Blog 2
Alyssa Galvan
10/28/18
Blog 2
Prompt 1: The cultural artifact I chose was the music video for the song Do It Like a Dude by Jessie J. I chose this to be my cultural artifact because it clearly shows and challenges gender representation. When I was younger, I was on a hip hop team and was so excited to start dancing this style of dance. My instructor had created a dance to this song and I fell in love with this routine. I fell in love with the way it made me feel. It made me feel powerful and risky. The routine had us doing moves that matched her lyrics such as, “grab my crotch” and “wear my hat low like you”. In doing these moves, I felt like I was challenging the common gender representations I grew up seeing and learning, which made me feel in control of myself.
Prompt 2: In creating this song, the intended audience was females. Jessie J. wanted to show women that “we can do it like a man” whatever it may be. The social world was the world of dance, more importantly, hip hop. The creator was the music industry but more importantly, Jessie J. the singer. She had a huge role to play in creating this song since it challenges what is “normal” about female and male roles. Because the music industry is focused on representing women in a sexual, submissive manner, this music video challenges the music industry’s desire to show women as submissive human beings. Jessie J. starts her music video with scenes where women are doing what are typically considered as what men do. These women are show playing poker, smoking cigars, and getting tattoos. They’re dressed in baseball caps and wearing jeans that sag and wife beaters. These women are being aggressive as a man can be and dancing hip hop just as a man would dance hip hop. The women are being aggressive, starting fights and in wanting to express their sexuality, some are shown kissing each other. The lyrics of this song talk about how women can do whatever a man can and to not assume gender representation. She states, “Boom Boom, pull me a beer, no pretty drinks, I'm a guy out here” saying that not all women like fruity drinks and if they prefer beer they are considered not girly or like a man. She states this to make it clear that she can keep up with men when it comes to drinking. Jessie J. then states an explicit piece of lyric saying she can get just as many women as men can get alluding to her bisexuality. To conclude, the main purpose of this song is to challenge gender representations and show that girls can be like men and men can be like girls. She wants to make it clear to not assume that just because we are women, does not mean we are not as capable as men.
Hi Alyssa! It is so true that acting like a man based on traditional masculine behaviors make me feel empowered and strong. Jessie J shows the things that women are not traditionally supposed to do and sings "we can do it like the mandem." The music video and lyrics remind me of reversibility like things that people say and/or do to women but men. If you don't say or apply it to men, don't to women! It might not be fully connected to the song, but I feel reversibility implies like if men can do it, women can do it as well. Like you are saying, women are as capable as men, and it is the patriarchal society, which won't let women even try!
ReplyDeleteHi Alyssa, first off, you go girl! It's great to know some young women were aware of the oppression that was happening out there and chose to express it in their own way. Many times women are represented as submissive, just like you said, and it has to change. Not all women are like that, and not all men are dominant. Everyone should have a right to dance the way they want and express themselves without feeling like they are participating in taboo-like activities. Slowly, the gender roles are going away and soon women in future generations won't have to deal with being judged for deciding to take protagonist roles. Given, maybe the name 'grabbing your crotch. comes off as extreme but it definitely gets the point across. I say that because if I see a guy grabbing his crotch I'm going to tell him to get the hell away from with those hands! It's definitely not something we want people doing but both sexes should have equal consequences and with that I Agree!
ReplyDeleteHey Alyssa! I agree with everything you said, I was considering doing this song for my blog also. I was also a dancer who has danced to songs that challenge the gender stereotypes that are typically depicted of female dancers. It was fun challenging those norms and playing a part that is strong and powerful. I think Jessie J does a great job at showing that women can be just as strong, empowered, and tough like men. I also really liked what you said about the part of her asking for a beer instead of the typical “girly” drinks, because often times girls always seem to recieve a comment for their “manly” drink choices as if its some strange taboo that girls can drink beer too. I really liked how you analyzed this song, thanks for sharing!
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