Madonna's Appropriation Of Gay Culture

In modern day society, popular culture has gained equal status to world issues and politics. Music, movies, and literature have started cultural revolutions and challenged the straight-forward thinking many individuals have accepted in the past. But while popular culture can advance new ideas and create movements, it also has the ability to challenge advancements society has made. Imani Perry’s essay, The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto, focuses on hip hop and its negative impact on women and body image.

In Joan Morgan’s “From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hos,” her feminist point of view addresses the problem of degradation and sexism in rap and hip-hop music. Through this passage, Morgan looks at the deeper meaning and connects rap and hip-hop music with the African American community. Between the beats, the lyrics of this specific genre of music show listeners various situations the African American community deals with, like crime, drugs, alcohol, relationships, and their day-to-day life in America. With Morgan’s feminist criticism, she states that the blame is not only on rap and hip-hop artists, but also other women because they should be speaking out against being called “bitches” and “hos”. Through the rhetorical strategies of description,

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.

Popular music is often one of the best lenses we have through which to view our own cultural orientation. Many of the artistic and experimental shifts in popular music have mirrored changes in our own society. For instance, the emergence of Elvis Presley as a public figure would signal the start of a sexual revolution and the growth in visibility of a rebellious youth culture. Similarly, the folk and psychedelic music of the 1960s was closely entangled with the Civil Rights, anti-war and social protest movements. In this regard, we can view popular music as an artifact through which to better understand the time and place in which it is produced. In light of this, the state of popular music today may suggest troubling things about our society.

In Randa Jarrar’s essay Why I can’t stand white belly dancers she bluntly addresses the predicament of cultural appropriation. Jarrar’s main purpose is to inform her audience on appropriation, whether it’s done oblivious or uncaring of the situation. There are many ways she presents the situation, the tone she takes on to convey the problem is unsympathetic and transparent.

Women have decided to consume hip hop regardless of the sexism and machismo of their rap artist spouses. Historically, black women who have sex with other women haven’t been recognized in the Black community. Also, the expectations are the same in hip hop culture because men reject lesbians. An example is the murder in 2003 of Sakia Gunn after she declared her lesbian identity to a group of males. We all know that in hip hop culture men predominate and precisely masculine. Women can achieve a higher professional success than men regarding no matter their sexual orientation. In other hand, women represent different controlling images like the whore, the mammy and temptress. Homophobia in hip hop is translated into forms of oppression, discrimination and violence for gays, lesbians and transgender. “Black women rappers interpret and articulate the fears, pleasures, and promises of young black women whose voices have been relegated to the margins of public discourse.” Their voices are in constant dialogue with the public and men rappers about sexual promiscuity, emotional commitment, infidelity, the drug trade, racial politics and black cultural history. If we pay close attention to female rappers, we will notice that they address questions of sexual power, economic opportunities and the pain of racism and sexism. Women rappers has been promoted as sexually progressive, antisexist voices because of “an understanding of male rappers as uniformly sexist.” Discussions of women

The only thing more powerful in mobilizing symbols, sentiments, and sensibilities than popular culture, is personal and shared experiences. What is so potent about pop culture however, is the ability of its participants to share their personal experiences to audiences than can both empathize and relate to the realities these artists present. This extended period of the civil rights and black power era can arguably be defined as the mobilization of the larger public by popular black figures whose individual charismas and drive inspired collective action. Some of these figures were exclusively political, many of which prominent intellects of race academia and/or known for their discourses that captivated thousands. And then there were figures that used their influence as musicians or writers who, with access beyond those with a conscious interest in politics, could incite people to think and reevaluate their lived realities through song and performance. Nina Simone is perhaps the most politically significant figure of the latter group, as she not only actively participated as a proponent of civil rights efforts, but became a pioneer in black power and feminist ideology.

Anyone who knows me, knows me knows that I love to watch reruns of “What not to wear” on TLC, As it teaches me something I clearly know nothing about, fashion. However anyone who is in my Spanish class known that I not only care about my culture but others as well. This school year has been interesting both fashion-wise and politically, from the Kylie Jenner Lip challenge, to Donald Trump running for president. It has been such a weird school year however, that it has pointed out a sad fact about the current fashion world, that is prevalent through the politics we discuss in our everyday lives, and that is cultural appropriation. As cultural appropriation according to the Oxford Dictionary is “A term used to describe the taking over of creative or artistic forms, themes, or practices by one cultural group from another. It is in general used to describe Western appropriations of non‐Western or non‐white forms, and carries connotations of exploitation and dominance.” And despite how much we would like to believe that this issue doesn’t exist in our present day society, if one looks In clothing stores, fashion magazines, and even Halloween parties, cultural theft is occurring. This can be seen especially with indigenous cultures as: elements of indigenous cultures are morphed into fashion trends and costumes for those who will never understand their significance. “Navajo print” leggings, “tribal” jewelry, and “Indian princess” Halloween costumes are examples of gross

While many may argue that the rise of hip-hop is a major triumph, Questlove worries that by becoming so pervasive, the genre has, to a certain degree, become “invisible.” Instead of serving as “resistance to mainstream culture,” he believes hip-hop is now “part of the sullen dominant.” Questlove further laments that nowadays hip-hop is not as much a form of protest art; it has been marginalized, and its themes have been narrowed into ideas “mostly about [artists’] own victories and the victory of their genre.” Countless critics have made this same complaint—that hip-hop music is largely dedicated to lyrics about women, money, and fame.

Cultural appropriation is shown in many ways among the public. When a member of the majority takes an element of a minority culture and attempts to make it their own, they are appropriating the minority’s culture. Appropriating a culture is disrespectful and can lead to loss of valuable meaning of cultural practices. This is shown in many ways, such as the use of blackface or wearing a significant piece of Native American history as a fashion accessory. Each of these elements is an example of appropriation of a minority culture and is never acceptable and needs to be stopped.

In todays hip hop culture, artists often times portray through the lyrical content of their music different fallacies about themselves in order to develop their image or construct a brand for themselves. Although we as listeners under most circumstances are well aware that the songs are just made for the enjoyment of fans, perhaps the artists are becoming remotely too consumed with their lyrics and are beginning to believe that they are the realist in hip hop when they have barely scratched the surface well enough to establish a well enough name for themselves. Andrew Marantz wrote an article on who’s really real in hip hop which definitely will make readers begin to question Australian female artist, Iggy Azalea and her reference to being the realist in hip hop. She is compared and contrasted with several other well-known and legendary artist such as Tupac and Pusha T. Iggy is known for her Barbie-ish appearance and her strategically placed beauty mark that makes listeners and fans question whether or not she’s really real. Marantz uses various rhetorical strategies throughout the article in order to effectively construct his argument and he also references memorable moments in hip hop that recognized Tupac and other artists who are considered as icons in hip hop and who are legendary and in essence, “the realist.”

On a larger scale, musical appropriation fits neatly in with cultural appropriation, because music is so ingrained in culture. According to Toni Lester, a music and law scholar, in an article for Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal, cites a music critic as saying, “[T]he difference is that Thicke […] is getting the kind of exposure that other black R&B artists aren’t, an attention magnified by the color of Thicke’s skin (Lester, 2014).” The real issue behind appropriation is the lack of recognition for the original song, or artists, or racial group whose ideas and culture created that music. Lester differentiates two views on appropriation, the view that adoption of culture of the minority of the majority is problematic, and the view that the melting pot of ideas in America works to create better art (Lester, 2014). These two ideas give very different meanings to appropriation and how we can view it in regards to today’s society. In a podcast for NPR, co-host Justin Charity talked about what makes something appropriation, saying about pop stars trying to expand across cultures, “How do I engage with another culture that my brand is pretty removed from? And they almost always botch it (NPR, 2016).” He is explaining that it is possible to cross-pollinate culture, however most of the time when it is done;

The author Jennifer McLune analyzes the standards of black women in hip hop and how the industry feeds of the degrading of women and women hating for their own personal success. She is trying to convince the fans of hip hop that this genre of music is sexist & degrading. McLune reasons for this is simple and that is to justify the fact that artists need to stop making songs like this and for women to take action against these songs, because the only thing these songs do is continue to give women a bad name. She continues to stress her point to the industry as well as acknowledging conscious artists by saying “they appear to care more about their own acceptance by mainstream artists than wanting to make positive changes in the culture” (McLune 222). But the

Although Jan Van Eyck was one of the most influential artists during his time period, his work, Lucca Madonna is fairly unknown. Whilst researching Jan Van Eyck the work rarely appeared unless one research specifically the name.

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.