Beyoncé Vs. Lady Gaga, through a Feminism Lens
In this blog I will be looking at Lady Gaga and Beyoncé and
1 or 2 of their videos, what is the message in the video, how they are
portrayed in the video , will also be looking at websites and see what their thoughts
are on it , and whether Beyoncé or lady gaga are for or against Feminism , I will be looking a variety of websites to
see what peoples views on this are , will be giving a brief description on
feminism what it is etc. , in order to understand the current situation you
should look at the past I will be discussing what society used to be like and
how women’s rolls have progressed throughout the years , social media sites can be helpful to find
out more about the person , newspapers , I will be looking through all this until
I am confident I know what to write .As this is a complex thing to compare two
strong independent figures in the music industry. Will then sum it up with a
conclusion of what I found out.
Society has changed throughout the years especially when it
comes to Music videos , women used to just be back up dances for men , and now
they are the ones that are doing it on there own and showing that they have
just as much chance of succeeding as men .
Both Beyoncé and Lady Gaga are very strong independent women
in the music industry, which is why I have decided to look at them, and if they
are for or against Feminism.
Feminism is a complex thing, but it comes down to equality for
men and women, and how women had fought and are still fighting to be as equal
as men, According to this website called Noisey, Feminism can come into so many
different categories such is race, gender, sexual orientation, class and
relationship status (Noisey , what is
Feminism), But feminism can mean different things to different people depending
on what the topic is, so even know some people may see Beyoncé as not a feminist
because of the clothes she wears or lack of them , like said previously there
are different ways to view what feminism truly is .
Where as Beyoncé is more for feminism in her music videos, sometimes,
she wears very revealing clothes which can make people think is it feminism or
is it her letting the women down but showing that much cleavage and skin. But
then again people could argue that she is in fact embracing feminism, showing
how strong and independent she is, in all of her videos she has some sort of a
message relating to her views, In the video “if I were a boy” she talks about
reverse gender rolls, she puts herself in the guy perspective and the guy in
her position and it shows how the guy would feel if she did to him what he does
to her, and the emotions that go with it. This one gives out the strong message that shows
the different rolls are the same, whether your female or male cheating is cheating,
the hurt is equal no matter what gender gets hurt. , The video is about
cheating , and it shows Beyonce doing a day at work and basically what the man
does and the cheating then it shows the guy at home , waiting for her to come
home , and how sad he is , wondering if she will come him or just be with
another guy , and then at the end it shows her at home , its sort of see it
from the other person eyes.
.jpg)
(Beyoncé” if were a boy”)
Beyoncé has been named as on of the times 100 most influence
people, which mean she is someone, people look up to
I found this event that took place on the 15th of April, and it was a topic, about whether Beyoncé is a feminist and if so what kind of feminist is she, and it intrigued me because the fact that an event was made must prove that people see this as a genuine and current discussion. One that will probably go on for some time and one that will never truly have an end answer.
Beyoncé is portrayed in the media as an influential Artist,
everyone has something to say about the Artist and this strikes up loads of
debated from what she wears to what she speak about.
Another video of Beyoncé I chose to look at was “ all the
single ladies”
This is the one that inspired me to do Beyoncé , because
when I used to watch it I used to think it was a bad thing that she was doing
the dancing in like a bathing suite as it was so revealing , But through
researching this I found that the
message of the video , overtook the appearance slightly , and the appearance in
fact blended in with what she was actually trying to say , The title being all
the single ladies you like it then you should have put a ring on it ,I liked
how a lot of women can relate , not needing a guys to be happy , and girls
should accept nothing less then a guy that can commit hence why she was talking
about rings etc. , Feminism is definitely portrayed in this video . But you
have to take the time to look and understand the lyrics to see it.
( Beyonce ‘all the single ladies )
Now lady Gaga is a totally different artist, she does not
see herself as a feminist, But she does like to put herself in the male role in
a lot of a videos, which without knowing she is showing a sign of feminism, as
Gender revers roles is a form of it, as its showing equal rights anything men
can do, women can.
‘Women are strong and Fragile, Women are beautiful and Ugly,
We are soft spoken and Loud all at once ‘ (Lady Gaga, 2011, YouTube)
She was saying how musically and visually she shows a
rejection of all these things she hates, the way people are taught to view
women. Make women’s rights talk through the music videos as ‘Trendy’ (Lady Gaga,
2011 ,You Tube)
From that talk by ‘Lady Gaga’ on feminism, she basically
said she is a feminist, and what Feminist to her truly means , its not about
being better then men , its about women having the same opportunities as men ,
and to be equal .
I was Looking at the music video “ do what you want “ by
lady gaga and from what people have said its about Rape , which by the lyrics I
seems like it as she was saying stuff like you can do what you want with my
body and you will never have my mind or heart , and I am not sure how this feed
into Feminism but I just feel that it has something to do with how men see
women has objects , and even know rape men may feel in control , women will
never loose there fighting spirit , hence why lady gaga is singing do what you
want with the body .
(Lady Gaga “Do what you want “)
Comparing between Beyoncé and Lady gaga
Is one more of a feminist then the other? well in my
personal opinion the websites I have looked at and the YouTube clip on lady
gaga , I would say nope , I would say they are both feminist and they both
believe in women’s rights , but like lady gaga said in her YouTube video below
in the web sources , feminism is not about ‘men hating’ its about women doing
as much as men .I believe that these were the best two analyse because they are
so opposite and it can come across is lady gaga is all for gay rights and
people think because she is all into stuff men is and she is hardly the sophisticated
type and girly so therefore she is not feminist , but there are ways to argue
this like she is showing women can do men stuff they do not have to stay at
home and be a housewife , she shows the other side to feminism . and I respect
that and think she is just as for this as Beyoncé or any of the other women
music artists .
In conclusion I feel that Feminism is so broad that even
know women may not think of themselves as “a feminist” does not mean that in
some way they do not portray signs of feminism, as discussed earlier , it’s a
very complex subject there are so many routs that can go towards feminism , the
fact is if you’re a women , you are already partly there as at the end of the
day you still want the following , equal pay in jobs , you still want to have
every chance that men have , Music videos is a way for women vocalists to
portray the things that matter to them through their music , and the music
industry is just like anything else in this world and women deserve to have
their voice heard just like men and no longer will women be the background
dancers for the men like it used to be , now women are becoming powerful
figures as well ,and lady gaga and Beyoncé are two very powerful women figures
, they may argue it in different ways but they are all feminists at the end of
the day .
So after analysing
both lady Gagas video “ do what you want “ and Beyoncé’s video “ if I were a
boy “ i can see that people will never truly agree one way or another whether
either of the two are feminist or not , because there is always another way to
view them , I picked these two at the beginning because they are always wearing
revealing clothes and sometimes people could argue that they are hurting the
feminism reputations , but in fact I have learned that the message is even more
influential then what they are wearing , it’s the message in the lyrics that
you hear , when you listen to the song on the radio you hear the lyrics you do
not see what she is wearing . so that is what people engage to .
what do you think ?
what do you think ?
Web Sources
http://havefunatdinner.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/music-lyric-interpretation-beyonce-if-i.html
- “the Beyoncé Image”
http://noisey.vice.com/blog/beyonce-feminism-new-album
- what is feminism, and how it related to Beyoncé?
https://www.facebook.com/events/306902419459145/
- Facebook event
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8skCakDm1sM
-(Lady Gaga on feminism, YouTube, January 2011)
http://prettymuchamazing.com/music/lady-gaga-r-kelly-do-what-u-want
- ( album cover of ‘do what you want’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1EFMoRFvY&feature=kp
- all the single ladies , Oct 2009 ) - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7XW0KBUjP0
- If I were a boy , Feb 2009 ) – YouTube
http://www.historiann.com/2010/02/07/all-the-single-ladies/
(all the single ladies image )
No comments:
Post a Comment