This post is in regards to Leslie Gore’s, “It’s My Party” video, the Fiona Apple video, “Criminal,” Lil’ Kim’s “How Many Licks” video, and the article in response to Apple’s “Criminal” video. Numerous aspects could be analyzed including the lyrics, images, culture, and gender portrayed within these works. However, I am going to focus on the ways in which lyrics and videos examine gender roles. I am currently student teaching grades 10-12, and my students and I often look at gender roles and how a piece of literature or work either identifies with or goes against them. Over time, females’ role in music has changed dramatically, as have female characters seen within literature and other forms of writing. Pairing a character analysis with the lyrics/video of a song can help students explore gender roles and help them better understand the character, as well as their “role” within the novel or work. Our society has witnessed females going against their stereotypes to reveal that not all women are required to think, behave or feel in a specific manner.
Gore’s song smoothly carries and exhibits the gender role for females. In Gore’s lyrics, it is evident that she likes Johnny, but that he decides to go with another girl at her party. The main chorus states: “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to, cry if I want to, cry if I want to, you would cry too if it happened to you.” Regardless of when this was written, there is no way that this would have been as famous had it been sang / written by a male. A common gender role for males is to be strong and not show emotions. However, it is the complete opposite for females; it is okay for them to shed tears, hug their girlfriends, and be emotional head-cases. Even today, it is rare that one sees men cry over something so insignificant. With that, one does not see a lot of males trying to go against this gender role, in the past or present.
Shifting forward to the 90’s, Apple presents the audience with an eerie, disturbing feeling. Near the beginning of her song she sings, “I’ve been careless with a delicate man. and it’s a sad, sad, world, when a girl can break a boy just because she can.” These words counter both gender roles, saying females can have more power than males, and that it is possible for a man to be easily broken. The video portrays Apple as being both girl and woman, both ignorant and aware of the sexual world. It is also evident that there a few men there, and neither of them are the “delicate man” she references in the beginning. It’s easy to assume she betrays the man who’s “all [she] ever knew of love.”
Flash-forward again to the 21st century, and we are introduced to Lil’ Kim’s extremely sexual, crude lyrics and video. I, for one, am an avid fan of hip-hop. I used to love and listen to this song all of the time. However, I never really listened to the lyrics, nor had I seen the video. I could NOT believe my eyes and ears after I watched and listened to this video. Now, this got me thinking; would I have thought differently if a MALE wrote this and talked about the myriad of different women he sleeps? Probably not. Regardless of my opinion of the video and lyrics, I still give credit to Lil’ Kim for putting her sexuality and vulgar language out to the public. I think some rules / boundaries were meant to be broken. However, I do believe there is a limit.
The history of gender roles and how they have evolved (or not) could easily be examined within female musician’s lyrics and videos. If I were to have my students analyze a character, I would have them consider the context: where and when is this taking place? What roles and rights did women have during this time? What if this character from the 19th century was teleported to today’s society? How would she be viewed? This is not only a great way to incorporate music, history, and culture into the classroom, but it is a creative way to GRAB the student’s attention and hold it throughout the remainder of the unit.
Reading your blog got me thinking about gender roles in relationships over the decades. I was thinking about Leslie Gore’s song and the story that she’s singing about. I agree that it is okay in our society for women get all crazy about a relationship but if it were a man singing those lyrics, the song would not have been popular.
ReplyDeleteI thought that it was interesting in the song that Johnny gives Judy a ring and this confirms to our songstress that Judy and Johnny have become a steady item. If our birthday girl was “Johnny’s girl,” then why didn’t she have his ring already? I’m not sure if kids have rituals like this now-a-days, but there seems to be an element of marking one’s property. I also thought that it was interesting that Johnny and Judy leave the view of the party to make this transaction. Did Judy give anything to Johnny?
Fionna Apple is certainly operating on a level that is similar to how we expect a man to behave according to stereotypes. And Lil’ Kim is singing about topics that women rarely sing about when compared to the subject matter of raunchy songs that I’ve heard. However, in both songs, to escape female stereotypes, they have emulated men. Is there another way to behave in regards to relationships or relations that does not appeal to the promiscuous reputation that is in many ways accepted in men?
G-Unit,
ReplyDeleteYou make some interesting points in your blog, and talking about these songs from a male perspective was something I hadn't thought of. I completely agree with your take on the Leslie Gore song, if a male had said, "you would cry too...", then OR now, the song would never have been popular, or probably mocked. Taking that example in comparison to Fiona Apple (my personal fav, while you were off listening to Nelly and Jagged Edge: :)), if a male would have said, "I've been careless with a delicate girl" or "when a boy breaks a girl, just because he can", sounds like a potential rape case in the making. So don't even get me started with the Lil Kim song. The point is, why is it so acceptable for a woman to challenge these gender roles, but it doesn't work the other way for a man? Regardless, a woman's so-called "power" is still only coming from the fact that she is subjecting herself to male power.... Lil Kim is selling herself as a mass-produced sex doll, not as a woman in a power suit. What message is this sending? And how can we get our students to actually care about this? I think that it's essential to teach our students to be able to look at these images carefully and critically to make their own meaning, but in an age of such incredible adolescent identity formation in high school, will they listen? Will they want to?
I liked how you considered the impact of "It's my Party" if it had been sung by a guy. It's pretty comical to consider because a song like that just plain would not have gone anywhere (at least in the 50s). And if it had, it would have either been seen as 1) as a joke 2) ironic (as though the man singing was mocking some girl he knew).
ReplyDeleteAlso, I liked your "Time Machine" idea where you would ask students what people of today's society would think of a certain character. This made me think of sending Lil' Kim back in time...my god...what would people have thought of her? AND how would she react to a bunch of, for example, 19th century Americans. Let's say she brought her ipod with her and could play the "How Many Licks" video for them. HA! Too funny. Sounds like the premise for a terrible, terrible movie.
Jamie,
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of when examining gender roles with students, to have them analyze a character, or specific image, or person. You're exactly right, that meaning can change depending upon the context in which you place it in. It would be interesting to place the same character in various times and places and have students discuss the reactions people would be having, and how the person would be viewed. It would even be interesting to place a character like Lil' Kim in the future, to see what students think about how her image would be viewed, seeing as explicitness seems to be increasing as time goes on.
Jamie, this is really interesting. I think it's particularly interesting to think about what it would mean if the songs were sung by men than women. I agree, Gore's would not have been a hit, Kim's would slide by the radar as being yet another tune, but then I get to Apple's song. What if it was sung by a man (but about women). Women would fit back into their roles as being delicate and subordinate. The man would blatantly be domineering. I think this would paint a very disturbing picture and make the song more controversial than it already is. I also agree with your comment on Lil' Kim. I want to say "yay" for her to be putting her self out there with out censorship, but then I think about the image that is painting for women who are watching and maybe not being as critical as we are. What message does that send them? That they have to succumb to the typical sexually objectified image in order to have power over their sexuality? This continues to perplex me.
ReplyDeleteHey Jamie,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. I hadn’t thought about the videos through a purely gender-bias lens and your post really made me think about how different these songs/videos would be if they were sang by men. I completely agree that Leslie Gore’s song would not have been at all popular/successful. It got me to thinking about male artists singing about break-ups and the only one that I could come up with was the NON-sentimental “Fuck It (I Don’t Want You Back)” by Eamon, in which he degrades his former girlfriend and lists reasons why he’s not sad about the break up. His role is totally gender “appropriate” in that he is not sad, he’s angry, he’s vindictive and he’s going to tell everyone else about how she’s a “ho.” Somehow, that doesn’t jibe with Leslie Gore and her “I’ll cry if I want to.” I wonder what Leslie Gore’s modern video for “It’s my Party” would look like? Perhaps some sort of strong portrayal of an independently successful woman who is in control of her emotions and will bounce back, though she’s down, maybe something a la Katy Perry’s “Hot n Cold.”
Also, I’m still uncomfortable with Fiona Apple’s “Criminal.” I see the juxtaposition that you and the critique of the video mention between girl/woman, innocent/experienced, but I remain confused as to the actual message of the video. That is probably the point. I find the video all the more unsettling after learning about Apple’s past (which though apparently it was widely known at the time of the release of the video, I didn’t know until last week, must be due to the lack of MTV). If Apple’s goal was to leave me feeling confused, uncomfortable and with the video lingering on my mind, she was successful.