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Beyonce and Black Excellence

As one of the most influential African American women in the music industry, Beyonce certainly delivers with her visual album, Lemonade. Beyonce made many smart decisions to show female empowerment and black excellence in this film, while still being able to draw attention to some of the struggles that black women must deal with. Miriam Bale of Billboard writes that “This is a movie made by a black woman, starring black women, and for black women, especially for herself and her daughter Blue”. Although there is tons of controversy surrounding this album regarding her marriage (which I’ll leave to Jimmy Kimmel to explain with emojis) and political innuendos, I see this album to be a celebration of the African American woman and their beauty.

Beyonce is seen throughout each of pieces wearing traditionally African American hairstyles. Each of these hairstyles shows off the unique and diverse textures of African American women’s hair. From braids to natural “afros”, Beyonce and her fellow dancers look absolutely stunning. In “Don’t Hurt Yourself”, Beyonce wears tight cornrows, with her baby hairs left out. In “Sorry”, Beyonce is seen wearing a traditional hairstyle of the women in Congo. Other hairstyles among the other women in the album are Bantu knots, twists, and headwraps.

Almost all of Beyonce’s dancers are women of color, with the exception of some of the young boys and few male dancers. Each of these women is unique in complexion and body type. Light skinned and dark skinned women, even a woman with vitiligo, are present throughout the entirety of the piece. Beyonce was able to cast women of different ages to show the diversity of African American women and their beauty.

Beyonce and her dancers also express black beauty through the different clothing they wear throughout the film. They are clothed in patterns and prints that are attributed to African culture. An article from Ventures breaks down some of the fashion choices made by Beyonce. For example, the yellow dress that Beyonce wears in the scene where she is hitting cars with a baseball bat is actually a representation of the Yoruba goddess, Oshun. The prints on their clothing and jackets from “Don’t Hurt Yourself” and “Sorry” are also examples. 

Using a variety of hairstyles, fashion, and diversity among her fellow dancers and actresses, Beyonce created a masterpiece that not only tells of the struggles of black people, but displays the beauty and uniqueness of their culture. In the article Lemonade: A Celebration of Black Women, the author writes “images of Beyonce and black women are an obvious embrace of blackness and femininity”.

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Memes Are People Too!

In the documentary, Me at the Zoo, Chris Crocker is highlighted as an obsessive Britney Spears fan. Famously known for his “Leave Britney Alone” video rant, this documentary follows his journey to Youtube stardom. How does someone “go viral” on the Internet? And in turn, how do they stay relevant after they get discovered? I argue that having one viral video can get you noticed, but after this you have to find ways to stay relevant on your own, like launching a music career.

Famously known as the “Cash Me Outside” girl, Danielle Bregoli went viral after appearing on an episode of Dr. Phil. Since the episode aired, Bregoli has appeared in other people’s videos on Youtube and Instagram and it has even been rumored that she would be getting her own television show. Famous for being a disrespectful, fifteen year old girl? Because people circulated her video, imitated her catch phrase, and made her a household name. Even though she was only on the show for constantly being in physical altercations and disrespecting her mother on a daily basis, Danielle Bregoli is still earning money and getting attention off of this display.

In 2011, thirteen year old Rebecca Black released the song “Friday” after gaining permission from her parents to record a music video in their mansion of a house. It went viral about a month after it was uploaded to Youtube because of its cringe-worthy sound and lyrics. Today, the music video has almost one hundred fifteen million views. Now, Black is one of those “Where Are They Now?” stars, because she hasn’t continued on with her “Friday” fame.

Nicole Arbour is another Youtube star who went viral for an incredibly insensitive video titled “Dear Fat People”. Viewers were enraged at the comments that were made in this video, but the thirteen million views still made her famous. Today, Nicole Arbour still continues to post videos on her Youtube account, but they don’t have the amount of reach that her viral has.

There are plenty more stars that are famous just because of the content the post. The video below names a few of the stars I just mentioned, along with people like Dan Bilzerian. It seems like you either have to be extremely offensive towards a large enough group of people or extremely “out there” to gain the Internet’s attention. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPFjkqh21Nk

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On My MissBehavior

Even with so many social media networks, television shows, and movies to consume, the media still paints an image of what is perceived to be the perfect woman. Girls who are super skinny, but also have curves, and beautiful faces are shown all over my Instagram feeds or broadcast over major news networks. I argue that girls, myself included, are extremely effected by what is presented to them in the media.

When I graduate in December, I hope to move to Boston, not only seeking job opportunities in the media industry, but also to audition to become a New England Patriots cheerleader. Not only are these women extremely talented, they’re stunning to look at. Their bodies are conditioned like athletes, while their hair and makeup looks like it’s always professionally done. Below is a video of footage from their annual calendar shoot to further prove my point. I’ve already started thinking about how I will have to change my eating habits and start a more strict fitness regimen. Looking at pictures and videos of the current team members has an obvious effect on me and makes me feel like I need to change my body to make the team. 

Another instance of media effecting girls is the show Toddlers and Tiaras. The show is about young girls who compete in natural and glam pageants. They pounds tons of makeup onto their little faces, attach fake hair pieces onto their heads, and even wear fake teeth to conceal any missing teeth. Some parents go as far as spray tanning their child to make them look less pale. Although these are some things that women like myself (not the fake teeth) do frequently to feel good about themselves, it sends a message to girls as young as two years old that THIS is what it takes to look and feel beautiful. 

The last example I can think of ties back to something I wrote about in a previous blog. The Instagram account The College Babes features women from ages eighteen to twenty three either wearing close to nothing or a bare body part sporting fraternity letters. Some of these posts get hundreds of thousands of likes and the models in these pictures have close to a million followers. This promotes the idea that putting your body on display can earn you things such as likes and followers. It leaves people, not just men, to objectify these women’s bodies. 

These are just three of the many examples that shows what society believes the standard of beauty to be. From children to college girls to adult women, this standard is remarkably pretty similar. Is there a way to stop it? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2jnH_LiSbs

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Stay At Home, Stereotypes!

Being a stay-at-home mom can sometimes have a negative connotation, especially when you ask a woman who holds a full time job. No matter the reason, whether it’s because the woman is living in a situation where she is financially stable enough to not work, or there are young children in the home that aren’t being sent to a daycare, I would argue that stay at home moms are expected to do a lot and aren’t represented as hard workers in films.

In this article from the Romper, the author talks about all of the media depictions of stay at home moms that can be extremely offensive. Some of these depictions state that stay at home moms, or SAHMs, have ridiculous amounts of free time and are always extremely well dressed. In reality, these moms have the same responsibilities as moms who hold full time jobs. They still get their kids ready in the morning for school, run the same errands, etc.

Another stereotype of SAHMs that needs to end is that they sit at home and wait for their hardworking husband to return home to devour the amazing meatloaf that she prepared for his enjoyment. Nope. Although stay at moms might be home to cook, clean, and keep a house in order, this doesn’t mean that it makes the man any more valuable. 

Don’t get me wrong, there are some pretty media content that shows realistic, funny depictions of stay at home moms. There’s a show called SAHM: Stay At Home Mom that shows exactly this. There are plenty of Youtube videos that show the daily lives of SAHMs, just like the one that I have below. It’s just that women who are stay at home moms should not be shown as anything less than important. They are not lazy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx5WUboUDPU

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Sexual Orientation & Sports

Locker room talk is a concept widely accepted in the sports world. The language used about different topics can be fairly explicit and vulgar. It could show hints of misogyny and homophobia. I argue that, because of displays of blatant homophobia in the locker room, men who are gay in the NFL probably do not “come out” in fear of judgement from their teammates.

In the documentary Not Just a Game, multiple players from different professional sports were asked about how they would react if they found out that one of their teammates was gay. The responses were absolutely disgusting. One of the players went as far as to say that he did not like gay people and he would not want to associate himself with a gay teammate. This could be seen as a threat for a fellow teammate, who may be afraid to come out in fear of judgement. Or worse, the possibility of being released from a team because of prejudice.

According to the Out Sports website, there have only been eleven known gay players in the National Football League, none of which came out while they were actively playing in the league. The article does not mention if there was a reason that they decided to come out after leaving the league, but there must be some reason why all of these men decided to keep their sexual orientation a secret.

For example, Michael Sam was the first openly gay man drafted into the National Football League. But after being cut from multiple training camps, the NFL has still never had an openly gay man play during a regular season game. In an article written by Alex Marvez on the Sporting News website, the author argues that Sam’s story might have made athletes less likely to express their sexuality to the public.

In closing, with the tone of locker talk being so malicious toward gays, the men who are hiding their sexuality are forced to hide it even more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCA6EF3y23k

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Instagram: Self Worth is Measured in Likes.

Instagram is one of the most popular social media apps amongst teen-aged and adolescent people. According to an article posted on the Omnicore Agency website, about sixty eight percent of Instagram’s seven hundred million active users are female. 

Towards the beginning of the Generation Like documentary, there is a shot of a bunch of teens sitting around a kitchen table debating on what to post on their social medias. The girls compare the amount of likes they receive on each of their posts. When the question “is it the photo or is it you getting the likes?’ is asked, the girls do not really know how to respond. It is made apparent through their conversation that the amount of likes and followers that they have is important.

The amount of likes a photo receives may depend on the type of photo that is posted. In the documentary, the mother of the young, aspiring singer told the crew that when she posts a full body photo of her daughter, it will get significantly more likes than one that is not. This puts an extreme pressure on females, not only to post full body photos, but to look a certain way in them. Women will start comparing themselves to other girls on Instagram and become insecure about the way they look. 

An example of an Instagram profile exploiting women’s bodies for likes and followers is The College Babes. This page features the “sexiest” college girls from all over the United States, from Arizona State University to Penn State. The photos are usually pretty provocative, showing a girl’s chest decked out in her respective college’s gear, or a picture of an exposed body part with frat letters or an Instagram handle written on it. This profile will tag the model in the photo so people can follow the link and follow the girl from the page. When girls look at profiles like this, that gain hundreds of thousands of likes and followers, it leads them to believe that posting revealing photos is the best way to gain “Insta-famous” status.

Instagram will only continue to become more and more popular amongst young people. Hopefully women will be able to realize that their self-worth is not interchangeable with the amount of followers the have or the amount of likes they receive on a photo.