Analysis Of Robin Thicke 's ' The Summer '

“Oh my gosh! you’re so pretty for a black girl.” “You’re black so I know you can twerk.” In society these phrases may be considered as compliments for black women even though they are not. However, people only know what the media portrays black women to be. It emphasizes them as ghetto, loud, angry, and ignorant. Black women are more than the negative stigma that the media portrays. In our society, the media reinforces the plague of African American women by stereotypes and falsities originating from slavery. For young African American women, the majority of media portrayal, especially in music and film, is of a bulumpcious, sexually hyperactive golddigger. This negative image of a black women is damaging to the black community by implying

Director Sut Jhally, in his documentary film, “Dreamworlds 3: Desire, sex, and power in music videos”, analyzes the issue of how women are portrayed in the music world. Jhally, in his film argues how music and media has become a proud industry when it comes to advertising women, all for the benefit of popularity and record sales. Jhally believes these videos both inform and misinform our culture about our dominant attitudes regarding femininity masculinity, sexuality and race. He uses an empathetic tone in order to appeal to pathos, the feelings and experiences in women when he presents video clips that are somewhat offensive to watch as proof that women have become a common necessity shown in music videos. Often presented as being sexually aggressive and submissive, being objectified by men. He also intentionally wants to try to stir up emotions as he introduces song lyrics of women being called inappropriate names and images of women being fondled by men throughout the film. Sometimes, aggressively without consent.

The misogynistic treatment of women in commercialized rap has become a widespread phenomenon which as a result has become commonly accepted by majority of the individuals in society. Rappers, in general, nowadays use women in their videos in a way which is both derogatory and exploiting. Black men in today’s society, especially in the entertainment industry, do not see women as their equals; rather they objectify them as being nothing more than sex objects. People in the Hip Hop industry do not believe that sexism and misogyny is as big of a deal as racism, thus they push this issue to the side by simply ignoring it and learning to accept it. This misogynistic portrayal of women is ruining the image if Hip Hop as both an industry and a form of expressive art. However, instead of taking action against this atrocity, many women simply believe that the images of women and their portrayal in rap videos does not represent nor refer to them as an individual and the type of woman they truly are. By being silent these women are allowing themselves to be victimized by the men of not only the Hip Hop industry but also general society. By not having a say in this matter of the false classification and portrayal of women, they are voluntarily allowing men to do whatever they please to do so, in any given time and with any approach they feel is necessary. They do not

Robin Thicke’s music video to his song “Blurred Lines” avidly contributes to the patriarchy, while portraying sexism, gender standards, and beauty standards. His music video can be analyzed from a feminist theory approach, as it’s evident that his song and video contribute to a patriarchal society and its inherently sexist and sexualized ideologies. The ideology behind the song and music video is purely sexual and about male dominance. The lyrics to the song and actions in the video exhibit extreme over sexualization and objectification of the women. Analyzing this piece of popular culture through a feminist approach opens up a provoking conversation about how popular culture functions in a patriarchal culture. Analyzing pop culture though a feminist theory can allow for a larger variety and more in-depth analysis about the social aspects and political agenda within popular culture.

In her article “The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto: Negotiating Spaces for Women,” Imani Perry argues that the objectification of women in the music industry is normalized in our society. Her purpose is to persuade us that most feminists who fight against the objectification and exploitation of women are ultimately colonized by the sexual fantasies of men. As a law professor at Rutgers Law School, Perry structures her text in a very effective manner. Using a general-to-specific organization scheme, she begins by outlining the recurring image of sexualized women in music videos, then presenting various cases of prominent feminist figures in the music industry.

Taylor Swift, a pop icon and polarizing figure, is often known for her empowering music, feminist attitude, and meaningful lyrics. Many of her fans praise the feminist messages some of her songs deliver, however others say she comes from a position of privilege and only advocates for white women. Still, a common perception of Swift is that she has evolved from an innocent country singer into a more controversial and sometimes provocative pop singer. What is ignored though, is that despite this perception, themes depicted in “old” Taylor’s music still displayed highly problematic concepts about gender, just in less obvious ways. Particularly in her music video for “You Belong With Me,” the audience if presented with a fulfilling love story involving a nerdy girl getting the popular. On its surface, this concept may seem normal, but the narrative of this video unintentionally conveys significant gender issues in today’s society. Thus, through her 2008 music video for “You Belong With Me,” Taylor Swift ironically presents herself as the ideal nerdy girl next door who gets the guy when she suddenly turns beautiful while demonizing a cheerleader, revealing problematic notions of how women are supposed to look and behave in society, as well as reinforcing negative female stereotypes.

It is suggested that one of the reasons why artists use misogynistic lyrics in their music is that they have internalized the negative stereotypes about women that are prevalent in American society. African women were historically portrayed as animalistic sexual beasts and African males in a submissive role, giving in to wild instinct or bodily impulses. The internalization of such stereotypes may be a possible explanation of the hyper sexuality within certain hip hop music. Various authors have argued that misogyny is merely an outgrowth of the cultural acceptance of misogyny at large.

Allen’s music video introduces half-naked women committing sexual acts in a provocative scene to establish the role of women in pop culture as dehumanizing. The scene starts with Allen joining the female dancers, clothed enough to barely cover their genitals, beginning their dance routine. As Allen sings, the dancers are seen performing the twerk, and the video zooms on the dancer’s genitals as the dancers lick their hands and slap their genitals. Allen’s incendiary scene highlights women as needing to be overly sexualized in music videos and performing suggestive behaviors to be included in pop culture. This scene dehumanizes women in music videos because women are expected to behave and dress in a specific manner or not be included in the

Within popular culture today, objectified female bodies can be represented everywhere from advertising images to magazine covers, television, music and many more. Through these media institutions, we allow them to construct social identities in ways that allow us to understand what it means to be black, white, Asian, male or female etc. Within many popular culture mediums such as music, stereotypical representations of racially marked female bodies are often formed. Thus, these representations also have the ability to create stories about a certain culture. In music videos, it does not go unnoticed that women are portrayed as objects whose objectives are to pleasure men. In this paper, I will argue how racially marked female bodies are represented. This paper will mainly focus on how these racially marked women are depicted in the hip hop culture. To demonstrate this, I will draw examples by using award winning music videos by Nicki Minaj, R.Kelly, 50 cent to exemplify representations of the female body and how they are objectified as sex objects. In conclusion, we will be able to see how the female bodies are used in mainstream hip hop videos to convey seductively.

These visuals may reconstruct and confirm racist pigeon-holes that dub black buttocks with terms such as “junk,” “bubble,” or “cake,” linking its physicality and location to ideas of black ghettos, and dictating “its value and the spatial location for women who possess this body type” (Durham 41). However, within these stereotypes, along with Beyoncé’s self-representations, exists “classed femininity,” where “shared racial history is less useful when attempting to delineate within-group distinctions, such as class” (Durham 40-41). “Black ghetto” stereotypical depictions, such as hypersexuality, are often performed to maintain southern black authenticity in hypermasculine demeanors in order to gain respect from their black and white counterparts. This is done when Beyoncé’s lower half is utilized in her musical performances “to mark authentic blackness rooted in the American South” (Durham 43). These “hood” roots assist in creating respect and visibility for these otherwise demeaned, diminished, and silenced bodies, although, this practice can merely be a facade as “both the street and the strip club are hypermasculine spaces where Black girls and women are economically and sexually vulnerable” (Durham

The development of visual media has introduced the concept of The Male Gaze Theory. The Male Gaze Theory is defined as how women are depicted in the media from a male perspective, such as presenting women as sexual objects for men’s pleasure (Loreck). The article, inexplicitly, talks about the male gaze: “Up to 81% of music videos contain sexual imagery, the majority of which sexually objectifies women by presenting them in revealing clothing, as decorative sexual objects, dancing sexually, or in ways that emphasize body parts or sexual readiness.” The article talks about how women are sexually presented in the media which is what the male gaze encompasses the “male gaze” is a harmful contribution to the sexualization of girls and is also seen throughout the music video. The beginning of the music video shows 50 Cent walking into a brothel-type mansion where the camera pans to focusing on the writhing, half-naked women in the foyer of the mansion. This scene is viewed from a male’s perspective because the camera focuses on their sensual movements and physical assets instead of their normal facial expressions or more appropriate places on their body. Also, since 50 Cent is the only male in the mansion, the camera is only coming from a male perspective because brothels are only truly for a male’s pleasure. The other women in the video are objectified from their revealing clothing

Girls and women are taught that cat calls on the street are normal and to just brush it off. Women have to deal with rape culture every day. Women can’t be out and about at three in the morning in fear of being raped. When I went to Sear’s Driving School, the instructor told every single girl in the class to lock the doors as soon as we get in their car in case anyone tries to attack us or rapes us. Women are told to be mindful of what they’re wearing because if they are raped, someone is going to blame their outfit for being raped. Society has taught women that it’s normal to be seen as sex objects and nothing else. In the summer of 2013, “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke was playing in nearly every radio station. I have to admit that it’s a catchy tune and made me want to sing along. It’s when I started singing along that I felt disgusted. The song goes on to say “I know you want it” referring to sex. The song “Blurred Lines” focuses on the so called “blurred lines” that men face when being entitled to having sex with a girl. If rape culture didn’t exist, a song like this wouldn’t be so popular much less have ever been written.

In 2014, the pop band, Maroon 5, released a video for their single “Animals”. In the video the lead singer, Adam Levine takes the role of a butcher who stalks one of the store’s female customers. Throughout, he goes to great lengths to obsessively observe the woman, even to the length of taking pictures of her sleep without her being knowledgeable of his presence. The video ends with a nude Adam Levine nakedly holding the woman while blood drops on them from above, followed by menacingly staring into the camera in the rain. Viewing this video one cannot help but see how it exemplifies how mainstream media promotes the objectification of women and sexual violence. This is especially apparent from around the marks of :21 and :26, where the video

For twelve weeks Blurred Lines was at the top of the Billboard 100 charts and could be heard thumping from speakers everywhere. Sung by Robin Thicke and featuring prominent rappers T.I. Harris and Pharrell, this track was proclaimed the anthem for summer 2013 . At the surface the song is seemingly harmless with a cheery rhythmic beat and catchy lyrics, but when examining the song and accompanying music video, Blurred Lines is anything but harmless. Dubbed “that rape song” by many discerning listeners, Blurred Lines is a song about the blurred lines of consent. With gems such as “You’re an animal, just let me liberate you” and “I’ll give you somethin’ big enough to tear yo ass in two” featured throughout the song it is astonishing how

The song lyrics of this video contain references to more explicit sexual behavior. For example the lyrics, “You’re far from plastic, talk about getting blasted” make women seem like plastic models and provides the message that it’s okay to use women for sex. The song is said to perpetuate rape culture by rejecting the concept of clear sexual consent: there should never be any “blurred lines” relating to sex. A music video called defined lines was created in response to this music video in order to challenge the message portrayed by “blurred lines”. The roles were reversed where the men in the video were portrayed in a sexualized manner and the women were wearing suits. It is obvious after watching the defined lines video that sexualizing men seems ridiculous and yet women are sexualized so often that it has become a definite part of our