“a race within the race of humanity, a race which bears no prejudice, no judgement, but boundless freedom.”[1]
How has popular music culture created awareness of LGBT
groups and has it been successful in doing so?
“Despite some
important advances in gay and lesbian visibility”[2] in popular music culture,
the “representations of sexuality in mainstream pop culture
continues to be, for the most part, rampantly heterosexual.”[3] as it appeals to the mass audiences that may not
tolerate these representations. Therefore, to keep themselves in the mainstream
media the artists’ music videos have to appeal to what the majority of people
want to see, rather than educating people and creating awareness of LGBT
(lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) groups. However, it could be argued that over the last thirty
years popular music culture has seen rapid change in terms of LBGT groups as
there have been many influences that have challenged and arguably changed the
views of society. It is important to note that during the 1980’s LGBT
groups were being portrayed in popular music culture during the same time as
the AIDS epidemic outbreak, which arguably lead to the misrepresentation of
homosexuals as being extreme. In more recent times
there are more visibility of homosexuals
The 1980’s was arguably one of the most controversial and
pivotal era’s musically in the 20th century for LGBT groups, as there were many
artists that conveyed their pro-homosexual values through their music videos.
One of the first groups to represent LGBT groups and values of equality in
Britain during the 1980’s were Culture Club whose hit song ‘Do You Really Want
To Hurt Me’ “focuses on the misunderstanding of sexual diversity”[4],
during the time the music video released but also during the different periods
of time in which it was set. British society was gradually becoming more
exposed to LGBT groups however Britain was extremely conservative and homophobic. An example of British society being
homophobic as a whole was Section 28 of
the Local Government Act 1988 which sparked controversy for LBGT groups as it clearly stated that local authorities should not
intentionally promote homosexuality, publish any material that does promotes
homosexuality or promote the teaching of homosexuality in schools as acceptable.
Pete Burns is an example of an artist who through his costume
and make-up challenged the conservative homophobic views of society in his
music video ‘You Spin Me Round’. The medium shots of Burns body language
would, at that time, be considered unusual as there was and still “is
social prohibition against the feminization of men”[5],
it would seem that during this period of time popular music culture was
becoming more aware of LGBT groups. George
Michael, however, was not open about his sexuality as society had not become
more aware of LGBT groups. It was not until the mid 1990’s that George Michael
decided to ‘come out of the closet’ after the release of his music video ‘Fast
Love’; however even during this period of time homosexuality was still a controversial
issue with the AIDS pandemic increasing rapidly globally. Therefore there were many problems surrounding the awareness
and acceptance in society as a whole.
Although artists such as Madonna
were not part of LGBT groups, her music videos such as 'Express Yourself'
challenged the gender roles that mainstream media had enforced through music
videos. Madonna’s behaviour, costume and dancing would have been deemed as
'butch' as “A woman attired as a man may be seen as ‘power dressing’ or as adapting
the mannerism of lesbianism”[6].
It could be argued that this alternative representation of women in ‘Express
Yourself’ created awareness of LGBT groups as it was described as "an
encouragement for all women and all oppressed minorities to resist, to express
their ideas and their strength faced with tyranny."[7]
as the music video challenged tried to empower women and LGBT groups. The long shots focus on Madonna’s suit and masculine
dance, whilst Madonna is dancing she opens her jacket showing off her bra which
would challenge the gender roles. Throughout the music video there are close
ups on the man’s body – he is being sexually objectified. Repetition of the
chains on Madonna and the man – being oppressed.
From a Marxist point of view it would seem
that music videos like ‘Express Yourself’ and ‘Do You Really Want To Hurt Me’
portray the oppression that the proletariat, in this case “women” and
“minorities”, face in society and life from the bourgeoisie, the heterosexual
masses. Marx argues that in order to gain equality a “revolution is necessary”[8],
in terms of popular music culture there was arguably a revolution of LGBT
artists and change to gender role in the music videos of the 1980’s. Boy
George and Freddie Mercury, the lead vocalist for Queen, who were both
described as openly gay also questioned gender roles through the use of their
flamboyant attire and behaviour. However, it could be argued that this did not
create awareness but presented them as “victims of ridicule”[9] because
of the fact that homosexual artists in the media was rare, hence the lack of
diversity during this time formed society’s perception of LBGT groups to be
bizarre like the persona of the artists
seemed.
Contemporary pop artists like Lady
Gaga advocate social and political change through the use of her provocative
yet influential music videos, not only does she use her music videos but also
the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to convey her
pro-homosexual ideologies. In Lady
Gaga’s music video ‘Born This Way’ Gaga is portrayed as the "Mother
Monster" literally giving birth to "the new race” which “bears no
prejudice, no judgment." through the symmetrical long shot, which would
connote the birth of the “new race” as being equal. The ‘Born This Way’ music video was released on the 27th February
2011, promoting equality for LGBT groups in particular, after a few months on
25th June 2011 the Gay Marriage Bill was passed in the state of New York; it
would seem that "The debates surrounding popular culture representations
of gayness became increasingly politicized."[10]. Before the ‘Information Revolution’, there was
rarely interaction between the LGBT artists and the audiences however social
networking sites enable artists like Lady Gaga to interact with her audiences
about her views for example on the 25th June 2011, when the Gay
Marriage Bill was passed in New York, Lady Gaga tweeted “I can’t stop crying.
We did it kids.”[11].
It would seem that "Lady Gaga has clearly mastered the new social network
phenomenon”[12], as Gaga has arguably created awareness of LGBT
groups through the use of Facebook and Twitter along with her music video which
has consequently lead to successful social and political change for LGBT
groups.
Gay Gaze. In today’s society LGBT artists seem to have freedom of expression
through music videos however there is still the fundamental issue of the
majority of society, heterosexual groups, repressing the minority groups, in
this case the LGBT groups which artists like Katy Perry portray through her
music video ‘Firework’. Perry tweeted on 28th October 2010 on
Twitter to Perez Hilton “@PerezHilton I am
officially dedicating my new video to #itgetsbetter,”[13]
if this is the case then surely the
gay kiss would have been shown clearly? Katy Perry says that the music video of
"Firework" is dedicated specifically to the It Gets Better Project,
which fights discrimination against LGBT Youth. If it was meant to empower LGBT
youth surely the gay kiss would be shown to generate more support of youth that
struggle with their identity and sexuality. The homosexual character in
‘Firework’ is presented to be distressed by the fact that a heterosexual couple
is kissing in the background of the medium shot but he cannot kiss a man
openly. According to the philosopher John Stuart Mill there will inevitably be
an issue with the acceptance and tolerance of the minority, the LGBT groups, in
society as there is “tyranny of the majority”[14].
The “majority”[15],
the heterosexual groups, oppresses and coerces the minority to assimilate with
the majority which is what Katy Perry portrays. There
seems to be a problem when representing LGBT groups in “mainstream pop culture”[16] as it is criticised to
be from a “rampantly heterosexual”[17] point of view.
It could be argued that the lack
of censorship surrounding LBGT characters in music videos leads to a lack of
awareness in popular music culture as a whole for example the lack of
censorship in Rihanna’s music video to ‘Te Amo’ did not create awareness of
lesbianism but sexually objectified the women. Whilst ‘Te Amo’ does portray
lesbianism, it arguably addresses lesbianism in an extremely sexual manner
through the medium shot of Rihanna controlling the other woman from behind in a
sexually provocative position which would be seen as pornographic. When looking
at other music videos like Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ and Katy Perry’s
‘Firework’, which do seek to create awareness of LGBT groups, it would seem
that these music videos are censored and more controversial compared to Rihanna’s
‘Te Amo’; but why would this be the case? Media theorists such as Laura Mulvey
would argue that the Male Gaze, the theory that the role of women is to be
sexually objectified for an acknowledged male audience, is the reason for the
acceptance of ‘Te Amo’ as it sexualises the women to create an “erotic impact”[18] for the male audiences.
Is popular music culture successful at creating
awareness of LGBT groups? There is still the question of what society as a
whole tolerates and whether or not these music videos actually do create
awareness of LGBT groups, toleration is not the only issue but also the issue
of censorship. It would seem that social networking sites has enabled people to
become more aware of LGBT groups successfully as there is not much censorship
to control what people see. Nevertheless there
is also the problem of young, impressionable children and young teenagers who
could see music videos with gay and lesbians and be exposed to content which is
beyond their understanding of the world. Is it fair for young children to see
this? It could be argued that it is fair as this in itself generates awareness
for younger generations and educates them on modern culture and society.
However one could argue that as popular culture enforces gender roles through
the use of music videos, LBGT representations become difficult to challenge
these stereotypical gender roles as they have become ingrained in our society,
therefore popular music culture does not create awareness of LGBT groups.
Word Count: 1801
Bibliography
Works
cited
Books:
Dines,
G., & Humez, J. M. (2011). Gender, race, and class in media: a critical
reader (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications.
Erens,
P. (1990). Issues in feminist film criticism. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press.
Guilbert,
G. (2002). Madonna as postmodern myth: how one star's self-construction
rewrites sex, gender, Hollywood, and the American dream. Jefferson, N.C.:
McFarland & Co..
Macdonald,
M. (1995). Representing women: myths of femininity in the popular media.
London: E. Arnold ;.
Marx,
K., Easton, L. D., & Guddat, K. H. (1997). Writings of the young Marx on
philosophy and society. Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett Pub. Co.
Mill,
J. S. (2006). On liberty. New York: Cosimo Classics.
Prono,
L. (2008). Encyclopedia of gay and lesbian popular culture. Westport,
Conn.: Greenwood Press.
Pullen,
C. (2010). LGBT identity & online new media (1. publ. ed.). New York
[u.a.: Routledge.
Internet:
Gaga,
L. (2011, June 25). Lady Gaga. Twitter. Retrieved January 4, 2012, from
Perry,
K. (2010, October 28). Katy Perry. Twitter. Retrieved January 5, 2012,
from
Richardson, S. (n.d.). Lady Gaga: Mistress of Convergence. Media
Magazine. Retrieved December 29, 2011, from www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/mmagpast/MM36_Collab_gaga_convergence.html
Moving image:
Katy Perry – Firework
Firework (2010, Katy Perry, USA, Stargate, Capitol Records)
Lady Gaga – Born This Way
Born This Way (2011, Lady Gaga,
Rihanna – Te Amo
Culture Club – Do You Really Want To Hurt Me
Dead Or Alive – You Spin Me Right Round
Madonna – Express Yourself
Works consulted
Books:
- ‘Madonna’s erotica
album blurred gender confusions, fluidity of sexuality, and transgression
of masculine and feminine stereotypes.’-Gauntlett,
D. (2007). Media, gender and identity: an introduction (Reprinted. ed.).
London [u.a.: Routledge
Internet:
- “I aim at creating my art in the context of a universal
idea of freedom. I am unquestionably against all physical and ideological
manifestations of tyranny, oppression and imprisonment,” - Benichou, P. (n.d.). » International Reviews Philippe
Benichou Artist Blog. The Art of Philippe Benichou - Original Paintings -
Limited Editions - Official Web Site. Retrieved January 24, 2011, from http://philippebenichou.com/blog/?page_id=150
- http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/mtw9402.html
- http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/do-you-really-want-to-hurt-me-1143223.html
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