Know you're bound to answer when
I propose
Anything goes"
If I had a criticism of Riverdale, it would be its lack of polish. It might not be the best "romancer" as it were, but oh, how can I reply with anything but an enthusiastic "YES. <3" when it proposes, through its unrelenting, feverish madness that truly, anything goes?
Riverdale hops from genre to genre and style to style with such reckless avarice that I genuinely swoon. It embraces a hedonism and indulgence that "high art" scoffs at. Highly technical works of art, though beautiful and thought-provoking are often quite restrained. They're often very focused on one topic or style. Their limited scope allows for a cleaner execution.
Riverdale pours all of American culture into one giant bowl and hands you a spoon. It's messy and unrefined. It's hard to swallow, at times. It's unbalanced, but god, does it burst with charm and flavor. Maybe my palette, cut on technique and training, was just longing for something that tasted of heart. Either way, I think this is Riverdale's greatest strength.
Finally.
"And all the pains you've got
If any brains you've got
From those little radios
Anything goes
Anything goes
Anything"
I think this is a cheeky dare to look more deeply at this show. It's daring the listener to meet Riverdale with their heart (their pains) and with whatever brains they might have left after being glued to their "little radios" for so long.
That's definitely not what the original song was saying, but I'm only looking at it in the context of Riverdale.
EDIT**: OMG I TOTALLY FORGOT TO INCLUDE THIS. It's like, half the reason I wrote the post.
So, one more thing about this particular version of the song that makes it fit Riverdale so perfectly.
The style is dark, sexy, and almost angry. It's almost accusatory. This fits in with my statments about how the song dares you into thinking more deeply about it.
It teases you for liking its thirst traps and slasher gore and this tone is not nearly as "Golly!" as the original. No. It's almost somber. It's a dark cabaret number rather than an upbeat tap song.
And this shift in tone is significant.
It mirrors the shift from pie in the sky Americana in the original comics to the dark, gothic vibe of the modern Archieverse and Riverdale itself.
It embraces a smoldering darkness that relishes itself. It's hedonistic and sultry in a way the original was not.
So, yeah. This song feels like a thesis statement of the show to me. When it comes to Riverdale's genre, style, subject matter, ideas, characters, and everything else...
Anything goes.
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you guys know that one scene from riverdale where jughead sees toni in his shirt, but he knows betty belongs in that shirt?
okay yeah imagine that with carmen berzatto. you and him broke up, maybe prematurely, and he moved on way too quickly to even think about what he was doing. he finds the girl in his shirt, in your shirt.
he told you before that you look better in it then he does. he adores seeing you in it. he's forced to now stare at someone else in it, instead of you. everytime he's seen you wearing it is flooding his mind. early mornings in each other's arms, watching you in his clothes.
but now? now it's on someone else. now his shirt, your shirt, is on another girl. and it's his fault that you aren't in it, that you arent there.
anyway this idea sat in my mind figured i'd share lmfao
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