Did I hear that correctly?

As an avid music lover, I will admit that I like to dance around to a catchy song with a good beat at a club. Although there might be some guilty pleasure which I may not be proud of regarding the music created by the singer Pitbull, I came across the song “Blanco” for the first time the other day. The chorus repeatedly sings “Acercame tu pantalon, Regalame tus Panties” which literally translates to “get close to your pants, give me your panties”. Although, I will admit that Pitbull’s lyrics are never really much on the romantic side. I was more intrigued in the content the viewer was watching while the song played. Of course we see Pitbull singing the obscured song, but we see him going around the city having careless sexual encounters with girls who literally seem to throw themselves at him. We see that his behavior although not quite romantic, he still nonetheless still manages to get the attention of countless of women this music allows him and his collaborating team of musicians to live this lifestyle of women, fame, and money. While the video plays there are segments that show the song along the collaboration movie clips from The fast and the furious in which we can clearly see that the same concepts of women as sex objects and money come into place, and which then seems like a natural state of how things work. The music of Pitbull may be degrading towards women and not much of thought goes into the writing of the lyrics; however, the fact that we hear it with a catchy beat and it seems to become a natural thing in the “party scene”. The artist then doesn’t need to show any respect to women nor come with lyrics that speak more than “let me see your panties” because there is a huge fan base under it supporting this. The music is still getting heard and followed by women who ignore the lyrics, but just choose to dance to the same music degrading them. The artist and music production company will still get profits no matter the consent of the music it self, it seems that in Pitbulls situation as long as you put a catchy beat+catchy chorus+ auto tune= massive success.

Vampire Victims

So I am a fan of the vampire culture and I can't get enough of it. Though being in this class, I have begun to analyze the content of these shows and movies. One of my favorites is the Vampire Diaries that comes on the CW. In the show, there are three main characters, Alana, Damon, and Stephen. The premise of the show consists of the the two men, who are vampires, saving Alana from sudden danger. The writers always make her a victim. The fact that they are both in love with her adds to their need to save her. When looking at the female human characters in the vampire culture, you realize that they are always troubled in some sort of way. Alana's parents died and she runs into these vampire brothers who bring her life trouble making her the damsel that they enjoy saving. Another thing that bothers me in this show is the way that the vampires kill. When it is a male that they are murdering it is done in a very agressive and careless way. However, when they kill women they over sex it and draw it out. There have been multiple occasions in the show when the vampires say that they enjoy chasing the female before they kill her. What does this say about the vampire culture that we as Americans cling to.

Britney Spears is “Back”? Where Did She Go?

This photo of Bazaar’s front page has Britney Spears on the cover and MTV’s Buzzworthy Blog decided it was worth-while to cover. Just seeing the name Britney Spears sent up red flags in my eyes to not read unless for a class assignment. So naturally, I opened the blog. The subtitle on the cover of the magazine says “Britney’s Back” and the blogger’s description of the front page is very supportive of the sub caption as it points out Spears’s shortcomings at the very start of the entry. Not too long ago, Britney Spears shaved her head and did a couple other things that the media and in turn America alike thought was way too extreme and un lady-like, therefore deranged and worth a psychiatric evaluation. One can’t help but notice that the media structures the views of American culture in this case to think that anything other than the ‘norm’ or ‘perfectly proper’ way of acting is therefore inferior, odd, or just psychotic. Spears’s actions are put into the ‘other’ group because it is not a normal form of behavior, but let’s face it, if one of my classmates were to shave their heads, for their personal ‘crazy’ or for a friend suffering from cancer, the general population wouldn’t think too much into it. Whereas Spears’s fame and pedestal is raised too high not to notice or judge her. Women in the media are supposed to fit a profile of skinny, tall, and flawless. The average American woman does not look like that. One can only imagine the stresses and pressures that Spears is under to fit this profile and live up to her ‘name’ as a woman, let alone a famous woman.--Alexandria C.