Funny Foreign Lesbians Singing While Decked In Crazy Costumes...Good Times

The first 4 photos are just a taste of the off the wall costumes that the infamous Topp Twins wear on stage for their nothing but anti-normative performances. At first I had mixed feelings about this movie, I liked it but at the same time I didn't. Though once I thought more about the impact, intent, and path this movie took my opinion changed and i came to enjoy it.

The Topp Twins are a pair of Twins (Jools & Lynda) from New Zealand raised as just your everyday farm girls. As they aged they both identified as lesbians, and used their music to start a revolution in New Zealand and help promote same-sex couples rights [specifying on including lesbians with homosexual men in any rights, laws, etc that get written]. They're big break was back in the 1980's and the movie shows that without them, gay AND LESBIAN rights in New Zealand wouldn't have been recognized as soon as they were; who knows how long it would've taken the parliment to start recognizing the problems.

Though due to their serious efforts in fighting for their rights along with their outrageous outfits and typically comedic material they stretched outside the island of New Zealand and became internationally known. When they started they didn't really dress out of the ordinary [during the 80's] but then later decided to make their musical performances more than just any typical performance, so they then added in characters; that's right CHARACTERS, not just costumes. The twins didn't just have crazy costumes but funny characters each with a different personality to go with the costume.

These women will go down in history because of what they did for their, present, and future LGBTQ generations. And the best thing about them is they didn't JUST fight the man hand in hand with their music, they added in costumes and turned their movement into a comedy act while still getting their general point made.


*first photo http://cache4.asset-cache.net/xc/93040508.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF878921CC759DF4EBAC47D0F9A4C7BC9FC3D81B87CF30FFDE87024E7C84E4F3FE7D276CE30A760B0D811297
*second photo http://www.odt.co.nz/files/story/2009/04/jools_left_and_linda_topp_s_well_loved_cast_of_cha_1637841086.JPG
*third photo http://www.yourmovies.com.au/static/media/x300/250496_249887_2009_topp_twins_002_1_.jpg
*fourth photo http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2009/11/19/1225799/773335-the-topp-twins.jpg
*fifth photo http://www.christchurchmusic.org.nz/files/u776/Picture_2_3.png

Bakal Boys...Hmmmm Where Do I Start? Let's Just Say 'Interesting' To Be Nice

Ok I'm not gonna lie, this movie isn't all bad [I'll get to that] but the Bakal Boys was not as great as I anticipated. Maret, Lauren, Vania, & I all sawthe Bakal Boys together and I was really intrigued by the films write up on SIFF's website and a blog I found while Google searching the film [http://seattlest.com/2010/05/26/siff_review_-_bakal_boys.php] but when I saw the movie there were several things I disliked about it.

To start off I'll give a short explanation of the movie. It's about 2 boys [Utoy & Bungal] and their friends that I don't remember their names but weren't as important. These boys live in a very impoverished part of Manila Bay in the Philippines and in order to get extra money they go dive in the extremely dirty and poluted bay in search of scrap metal to sell to a junkyard and get paid based on the total weight of the items. One day the boys find an anchor, knowing that once they get it to the junkyard they'll get alot of money because it's very heavy they are so excited that they forget Bungal back out on the gulf that they dive at because he was sunbathing when they left. But once they get back out there Bungal is gone, no where to be found. This happend quite close to the beginning of the 1 hour and 20 minute film and literally for the rest of it Utoy is just in search of Bungal with no luck. Then the movie ends, point blank.

This movie was very confusing to me, I feel like the beginning when most of the activity was happening was very jumbled and would just skip around and not really give more detail for each scene. Then all of the sudden Bungal is just gone, at first I figured that this was a twist in the film and I was actually re-interested after this point. But then he's never found, say what? Are you serious? The whole movie focuses on finding Bungal and in the end there is no explanation as to why he went missing nor did they find him. I thought this was a really lame way to end the movie, actually a lame way to have created this movie in the first place. They could've done so much more and made it a very powerful movie.

The movie highlights on the low class of these people in this part of Manila Bay, starting with the children making it fun to find metal scraps to sell and make money for their family; which unless I was raised wrong, really isn't what normal children do. Touching on this same topic is done by looking at the run down huts they all live in along with the dirtyness of everything around them: their home's floors were either covered in sand/dirt or they were sand/dirt [I can't exactly remember], the water that the children swim in was extremely poluted and that didn't even phase the parents [they were more worried about them getting hit by boats, but still didn't do much to punish them probably because they bring things home to sell], and everybody wore the same clothes thus bluntly highlighting the families poverty.



So I don't 100% hate the movie, I just wish that the creators went further with their ideas because the concept of learning about this culture of people was very interesting to me. Learing about the way the people in this area live their daily lives was my favorite part of the movie, and when they put that on the back burner [in time forget about it] and then focus on the missing boy that never gets found it kind of ruined the movie for me and made it kind of bland. Like I said, I just wish they took it into a different direction by maybe just focusing on the culture and having Bengal's disappearence be a side story and then either find him in the end or gain understanding as to why he went missing.

*first photo http://static.blogo.it/cineblog/BasecoBakalBoys.jpg
*second photo http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TfkgevD-TyQ/0.jpg

Wanna Shower In Diamonds? Well So Do I, But We Can't Beause We're Not Trina...But Let's Try Anyways

So just to start off this is not a bash on any of the musicians, ask anybody and they'll tell you that trina is my favorite music artist alive so there's no way this should be twisted as a dis on her.

In class we talked about there being a huge income gap, and I believe its the media that links a persons income to the recession happening in America.

Trina - New Music - More Music Videos

So this is a prime example of how media drives peoples wallets and I believe without cocky songs like this there would either be no recession or we'd be out of it by now. People listen to songs like this and see music videos similar to this one and then they want to be like that. People strive their whole lives to be able to have a whole buch of cars, big houses, and maybe just maybe be seen as a Million Dollar Girl [or boy]. But the thing about people is that we want instant gratification, so we won't wait to be legitly rich to spend a lot of money.

People watch these videos and want to be just like the musicians in it so they go out and spend their money so they feel more like the people they see on TV, hear in songs, or watch in movies. But what each and every one of us finds out is that our paychecks only go so far, and its no where near the amount Keri Hilson can spend off her paychecks. But we still do this by spend, spend, spend, spending our money on materialistic things to make us feel richer than we are when in reality we're digging ourselves into a deeper hole versus climbing up to the top.

This then causes people to be scrapping up their last dollars in order to pay for their true necesities (bills, food, etc). This then diminishes the money people want to be saving for the future, which then causes people to take out loans in order to pay for the things they need. The high amount of loans being ok'd by banks is not the only factor and contribution to the recession, but it definetly takes a piece of that pie.

*video from http://www.mtv.com/videos/trina/495537/million-dollar-girl.jhtml#artist=710288

Alicia Keys Opens Opens The Door Of Present Day Racism

In my opinion, anything Alicia Keys touches turns to gold. When I saw this video, I knew it would be perfect for this class. In the video she addresses a very common issue in the black community; the issue of a black person dating someone not black. This is a commonly thought of notion that white people and black people shouldn't date (not as previlant in the present, but its definetly still out there) and it really hits home for me because alot of my friends are black, and even me just being their friend has stirred up drama with certain people. But also my boyfriend Kevin was black, and we were really serious and had a strong relationship and could back that up to anybody that wanted to question it so our races shouldn't make any difference in the judgements made on our relationship. But the concept I will be talking about in this blog was a bit different than the video, because his family and friends really had no problem with me being white at all they took me in as one if I'd known them for years; but there were a few people that either met him or saw a picture of him and said things like "wow, you're dating a black guy?!" or "he's black? never would've thought I'd see you with a black guy" I really don't understand why interracial dating is seen as such a taboo topic and surprising concept when its seen in the real world.

The thing that struck me in particular about this video is the jump between all the different time periods throughout the video. I've never really seen that in a music video, and if there have been they've been subtle and not a big potion of the theme of the music video. All the different fashions, hair styles, cars, settings that age the look of the images themselves (black and white or tinting), etc make it such an interesting and powerful video linking the past with the present.

This video embraces that racism from back in the day is still alive today and gives the idea that its not any different than back then. By switching the time period in nearly each scene with all the same faces without aging them gives the viewer the ability to relate to the characters. The director basically tricks the viewer into opening their eyes and seeing this as a real life thing, not just something studied in history. It shows us the same people with their hair, fashion, and general settings comletely changed from what we see and know in our daily lives and then switch it after making a point in the past to the present day in the same setting but with present day technology, fashion, hair styles, etc which is the key used to open the door of active racism in the present day.

This video is very sybolic to me and really speaks to me because as I said before I've basically lived this, and even though the racist behaviors of people seemingly have deminished the sad truth is they haven't.

*video from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhuGQUZJot8

Being "Disabled" Can Be Sexy...Can't It?

Watch this video, I'm not going to explain why til after you watch it because as you watch it you will know exactly why I chose this video.

Lady Gaga - New Music - More Music Videos

[If you wanna go back to the part I focus on as you read what I write, go to the 2:30 mark] So in the video around the start you see Lady Gaga get out of a limo in a wheel chair with a neck brace and a completely stiff body. But this entrance is very different than any really disabled persons would ever be. She is surrounded by men all dressed up like butlers dancing around her in a worshiping way by the way they don't ever truely touch her when they put their hands around her except for when they help her take some of her clothes off and they carry her up the stairs while still dancing along side her as one pushing her across the flatter grounds. They make her seem as this epic piece of royalty. Then when she gets inside whose there to welcome her home? Some decked out tredy twists on maid figures. Also dancing but forming a line around Gaga leading her into her outrageously massive mansion.

Also she is dressed pretty damn good from someone "just out of the hospital" with first her metal corsette, frilly shoulder pads, and lace leggings which then change when the butlers help her take off her clothes. The new outfit is a pair of stilletos, a gold metal leotard with a matching helmet, and a pair of crutches; and not even the crutches you typically see on people fresh out of the hospital they're the ones stereotypically seen on people depiciting physically disabled individuals.

I know what you're think, what the hell is she doing?! I like Gaga but I still think the same thing even though I've seen this video many times since its release over a year ago. But I believe you could take this scene in 2 different ways: making a mockery of the disabled community along with the idea of embracing the disabled community and giving them a new look.

It's very obvious that disabled people [or even able bodied people] ever get this sort of treatment. But the outfit she eventually changed in to with the metal leotard is very negetively depicting a disabled individual and how they walk and how they might be dressed. Her way of waddling towards the camera and her facial expressions make it seem as if she's making fun of a disabled person more than depicting someone who just arrived home from the hospital.



Now you can't even tell me that this depicts a positive image of disability.

But the posibility that she is more embracing and showing a positive image of the disabled community is the fact that she's glamorizing and sexualizing a disabled individual. Which may not sound like a good thing, and that it could still be mocking the group of people but in a way its not. Most groups of people have a sexual being that is apart of their same group and gives them someone to look up to, well the disabled community doesn't really. So I see this as something that could potentially include the disabled community in the sexual idolism that the world has because Gaga makes herself a disabled person and makes herself look sexually pleasing thus connecting the two and including disabled people in something never really seen before: having sex appeal.

*video from search results on Hulu.com which linked me to the video on MTV's website http://www.mtv.com/videos/lady-gaga/400705/paparazzi.jhtml#artist=3061469
*photo from http://www.wornthrough.com/2010/01/page/2

Blackface, Yellowface...Fatface?

So last week we examined blackface and what it is along with yellowface and other ways of white people negatively depicting other races by dressing like them, changing their skin tones, etc. so i really wanted to write this weeks blog on that topic and relate it to something in the modern media that portrays media and made lots of money yet didn't really get called out. After alot of research trying to find this big hit that portrayed blackface, yellowface, etc that wasn't really blown up in the media I finally stumbled upon the perfect choice: Norbit!

Norbit is a movie that came out back in 2007 and was an instant success, I will admit I watched it 2 or 3 times in the theatre as did many other viewers due to its outrageous comedic appeal. The movie is basically Eddie Murphy playing 3 different roles in the same movie. He plays Norbit [a very timid man that allows everybody to walk all over him], Resputia [an obese woman that acts as if she owns the world], and Mister Wong [an Asian man that is the owner of a Chinese Restaurant that's also an orphanage].




These are the 3 characters he played in order from the way i listed them in the previous paragraph. He clearly didn't use blackface in this due to the obvious fact that Eddie Murphy is African-American and it is very obvious that he used yellowface, but has he added in a new twist on blackface? In my opinion I would say yes and I would deem it fatface. Throughout the movie alongside the extremely racist characteristics of Mr. Wong there are jabs at obese women, thus brining it back to the days when it was funny to make a white person black and do some rediculous shenanigens because now Eddie Murphy is an obese woman and making her look crazy but doing it in a comedic way; thus the same as the old blackface films, shows, etc.

In my opinion the idea of the blackface will prefail through each and every generation. Back in the day America had the black face, then during the war we had yellowface, but in modern day its very subtle and we have more than just one blunt negative dpeiction of a particular group of people and the one that is sticking out is my idea of fatface. The 21st century has taken a turn for the worse with so many young people with eating disorders, thinking they're fat, or being at all selfconcious due to their appearence. Think back to the days when blackface was popular, do you think African-Americans' self esteem was sky rocketing? No is the correct answer, connection much? I'd say so. People say we're past all of those negative depictions of different groups of people but we're clearly not because look at this! We're making fun of obese people and laughing about it, back then they were doing the same thing about African-American people. It's just awful to realize this connection, because its apart of my life because I'm one of the many many people that do this. As much as I hate to admit it, its the truth; I laugh at this awful depiction of obese people. All I can hope is that future generations learn from our mistakes and eliminate racism, sexism, or any sort of segregation of particular groups of people.

In case you haven't seen the movie, here's the trailer for it that I got from youtube.




*first photo from http://www.commentbuddy.com/image-code-comments/Funny-Movie/norbit-how-you-doin.gif-80.html
*second photo from http://www.asianweek.com/top-25-yellow-face-performance-20-16/
*third photo from http://www.hahahaimontheinternet.com/male-actors-who-cross-dress-for-success/
*fourth photo from http://twogirlsandagay.blogspot.com/2007_01_21_archive.html
*trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmSZJ17ppEQ

Give It Up To Me Pop Culture, A Nice Serving of Racism

The other day I found a song that has become one of my favorites of the 2010 music scene, it's "Give It Up To Me" by Shakira feat. Lil' Wayne. I have always liked Shakira and this song is very different than her previous hits, I can tell by the way the beat and lyrics are she has become consumed with pop culture since her older stuff all has a latin flare but this has a complete new feel and honestly if she didn't have such a particular sound in her voice I would've never guessed her as being the singer behind this song. In this song I feel like she's lost touch of her Colombian heritage.

This notion of mine became official when I saw the music video, as I said I love this song and to be completely honest I love it even more when I see the amazing choreography used in the video (surprise surprise, it's Shakira). Though there is one problem I noticed with the video, I wonder if you'll notice or catch on so watch the video before you go on.



I wonder what you noticed...well obviously the outfits are kind of degrading to women, but that wasn't the topic I noticed in particular; it envoled the back up dancers. Since they're all black did you notice that in combination with the lighting on Shakira that she looks white instead of her Latin descent? Re-watch it and see if you notice it if you didn't already catch that. She almost looks like a completely different person, combining this with the blonde highlights in her hair she looks like a young white woman. Why would she do this? All the songs before this one the singer seemed so proud of her racial background but when I watch this one I see a big change in not only her appearence (more "white") but I see her ethics blowing out the window.

I've made the realization that the way the song flows, the way the lyrics were written and how the appearence of Miss Shakira was all done purposly to make her seem white versus making it obvious of her decent. This is the result of pop culture at its worst, but its also the reality...the potentially upsetting reality. I believe that this video is just one of the MANY examples of racism that commonly go un-noticed by the general public. The video to me is a combination of active and passive racism, 'how is that even possible?' you ask? Well in this case it is very possible, I would put money on the argument that I bet Shakira was told that she's going to be represented as white and if she has a problem with it she can say goodbye to all the fame and money; I'm sure most if not all musicians, actors/actresses, etc. get this sort of off the wall offer and are told "take it or leave it". So Shakira (wanting to or not) created a piece that stripped her of her racial background and was molded into a completely different human being.

So you saw how the video is an example of active racism, but how is it passive if they blatantly created a "white" woman using lighting, new hair style, and black back up dancers to contrast her and make her seem lighter? The passive isn't in the creator, it's by the consumer, viewer, or whatever you would prefer to call the general public that the video was created for. It's us, you and me, him and her, etc. that are being passively racist because we don't care or even notice that this video has active racism in the roots of its creation. I hate to say that because like I said, I love this song and music video, but it's so true and since we've now all watched it we supported this unjust cause.

All I have to say for myself is that I hope people start to realize all the racist things around us that we don't ever pay attention to on a given day and continue to fight it off and attempt to make everyone equal. Sure that's a tough goal since everyone will come from different childhoods and families which then in tune forms a different adult with different values than the next person. But I can only dream that one day it becomes acceptable for a popular musician to represent her culture in a hit song instead of hiding her true self.

Female Rappers

So I have a feeling that most people will be surprised by this blog, at least a little bit if not alot. Mainly because I'm gay and I don't listen to the music that "typical" gay guys do; i.e. techno, pop, etc. Britney Spears or Lady Gaga for examples. My music taste is a pretty decent variety, but the music that fills most of my iPod is Hip-Hop, Rap, and R&B music: shocked? If you don't know me then typically you are when I tell you that Trina is my favorite music artist instead of someone like Miley Cyrus or Madonna. For my first entry I decided I would relate something I enjoy to the class topics, so I'm going to analyze the Rap industry primarily focusing on female rappers and how they relate to the male rappers. Also keep in mind throughout this blog, my intention is not to hate on the male rappers out there, I actually like most of the songs I include here I'm just using them as more evidence.

The first thing you can notice by female rappers is that the way their voices soundwhen rapping, they have a manlier tone. Definetly not all of them have slightly deeper tones in their voices but Lil' Kim for example has a slightly deeper voice. Notice it in this video of her song "How Many Licks?"

http://www.mtv.com/videos/lil-kim/9097/how-many-licks.jhtml#artist=934 (there wasn't an option to embed it, so here's the link)

Also if you've ever heard any music by Trina, Eve, etc. you'll notice they all have deeper voices than other female artists out in the music industry. Why is that? Could it be because they want to give them a "male-appeal" as if they were more like a man because they're rapping? That question is impossible to answer, but i do believe its a possibility.

Do you think people still have the views that women can't do certain jobs like a man could? I believe that this strain of sexism is still very strong to this day in 2010. I've noticed that people get all upset when a woman rapper says "dick", "cock", etc. yet a man can say "pussy" and get alot less negative responses. Why should a woman have to watch her mouth if the men doing the same job as her don't watch their own?

For example, the song "I Wanna Love You" by Akon was the radio released version of his song "I Wanna Fuck You" and it was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 back in 2006. Can you think of a song that was just as vulger that was rapped by a woman AND was a number one on the Billboard Hot 100 list? Well I can't, I don't see it as fair when men can rap whatever they want and insinuate all they want with their lyrics and get this number one spot on the charts. There are so many other male rappers that have gotten their name at a number one spot with a song insinuating degrading things of women: "Low" by Flo Rida & T-Pain, "Slow Motion" by Juvenile, and "Candy Shop" by 50 Cent.







Also something very stereotypical that occurs in music videos for these female rap stars is that they are always wearing skimpy clothing. This isn't a very big surprise to me because it's not just rap that slutty clothes are worn. But the thing that's different about female rappers is no matter what song their in, their portion always has something about sex. Even if their rapping about stuff like their money or having their diginity still intact they still degrade themselves by what they wear and/or by what they say. You can see that in the "5 Star" video by Yo Gotti, when Trina and Nicki Minaj rap their raps they don't rap about sex at all; only about money and being rich and running the show. But not only are they wearing sexual outfits especially when compared to the very casual outfits of Gucci Mane and Yo Gotti but its also insinuated in the lyrics of the song when Gucci Mane refers to a girl as a "5 star clit" and then he also says "we can find a 5 star hotel we can meet".



Though on the defense of Nicki Minaj (who has been more recently starting her rap career) I found a quote from her on her Wikipedia page that was taken from an interview of her with Fadar Magazine and she said "I don’t know where I fit in the spectrum of rap yet; I think now I’m kind of proving myself, but before, people thought I was more of a sex symbol or wannabe sex symbol. That’s why I make the goofiest faces; I don’t want people to think I’m up here trying to be cute. I’m trying to entertain, and entertaining is more than exuding sex appeal. I don’t think that’s fun. I don’t find it fun watching someone trying to be sexy." I'm sure that Nicki isn't the only female rapper that feels this way, I just wish more female rappers would speak up for themselves so that they wouldn't get segregated out into their own group of "female rapper" and be apart of the Rap industry as a whole with gender on the side and an unimportant factor.

These are just a few things explaining female rappers and their different treatment when compared to the male rappers in the world. The female rappers that succeed primarily have a deeper voice, the possible reasoning of having more of a manly appeal. Showing that it's very un-ladylike to say vulgar things so if they aren't censored then they just look bad or like a ho and in return they don't suceed like the male rappers do because they basically say anything they want and get far less critisim than the female rappers do. Then there's the sex appeal, they are ALWAYS wearing the clothes that show off their bodies more and give them higher sexal desire. And dispite if they're contribution to a particular is sexual or not, there is always a sexual reference to either them as an individual or a degrading way to describe a woman in general.