2007 October « femtique

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femtique 10:45 pm on October 22, 2007 | 4 | # |

It may be Timbaland featuring OneRepublic, but it’s really a OneRepublic remix by Timbaland. In “Apologize”, OneRepublic conveys the emotional struggles many men have. The word that holds the most emphasis is apologize. OneRepublic echoes “It’s too late to apologize” many times in the song. In this regard, OneRepublic is doing many men a huge favor, in that, they are expressing the realities of being in a relationship with a woman without being misogynistic while doing it. The standard propensity of these types of songs is to insult the woman’s character to the point of generalizing (stereotyping) on how all women cannot be trusted. OneRepublic takes the high road and chooses to convey sadness in the loss of a relationship, but at the same time, a lesson that all men and women can learn from: being in a relationship can be abusive and manipulative. Where does one draw the line? OneRepublic says to an abusive relationship that “It’s too late to apologize”.

You tell me that you need me
Then you go and cut me down

Not only does OneRepublic, like Keisha Cole, Lil’ Kim, and Missy E., advocate that people in abusive relationships need to protect themselves by acknowleging that their partner is manipulative and emotionally abusive. This group also discusses gender role constrictions. The most poignant gender role deconstruction reflected in their song is that men should not express their vulnerability to women. OneRepublic challenges traditional masculinity by showing in their music that men should and do express vulnerability in relationships.

I’d take another chance, take a fall
Take a shot for you
And I need you like a heart needs a beat
But it’s nothing new
I loved you with a fire red-
Now it’s turning blue, and you say…
“Sorry” like the angel heaven let me think was you
But I’m afraid…

In fact, this song is truly not gender restrictive by any means. No where in the lyrics or the video does OneRepublic elude to the song favoring a heterosexual or homosexual relationship. This song could easily encompass heterosexual or homosexual relationships.
femtique 10:17 pm on October 22, 2007 | 0 | # |

As Kid Rock said in this song, it’s all about “sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll”. These are time old traditions in the history of not just rock music, but all pop music in the United States beginning with jazz. Kid Rock’s message is plain as day — he’s going to show you what rock music is really all about. He discusses in his lyrics some of what rock music is not:

“Been alotta bling bling but it ain’t real” … “Been alotta false prophets and quick hits, and a lot of unAmerican bullshit”

Rock goes further towards of the end of the song by communicating with his audience of a deeper message of class and race oppression in the U.S., and how music has the capacity to empower people in this position:

Like in old Mississippi’s dirty cotton fields
Or in Detroit City’s unforgotten wheels
It’s the same song spinning but the same song’s always been true

The fact that Kid Rock takes a political stand on this song shows that there is hope for pop music to convey a feminist friendly political message and still make it to #1 on album sales. Unfortunately, his songs “So Hott” and “Half Your Age” do not qualify as feminist friendly songs.
femtique 3:00 pm on October 20, 2007 | 1 | # |

The primary female characters were Alice (Milla Jovovich), Claire Redfield (Ali Larter), Betty (Ashanti), and K-Mart (Spencer Locke). The first image one sees at the beginning of the film is Alice half naked on the bottom of a shower stall. This is an example of sexual objectification. There is a pattern of horror, suspense, and action movies where at some point in the film a woman or several women are sexually vulnerable and / or physically objectified. It is as if these film makers are saying, “We can have a woman with a lead role as long as she looks sexy doing it. We need to make sure we see some skin somewhere.”

Particularly disappointing was the racial stereotyping of Betty. As soon as L.J. (Mike Epps) is hurt by one of the infected, nurse Betty comes to the rescue. 99.9% of the healing was a lot of flirting between the two characters. After the flirting was over with, Betty takes her exit, but not without a 3 second camera shot of her butt as she waved it side to side for the camera. I wonder if the director said to Ashanti, “Move your ass from side to side like that … oh no, like that … yeah, that looks sexier.” Of all the female characters, Betty was the most objectified character. This is a typical “Sapphire” black female stereotype that goes back to the slavery era in the U.S.:

Sapphire, the wise-cracking, balls-crushing, emasculating woman, is usually shown with her hands on her hips and her head thrown back as she lets everyone know she is in charge. [source]

Not only was Betty the most blatantly physically objectified character in the film, but she is also the martyr. Many people are familiar with how the black male usually dies first in the film. This time it occurs for the black female. This martyrdom is no surprise in the racial hierarchy of American film. It is not popular to have a lead female character, and it is certainly not popular to have a lead black female character outlast her fellow white female protagonists. In films, writers have the privilege of discriminating on which characters are to die first. More often than not, if there is a black character or anyone who is not white in the film, the person ironically gets killed. The opposite is the case for Alien vs. Predator, where Alexa Woods (Sanna Lathan) outlasts her male co-stars and ends up as the heroine of the film. There’s one caveat to her survival: there were no white female characters that co-star with her. She outlasted all white male co-stars. A heroine, and a black one at that, is truly atypical in pop movies.

Claire Redfield was the only female character not continuously physically objectified in the film. She was the leader of the group.

How could this flim be feminist friendly and still maintain it’s pop appeal?

1. Heroines should not be required by film makers to be sexually objectified. No woman in a film should be required to be physically or sexually objectified.

2. Write films without black female stereotypes. Black female stereotypes are not necessary to impress an audience.

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