I do not know if anyone has seen the new Lily Allen music
video for her song “Hard Out Here” (I, obviously, attached the link to it here
for you) but I have some thoughts.
The lyrics are wonderful.
So feminist, they speak to this double standard for women in the music
industry. She makes a point to
mention the glass ceiling, body image issues, kitchen jokes, and slut
shaming. I thought it is feminist
in those aspects but I still have a lot of issues with it. First off, she attempts to make fun of
Miley Cyrus and twerking but she does not do it in the best way. She sings, “I don’t need to shake my
ass because I got a brain” associating sexuality and the expression of anything
sexual with being stupid. Which I
have a problem with. Women can be
smart AND be sexual beings. It is
possible. Then she attempts to
acknowledge the objectification of black women in music videos by objectifying
black women in her music video. Like…
what? Why? How is that supposed to
solve the issue?
Thoughts?
I get that she was trying to mock Miley and Robin Thicke but she did the exact thing that both Miley and Robin Thicke did and objectified the black women that she had in her video. Now I could of gotten behind the satire had she had actually been dressed the same as the dancers, danced the same as them, and had some one slap her butt or pour chamagne on her but she didn't so instead of her message being seen as satirical and mocking of the objectifed women it became a message of superior and privileged feminism. It was such a confusing feminist message that said "women shouldn't be treated like this (except for some, its okay to treat some this way.) These are the same feminist messages that causes people of color to not call themselves feminist. If I hadn't of seen this video I would of loved the song but I can't accept this as feminist.
ReplyDeleteI watched the video and it was literally hard for me to watch. Some of the lyrics got through but I couldn't really even focus on the lyrics because what I was seeing was so disturbing. Listening to the lyrics alone, I can definitely see what she was trying to say but she could've been a lot smarter with the video.
ReplyDeleteI just recently heard this song and I understand where Allen was trying to take this song but I don't think she made her full point. I agree that her lyrics trying to mock Miley but by putting intelligence and sexuality in their own separate categories, she's saying that women can be either or but never both.
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