The main intent of my CTCS 412 paper is to investigate how the
post-modern trend in popular culture , specifically in regards to Miley Cyrus and Rihanna, appropriate lowbrow
tendencies and/or foreign cultures in what Mikhail Bakhtin calls “grotesque”
ways. This appropriation is a reversal of the popular historical trend. Whereas the poor/isolated class used to distort and
display the body against the status quo of the upper classes for entertainment
purposes, the 21st century pop stars now distort and display their
bodies in the same low-bro tendencies and appropriate oppressed cultures for
entertainment purposes. This paper will explore how this reversal functions within a post-feminist/neo-liberalist framework.
The argument will begin with the application of Bakhtin’s
theory of carnivalesque to the current day fashion/performance trends in
popular culture specifically with regards to two highly successful artists,
Miley Cyrus and Rihanna. The paper
will then argue the negative side effects of this appropriation in regards to
neo-liberalist aims of society which culminates in stealth stratification.
The sources used will first
and foremost include Mikhail Bakhtin’s Carnival Theory and Louise Owens’ Work That Body": Precarity and Femininity
in the New Economy a study which exemplifies post-feminism's
putative "freedoms.” Bahktin’s
theory will be compared and contrasted with Miley Cyrus’s VMA performance, her music video
for “We Can’t Stop” and Rihanna’s music video “Rude Boy” to illicit the reversal of the lower/upper class appropriation trend.
The projected conclusion is that this reversal of
appropriated behaviors may appear beneficial to women and the lesser represented races, but in actuality these groups aren’t gaining any true power. The outcome of these
representations is a false sense of empowerment that leads to a deepening of
stratification in gender and race.
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