Ocean Vs Skewed Religion Essay

Ocean v. A Skewed Religion Christopher Francis “Frank” Ocean is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. In 2012, Frank Ocean published a letter announcing his bisexuality. The announcement was met with an array of responses; support came from fellow artists and fans and persecution came from religious individuals with conservative views (“Reactions to Frank Ocean'”). The negative responses overshadowed the support Ocean received since the impact of hate is stronger than that of love. In this track Ocean harnesses this sorrow and criticizes religious views on alternative sexual orientations. The track opens with organ music and Ocean proclaiming the taxi driver as his “shrink for the hour” creating this multifaceted cab ride that mimics a therapy session and a confession that are being facilitated by the Muslim cab driver (1-2). Ocean fuses psychology, Christianity and Islam in this setting. These three components are not usually associated with the other but Ocean is able to merge these three subjects into the song since these areas have a similar view of homosexuality and bisexuality as a taboo. The association between religion and science is peculiar since the two fields have been in war since the beginning of their coexistence. Anti-homosexuality presented a common ground between religion and psychology. As late as

Ocean pleas for the love of his god but he feels as “ [he] could never make [god] love him” (16-19). The love is unrequited since the people who cause him his pain look up to the same god causing Ocean to reject this form Christianity has taken. This religion “bring [him] to his knees” not in prayer but rather in begging for forgiveness and acceptance because of his orientation (9). Ocean delivers the lines “only a bad religion/ could have me feeling the way I do” denouncing organized religions for the agony he’s