After re-watching Django Unchained by Quentin Tarantino, I revisited the topic of explicitness in films. The thought came to me after I viewed the crushed and bloody ankles of the slaves due to the constricting shackles. The thought was reinforced after I later watched a man get eaten alive by dogs. There are many other scenes of this nature, too. I appreciated that Tarantino included this. If a film is set during a truly horrendous and shameful time period, it should be depicted as such. How else could one begin to fathom how the people who experienced these injustices felt?

Lastly, I believe this idea extends to rape scenes as well.

If I had more time during my presentation on Friday, I would have loved to share some lyrics that I find useful in the discussion of Nicki Minaj as a necessary force for women in the music industry.

Aside from Fly by Nicki Minaj and Rihanna that I showed during my presentation, the song Still I Rise by Minaj indicates her role:

Still I rise, still I fight, still I might crack a smile

Keep my eyes on the prize, See my haters tell them hi

One day you’ll remember this, One day when we reminisce

Nothing I do ever is good enough for the music biz (x2)

…Every time a door opens for me that means you, just got a better opportunity to do you

They don’t understand these labels look at numbers it’s statistics

I lose you lose ma it’s just logistics

Anyway, real b*tches listen when I’m speaking,

cus if Nicki win then all of y’all gettin’ meetin’s! (Ayyyy)

Next, from her song Can Anybody Hear Me:

In the nick of time it just dawned on me,

I am Nicki Minaj and it’s all on me

Maybe I’ll never win, maybe I’m settlin’,

Can’t let the devil in I’m a comic book heroine

But when the wind blows, I’m so Marilyn

…I came to save a thing called Female Rap

But I hope my ninja powers,

don’t f*ck around and offend you cowards

And finally, from Minaj’s debut album Pink Friday, Here I Am:

Why is it that you can only see the worst in me?

I swear sometimes it feels like it nurtures me

But to keep it all real it’s kinda hurtin’ me

I could say I’m done with it but it lurks in me

So I’m a just tell myself that it works for me…

…It’s a joke, It’s a game

Why am I still keeping score?

I’m in pain, I’m ashamed

I’m A Woman Hear Me Roar (x5)

With my new found love for femme fatale cinema, after viewing the opening scene from Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct, it was confirmed that I was going to love the film. Initially, I was annoyed by the prominent male gaze in the scene, but my faith was soon restored.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/10232783/basic_instinct_hot_scenes/

The clip goes beyond the opening scene and presents a small collection of suggestive moments in the film. I am not as moved by the other scenes as I am with the first. However, the last scene and the first one go hand in hand as far as the plot to the film goes.

Recently on Twitter, a story popped up about Jaden Smith wanting to have his penis removed on his 18th birthday.  The story originated from a satirical news site, so it is fiction. However, Jaden’s fake comments tie into the discussion of male and female identity. I thought this would have been a powerful message. How would you react? Take a look:

http://www.360nobs.com/2014/11/does-jaden-smith-really-plan-on-taking-out-his-penis-surgically/

I lol’d

This is one of my favorite songs by Beyoncé. I’ve personally never heard it on the radio, or seen it talked about on Twitter or Facebook, but it presents a message about being a person of substance. It has nothing to do with sex, men, her legs, etc. It’s more of her personal truth.

A point was made in class today that all we’re being offered as consumers of media are the physical bodies of celebs and the skimpy outfits they wear. Specifically in reference to Beyoncé and her legs. In response to that, I believe we need to remember that the media functions under the male gaze mostly, and that this is the type of subject matter that sells. If an individual can’t get past the hypersexualized material that’s been put out for them, the only thing they have room to judge is the fact that the material is hypersexualized, not the artist, the artist’s values, the artist’s future, or anything else. Yes, this is concerning for younger children who consume this media, but the artist isn’t to blame. This is where the importance of education comes in so that kids don’t think the body shapes and outfits they see equals success. Further, I don’t believe it’s accurate to criticize the artist herself for the images/videos we see of her in mainstream media as if it’s the only representation of her out there. If one would like to criticize an artist as a whole, I believe all of that artist’s work has to be examined, not just the 2-5 songs heard in mainstream media in the past few months.

What’s been seen in mainstream music recently is Taylor Swift singing about her relationships with men, Beyoncé dancing seductively, or Miley Cyrus twerking or being naked on a wrecking ball. I think it would be a mistake to judge these artists solely based off of what’s been put in mainstream media. Each of these artists has their own range of music that depicts their experiences living in the world. And because they’re women, that essence is mixed in as well.  However, the labels that these artists are signed to often exploit one specific experience out of the range that the artist has to offer – that experience tends to be their sexual liberation.

One of the points I’m trying to make clear is that there is much more to the artists that have been deemed inappropriate or bad role models. In fact, if you were to explore their music you would see that they’re people with real stories that can be used to inspire deeper thought. But you would have to look past their outfit and their legs in order to focus on some of the meanings in their not-so famous songs.

I re-watched Miss Representation, a film many of us watched in our Intro to Film course. I chose to do this because it relates to a lot of what we’ve discussed during this semester, exposing some of the most important problems in mainstream media and its portrayal of women in front of the camera, let alone in positions of power.  I believe Paul Haggis, an academy-award winning writer/producer, puts it best as he explains that “What happens is, these studio chiefs like myself (writers, producers, directors), we see the world in a certain way and we don’t really challenge that often so we just replicate the world we grew up in without really asking why we’re doing it.” He’s really acknowledging a lot with this statement, and it stems from privilege. He hasn’t grown up on the other side of the white-male dominated industry that produces and perpetuates the existing injustices and limitations. He’s only been on the side that benefits from the media that’s produced. Although there are many reasons to question the world we live in, if it’s benefiting you, or isn’t harming you, why put effort into changing it. (this is only a guess as to what he might have been thinking, or a justification for his actions)

Therefore, the cycle is continued in each generation. Men are given negative messages from the media, just as women are. The youth are led to believe that what they’re viewing are actual depictions of reality. Katie Couric, an anchor for CBS evening news conveys that “the media can be an instrument of change, it can maintain the status quo and reflect the views of the society or it can hopefully awaken people and change minds. I think it depends on who’s piloting the plane.”

I also think this principle can extend into The World Before Her, and the Hindu Fundamentalists who strive to keep things the way they are, rather than allow greater freedom and opportunity for the people being limited. I believe the fear of the unknown is very relevant in this case, and when it seems as though the world or some force is trying to impose on existing beliefs, conflict arises. There are those who will attempt to save the older values at whatever cost, just because it’s all that they know. But from that, there will be forces who only wish to break apart from what’s been deemed as ‘normal’ in order to do more with their lives.

I believe one of the most important moments in the film is when one of the women are speaking to the fact that she doesn’t agree with a lot of the pageant’s practices. She stated that she personally doesn’t like wearing a bikini, but she must do it for this title, so she does. That was only one woman’s opinion. I’m sure one, if not more, had an issue with the skin whitening sessions, botox injections, and constantly objectifying herself, all covered with that “Miss India” smile to say that they’re happy to be there. It’s cruel that so many women must use this as their only opportunity to make a life for themselves and their families.

As for Prachi Trivedi, it might be said that one can see the uncertainty in her responses to some of the questions she’s asked through her ‘half-smile’/ facial expressions after she’s done speaking. She says that she’s willing to die as well as kill for her beliefs, saying that she will help construct a bomb if the time comes, but she isn’t convincing in how she articulates her reasons for feeling so passionately. Ultimately, I believe both groups of women are trapped in their society and are searching for an escape, whether they wholeheartedly stand by their actions or not, I believe they’re just looking for options out of the lives that have been prescribed to them.