"I asked her name, but she turned away. As she walked, all that I could say was Mmm Yeah Yeah" - objectification. Austin Mahone - Mmm Yeah ft. Pitbull [March 2014]
"Oooo that does smell nice, is it mens? Oh I can't have that" - a female customer whist I was working at a fragrance counter [December 2014]
"If she's intelligent, even better. You can copy her work and stare at her boobs all day!" - Dapper Laughs, Episode 1. [September 2014]
For someone passionate about media, it does get boring. You really do get bored. You see the same thing happen again, and again. You roll your eyes. Why should I write to company's complaining, why should I be a mini role-model on social platforms making people aware, when in the end, it's just going to happen again and again? Creative Bankrupcy at its finest.
In this hard battle, you take pleasure in the small bottles of hope, which hopefully open new ways of thinking. One example is the 2014 August release, 'Bang Bang', and I will discuss why it is a positive example for feminism, and hopefully a better future thus altogether.
Here we have 3 women we would NEVER dreamed of coming together, as they are all branded so differently. Ariana is the bedroom having a slumber party flicking her hair looking into the camera and blushing, excited for whats to cme, while Nicki in all her Diva glory is on top of a skyscraper, with a helicopter in the bacground. And then there's Jessie, who well, is Jessie. Yes they have been mediated so we only see a single-personality, but it is who they are. And what are they connected by? Their sex. The sister-hood. The bond of being women, and celebrating this fact. Whilst many other songs may 'feature' another artist for 20 seconds, they are all equals here, with the song not being able to be completed without all 3 being there: the bond. Not by men, not by sex, but by each other. In the end scene where all 3 are together we see pink flushing down the streets of the city shown, a viusal symbol of feminitiy flowing, uncontrollablly enoering everyone.
What is so percularit about the song and the video as a whole is its premisis: Bang Bang. "Bang Bang into the room, Bang Bang all over you. Wait a minute let me take you there". What is this Bang Bang? In fact, what is so much of these lyrics? They are so vague: " I'mma show you how to graduate" "It ain't karaoke night but get the mic 'cause I'm singing" Is it a physcial gun shot? Highly unlikly. Or what many people think of, ejculation. Men never surround the women in this video of their group live performances and do all their dancemoves by themseles [and a few lyrics are obviously explicit], with the only one shown being batted off by his friend, so this again seems improbable.We must not forget though the enjoyment of ejaculation by yourself: yes, all of them dance provoactily, but so do I and I love it. It is a part of life to love your body, and I may dance provocatly but thats not because I want others to enjoy me: I want to be happy in myself.
I take the hint from Arianas microphone, with the word BANG written on it. I use this microphone as a metaphore for the 'bang' of something new in the air: words. expression. Freedom for women to be who they want and to do what they please.
'Bang Bang into the room' - the room of the world. I am here, feminism is here.
'Bang Bang all over you' - it effects will effect us all you. In the post-feminist world, your views wil be destryoed easily
'Wait a minute let me take you there' - Do you not understand? I will teach you. [Or if we are going down the sexual route, this could also show the women being in charge of her own ejaculaioion, not by the say so of the man]
I understand there is the problem of sexualisation: all 3 women have sexualised themselves and our provocative, implying that feminism and equality can only move forward if we feel more open to show skin, but of course only in these stereotypical body shapes. This is of course not a problem: I would love to sexualise myself, but as I have already said, for me, not for anyone else. This would be best addressed by not making any of these artists change, but instead by including a larger range of representations
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