‘Miley is a whore! She should look like Hannah Montana in her videos.’[1]
How has the
introduction of the internet impacted upon the representation of women in the
music industry in texts such as Miley Cyrus’ ‘Wrecking Ball’?
Over the last few decades the music industry
has been significantly changing. The ways female celebrities have been
portrayed are confronted through “sexuality”[2]. Due
to the emerging of the latest technologies in the 21st century as
“52 million Americans went online each day”.[3]
This leads to influence and lasting an impact
on modern celebrities today both positively and negatively upon the
representation of women in the music industry in texts including; e-media,
print and broadcast. It will be heavily focussing on the pop sensation Miley
Cyrus and her music video ‘wrecking ball’.
Overall, the internet has impacted upon the
representation of women in the music industry as social networking sites such
as YouTube of Facebook share music videos. This may be very influential to
women as they may want to mimic what they’re seeing. This goes in line with the
Hypoerdermic Needle theory. The internet has impacted Miley Cyrus as there is a
relaxation of censorship, people are becoming desensitised where someone is
less likely to feel shocked or distressed at scenes through overexposure to
such of these images. Therefore this encourages Miley Cyrus to push the
boundaries to a very high extent, by producing sexually appealing videos to
attract a mass audience. Recently on 26th December she released her
new video “I Adore You” this “sent her number 1 on social 50 Chart”.[4] This
clearly demonstrates how popular the video is even though in the clip Miley
Cyrus was “clad in just skin-coloured undergarments as she stimulates
masturbation”.[5] This evidently connotes
that people are no longer shocked at the scenes and perhaps are immune to
relish this.
In the media Miley has become very successful
so much so she’s “like a little Elvis. But what people don’t realize about her
is she is such a fantastic singer and songwriter.”[6] This
is one aspect how Miley is being expressed from the author of the book Kimberly.
However many people would disagree with this statement including Miley’s new
apprehensive signature look, her ‘twerk’. She first began her career in the hit
“Disney show, Hannah Montana”[7] at a
young age she had made a movie on the show and had hit albums which her fan
base (children) loved. However, the show ended and Miley was grown older coming
in more films and creating new music. Despite the fame it wasn’t a success which
influenced Miley Cyrus to change in to a particular controversial extraordinary
sexual public image. Such as one of her very latest explicit songs: ‘Wrecking
Ball’ which became the “number one hit on the U.S billboard”[8]. This
clearly shows the binary opposition from Levi Straus as there’s a very big
difference from her when she was young to know being 21 years of age. “The
singer and philanthropist, 73 expressed concern for Cyrus’s headline grabbing
antics, saying he “just hope she grows out of it”[9]. He’s
not the only one who’s disappointed girls are being force-fed the notion that
“being hot” is all that they should aspire to[10]. A
survey this month by parenting website Netmums showed strong parental
disapproval over sexualised content in many music videos. “Sexually explicit
music videos ‘should have ratings system’”[11]
This evidently connotes how distraught the
conventions of her videos are but the question is, is this only option to seek
fame. As Kimberly did state she’s a ‘fantastic singer and songwriter’.
As web 2.0 has become very popular amongst
billions of people worldwide it lays a huge impact between common people. For
instance, Twitter came after Facebook and has been highly successful amongst
professionals, politics and celebrities. This is one of the ways in which celebrities
promote upcoming events/concerts such as Miley Cyrus tweets about her latest
music video adore you. “#Adore You premieres Thursday, Dec. 26 at 7a
PT/10a ET, on VEVO! Pic.twitter.com/EdBltyoPx6”[12].As 190
million people use twitter daily, this is a positive aspect in which Miley can
use as it prepares her fans and it comes directly from her. This excites the fans more so to purchase the
tickets, leading to a sold out tour as she does have “16, 461,917 followers on
twitter”[13]. This therefore brings a
positive outlook to having internet in the 21st century, as without
it would be difficult in theory for females to present their music videos and
gain a mass fan base. This shows what the system rewards, which isn’t freedom
but a strategy which is entitled patriarchal bargain. Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology she
stated that “Cyrus’s particular bargain- is the accepting of sexual
objectification of women in exchange for money, fame, and power is a common
one.”[14]
http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/12/28/my-two-cents-on-feminism-and-miley-cyrus/
However, there are shortcomings of having the internet as it impacts a
negative representation of women in the music industry. One way the internet
does this is through social networking sites such as Twitter. As for famous
celebrities like Miley, people will be able to view her individuality, as whatever
she tweets will be judged and determined by the public who are watching her
closely. Miley has already had issues
for an example; she had a row which escalated all around Twitter with Sinead O’Connor.
Miley mocked her mental health problems, O’Conner responded saying Miley has
been “irresponsible for her behaviour”[15]. This
indicates how whatever she tweets life will never be the same; it will
determine her reputation in society and life showing her true colours. Stuart
Hall’s ‘dominant type of reading comes in line with this. Due to the audience
decoding the messages Miley Cyrus tweets and the fans agreeing with this. As,
her tweets become full of UGS comments and trending topics agreeing with Miley.
This therefore encourages her more so to do what she does.
As this century is becoming more sexualised, the
images of women are becoming ever more powerful: “Scholars have
examined the sexualisation of women as part of a broader cultural ‘backlash’
against the gains of second-wave feminism and women’s increasing power in
society”[16]. They link this to the
rolling stones magazine covers which are very sexually appealing and cover only
celebrities. Where they are to show a saucier and more appealing side to them,
so that people buy the magazine and it would automatically gain their
attention. This reveals that women are prior to revealing themselves only
because they know that this is what the public like. This relates to the
theorist Mulvey as it creates a ‘male gaze’. The book further states. 11”We
find evidence that sexualized images may be part of a backlash against women’s
gains since, as women musicians’ popularity increased; they were increasingly
sexualised and under-represented on the cover of rolling stone”. As women are
being portrayed as sexually appealing “images of women used by the media
present women as sex objects to be consumed by the male gaze”[17]. Women
therefore instantly have the male fan base they are initially seeking for
through there explicit shots.
When it comes to feminism Miley thinks she’s
the biggest feminist because women at times are afraid and can get weak due to
relationships, health problems and money. It can break them and affect them in
the long-term. ”I don’t actually walk around all day twerking with my tongue
out dressed as a teddy bear.”[18] She
doesn’t worry if people think badly of her controversial performances because
she knows she is a good person. This clearly connotes a different side to her
that what she commercially shows on TV isn’t the person she is. This relates to
the theorist Judith Butler as she believes there is an “unwitting regulation
and reification of gender relations”[19] also she
trusts gender roles are a performance and that male and female behaviour is
socially constructed rather than the result of biology. Therefore, in a sense
Miley feels she’s ‘allowed’ and wouldn’t be judged through her visual actions.
She is an influencing woman strongly as she is showing you should be who you
are and not become dominated by another human being. Even though people judge
her through how she is presenting herself in a number of explicit acts
including the internet, Miley is not concerned or tensed on how she is viewed
by her performances. As she believes she is creating a type of ‘art’ and
delivering this type of message to all her fans. Celebrities “feel the need to
strip down to their underwear and stimulate sex acts on stage”[20] but
is this the only way to show maturity. Miley has also gone to another big stem
and “smoked marijuana on stage”[21]. But
this isn’t part of an act or ‘art’ this is the real Miley, who wants to follow
the ghastly crowd.
The mass media has reinforced a supreme image
that girls are to attain. They therefore place an awful amount of emphasis on
to good looks than on good works. “By the age of 13 53% of American girls are
unhappy with their bodies; by the age of seventeen, 78% are dissatisfied”[22]. This
clearly shows how artists have a big impact on teenagers by explicitly
revealing themselves in a sexual manner, leaving women to have considerably
high expectations on how they are supposed to physically look resulting in
beauty and diet. The Bobo doll experiment which was conducted by Albert Bandura
links with this, as children who are growing into their teen years will imitate
celebrity’s sexual antics through the internet due to explicit videos not being
blocked for children legally. When women start to physically work whilst
they’re married they are particularly judged evidently “when women struggle or
fail, their actions are seen to constitute ‘proof’ that for women the ‘work
life balance’ is really an impossible one”[23].
As Miley Cyrus has matured in to her
performance she is showing this through her videos. Two of her hit smash hits ‘We can’t be tamed’
and ‘We can’t stop’ have shown cased her in a different light with wild
partying. The style of the video is narrative/abstract, as shown through the
video Miley is symbolising destruction which is the action or the process of
causing so much damage to something that it no longer exists or cannot be
repaired, which is a metaphor for her emotional distress. She is visualised
here as one of the “out of control’ female celebrities”[24].
In wrecking ball “already broken the VEVO
record for most views in 24hours”[25],
with Miley being nude in the video she’s
responded saying “I think the video is much more if people get past the point
that I’m naked, If you actually look at me you can tell that I actually look
more broken than even the song sounds. The song is like the pop ballad that is
one of those songs everyone is going to relate to, everyone’s felt that feeling
at some point”[26]. This links to the theory
of Kats and Blumer as it creates a sense of ‘personal identity’ to the audience
due to women being able to relate to a similar pain from a huge artist. The use
of colour is very evident and useful as the use of white is becoming a norm and
identity of Miley’s, as it was shown in ‘Wrecking ball’, in clothing and
setting, which is representing her knew beginning as a different person from
being Disney’s Hannah Montana. In Wrecking Ball the close ups on her face are
very intense and emotional, and this allows us to see the pain she is trying to
get through in the video, this is vital and shown as an importance when she is
especially naked, as we can Identify that it is meant to be a statement about
vulnerability, rather than sexuality.
In the past that is in the early 60’s, women
had started emerging from social roles. They stopped trying to fit into the
stereotypical housewife/motherole, and started to embrace their sexuality, as
well as demanding equal rights in working outside the home and contributing to
society, with controlling their finances and body. Since music videos didn’t
really start to exist until MTV came out in the 1980’s, sexualisation in songs
was, wrapped up in the lyrics which millions enjoyed listening to in the 1960’s.
Such as “the cougars: Saturday night at
the duckpond as majority of the fans were enjoying these types of songs, there
was an opportunity for females to become successfully known by sexually
appealing themselves to their fans.[27] This
has been a norm since 3 decades as; “For more than 3 decades there has been an
imperative to look beautiful and be willing to emphasize sexuality in order to
sell their music.”[28] Also
in the 60’s “use of birth control pills”[29] were
available for women to use, from this day onwards there was no fear of
pregnancy.
In the 60’s Joni Mitchell was a singer who was
trapped of the dilemma in wanting a man but at the same time she needed to be
free. She knew how to sign about it and demonstrated that she was capable of
earning a living through selling her ‘creativity’. She was the woman who represented how all
women were like at that time trying to come to terms with her identify. In the
70’s there was a pattern where it was evident women stayed at home and looked
after the children whilst men were working to generate ‘political structure’.
Due to living in the modern century no more than 5 women have been appointed
heads of any UK based record companies. Women in the music industry get
frustrated of working in a record label company where it’s dominated by males.
“To be a successful mainstream artist it’s normal to have to compromise but
women have always had to do it to a far greater extent.”[30]
Therefore as the internet and technology are pacing up younger stars are
finding it important and necessary to sell sex above music which is stronger
than ever. Because in a sense, this is what the mass media love. Spice Girls
were also very famous in the early 90’s who demonstrated and sang female
solidarity, “demanded the ability to control their relationships, and voiced
their sexual desires”[31]. As
it became common in the mainstream women were becoming less afraid.
Due to the economic crisis and recession it’s
more so difficult for people to spend their money optionally. Which limits
access to economic power which has made it hard for women to function in the
music sphere are musicians, band leaders. Men are the ones who determine what
happens in the music industry because they finance the music projects;
therefore it makes it difficult for women to come in the music industry.
Thankfully for the internet it has impacted singers effectively such as: Lily
Allen and Kate Nash. Thus, “body is the ultimate expression of the self”[32]. In
order for them to become a success and attain a fan base, it is a norm to
represent them in a sexually appetising way.
Due to the controversial behaviour Sir Cliff
personally refused to blame Miley for her behaviour “The music industry has
changed drastically and that damages young artists”[33]. As
it is dangerous it influences and leads other similar artists to conduct the
similar act. A decade ago females had to do what they’re told such as, if
they’re taking a photo shoot they’d had to be told take your top off now. But
now it’s up to them with what they want to do with their life, and what route
they want to go through.
Miley did not have a record set until 2 years
which led to a lot of pressure held upon her with high expectations. She’s had a
very close relationship with her fans through one of the most famous social
networking sites ‘Twitter’ where she uses #wrecking ball and starts a countdown
to excite her fans. As the internet has
impacted “deployment of new media including haptic technologies that promulgate
fantasies or enhanced intimacy with fans.”[34]
The introduction of the internet has impacted
upon the representation of women in the music industry vastly. Instagram is
very popular amongst celebrities in whom they have posed with: boobs out,
tongue action and pole dance half-naked. This
connotes how the society has emerged and there has been a new era arrived. From
Twitter there was a tweet saying ‘But I think we ALL need to take a look at
what we are accepting as “the norm”. [35] This
therefore inclines how we as a society have accepted the pornification of pop
music. Within today’s society, women are often portrayed in a lower stature
than the male gender. Perkin’s theory goes in line with this as Miley Cyrus has
been through a radical change from being a Disney Star to acting like ‘whore’ which
shows that she has remained affected by the society itself and has been seen to have a lower status than
men themselves. This is due to women in the music industry wanting to rise and
“increase her fan base.”[36]To do
so they feel it’s important to act in a sexually appealing way.
Mulvey’s theory comes in line with this as it
therefore creates a male gaze as women are there to be looked at, this strongly
therefore creates a bigger fan audience for females today. David Austin, the organisations
assistant director of classification guidance from the BBFC is responding to
the pressure from parents who are deeply worried about the sexual imagery
freely available to children. Therefore, music videos are going to introduce
age ratings in April 6th.
Although currently speaking there is a moral panic which the theorist
Stanley Coin states as the coming society of parents with young children, are
frightened due to their kids acknowledging what’s on the internet. Therefore the
question is who are they going to look up to? Females who are depicted and
represented sexually in the media industry due to the internet, such as Miley
Cyrus’s music video ‘Wrecking Ball?’
Word count-
3,368.
Words excluding- 2,865
[4]"Miley Cyrus." reaches
no.1. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 July 2014.
<http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=miley%20cyrus'%20'adore%20you'%20video%20sends%20her%20to%20no.%201%20on%20social%2050%20chart&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDMQqQIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.billboard.com%2Farticles%2Fnews%2F5855157%2Fmiley-cyrus-ad>.
[6]
Summers, Kimberly Dillon. Miley Cyrus: a biography. Santa Barbara, Calif..:
Greenwood Press, 2009. Page 3
[8]
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/5695590/miley-cyrus-wrecking-ball-swings-to-top-of-hot-100.
[10]
McVeigh, Tracy, and Tess Reidy. "Sexually explicit music videos 'should
have ratings system'." The Observer. Guardian News and Media, 10 Nov.
2013. Web. 2 Jan. 2014.
[14] http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/12/28/my-two-cents-on-feminism-and-miley-cyrus/
[17]
http://revisionworld.co.uk/a2-level-level-revision/sociology/mass-media-0/media-representations-age-social-class-ethnicity-gender-sexuality-and-disability.
[23] Holmes, Su., and Diane
Negra. In the limelight and under the microscope: forms
and functions of female celebrity. New York: Continuum, 2011. Print, p.2
[24] Holmes, Su., and Diane Negra. In
the limelight and under the microscope: forms and functions of female celebrity.
New York: Continuum, 2011. Print, P.3
[34] Holmes, Su. and Diane
Negra. In the limelight and under the microscope: forms
and functions of female celebrity. New York: Continuum, 2011. Print, p.5
