Booty is Back
Music
has been all about the booty lately. From “All About That Bass” and “Anaconda”
everyone seems to be singing about their behinds. Can’t get enough booty? The
music video just dropped for Jennifer Lopez’s “Booty (Remix)” featuring Iggy Azalea. It is already number one on the iTune’s music video chart and has had over 2.5
million views on YouTube.
Booty
really seems to be the most the appropriate name. The first shot of the video
is a tight frame on Jennifer’s rear end and then her butt shaking up against
Iggy’s. For the entire first minute of the video you see Iggy and Jennifer
grinding up against each other in bathing suits with wet hair, and of course
close ups on their booties. There does not seem to be any obvious plot or
narrative to the video just JLo changing outfits and performing overtly sexual
dance moves. The video leaves little to the imagination to say the least.
Drawing on research from Bader, I wanted to look for any media myths that might be present in this song.
Take a look at some of the lyrics...
“Booty, booty, booty, booty,
booty everywhere
Look at her booty, stop,
stare
They love that booty, hell
yeah
The way she twerk it, not
fair
She got a booty, that'll
swallow a thong
And if you
do it better do it dirty all night long”
Myth # 5 : Women should look like models and center folds to attack and keep men (Bader 2007)
Myth 5 can be easily picked out. Jennifer and Iggy both exemplify beautiful, glamorous, and idealized women. Their booties are the center of attention and can be used to attract and keep their men happy.
Myth # 4: If you are meant to be sex is great (Bader 2007)
Myth 4 is less obvious. In the last line "do it dirty all night long" can imply a raunchy sexual interaction. It may not directly correlate to being "meant to be" however it would be easy for a someone to in vision falling in love and having easy wonderful sex with either JLo or Iggy.
Additionally, the research done by Kim on heterosexual scripts can be applied here as well. In her research Kim identified the Appropriation of Female Homosexuality (AFH) (Kim 2007). This action refers to two heterosexual females who engage in homo-eroticism to attract and arouse males (Kim 2007). It is clear that the relationship between Iggy Azela and Jennifer Lopez could be looked upon as a strategy to sexual excite male viewers.
Comments
After I watched the video I scrolled down to the comments section to see how different people were reacting to what they just watched.... I took of screenshot of three of the latest comments.
I found it really interesting to see the range of the reactions from the commentors. The first comment shows clear disgust. Others seem to agree, because it has 13 "thumbs ups". The second comment expresses a similar sentiment but with much stronger language, while directly criticizing JLo and well as the listeners. The final comment in opposition seems to enjoy the visuals. Muting the sound further objectifies the women by taking the video out of context and "enjoy" I can only assume means some for of masturbation.
This depiction is problematic on multiple levels. There does not seem to be a redeeming quality from the lyrics, the imagery or the public response. It seems to have little to do with music, or talent, and is a good excuse to get half naked and shake your booty. Jennifer Lopez is in her mid forties with children. If this was my mother I would be mortified. Is this what we want to idealize and glamorize ? If it was up to me, the answer would be no.
Resources
Bader, A. (2007). "Love will steer the stars" and other improbable feats: Media
myths in popular love songs. In M.-L. Galician & D. L. Merskin (Eds.), Critical thinking
about sex, love, and romance in the mass media (pp. 141-160). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
Kim, J. L., Lynn Sorsoli, C., Collins, K., Zylbergold, B. A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 44(2), 145-157.
Kim, J. L., Lynn Sorsoli, C., Collins, K., Zylbergold, B. A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 44(2), 145-157.
Charlotte, although I agree that the myths cited in Bader's article are present in this song, I think that Johnson and his colleague's findings suggest that it might be useful to think about how the objectification of these women psychologically affect those who watch this music video. It is more commonly understood that highly sexual images negatively affect females' self-esteem but Johnson also found that men who were exposed to female objectified images possessed greater levels of anxiety than those exposed to objectified male or neutral media images (Johnson et al., 2007). I think that this video is a perfect modern example of the objectified images we see of females on a daily bases and I think the fact that the three of the most recent post you chose to include in this post reveals that men just as often, if not more frequently, consume the objectified images of women in the media. I therefore think it is important not only to acknowledge the presence of these myths and images but to also reflect on their affects on society.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for an enlightening and relevant post!
References
Johnson, P. J., McCreary, D. R., & Mills, J. S. (2007). Effects of exposure to
objectified male and female media images on men's psychological well-being.
Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 8(2), 95.