I know that this is only the start of our second week and that we haven't even had class yet but scrolling along Facebook this video a friend of mine posted caught my eye and I couldn't help but share it to all of you. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC1XtnLRLPM
As all of you who watched the video have gathered it is a feminist parody of the song blurred lines by Robin Thicke - the summer song of 2013. People all across the country have been blasting the original version of this song in their cars and carelessly singing along. What people have yet to realize about this song is that the lyrics they so carelessly sing along to are probably one of the most misogynistic lyrics in current pop culture. Below is a link to the song and its lyrics if you care to examine them for yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwT6DZCQi9k&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DzwT6DZCQi9k&has_verified=1 (official unrated video)
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/robinthicke/blurredlines.html (lyrics)
It is pretty easy to see after taking a quick listen to this song and reading over its lyrics or even just its title, that Blurred Lines expresses how men have desires and how women (willing or unwilling) should give into these desires - because obviously "they know we want it". Ha please.
The parody version of this song created by some fabulous female and male feminists goes to show how we don't have to just settle for pop culture treating women as sex objects who's opinions and person preferences don't count. Not only is this parody hilarious but it's so true. If you listen closely the lyrics this group of people have put together are both catchy and express the many truths about society's treatment of females and the ideas of feminism. And yes while some of the lyrics in this parody might be a bit extreme and even come across a bit "man-hating" the movement behind the making of this film (standing against songs like blurred lines) is good. Plus come on - I think its super fun and a good way to show how a feminist can get her ideas across. :)
So glad you told me your blog was about this before I wrote mine about it! I saw this for the first time this morning and I loved it! Definitely better than Robin Thicke's video, not to mention the message he's conveying in it.
ReplyDeleteWow.. That was the first time I have seen that video (the unrated one) and I am kind of shocked. I didn't even think that they could do something like that on a music video, but apparently they can? I really do like the female parody though. I like how they defend women so we are represented as people and not animals! It was very encouraging to see those women defending all women in a positive and realistic way.
ReplyDeleteI love this video! I have to agree that while some of the lines in the parody are a bit extreme (castration! Yikes!) I definitely think the message overall isn't man hating, just anti-chauvinist. I think it's a good thing people are upset about these song lyrics, but I have to ask why everyone is NOW upset about song lyrics, is it because they're in a pop song? Why doesn't the entire country get upset when rappers write degrading songs?
ReplyDeletei think that this video is hilarious and I love that some parts are even more grphic then the original version which some people have been hating on. Blurred lines is really one of theose songs that kind of put feminists in a bad frame of light because of how so many people enjoy the song and yet others say it is wrong because it is about rape. I think that music is one of those things where it picks up its cues from society and can we really judge music if it is getting ideas from what is foing on in the world around us?
ReplyDeleteIn this post, another pop cultural phenom is being explored. I did not know about the unrated video for Blurred Lines. Completely uninformed. That being said, my understanding of it has come through the analysis' of the censored (blurred) blurred lines video and the feminist parody. I think that the parody was produced and designed well. The content was interesting. I think that the Egalia's Daughter effect expressed in the parody was powerful to those that accept Thicke's song/video as normal thinking, but that it falters on some levels. Less so about the "man-hating" element but more so about using this parody to spread a message on how to ameliorate unequal conditions/relations. I think it did too much more to shock than to teach (shock can serve as a learning experience too though :/) idk!
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