We had recently watched Sut Jhally's film Dreamworlds. This is what the student says:
[S]he is kind of wearing a skimpy outfit. That reminds me of the music videos. How the women in them are wearing what the men would like them to wear. ... And when Drake enters (a male artist) she acts almost as if she is blown away by his presence. That reminds me about how we talked about men being the dominant sex and the stereotype that women are blown away by a man's presence.
I think he's referring to Jhally's argument that even female artists must conform--if not initially, then eventually--to stereotypes defined by male, heterosexual desires in order to achieve commercial success in the music industry.
It's worth noting that Beyonce is in the news this week for another reason: a controversial photo of her appearing in blackface and tribal paint.
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2 comments:
I think it is interesting how we look at performing artists today in the media. All performing women are supposed to have that good body, and if they don't then it seems they are not as successful. So I do agree that those women have to give the people what they want so to speak. Also I think it is worth noting that men performers can still be successful with out having this great appearence. There are many artists such as fat joe, rick ross, and paul wall, that people would say do not have that very fit body, but still are very successful. And it's not just hip hop music, in all kinds of music all women performers must keep a good body in order to get the fame and money. I would say that if great artists did NOT have the body that they do they would not be as successful.
Hmm. This is tough one. I'm referring to the photo of Beyonce in the add for the musical about Fela Kuti. One critic commented that by darkening her face, it reduces all of Africa to one shade of brown. I do find it interesting, however, that Beyonce's natural skin tone is caught in the middle of the two sides: Her skin has been lightened for many magazine covers and ads yet here her face is darkened to reflect her roots. It is also accompanied by a dress her mother made. I don't know what her mother's story is, perhaps she is a native African who married a white man. *shrug*
I don't know. It's tough. I'm not sure I would go so far as to call it "blackface" as it is traditionally done by white people. But does it have a different meaning if Beyonce, an African-American woman does it? A woman whose roots stem from Africa?
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