Music Intersections

“Information is not knowledge.

Knowledge is not wisdom.

Wisdom is not truth.

Truth is not beauty.

Beauty is not love.

Love is not music.

Music is THE BEST.”

- Frank Zappa

Meredith Graves of the band Perfect Pussy

     Representation in media is a hot-button issue today, which is important as talking about the issues works to solve them. The effects propagated by the media are enormous, affecting young girls as well as people of color or those who may not identify with heterosexist culture. Without fully realized representations of authentic people, these children grow up with insecurities that can be debilitating. It is imperative that society changes its discourse on gender, race, sexual orientation, and class and represents real human beings. However, an oft-forgot piece of media stands out in my mind as being particularly powerful in spreading coded messages. Most think of the visual arts when discussing propaganda, but I believe music is able carry a message just as powerfully due to the inherent efficiency at capturing our ear. I will listen to a song 50 times before I get tired of it, each time I had the opportunity to absorb the message of the song. Sometimes the message can be one of self-empowerment. Other times music will be produced that has the potential to warp the minds of young listeners. My aim is to analyze the extremes of representation within music, as well as everything in between. My blog, Music Intersections, is the platform upon which I speak about these issues. There, I post analyses of artists and albums, as well as curated articles and songs that one can delve into on their own. The songs were picked based on my own catalogue of music, compiled over years of fandom. I also attempted to bridge my underground sensibilities to a broader audience of pop music, so I naturally had to include hits ranging from stuff by Lily Allen to Meghan Trainor.

     Ultimately, after all the research and writing I did for this project, the conclusion I came to is that representation of women in media is a hard balancing act to carry out and it is the burden of feminists to eke out truth in a maelstrom of bad influences. However, even as a feminist it is easy to slip into bad habits that every human is susceptible to. We are often too quick to judge, either labeling something as great representation that needs to be seen by everyone, or terrible representation that should never be watched again. While I think there is an obvious distinction between burning books and just not reading problematic ones, I think it is important not to stifle the voice of an artist, especially a female artist, when her experience as a woman is not necessarily an ideal one. One such artist is Lana del Rey, whose lyrics often contain romanticized depictions of sexual or domestic violence. She croons in her sultry voice about how much she loves the man that abuses her and that all she desires in life is to feel pain. It is easy for a listener to become intoxicated with her music and potentially idealize this type of relationship. However, the mindset that Lana portrays in her music is often times the precise mindset of those that have been embroiled in abusive relationships, and it is probably how Lana felt at some point in her life. Domestic violence creates a Stockholm like syndrome within its victims as they see no way out of the situation, believing they would be worse off without their captors. Lana is just sharing her experience as a women dealing with aggressive men and the emotions that can cause. It is up to us as listeners to make the distinction that her work is not something to aspire too. Rather, it shines a light on the nefariousness of domestic violence and how commanding it can be over one's life. To deny people access to her music, or to call for music that only portrays utopia-like versions of life would be to ignore a very real aspect of the issue. As feminists, it is up to us to really dive in to the analysis of media before throwing out blanket judgements about a work of art. Feminism is asking of society to become a spectrum, open to more possibilities than the dichotomous hierarchies we have now. Therefore we must also hold ourselves to these same high standards when looking at media and attempt to place works of art in between the goal-posts of good and bad representation.

Sources:
Audre Lorde, The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action
bell hooks, Popular Culture: Media Masculinity
Isabella Castillo, Lana del Rey's music filled with outdated, antifeminist ideas
John Berger, Ways of Seeing
Kate Beaudoin, There's a Big Problem with Meghan Trainor's Music that Nobody's Talking About
Meredith Graves, Andrew W.K. Lana del Rey, and Authenticity