DUE SATURDAY 4/2 BY NOON
Look up some of the videos discussed in this week’s readings. In two paragraphs, discuss what it means to "flip the scripts" of hetero-masculine sexual dominance? How does this also relate to re-appropriation and counter-appropriation? Who has the power to set the patterns for dominant forms of representation in the music industry and Why? (use “intersectionality” in your analysis)
Next find a couple of videos that demonstrate what you would consider to be empowering to the women (and men) involved in them (as well as those viewing them), especially in relation to what you observed and learned from the film Dreamworlds 3). Provide the name of the videos and in 2 paragraphs explain how female artists are using their messages, language, bodies, etc. toward greater gender empowerment?
The videos from this week did not shock me at all. I have grown up watching videos as bad, if not worse than these. But, some things about the videos talked about in the readings had something different than I had ever noticed before. The women talked about, such as Lil' Kim and Khia both flipped the masculinity script seen often in hip-hop videos. Rather than having a dominant male who is sex driven, these women are the sex driven ones who demand that men please them and exemplify that they are in charge. Intersectionality also plays a key role, but only because these videos go against it. Normally, a black female is considered the "lowest" person in the race/gender stereotypes seen today, but these women are dominating both white and black men and white women.
ReplyDeleteA large question is presented when we think about who is setting the pattern for dominant forms of representation in the music industry. I fully believe that our society has set the standard as to what is acceptable in a music video today. Because we have allowed the videos to continue having the same type of girls across genres, we are responsible. We have the power to change this, but it will probably never happen.
There is one artist that I believe is notorious for writing songs and making videos that empower women, and that woman is Pink. Her video "Stupid Girls" shows a girl that goes through her life wondering why women in Hollywood are so stupid. There is a little girl that she is persuading to not follow in the footsteps of these women, and not to idolize them. She explains how stupid it is for these women to use their bodies for attention. At the end, the girl decides to stop watching TV and playing with dolls and goes outside to play football.
Another of her videos that is empowering is "So What" which follows her after she goes through a divorce. The song is about being okay and not needing a man because she is still herself. I feel that her actions in the video encourage girls to feel that they can be independent as well, they don't need men to make themselves happy.
I agree with Samantha, I have grown up watching these videos on MTV and other channels and they do not shock me because I am so used to our society promoting these types of things. Especially in the hip hop world, black men and women dominate this world and black women are definitely empowering and they are the ones who sell the whole sex drive and sex appeal. Our society is the one who is in control of this because sex sells, we support it and we consider it entertainment and by encouraging it, it continues. Even though we have the power to change it, we never will because we consider it entertainment and its the cool thing to watch or listen to.
ReplyDeleteThe artist I chose as an empowering woman symbol is Beyonce. She is always known as the one who embraces her rather curvy figure and represents being a woman and not needing a man, and she does it very well. One example of this is the Pepsi commercial she participated in with Pink and Britney Spears. In this commercial they pose as roman gladiators and sing the song "We will rock you," shocking the audience and at the end they grab a pepsi and drink it. Of course all girls will want to drink pepsi and magically turn into them now but that's not going to happen. Another example of this is her song "If I were a boy" it is a song about If I were a boy, and all the things I wouldn't care about and hurting women. This lets women know that they are not alone and anything women can join together in against men, they will. So, Beyonce is a very good example of this because she is independent and driven and encourages other women to be the same way.
@aecollum and @Samantha Adams: My parents blocked MTV from me for the longest time because of what was on there :( I would have to like sneak around watching it hahah
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, we all wanted to watch MTV but my parents were skeptical about the content they were showing. I remember the videos being racy for my age but I think that the content on TV nowadays is even more questionable. I know I wouldn't want my kids watching those kinds of things. Lil Kim has always been viewed as a bad influence for all women but after reading this week's passages it totally changed my perspective. Her name changed the scene for women empowerment. She took a differenct approach than most women would. She knew she couldn't change the rules of the music industry so she started playing the game just like the men were. Her lyrics “flipped the script” and made men look like objects to women, just like they do to us. She re-appropriates phrases that men use demoralize women and basically throws them back in their faces.
ReplyDeleteIn the “I See the Same Ho” passage, Naomi Wolf's Beauty Myth is mentioned. The author of this passage refers to her widely acclaimed book to reinforce that women have to right to choose. Women hold their own standards. They have the power to decide how they look, who they like, and how they talk. Wolf also suggests in her theory of the Beauty Myth that it is in women's nature to compete with one another. This also stands true when defining intersectionality. Intersectionality suggests that race, gender, sex, and class all contribute to discrimination in many forms. In the music industry women lower their morals to get their 15 minutes of fame. Some even do the promiscuous videos for free. Unfortunately the people with the most recognition and money hold all the power and are able to make these women look like anything they want to in these videos.
A PERFECT example of a women empowering artist is Erykah Badu. I was introduced to her controversial music and eye opening videos in high school. Her music video for the song “Window Seat” caused a huge uproar, making the news and headlines of many online newspapers. She is not afraid to show the truth of the world. Her video's main message is to stop killing individuality. Her song “On and On” is encouraging people to keep their heads up and to stay positive.
The music alone is enough to make me a fan, her lyrics make her a legend. She expresses female confidence and power in every word, making her an important icon for generations of women to look up to. The beauty of being a woman is something that Badu embodies completely. Badu, like Lil Kim flips the script and does the unthought of. Sometimes causing a little commotion is the best way to get people's attention for change!
The videos talked about in the readings from this week weren't surprising to me because I have also been seeing them on TV and the internet for a very long time. The readings also talked about women rappers that have turned the tables so that the males are the dominant ones and the ones who are sex driven. They totally took over those roles even though they are females.In these videos the women portray that they are the ones that are in charge and have the power. I think that our own society is the reason why this kind of music and videos is still being supported because it is obviously selling and people like watching these videos and hearing this kind of music so why stop it now? The music industry is getting money from these videos and they are popular in today's society. These kind of videos that are being presented today are never going to change because it is so popular.
ReplyDeleteWhen thinking about a video/song that is empowering to women I think about the song Independent Woman by Destiny's Child. The song basically explains it all and presents that they are strong women and buy all their own things and don't have to depend on a man to be in their lives to have or do what they want to do to. One of the lines that describes this is, "I depend on me if I want it" It just shows how strong these women are.
Another song that I think about is "Man, I feel like a woman" by Shaniah Twain. In this song she isn't afraid to tell the man how she feels and throughout the song she encourages women to show their female expressions and to not hold back. The song makes it like she is the one in charge and doesn't have anything to hold her back! And the fact that in the song she says man, i feel like a woman shows just how comfortable she is with her self and how powerful she feels being a woman!
The dreamworld videos from this week kind of shocked me, I mean i've seen all of those music videos before, but I had never really put it into perspective the way that the readings from this week and the dreamworld video did for me. The first article gave examples of rappers who have "flipped the script" such as Lil' Kim and Khia by rapping about women being in charge as far as sex is concerned and expecting themselves to be pleasured by men; as opposed to the man being the sex driven ones and women being ordered to pleasure them. These women show that they are strong, independent women who are comfortable with their bodies and that is the way it is supposed to be. In the second article Jami Harris says "Lil' Kim utilizes strategy in her rap lyrics and music videos in which she comfortably asserts her sexuality. She is arguably the most successful female rappers taking up and popularizing the image of ho and the bitch unapologetically." This is an example of how Lil' Kim challenges the consructed theory that women are supposed to be passive instead of active.
ReplyDeleteAlso a major part of our modern music videos and popular television shows is the message it sends to young black women. If they are not a lighter skin color with chemically straightened hair then they are not considered beautiful in a man's eyes. For example in the first article when they discuss the show America's Next Top Model and how in the fall 2004 season Yaya DaCosta Johnson lost to Eva Pigford because she had a more "Afrocentric" look. What this means is that Pigford had a lighter toned skin and chemically processed hair so she won because she didn't have the natural African American look. I disagree with this, I think that our society should not make black women feel like they have to look like Halle Berry to be considered beautiful.
I also believe that the male and female singers and artists are the individuals who set the standard for as to what is acceptable in music videos today. If women continue to appear in music videos shaking their asses for men and being slaves to men then that is going to continue to be the way that our society is going to view women, as inferior to men when we aren't at all.
I think that there are many female artists that empower women throught their lyrics. I agree with Samantha Adams, PINK is one of my favorite female artists and she does a great job of making her target audience, which is adolesence, feel like they should be who they want to be. Another example is the song I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor. Although it's an oldie it is one of my favorite's because the lyrics demonstrate how men view women to be weak without them, but she basically says I can survive without you in my life. Another artists that empowers women is Beyonce and a perfect example of this is her song Irreplaceable. Her lyrics send the message that there's plenty of men out there, so men should think twice before they think that they can't be replaced. This is a demonstration of a beautiful, confident women who knows who she is and where she stands. This is how all women should view themselves when they look in the mirror.
@Meredith- I agree with you completely it's amazing to me what some of these girls in music videos will do to get in the spotlight. I guess in my opinion the 15 minutes of fame just isn't worth losing all of my morals just to get there. It's women like this that give women in general a bad name.
ReplyDelete@Meredith - I wasn't allowed to watch MTV at my house, but my friends parents didn't mind. So, I would catch up on everything there! Sometimes if I was lucky, I could sneak it in my parents room because it wasn't blocked in there! I have never seen the video for "Window Seat" and I really liked it!
ReplyDeleteThe video I watched that was in this week's reading was Lil' Kim's song "How Many Licks." In her song she talks about receiving oral gratification from the many men she's explored and the pleasure that she receives from them. Lil' Kim's explicit lyrics along with her crotch grabbing, sexual gestures, and increased dominant sexuality, Lil' Kim seems to "flip the scripts" of hetero-masculine sexual dominance. By " flipping the script" on masculine sexual dominance Lil' Kim mimicked male behavior and attacked common stereotypes related to female sexuality. In her video she used men objectively as they use women, as beings for sexual pleasure.
ReplyDeleteThis relates to re-appropriation because through her sexual gestures, she can be seen as still being sexually progressive. Some might say that Lil' Kim is placing herself into the stereotypes of being a sexually aggressive black woman, and that her image does nothing but confirm female objectivity. On the other hand her lyrics can be that of good to women. They pass the message to other women that they feel the need to be pleased as well as men do, and that males can too be used as objects representing sexual gratification. The power to set the patterns for dominant forms of representation in the music industry are in the hands of the producers, artists, and society in general because they produce what sells. We buy into these stereotypes of male dominance. We have the power to reject those dominant forms of representation.
I would say a couple of videos that I would consider to be empowering to both men and women would be Eve "Love is Blind" and India Arie "Video." Both of these videos are empowering to both mean and women, because they send strong messages to anyone who listens. Eve's "Love is Blind" is about a woman in an abusive relationship that ends tragically, but tells the story of unhealthy relationship on both parts. India Arie's "Video" is simply about being herselft no matter what anyone thinks.
In both of these videos the female artists are using their lyrics, bodies, and language to deliver their message positively. They are both advancing toward gender empowerment by not falling into common stereotypes. They seem to tackle real life issues that anyone can relate to. I love these songs because they give women value without showing their bodies, and show that they are not objects. These videos show that women do not have to be used objectively to get a point across thus showing our self-value.
@ Payton- I feel the same way you do. It will not change until people want it to change. The music industry produces what people want to buy, so why should they stop if people keep demanding it?
ReplyDelete@ ssandel- I agree! Women have the power to set the standard but as long as we keep agreeing to use our bodies then women will always amount to that. Dreamworld shocked me just as well. I never really paid that much attention to vidoes. Plus I'm not too much of a vidoe person but it came across as a little sickening.
I can honestly say that growing up, my mother never really hindered me from seeing anything, and I believe if she had when I was younger, I would be ignorant to topics such as this one. She did not block these things from me for the simple fact that if I had not really been educated on these issues from home, it may get out of hand when I faced the real world. A few of the women talked about in the Dreamworlds 3 video, Lil Kim, Beyonce, and Khia were all very dominating in the videos in the documentary. Although Lil Kim and Khia come of to be very provacative women, I don't think that is their sole being. I think it's just the whole mentality that if men can be so independent and do whatever they want in the industry, the women should have the same right to do these things. Intersectionality plays a huge role in this. Usually it is a black woman that is at the bottom of the totem pole, but in this instance, she dominates.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, a woman who symbolizes much empowerment in her music as well as in her videos would have to be India Arie. Two songs of hers that remind me of this natural empowerment are "Chocolate High" and "I am not My Hair." The first song is about a woman that finds a man that she loves and loves him unconditionally. Although she describes her feelings towards him as being addicted to his chocolate high, this still has no negative meaning. The other song, "I am not My Hair," is of a woman and a man that are discrimanted because they have had dreadlocks or an afro. She clearly is saying that no matter how a person may look on the outside, they are still beautiful. Another thing that I noticed was that throughout the video, the dancing was very free flowing, and none of it was in a negative aspect, and India Arie was still the dominating female!
@ Peyton, I agree in saying that none of these things surprised me. I feel that the exposure that we have had contributes to this aspect in many ways; this may not be saying that we condone these negative images, however.
ReplyDelete@Meridith, I do agree with you: the content of music and television today is way more sketchy than it was in our younger days. I think this will continue to evolve and there is not much we can do about it because as long as artists keep making the music, people will keep buying it.
As some of the others I was not surprised by what was shown in the video from wednesday. I have seen many of the music videos that were also shown and when I was younger never really realized what was going on and how disrespectful it was to women. One women I feel makes her videos like men which I'm guessing is the masculinity switch is Missy Elliot. In her videos she plays the role of a man and displays vulgar imitations and language that you would usually expect to see from a man. The actions displayed in her videos and videos that are similar and seen on wednesday are forms of re-appropration.
ReplyDeleteThere are not many women who show they independence through music but a couple of those are Pink in her Stupid Girls video and Destiny's Child in their Independent Woman video. Pink shows her independence by making fun of women in the societal world and in the entertainment industry because of how materialistic they are.
I feel that the music video world will never change because of all the hype they get from their videos and what they sing about. Sexuality is what sells and if there are girls willing to disgrace themselves the way they do then men will take full advantage of that because it is how they make money.
I grew up with two older brothers with an age difference of 6 year that were always watching MTV. I remember my parents not wanting to watch that channel in front of me due to the content. Once I got older I realized the context of the videos understanding why my parents wouldn't let watch this. When watching the videos mentioned in the articles this week I was by far not surprised by what I saw. In all honestly I was expecting girls to be in revealing clothes dancing all sexual over the male artist. Typically in the hip-hop cultural males are the dominant one who are sex driven. Lil' Kim and Khia on the other hand flip the script by being the dominant, sex driven artist that is FEMALE. In Lil' Kim's songs she talks about sex and being in control; how the male body has no power over her and sometimes becomes weak to her. These artist go against the norm in two ways one by being female and second being a black female, when usually black females are consider the "lowest" in the race/gender stereotype.
ReplyDeleteI believe there are a few female artist that empower the female body through their music. I believe artist Pink and Nicki Minaj play this role in the music heard today. Pink's song "Stupid Girls" talks about eating disorders and how it is stupid to be a women torturing yourself to be skinny especially for the purpose of the male satisfaction. Personaly so many of Pink's songs are empowering to women and not degrading in any form. My second artist is Nicki Minaj due to the fact she is a powerful black female artist performing in a male dominant field. /many of her songs are based around her feelings or her success. Nicki is a women I don't think will ever fall into the typical music idea of women throwing themselves at men being sex driven. She could change the way the music makes business for women and maybe one day for men.
After watching this weeks readings I wasnt really that shocked, sadly if you stay up late at night or wke up ealry and turn it on to MTV you will see these types of videos being played. The article talked about women flipping the script and it included rap star Lil Kim and also Beyonce. Other examples of women doing the same in their songs and videos is Ciara and even Christina Augilera. Lil Kim is the best example of a srtong female rapper who emphasizes the importance of her sexuality. She usues offensive language agaisnt men and in her videos she is the one being "looked at by me" or "being the sex symbol" in all of her videos. She is a great example of constructive theory because she is trying to flip the script on men and show them that if they can treat women with no respect or dignity, so can we.
ReplyDeleteThere were several artists that came to mind for empowering song choices. however I thought of Gwen Stefani's Just a Girl. She allowed an entire generation in the 90's to speak up about gender stereotypes, embracing their girlish natures, but also verbalizing their disdain of being treated like objects. She really does a great job in her albums of trying to be a strong female woman in a positive way. Another example of empowering songs and women is Christina Perri's Jar of Hearts. In this song she highlights the co-dependency that women can expeience with their masculine counterpart. Perri powerfully replies to her lover, who she once depended on and says to him that she is strong enough now to not allow him to fall back into her arms. ALl these women show a respect for themselves and other women around the world. They are trying to set an example of how women should not fall under the male domincane factor.
It scares me to watch videos now, and see in 20 years from now what my kids will be watching on MTV. Dreamworlds 3 was a very powerful film and I wish more (women especially) would take time to watch it. It really shows you that sex sales in that type od industry and they are using women for it. Hopefully things will change and women dont have to be treated that way and them be ok with it.
@ Mallorie: i agree about the fear of seeing what kids in years to come will be watching. It is already pretty degrading now what will it be like with all the new upgrades in technology. I have high hopes that it will take 180 turn and women will no longer be selling their bodies practically just their music
ReplyDelete@Taylor McNeil- Oh I know, I just got to thinking how bad it is now just thinkg years from now. But I have to say I do not think it would get any better because these women are getting paid to sell themselves basically, so there thinking why not you know?
ReplyDelete@Victoria Arnold- I think you give a great point about Lil Kim and Khia. I think as well that maybe they act the way they do because they want men to see they can be just like them. Lil Kim does seem really intimidating in her videos and lyrics, but maybe thats just because she wants to show everyone that women can be dominant as well.
@Mallorie True but you also have to think if that was you would you say no or yes? I'd say no and there are many women out there like that for instance Taylor Swift(yes she is a country singer) but if she was put in the same position she would most likely say no
ReplyDelete@Mallorie Grissom i completely agree with you. I think they are trying to prove a point.
ReplyDelete@Meredith I also agree its crazy to see what some girls will do to get their fifteen minutes of fame on MTV.