Music Video Problems

So, as a human student and anthropology major, I have always been into looking at cultures and people and the many things associated with both. As a white hetero female, I have little actual insight into how it feels to be the opposite of one or more of those things (except female because, let's face it, being a girl in most cultures still sucks). However, I like to think that although I do not personally have to experience the stuff they do, I still can see and/or acknowledge more than most of my peers. I can never feel the oppression they do or experience the many levels of crap and appropriation they have to endure. But when I watch a random music video on YouTube, I find issues.

I like Katy Perry. I think many of her songs are catchy and speak to empowerment, whether you be female or not. However, her video for "Roar" was immediately problematic to this white girl when I spotted the first signs representing colonialism. I realize it probably was not her idea, but I still do not like the images. I get that the point of the song is that she does not need a man to tell her who she is and should be and can be her own person, but the video could have been so much better without the tigers and fake Africa setting with the lead guy looking like a white colonial d-bag.

Like, were there no other ways to show a woman who decides her guy sucks and that she doesn't need him to inform her of who she should be or already is? Really? I can think of plenty. Then again, I don't make art or videos for profit based on the assumptions and stereotypes of "strong, independent" women from a Western, male-dominated POV. 

So, I enjoy the message of the song. But the images that try to match up to it? Forget about it. I'll stick to my own imagination.

Besides being regular morons...

You know what I think in the midst of this gay marriage debate (despite the obvious support for New York and all of the same sex couples everywhere who both desire and deserve to have their relationships recognized the same way opposite sex couples are afforded the same privilege)? That social conservativism is an oxymoron.

Think about it. Conservatives want to retain the status quo. They do not want things to change. The thing about culture is that is not something that stays the same. It changes all the time, which is why, oftentimes, the newest generation is more "liberal" on certain issues than their elders. One thing I learned in my anthropology education was that cultures do not need to be saved or documented before they disappear. They do not disappear at all, they simply change. Culture and people change, and the ones who rally against such changes are afraid to let go of what they cling to because it helps justify their own existence. Those of us who can accept that not everyone ought to live the same way, that anyone who says otherwise is wrong, that can find their own meaning, are the ones who realize that things like love ought to be cherished. Norms will change because that is the nature of culture.

/rant

Speech Communities and Cultures

Speech communities are tied to different cultures. I belong to a few different communities just as I belong to different cultures. For instance, I am a Southern California girl who says "like" and "I was all..." in place for more standard English. I also say um a lot. I can go between more formal ways of speaking, and I can talk in "supermarket lingo" as well as science talk. I can switch between all without having to think. I can analyze where I am and who I am with to decide what is appropriate, but sometimes there is slippage. Usually I get looks like, "What are you talking about?" Sometimes I even get told to not talk that way because it's like I am trying to sound smart (usually my mom when talking about science). She sees this as me trying to assert my knowledge that she does not possess over her to make her feel less than I am, which is not the case. I am not trying to sound smart. I just forget the different communities sometimes and have trouble keeping them separate in a way that is neutral to others.

So I guess I am not always neutral as I could be.

All of this is acquired, and all of this is arbitrary. I can say I am facing an aisle, and while I mean I am pulling product forward to make it look nice and full, to someone who has no insight into this language, I am speaking Latin to a Japanese citizen. The word face has so many meanings. It can be the face of a person or part of a geometric figure. I did not know what face meant in this context until I worked for a grocery store, and even then it only came after I was promoted to a GM clerk who stocked shelves. I learned this from what people said. I was able to pick up on the meaning just as I was able to discern the terms power panel and u-boat. This is all very specific to a culture and something I picked up and now use on a semi-daily basis.

Isn't it cool when school ties in with real life?

Things to do instead of...your anthro short paper

1. Go the store where you work on a day off and shop

2. Watch TV and half read your education textbook

3. Browse Cracked.com

4. Check Facebook

5. Play with your bokken in the backyard

6. Play with your plastic sword in the backyard

7. Ride your old Razor scooter

8. Write a blog of things you did instead of homework

Connections

The part circled in red is something we just started talking about in visual anthro. The website I found it on is one I was looking at for my archaeological interpretations class.