Robin Thicke's music video that correlates to his song
"Blurred Lines" is without a doubt pretentious. As stated
by Amy Davison in Lisa Huyne's article, “The women are clearly being used as objects to
reinforce the status of the men in the video. The men have all the control and
status...Whereas the women have no status and are totally open to be exploited
ogled and used..." However, if the women in the video allow for such
provocative behavior and let it continue, then it makes it look okay - which in
Robin Thicke's mind, it is! When confronted about the subject he says,
"What I enjoy about the video is that we’re not ogling and degrading them,
we’re laughing and being silly with them.” Is it truly harmless play?
Jennifer Lai agrees with Huyne when she says, "It's true that the
song's music video undoubtedly objectifies women." When it comes
down to it, I think that it's the music video that brings up all of the
controversy. The song lyrics are not as bad as what the video entails them to
be. Lai does a perfect job of detailing many of the lines throughout the
song, noting that women are actually given the upper hand in
many of the statements. Robin Thicke's music video is definitely harmful
to the eyes, but the song isn't any different from any other pop culture song.
In my mind, Robin
Thicke is only playing a role in pop culture; he's making his mark and trying
to stand out from other artists. Hey hey hey...it got everyone's attention didn't it?
I both agree and disagree with you, Chloe. Yes, the video is awful and slightly disturbing. It objectifies women, even though they are "playing along" with Thicke and the other men. He makes a good point in that this playing along lessens the promiscuity and "rapey" factor of the video, it is still a shocking and controversial video, much as it was probably intended to be. However, I disagree with the fact that the video is the only reason there's controversy. Even before the video was released, I am sure that there were people speaking out against the song. The lyrics themselves are bad enough: "I know you want it..." "Must wanna get nasty.." are a few examples. Clearly, Thicke was trying to create some controversy with the song, and also the video, and he definitely succeeded.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that this song is just another example of our pop culture and is not any different from other rap artists with even more disturbing lyrics. The reason this song got so much publicity was because of the provocative music video that played along with the song. People began to notice that lyrics and the video were a poor example towards women. “The women are clearly being used as objects to reinforce the status of the men in the video." The video is almost disgusting seeing how the women play around with Thicke and barely have a point in the video. Just like an other artist nowadays, the lyrics and videos do not have respect for women and portray a poor message to the public.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading previous blog posts, It was nice to see a new outlook on whether or not the song and music video suggest what everyone is saying they do. You pointed out that the women within the video agreed to what was being done in the video, so who is to blame? If they make it look okay, then are others going to think that too? In the end, I have to agree with you on the fact that Robin Thicke is just playing a role in pop culture, just like any other artist that wants to make it in that industry.
ReplyDelete