Miley Cyrus- "Can't Be Tamed"

 

Miley Cyrus- "Can't Be Tamed"

Miley Cyrus started her career as an actress/singer on the Disney channel.  She has changed a lot since her younger days on the kid-friendly show.  Miley is now 19 years old and wants to be seen as an adult so she rebels so she is not seen as a child anymore.  In this music video “Can’t be tamed” Cyrus clearly expresses her rebel side. When this music video first came out people were making a lot of comments about how Miley Cyrus was presenting herself and what came off as "slutty" to a lot of viewers, however it reveals more than just skin.

            She's on display depicted as a rare bird, she's in a cage, and people are watching her closely. It seems like the audience is all rich people watching her as if they paid to see her. There are many different kinds of feathers; the group of dancers are also birds, the glass shatters when she walks past. Also, that she can fit through the bars of the cage so easily. Once she's out of the cage her wings/feather disappear and it's like she's a human outside the cage but a bird on the inside. There's also a scene where she's laying on peacock feathers and it looks like her outfit resembles a snake skin. Maybe she feels like she has the characteristics of many different animals. Also, this ability to switch between skins reveals her ability to be free and to not be restricted by what it is that she is depicted to be.
            The most obvious binary in the video is the human and exotic animal comparison. We see the people in the 'audience' viewing the exotic animals in the cage. There is also a binary of men and women and Miley is shown dancing with both. The use of light and dark is also shown throughout the video. Another example are the lyrics “I can't be tamed” while she is in a cage.
            One of the common themes that happens repetitively in the video, with help from the lyrics "I can't be tamed" is Miley Cyrus's intent to be rebellious against and unrestricted by anyone who tells her what to do or what is acceptable of her. By being rebellious she refuses to be controlled by rules that are set by individuals (the majority of men), but also by society in general. She shows this by dancing semi-provocatively on men and women which can signify that anything goes with her and that she does not want to follow the rules that are set forth for her to follow. She also says she’s a rarity like the bird on display. She’s one of a kind and she can’t be changed and this also seems to be what the video is arguing,” She “can’t be tamed” for anyone.
            She says she can't be tamed, yet she's in a cage. This video seems to be arguing that although individuals are wild and free they are tamed by a certain degree in society. Why put her in a cage that she can just walk out of?  Why would she go back in the cage once she is free? Does she feel like she has a tame side as well and that is why she went back in the cage? How do some of these ideas resemble the society in which we live today?

 

Another analysis of this video can be found here:

http://allisbrawl.com/forum/topic.aspx?pid=1638908

The Bad Touch

The Bad Touch - Bloodhound Gang

When most people hear this song they don't know the title of it or who sings it.  All people know of this song is the repeating lyric "let's do it like they do it on the Discovery channel." So who is the Bloodhound Gang?  They are a alternative/rap/comedy rock group know for primarily only this song.  Bloodhound Gang's videos are unusual in content, and this is no exception.  The setting takes place in Paris, the City of Love.  The video starts out with the group dressed as monkeys.  The gang members are not only dressed as monkeys but acting the part. 

The gang sings about doing it like they do on the discovery chanel.  The song is very primative and primal.  The monkeys first capture four models walking down the street and ambush them with blowdarts while hiding in a bush.  They then go on to capture three chefs buy using meat on a stick.  Two gay frenchmen are then captured; but this wasn't shown in the censored version.  The monkeys then go on to capture a midget mime using a net.  All of the captured people are thrown into a cage.  The monkeys seem to be mocking the people in the cage.  This seems ironic because it is the opposite of what happens normally at zoo's.  At zoo's people look in and taunt the animals, but in the video it is opposite.  The monkeys then let the people out of the cage to dance.  All of the people look forced while dancing, but then the mime brakes away and is chased by one of the band members in a car and run over.  The way that the people are treated in this video is the same way that animals are treated at zoo's.  If an animal escapes people chase the animal and kill it if they need to.  This video seems to be arguing the primative nature of humans and how we can't escape our primative animal nature. 

Common themes in this video include conformity and mammal instincts.  The humans show conformity by dancing for the monkey's at the end.  When the mime escapes you see him hit by a car driven by a monkey resembling the behavior of humans toward animals.  This is important to the song because a monkey is a mammal.  The cage can symbolize many peoples lives because many people live there life trapped by school, or work.  The monkey's are living and acting primative but seem to have escaped conformity that seems to cling to people.  Paris is a very traditional city and monkeys roming the streets doesn't seem to fit when we think of paris. 

Why is the song called the bad touch?  Why are monkeys chosen to represent the animals depicted in the video?  How would it be different if a female group sang this song?

If you want to learn more about the Bloodhound Gang and this album click the link below.
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Bloodhound-Gang-Biography/E2A5C70842CFA804482568C700098CB3

Research and the Annotated Bibliography

I wanted to write a brief blog to explain a bit more the kind of research you should be doing for your paper and how to write the annotated bibliography.

In your final Analytical Research Paper you will be making an argument that is specific to your primary source – whatever music video you have chosen to analyze. You want to thing about broader concepts but you will be thinking about how these play out within the context of your video. For example, if you were writing about “Love. Sex. Magic” by Ciara featuring Justin Timberlake you might consider how Ciara is presented as a sexual object performing for Timerlake and how this is related to her position as a black woman. You could definitely look for articles that talk about representations of black women in movies or music, but your final argument will be about the video specifically and what messages it presents about these issues. So, while you are looking for sources that make arguments in larger concepts, you will be considering how these arguments can be put into conversation with your unique analysis of the video you have chosen. In Writing Analytically, the authors talk about how you can use someone else’s writing as part of a reading practice or approach to a text (p. 117-119). You will probably not find peer-review articles or book chapters on your music video, unless you have chosen something that is a bit less recent, but you can find secondary sources that are related and can be used to complicate, contest or add to your unique reading of the video.

When you are writing your annotated bibliography, please be sure and read the directions closely so that you are not leaving something out. Your annotations are intended to show why the source is credible, how it will help your argument, and how you could/will position it within your paper.

Here’s an example:

Hooks, Bell. “Selling Hot Pussy: Representations of Black Female Sexuality in the Cultural Marketplace.” Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End Press, 1992. 61-77. Print.

This chapter comes from a well-respected book about African Americans in representation written by a professor that has written several books about feminist theory, race and popular culture. A reader can establish the credibility of this source by looking at the multiple references to other well-known theorists. Hooks also uses personal experiences and examples from popular culture which will be helpful in talking about the “Love. Sex. Magic” video. Hooks argues that Black women are represented in popular culture as pornographic sexual animals. Her discussion of how Tina Turner uses these stereotypes for economic gain would support my argument that Ciara is presenting herself as a sexual animal, especially when she wears the animal print body suits, in a way that links racist stereotypes with idea of what is “sexy.”

Dance for You

                   Beyonce is a popular female R&B and pop artist. Her videos are known for her singing, dancing, and sex appeal. Most of her videos are prominently provocative due to the sexual nature of her dancing. The video “Dance for You” displays all of her most popular qualities. The setting of the video is in what appears to be an old detective office room and in addition is in black and white, to add to the antiquity of the scene. The video portrays exactly what the title of the song is and what the lyrics are saying. The title of the song is “Dance for You” and throughout the video Beyonce is dancing for a power-holding white male in his office.

The most prominent binary in this video is darkness versus light, whether it be through race, lighting, or editing. Beyonce appears to be a strong black woman when in reality she is objectifying herself for a white man. During this time period a white man and a black woman would never be seen together, which may be the reason she is coming into his office at night. It could be concluded that she is his mistress or possibly a criminal. She is putting on a show for him during the whole video and never looks away from him, which also coincides with the time period because woman did not try to be independent and they were there to do whatever men wanted them to do. It seems as though she is trying to seduce the detective.

Something that doesn’t “fit” in this video is the appearance of the four other women behind the windows. Throughout the video, Beyonce is dancing for the man and now four women join her. It could be assumed that Beyonce and these women are possibly criminals. The fact that the man is a detective and that they appear in the middle of the night in a “line-up” to dance for him seems as though they are trying to seduce/persuade him. Going along with the criminal claim, is that the watchtower light seems to reveal identities of the women similar to an interrogation light that is portrayed in older movies.

What do the fans represent and what effect do they have on the women? Does the race of the other women play a role in the video? Why do you think the male never touches/shows emotion toward beyonce? 

You can find another analysis of the video here:
http://idolator.com/6091192/beyonce-dance-for-you-video

Are you "Feeling This"

Blink 182, over the past 20 years, has become one of the most successful punk-rock bands in history. The punk-rock era is fueled by rebellion and anarchy and blink 182 has come to completely embody these characteristics throughout their journey in the music industry. These characteristics are vividly displayed in their music video for “Feeling This”. Blink gives a typical story of rebellion through the setting of a prison and young rebellious teens.

            Rebellion is made clear through the use of multiple binaries throughout the video. “Feeling This” leads directly into the message of not conforming as the men are getting their heads shaved and are then found marching through what appears as a prison setting. This prison setting is quickly contrasted with the beautiful sunny outdoors of Blink 182 playing outdoors. With this given binary of the light and dark, the teens in the video can be seen striving to leave the prison-like school, for the light of the outdoors. With the thought of the punk-rock era, the outdoors and light symbolize freedom, and the jail represents the rules of society and social norms. The teens break through these conformities during the scene of the boy and girl talking at the glass window. This starts the rebellion as they want to be together and “get it on” but they can’t, so they break the rules and do the next best thing, “phone sex”. The binary of uniforms and no clothing is presented later on in the video, which further reinforces their strive towards freedom (no clothes). On another focus, apart from the storyline in the video, the band is also enclosed in a fence. In the beginning of the video, the viewer is unable to see whether or not the band is completely enclosed; however, the viewer is enlightened near the end, as the fence is only three sided. Through the simple use of camera angles, the idea of the band also achieving freedom from the cage is instilled.

            Through multiple binaries, which explicitly contrast each other, it is easy to follow the message of rebelling towards freedom in the video “Feeling This”. One interesting thought to go along with the video is, why are there pigs in the background of the band? Another noteworthy item: why is the band playing in an encaged fence? Why aren’t they in the school too? Do they feel bound by the rules of society also? Could this video just be a simple shot at the education system rather than society as a whole? Though this was sort of formal, let us know your thoughts! At least this was a popular video unlike the ones Brendan chooses in class. Tehe…Jk

If you want to check out another analysis of the video check out “Jack Goodman’s Media Project”.