Course Description

At the core of the course is the question how feminism has become a demonized and ridiculed “F-word” in an age when issues of gender and sexuality are at the center of constant, often explosive political debates. These debates often connect media representation and political representation but tend to do so in simplistic ways that bypass or distort decades of sophisticated feminist theory and practice. We will trace back such representations through the decades around case studies that encompass film, video, television and new media practices. The case studies come from the United States and beyond, taking into full account the global interconnectedness of media production and consumption as well as the transnational travel of feminist ideas. The main goal of the course is to evaluate how useful feminist thinking is to understanding the relays between media and political representation; and to develop a lasting critical apparatus to analyzing the politics of gender and sexuality in the media.


Saturday, November 23, 2013

Am I the only person who thinks Miley Cyrus is appropriating queer culture?

Several hours after the release of Miley Cyrus' "We Can't Stop" music video, I was sitting on the couch to watch it at the insistence of several of my queer friends, who excitedly told me, "LOOK! Miley Cyrus is GAY!" I didn't consider myself a fan of hers but I asked them, "isn't she engaged to that guy?" and they told me "JUST WATCH THIS!" so I sat to watch it as soon as I could. Before I was even halfway through the video, I could see why my friends thought so. The implications start in the lyrics, which inform me that this is Miley's party so she can kiss who she wants and love who she wants. While the lyrics play, we see Miley wrestle with girls suggestively, slap their asses, and make out with an oversized Barbie doll. She gets a piggy back ride from a girl in a pool and grabs her chest in return. Her short haircut is styled provocatively as she sticks out her tongue between two fingers. Nonsensically, Miley even watches excitedly as smoke flies out of a masculinely-dressed girl's crotch. As if this wasn't enough of a hint, Autostraddle posted an article, "The 24 Gayest Things in the New Miley Cyrus Video" for the oblivious. 

Still, she was engaged and I didn't think anything of it again until the release of the video for Wrecking Ball. I stood by dumbfounded as my straight friends and the media proclaimed the song to be about her heartbreak over breaking up with her male fiance. On screen, Miley wears a wifebeater and Doc Martins as she "can't live a lie" and is "running for her life," even though she will "always want" the subject of her lyrics. This video is nearly in black and white, with only three features splashing against the drab monotone of the set: bright red lips, an equality tattoo, and Miley's tears. Don't get me wrong, it is entirely possible, and even likely, that Miley Cyrus is NOT gay. Take Chely Wright for example: as beautiful and popular in country music as Miley is with the Top 40 crowd, she hid her orientation for years out of fear and her videos reflect this insecurity. Cyrus, on the other hand, appears to flaunt queer imagery as often as possible.

However, assuming that Miley is straight, her ability to bombard audiences with such imagery is a certain co-opting of queer culture. Fairly, her appropriation of black culture has faced intense scrutiny over the past several months because it is a thoughtless exotification of "otherness" being employed to draw attention to Miley's image. Shouldn't the same scrutiny be applied to the queer implications she hints at as well?
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)