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.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Wow, you made a really good point about passive racism. I would not have noticed the implicit message about race unless I was looking for it, which is interesting because once you notice it, it becomes extremely obvious. Hopefully in addition to producers making less actively racist media, we as consumers can become more aware of the messages we are receiving. Again, great point/entry choice!
ReplyDeleteNick -
ReplyDeleteNice job! I really like the placement of the video as a teaser for your reader. I also enjoyed how you used the class readings/discussion in your exploration of a media form that we have not covered.
The only critique I have (and this is really something small - this entry is good stuff) is that you did not touch on how Shakira is dressed up as a Thai Statue of Liberty later on in the video. That might also have some interesting implication in terms of race.
- Ruth
Again I loved your blog Nick! When I watched the video, that was the first thing that I noticed was the backup dancers, and how she was the only white dancer. I have noticed that she looks less ethnic. Her hair, not only being more blonde, is really long and straight compared to her normal curly look. I also liked how you incorporated the topics we learned in class into your blog. Good job on the attention to detail in the video. This is a great blog!
ReplyDeleteWOW!!! Nick what your saying is so very true about this video. That was my first time watching it and it just seemed very off to me! The fact that all the dancers in the video were black, did make her stand out even more. The Thai statue of liberty had no ties to the storyboard of video, and I'll hold my comments about her dancing! LoL! But while watching it, I did forget she is of Latin culture, not saying that she should stick to only her culture of music, but in previous videos, interviews she always embraced it. To be honest, she doesnt even look comfortable during the video!
ReplyDeleteSo i couldn't find any comment link for your blog before this one, I just wanted to add that even though I really enjoy Nicki myself, there is a song where she talks about being sexual and only sexual and that would be "Bedrock" where she says she wants to put her "pussy" on a guys sideburns. And personally I find that word disgusting, just like other words that refer to a womans vagina, but for some reason I do not find any penis refering words gross, and I think that is because they are more acceptable in todays society.
ReplyDelete