From Savage to Hip-Hop Glam

We recently discussed sexualizing stereotypes and the “other” in society. Our discussion about Hook’s “Black Looks and Representations” led us to talk about Beyonce and how she uses her body to portray sexuality and in turn is praised for her fame and talent. While some argue Beyonce exploits herself, others argue she is proud of her body and is making a stand for women. For me it’s hard to agree with one or the other. I do think Beyonce should be proud of her body and has a right to dress the way she wants, but in then end it does come down to the fact that she is using her sexuality to attract attention. While I don’t think this can always be negative, I do feel like in other situations it has been an outlet for subconscious racial stereotypes.

America’s Next Top Model is a perfect example of sexualizing minorities. In my opinion the show does promote women of color as sex objects who must change the features of their race to become better suited for the media as well as for society. The show highlights the model’s racial differences then draws a clear division between white and black. Tyra Banks and the other judges illustrate modern racism through passive actions and comments directed to the models. Their idea is to accept multiple races as diverse in beauty, but in the end everyone does and must conform to the norm in order to win the prize.

Tyra tries to present herself as a proud, black woman who embraces her heritage. But in every episode she has a long, straight weave and half the time it’s blonde. An example of conforming to the norm took place a few years ago when Tyra and the other judges told the contestant Danielle that she must change her rural, southern speech to proper English. They mold her to society turning her from rural and southern into a hip-hop/glam stereotype of black performers. Her accent was a part of her African American ancestry and heritage- it was the way she spoke with her family her entire life. In the end the judges “other” Danielle from her history and her family and turn her into the specimen they want to portray to society.

From the Hottentot to Beyonce to Danielle, black women are sexualized, transformed, and “othered” in order to fit the roles society has given them: savage, sexualized woman, or hip-hop glam artist.

Reebok's EasyTone 1 Makes Women Easy

Please watch this video first, then read below:

http://theshoegame.com/articles/reebok-easytone-commercial.html
When I first watched this commercial, I earnestly thought it was a spoof on some show, that I had mistakenly been tuned to the Comedy Network, instead of standard cable television. I soon found out I was sadly mistaken. This Reebok commercial goes to unbelievable lengths to promote its’ newest product, the EasyTone1 sneaker. The idea of this sneaker is that it exercises your butt and legs while you walk; no running necessary! This is a great invention, exercise is certainly important and something human beings should be doing often. However, the way Reebok chooses to appeal to its demographic is completely grotesque, for lack of a better word. The commercial of the woman (whose whole body you actually DO see) is speaking into the camera the entire time, however, the camera is fixated on her butt. Her butt is so attractive that the male camera man cannot focus on his job and do it successfully without being entranced by her fit butt. The first time he zooms in on her voluptuous booty, she calls him out on it, saying “Dude!” the first indication that the cameraman is male. She then continues to promote the product, stating all its benefits, but that is all just background noise because within seconds, the camera lens is once again directed towards the woman’s butt, and all other actions taking place in this commercial hold no meaning. There is full focus on her butt, and its appeal, as the reason to buy the sneaker. The ultimate message is simple: if you buy the sneaker, you will tone your body, which will make you more desirable to men, JUST LIKE ME! YAY! How about the message that is more beneficial to women who may be interested in buying a new sneaker: if you buy this sneaker, you will be exercising even when you’re not at the gym, and you tone important muscles that will help keep you healthier and stronger for longer. This notion is not even touched upon throughout the commercial.

Now, please watch this commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjAVCjXELk8

However, the second commercial, promoting this same product, is even more appalling than the first. It ONLY shows a pair of breasts, and at the end, a quick glance of a nice round booty to put the icing on the cake! Not once does this commercial even show the sneakers it is promoting. And, not once does it mention the true health benefits of owning this pair of sneakers. Instead, it portrays each of the woman’s breasts as a female, who is gossiping in envy about the body’s butt. They are portraying the breasts as if they were the quintessential coffee clutch, yapping in a corner about how they don’t like so and so for her blah blah blah, but are actually jealous of her because of some other reason. It gives women no depth, portrays to men that we have nothing of true importance to contribute to conversation, and the things we think about most are our appearance and how we can better it in comparison to other women’s’ appearances. In fact, it seems as if these commercials may have been directed to men, in timely fashion, before the upcoming holidays, as possible gift options! What’s better than getting your significant other to look like the hottie in the commercial? I was truly disgusted to see this commercial aired, quite often may I add, and during daytime hours. Not that it is pornographic, but it is slightly inappropriate to present to children. And aside from that, if I had a daughter of my own, I’m quite sure I wouldn’t want her getting the idea that the only way to gain approval from men is to obsess over her image.

I leave you with wise words from rapper, Nas, "What Goes Around (Poison)":

"Up late night on they mothers cordless, thinking a perm or
Bleaching cream will make better when they gorgeous
White girls tanning, lypo suction
Fake titties are implanted, fake lips thats life destruction
Lightskin women, bi-racial hateful toward themselves
Denying even they blood"

The Male Ideal of Disney Characters

Okay, this isn't part of my "weekly assignment blog" but I HAD to share it with you all. My friends and I were talking about how insane Disney princesses are and this girl overheard us, so she decided to enlightened us on how even more ABSURD the male characters can get:





DUDE it's PETER PAN!! Here's more (it gets more outrageous) http://y100.elvisduran.com/pages/p2article.html?feed=240173&article=6194578

I mentioned taboo in class today and now I want to apply it to today’s discussion on Hook’s article. I believe Natalie was getting at the point about women and their sexuality and, I suppose, the whole “If you’ve got it, flaunt it,” ideology. A woman who is proud of her body and proud of her sexuality is deemed a “slut” in our society. I think that there is nothing wrong with a woman wearing whatever she wants (even Lady GaGa if you twist my arm, because let’s face it, Katy Perry wore a leotard first).

But think about it, if you really do believe that “you’ve got it,” then whom are you really “flaunting it “for?

Frank used a great example in his presentation today, Beyonce’s (or Bob Fosse’s) “Single Ladies” music video. Putting together the images in the video and the lyrics of the song, it just did not add up. Why is Beyonce grinding up on an invisible guy if she’s celebrating being single? Also, it just seems that her lyrics Beyonce are saying that she is doing all her actions to get back at this supposed ex.

What made me realize this, was Hook’s example of Tina Turner. I love Tina Turner, “Proud Mary,” is one of my all time favorite songs (incase you were wondering), and when I first read about her in this article, I was mad at Hook. But I’ve definitely come to the realization Turner wasn’t actually trying to be a strong woman in charge of her life. She was fulfilling the image of the “wild woman” and proudly flaunted her body, “… as a potential weapon.”

So ladies, how can we fix this? Feminists will tell you to be proud of your sexuality and wear a leotard if that is what makes you happy. If you ask me, put on some damn pants because you don’t need to air grind in a leotard to say “I am woman hear me roar!”

The Role of the Black Celebrity in the West's Racist Attitudes

I believe that intention makes little difference when dealing with racism. If a dancer/ musician knows full well that by putting their ass on display they are playing on racist notions of black beauty and sexuality, but they do it anyway to make a buck, does it make any difference? As much as I want to believe that racism is pretty cut and dry, sometimes it just isn't that easy. With the case of Josephine Baker it seemed as though she was very aware of what she was doing and what the implications of her ass-centric routines were. So in her case I feel inclined to applaud her for turning a negative into a positive and making money off her rear end. However, with Beyonce I feel like she is neither aware of some of the racist notions of sexuality that she is reminiscent of nor does she seem to be turning the desires and the beliefs of white people on their head in order to make money for herself. So while I have to respect Josephine Baker I end up feeling like Beyonce is simply being used for her body without really knowing it.

The question this all comes down to for me is: do black celebrities owe it to the black community to transcend these racist representations or is it perfectly acceptable for them to exploit society's racism for their own benefit (money and fame)? I can't possible know the answer to this because I cannot speak for everyone who has an opinion on the subject. Personally though, I think that black celebrities have to be aware of racist stereotypes and notions so that they can avoid them and start to incorporate counter hegemonic notions of beauty and sexuality into our culture.

What's Beautiful

I just got thinking after our class about what is considered beautiful or pretty. We live in a society where beauty is defined for us. It's never beautiful to be fat in our culture. For us beauty = skinny, let me rephrase that, stick skinny BUT have nice boobs and butts. Unless you're a model if you're skinny but have no butt or boobs, you're considered decent. It's sad to admit that our society view women in this light. It's amazing how we became to accept this and say this is okay. It gets worse when models are not pretty or skinny enough. Two years ago I had a write a paper about models and their eating disorder problems. It was so shocking how many of them actually suffer from things like anorexia and bulimia. It's not the girls but the industry that makes them this way indirectly. Some designers even said that Heidi Klum is too "fat" to model. When was Heidi Klum fat especially after having two children. So no wonder the girls in the modeling industry can't enjoy a meal and think that it's the enemy. Another shocking aspect of the industry is how they use their technology. Here when I say "their" technology, I mean photoshoping. No matter how pretty or perfect a model may look, those photographs go through photoshop. There the editors, make things bigger, make some other things smaller, and so on and so forth. I think a great example of this is the Dove Evolution commercial. It basically shows a model's final photograph going under "reconstruction." It's so sad that our natural beauty is never enough. Since models are retouched, how would the rest of the women feel about themselves? The media definitely plays a huge role and manipulates women to feel like they are not beautiful enough. I really think we should change this perspective and not fall into their trap.

link to the Dove commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U or just youtube Dove Evolution

Representations of the Nuclear Family.

I’m an avid watcher of ABC’s new comedy Modern Family. Besides the fact that I’m totally psyched to see “Al Bundy” in a new family, the type of humor is right up my alley. With all the talk about media representations in class, I want to touch on the subject of the nuclear family being represented. I’m sure we all grew up to reruns of The Brady Bunch and Happy Days on Nick At Nite, so we have a basic gist of what we were supposed to believe the perfect family is. A working dad, a stay at home mom, who made the most massive breakfasts I have ever seen, and then a brother and sister who generally doesn’t want the other one to die.

I’m sure we’ve all realized by now that those types of families do not exist in any shape or form. We all have some sort of dysfunction in our families and I believe that media are picking up on this. There’s Married With Children, pretty much the quintessential dysfunctional family. One of my personal favorite movies, Pleasantville, really got to the meat and potatoes of the age of television’s perfect family. And most recently, Modern Family, a show following three families, who are all related to each other. They schedule time to shoot a pellet gun at their son to teach him a lesson; a sixty-something year old man remarries a gorgeous Columbian woman with a pre-teen son who thinks he’s in his thirties. There is also a gay couple that just adopted their first child from China.

These families sound more like what exits in today’s society, and I hope that this is the media taking strides in representing real families who fight, love, and occasionally push each other into a pool. It’s about time we stepped away from the nuclear family and embraced the families we have.