And now they have become something else: the latest fodder for America's simmering dispute over the marriage.
It happened when Beyoncé released a new video - song "Drunk in Love" , about the joys of sex in marriage , and then late last month performed the number, with a guest rap by her husband , at the Grammy Awards . The Internet lit up with anything from ecstasy to contempt.
" No good reason for a married mother on a chair with her legs gaped for the whole world to see , to be open , " Afiya Watkins wrote in a vibrant Facebook debate on one of the movements of the singer in performance. Others hissed Beyoncé's " half-naked demonic way ," and urged them to " keep it in the bedroom. "
But others reveled in a pop- cultural moment , the cast marriage as sexy and sophisticated . "When in the 30s and with children not dead , we mean " Alexsa Nouri wrote on Facebook. A Tina Vasquez wrote on Twitter : " Beyoncé and Jay -Z show more intimacy has done in a five-minute power than my parents in 20 years of marriage. "
Soon after , Alyssa Rosenberg, stirred writing on the liberal blog Think Progress, the pot. She suggested that conservatives in general , and marriage boosters in particular , could use some of the Carters that project their union as " a declaration of intent , exciting well as the idea that marriage is to discipline wayward men or provide support for women to learn that can not economically manage on your own. "
At a time when the marriage is highly competitive and turn quickly to leave more Americans at once as an institution and sought by same-sex couples excluded, Mrs. Rosenberg provocation raises tough questions for both ends of the political spectrum .
The idea of marriage as Carter's ambassador is difficult for some on the left who accept the funding of the institution resist . There are concerns that this reduces other worthy ways of life. There are also fears that such promotion is a knit stitch to provide relief to the poor hold back with the suggestion that they build stable homes and move on when they both spouses. " The suspicion is that when people say , " marriage " , what they mean is " tax cuts for the rich and meaningless pabulum for the poor " , " in the words of Matt Yglesias , a prominent liberal commentator.
But the Carters ' portrait of marriage is just as unsettling for some on the right who would like to see promoted the institution , but be careful , its promotion in relation to the performance of the adult rather than family building. Promoted Speaking of performance of the couple, as well as another moment at the Grammys , marriage equality , the conservative National Organization for Marriage wrote on his blog : "We think that neither of last night the ' services ' are an ideal starting point for a proper understanding of marriage. "
John Mark Comer, a Christian pastor in Portland , Oregon, and author of the new book " Loveology " , reflects the country's ambivalence about marriage promotion in response to the Carters ' duet.
"It's a song about a woman who with her husband for the night, lusting after her husband, and really, really good sex, which is all good for , " he said, with Biblical quotations as support. But, he said , there are dangers in the sale of marriage as an adult -centered thrill : Thrills fade, and an enthusiastic duality , a pair of the richer joys of building to distract something about yourself in the world.
" The point of marriage is not marriage ," he said. " The point of marriage is something
