While discussing the concept of Raunch Culture to a few girlfriends of mine, one of them recommended I watch Katy Perry's music video "California Gurl's" and said "just a head's up, its gonna make you nauseous," HAH. Well, I didn't vomit but it certainly made me uncomfortable and really upset. Besides the fact that its a chirpy tune about being a girl, wearing bikinis and being so hot that you melt popsicles, the video is set in a futuristic candy-land (kind of like that awesome board game you played when you were a kid)
From Ariel Levy's Female Chauvinist Pigs and the rise of Raunch Culture-
"Because we have determined that all empowered women must be overtly and publicly sexual, and because the only sign of sexuality we seem to be able to recognize is a direct allusion to red-light entertainment, we have laced the sleazy energy and aesthetic of a topless club or a Penthouse shoot throughout our entire culture"(26)
Katy perry is a walking representation of raunch culture and this over-sexualized video is a wonderful confirmation of this. There are parts of the video where Katy is laying naked on a sugar coated cloud, licking herself while her cleavage and crack are just barely obscured by a whisp of spun sugar. Following this, her and her female dancers begin dancing in sync in beach cut-off shorts and giant cupcakes over their breasts. Oh I don't want to forget the dominating presence of the sugar daddy ( Snoop Dog) in the video- more like the pimp? The best part of the sleaze comes in when Katy imitates a climax by fondling her boob guns and letting cream spurt out uncontrollably.
but wait, is this not girl power??? This video appeals not only to horny men who find this candy-filled fantasy comparable to soft-core porn, but also to little girls and young teenagers who actually look to Katy Perry as a role model or someone who is really cool in mainstream pop culture. So no, this video focuses on what it means to be a girl, a hot girl, to be precise, and being hot means you should project the slutty stereotype - dance in daisy dukes and you'll make any guy climax!! This video reminded me a lot of The Girls Next Door and the "Thats So Fun" article by Karen Boyle about the commercialization and glamorization of sex in popular culture. There is a very similar and horrifying tone in both of these- "with a bit of work, some shopping, and the right girlfriends, any young girl can be this beautiful. No special skills are required" (297). The skills required to be a fun beautiful girl are dancing and/or posing naked or in daisy dukes.
Another quote I enjoyed from Levy when connecting Raunch Culture to "California Gurl's"-
" Raunch culture isn't about opening our minds to the possibilities and mysteries of sexuality. It's about endlessly reiterating one particular-and particularly commercial-shorthand for sexiness."
No comments:
Post a Comment