There is no hiding the fact that, in our day, objectification of bodies is everywhere. In a recent class I was in, we watched a documentary called Dreamworlds, by Professor Sut Jhally of UMass. The version we watched, done in 2006, was the third in the series, as it has been updated over the years. The overall theme of this series is about how music videos, specifically pop and hip hop videos, objectify and demean women. Ultimately, while valid at one point, I believe the documentary is out of date and is no longer as true as it once was.
Broken down into several segments, the documentary would show specific music videos, many of them from the hip-hop/rap genre, and described how women were set up and positioned in relation in the artist and video. Of the concepts that Jhally defined, one was how these videos construct femininity. Basically, Jhally suggests that women are there for sexuality only. They are half dressed (or less), her most desired characteristics is sexuality, their bodies are segmented into parts, and the true identity of the women does not really matter; the women are only there to excite and be the object of men’s desires. Another notion brought up was these women are controlled by men. Whether it is in terms of throwing money at them or they are told (possibly forced) by men to do certain things. Using various examples to prove his point, Jhally successfully shows us how these women are nothing more than an object. There is focus on breasts, butts, legs, and lips, but rarely is a face or any endearing characteristics of a woman shown in the videos.
In further definition of the “Dreamworlds” woman, Jhally paints a picture on how these women define the gender. Of the many outcomes offered, women portray themselves as follows: women determine their identity by the way men view them, women are nothing but sexual objects looking for male attention, women are denied subjectivity, and among others, they are only there to fill a man’s desire.
While I do think that Jhally brings up some very valid and appropriate observations using great examples in the videos, I do believe that the his ideas are flawed. When I first viewed videos used as examples, many of them were dated and were around in the early to mid 90s. Admittedly, there were some more recent examples, but most of the truly shocking videos were older. He also seemed to keep showing the same videos over and over again. I think some of the accusations that he offered are not as valid when you compare them to current videos.
To try and prove a point, I went to YouTube and searches the most viewed music videos. Of the most viewed music videos, the artists in the top ten are as followed: Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Shakira, Eminem (featuring Rhihanna), Miley Cirus, and Pitbull. Of these videos, only one (Pitbull’s “I Know You Want Me”) was close to the concepts described by Mr. Jhally. In this video, it contains women with accented features (breasts, butts, etc) standing around a singing Pitbull. They are being used as sexual objects, but not to the extent as described in Dreamworlds. Of the male videos on this list, the tendency seems to be more egocentric to the artists, with cameras focusing on them and their talents (e.g. rapping, dancing, etc). With the female videos, they are dressed scandalous, but they, as the artist, are the ones being focused on. Yes, they are selling themselves and their sexuality, but it is a different topic when they are the focus of the video. They are not arbitrary objects used to objectify women and be the focus of a man’s desire. In many cases these woman are strong willed and can often be described as empowered.
If this was seven or more years ago, this video would be much more relevant to the music video culture, but, today, the concepts do not hold as much validity. If anything artists are focusing on themselves more with dancing and spectacle that draw the audience in, the use of sexuality has become more non-gender specific (meaning males are also objectified), and the sexuality that is used seems to be a background element when compared to that of the artists.
No comments:
Post a Comment