Saturday 27 February 2010

Video killed the radio star

Written to: Kanye West and Estelle - American Boy

Liz Jones' article in today's Daily Mail is one I have mixed feelings about. Entitled How pop became PORN, she goes on about her disgust at music videos and their objectification of women.

I can completely understand what she means. Most hip-hop videos make me feel awkward and it's unnecesary. At the moment that Iyaz song comes to mind, where most of the focus is on some girl whose bikini is too small. Since trying to search it for you all to see, I've since found out that there is a milder version posted on his YouTube channel with a girl who is much more covered up. Whether that is to meet Virgin Islands culture I do not know, but it certainly suggests the video was changed for the British (and American) audience.

As much as I believe that showing women in this light is not 'right', we have to remember that this is a man's world and, to be frank, it sells. Iyaz's Replay went straight to number one. I'm sure Rihanna's Rude Boy will too this week, which is also mentioned in the article. It's the most blatent sexual video and song she's released and to be honest has some of the most hilarious lyrics I've heard. I wonder how literal the girls who listen to this would actually take it.



It's difficult to say how kids will react to this kind of thing, but they do have a choice. It's the sort of thing they will only go looking for anyway and is almost unavoidable now.

Annoying moral conservatveness aside, what really bugs me about the Mail is their insentivity and need to limit everything into a sweeping sentence. When mentioning Rihanna, Jones says this: " an American popstar most famous for having been beaten up by her boyfriend". Excuse me, but how does this empower women exactly? Not only was Rihanna hugely successful before that scumbag, but that was a serious issue in her life and many other women's lives that should not be used in such a cutting way.

This contradiction shows just how meaningless feminism and half the crap the Daily Mail churns out is.

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