Every day millions of telephone calls are made all over the world. In the 1980’s, a teenager would ask their parents for a telephone in their bedroom. Today, more of the American population has telephones than do not. It is a concept that we take for granted and probably always will. In prisons, you get one telephone call. Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” music video starring herself and Beyonc֢é Knowles takes an extreme take on prison life, sexuality, and the importance of that one telephone call. It debuted in 2010 as one of the most controversial music videos of all time and is compared to movies because of the way it was directed and it’s length [9:32 minutes].
The video starts with Gaga being taken to a prison cell at the "Prison for
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They have somewhat of a sensual conversation before leaving the prison about the recent behavior of Gaga. The video uses numerous stereotypes about women and their behavior both in public scenarios as well as their sexuality. This includes the lesbian kissing scene, and the apparent love relationship that builds between Gaga and Knowles in the second half of the story. Another is the general misleading view that women who are in prison are large and strong women. This is often not the case. One label that is broken in an attempt of feminism is a pretty simple stereotype about women. The vehicle that they leave the prison in is a large Chevrolet pickup truck that says ‘Pussy Wagon’ on the back. This argues that not only men drive big trucks. Olivia Smith of the New York Daily News wrote “Beyonce - who else - sporting black lips, has come to rescue her…in a souped-up fire engine red and yellow pick-up truck with a flame motif seared into the paint.”
After leaving the jail, they commute to a middle-of-nowhere diner and kill the man that they meet. Though it is not said, it is implicit that they knew him before Gaga was arrested. The American identity is one that cannot be confused with any other. They killed a man; in fact, they killed everyone at the diner after Gaga poisoned the food in the kitchen. Things like murder are almost enjoyed, because they are so interesting to Americans. It goes unsaid why they killed the
In response to the violent riot of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, Lady gaga tweeted to the black community asking for advice to help alleviate the racial tensions in America. Here, Lady Gaga tries to establish a legit connection with the black community by trying to represent the white allies who want to make a positive change for the Black community. She even creates the #HowWeDoBetter hashtag to allow others to easily join the conversation and follow the movement.
“Run,” the promotional trailer for Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s concert could very well be a legitimate Hollywood blockbuster of its own. In the following four minutes of the trailer, shots spanning for no more than three seconds each glorify the power couple, showering them in action-packed scenes with guns, money, and alcohol. An explosion is even interspersed among the rapidly changing scenes. With both artists at the forefront of the music industry, it is no surprise that ‘Queen Bey’ and ‘Hov’ (derived from Jehova originally meaning God) go all out to prove to their audience that they embody sophistication, threat, vulnerability, excitement, and value—they deserve their respective epithets of ‘Queen’ and ‘God’, and they prove this perfectly with
“The United States has the biggest prison population in the world--we incarcerate 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, even though we are only 5 percent of the world’s population.” (Kerman 299) One of the main issues dealt with in the novel is the subject of the United States’ ever-expanding prison population. It is evident that far too many Americans are sentenced for ridiculous amounts of time, and for petty crimes that hold little to no true law-enforcement reasoning behind them. In the book, Kerman acquaints herself with a variety of inmates jailed for menial felonies, from political protesters, to drug-offenders, to money-launderers, turned respectable business women charged with a decade-old crime, like
If any woman did not meet the requirements, she is often cast aside and is labeled ugly. This essay will analyze Beyoncé’s music video “Pretty Hurts,” by summarizing the video, applying rhetorical and gender analytical methods, and discussing a source, which strengthens the claim that this video ultimately defies American hegemony. This video constantly demonstrates the way women try to conform to society, even though they seem to be miserable. At the beginning of the video, Beyoncé is presented getting ready for a pageant.
For nearly twenty years, Beyoncé has lived her life in the public eye yet she has always kept her cool, been submissive, and rather quiet when it came to her personal endeavors however after releasing the film “Lemonade”, we are able to see her in a vulnerable light. In Jeremy Helliger’s article: “Dear Beyhive: Stop Whining. Beyoncé Still Hasn’t Earned Her Album Of The Year Grammy” he addresses the idea that although Beyoncé was able to encourage black women to be proud and free, she also she missed the mark by adding raunchy, over the top content to her vulnerability.
Next, a dystopian looking older model car, possibly a Camaro or Mustang, appears doing donuts with a flag waving in the wind that is made of bandanas meant to symbolize the American flag. The scene then switches to Bada$$ chained up with other minorities in a triangle formation. This scene resembles the treatment of slaves back in the day, in which they had to be chained to each other during shipments or auctions. These minorities are dressed in modern day clothes,which signifies modern-day slaves in America. A few more moments into the video and Bada$$ begins rapping the lyrics to a group of children wearing all white clothes which differs from the adults
All, of the dancers in this music video are African-American, and it is very clear. None of their hair is straightened, they are all in Black Panther-esque outfits, and they are “unapologetically black.” The concept of this video is head-on addressing systemic racism. An obvious example is the dancers but there are also many more. For one, the opening scene, as referenced earlier, includes Beyoncé herself standing on a police car flooded in water while a clip saying “What happened in the New Orleans?” plays in the background. This artist is using her platform to bring attention to the hurricane in New Orleans and how there was little to nothing done by police there. She is calling out the system in this video.
Beyoncé recently released her music video on Saturday February 6, 2016. Beyoncé 's "Formation" video forms messages in text and visuals that fits today 's social issues. They call attention to the audience mainly for women and Black America. This piece of rhetoric creates meaning in society by giving us events and visuals to help the
A group of seven juvenile delinquents sit at a table sporting jumpsuits that’s draped over their street clothes, not knowing what’s expected to happen next during their jail visit at the Douglas County prison in Georgia. The cameras, that are rolling for Beyond Scared Straight, a reality television series that takes at risk teenagers to different state run prisons across the United States to give them a glance of where they 'll end up if they continue making wrong choices, show the confused look on the delinquents’ faces when they see the next prisoner walking through the door. Instead of a pair of six foot, 300 pounder monsters that were charged for two counts of aggravated assault and attempted murder like some of the inmates that the
The show is based on Piper Kerman’s memoir of the same name, and documents the experiences of a privileged Connecticut WASP named Piper Chapman who spends 15 months in a woman’s prison because she transported money for the head of a drug cartel, who happened to be her lesbian lover. Some of the show’s primary themes involve this clash of worlds, between the upper class white background of Piper, and the lower class, mainly nonwhite world of the prison.
yappy dog you would expect a old lady to own. On the contrary, it is
This movie is amazing and inspirational to other young black women, it shows that you many struggle but if you keep going your dreams and hard work will be recognize. This film touch on the gender norms and racial norms, which has strong connection to the four reading I choice to critical review this blog. This movie has strong connection to the Gaga Feminism theory, the concept is “a set of wholesale changes that may be most obvious in the realm of gender norms but that also stretch too many other realms of everyday experience and that call for improvisational feminism that keeps pace with the winds of political change.” Hidden-figures proved that Black women can do whatever they want if they put their mind to it. This is breaking down what society has deem as the normal way of doing this.
Prison Rape is no secret in today’s society. The American media has portrayed prison rape as a joke (Don’t drop the soap) in countless films, television shows, and in music, but have not realized the extent of how dangerous this crime is. Some cops even use this method as a means to get a confession from a suspect. A major obstacle in solving Prison rape is the notorious under-reporting of the crime. Only 16 percent of prison rape victims report their victimization. Reasons for under reporting are fear of consequences, shame, guilt, embarrassment, and refuse to relive painful details. This paper explores prison rape and its psychological and physical harm to not only inmates, but to society as well. It also discusses recent efforts to
The movie, Girl, Interrupted, displays Susanna Kaysen’s eighteen-month stay at a mental institute in the 1960s. This film was an adaptation of a book based on a true story of the main character and author Susanna Kaysen. Susanna was checked into Claymore, a psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts, after chasing a bottle of aspirin with a bottle of vodka. At first, Susanna denies this blatant attempt at suicide and constantly struggles with uncertainty of her thoughts and emotions. Although Girl, Interrupted exhibits several mental disorders one of the most prevalent disorder of this film is Susanna’s Borderline Personality Disorder. This film depicts majority of the signs and symptoms of a person with Borderline Personality. As stated in the textbook, “the lives of persons with borderline personality are marked by instability. Their relationships are unstable, their behavior is unstable, their emotions are unstable, and even their images of themselves are unstable” (Larsen and Buss 593). Susanna’s romantic relationships are extremely unstable and she frequently engages in casual sex. She jumps from one guy to another in a matter of few weeks. One scene that establishes this the most is when her boyfriend at the time comes to visit her at Claymore and expresses his true feelings for her and she instantly withdraws. He asked her to go to Canada with him and she turns him down immediately. She also kisses Lisa who she befriends at the mental institute, displaying a switch of
From pop star sensation to fashion icon, Lady Gaga has influenced pop culture in many ways. After her 2008 hit single “Just Dance” the singer quickly gained fame for her unique techno pop music. From there on she has acquired a huge following and quickly took over the world of pop music. The singer then used the newly popular twitter website to tweet to her fans. She encouraged them to love themselves, spread positivity to one another, and most importantly funded her Born This Way Foundation in hopes of helping bullied victims. Not only did she use her music and social media account to influence her fans, she also made a broad fashion statement to motivate her fans to be weird, different, and unique. Many people still remember her famous meat dress she walked the red carpet in, while others reminisce on all the outrageous outfits she’s worn over the years. Over the last nine years, this pop star diva continues to top the charts with her music, spreading kindness, and walking the streets wearing memorable outfits.