#templepop

In my qualitative analysis, I compared two popular female artists music videos and observed how they represented women in their video. The music videos were Partition by Beyonce and Dark Horse by Katy Perry. They both portray a female lead, but convey different messages in their music video and lyrics. 

In both pop artist’s music videos, the main focus is a female lead.  These two objects convey different messages to the viewers in relationship to feminism. The first music video, Dark Horse, has a strong message about female power and loyalty. This is done by having Katy sit on a beautiful throne with different men longing for her love and offering her gifts to impress her. Her power is shown by the way she turns the men into sand if she suspects them of something bad or unworthy. This gives women an image that men are not the only ones that are in control of a relationship. She is also portrayed as very beautiful but does not give in to the needs of anyone else but her own. In the second music video, Partition, Beyonce showed the opposite view of women. She is dressed to impress her man and longs to get his affection. She is somewhat objectified in this video because she is giving her male partner a dance show making it look like she is his entertainment. These two objects are very different from each other and show different messages on the issue of feminism. 

I learned that different female artists can really differ in how they represent themselves in their music. For the "queen" of R&B, Beyonce has a strong female fan base and her portrayal of herself being an object of a man's affection can influence how women represent themselves. Even though Katy Perry's song was a huge hit as well, Beyonce still has an overwhelming number of views and downloads for that one song, which shows how big of an influence she can be. 

Ellen DeGeneres came out on TV in 1997 on the Oprah Winfrey show. She was a pioneer for LGBT characters in the media.  Her show, The Ellen Show, explored many various issues in the LGBT community, including the troubles of coming out. Ellen is a pop culture icon. She was the first out lesbian to host the Academy Awards, when she hosted the 79th Academy Awards in 2006. She hosted the Academy Awards again in 2013.  Ellen pioneered the change in view of LGBT characters in the media. Before her coming out, the media had very few gay characters and they were all supporting characters that were usually thrown in for comedic value.  Ellen is a true LGBT and Pop Culture icon who is involved in LGBT issues and charities.  

Below is a link to Ellen's Website that explains a bet where the lose give the Trevor Project $5,000:

A new trend is happening in the media now, and it is called homonormativity. Homonormativity is the stereotyping of gay characters throughout the media.  When you think of gay characters in movies or on TVs, who do you think of? Are they white? Are they middle class or upper-middle class? If they are male, are they feminine? If they are female are they butch? Are they sassy? Does being gay define their characters? I bet you answered all of those questions with ‘yes’. Homonormativity is the act of making gay characters in the media conform to all the other norms of society to make them easier to be accepted into all homes.  How many gay characters of color can you name? How about poor gay characters? Stereotypically gendered (masculine boy/ feminine girl) gay characters? I bet you can’t name many.  This is a trend that has to stop. Because of this, gay characters are seen as more of a commodity rather than a character.  The question is, what will happen after this trend dies out?