BLOG 2
Prompt 1
The cultural artifact that I will be identifying is the song
and music video “I’m all about that Bass” by Meghan Trainor. I picked this
music video because I feel that Meghan Trainor is one of few artists that celebrates
diverse body types. She doesn’t fit the standards of beauty that the music
industry has upon female artists and she embraces what makes her different.
Prompt 2
The song and music video were released on June 30, 2014. The
song was co-written by Meghan Trainor and Kevin Kadish. The main theme of the song
is about self-acceptance and body positivity. The music video uses various
techniques to attract the attention of the people who are listening and watching
the music video. The tempo is the song is very fast which helps keep the rhythm
of the song upbeat and catchy. The color scheme of the video is pastels but
mainly pink and evokes a very fresh and youthful vibe. What really caught my
attention was that the backup dancers didn’t look like the usual blonde and skinny
girls that are always used in music videos. All of them have different body types
and they have different ethnicities.
I can see how people may not have the same reaction or perspective
as me because the video doesn’t have the same cookie cutter formula that if not
all, most videos in the industry have in order for a music video to succeed.
The value that the music video is representing is one that shows women that you
don’t have to fit the stereotype of slim and tall characteristics to feel
attractive. The video sends a message of body positivity towards young women
and shows how media uses Photoshop to alter the way a model looks and how women
try to achieve that impossible figure. This message is sent because they are very
few music videos that cast models with different body types and the lyrics celebrate
women that have curves how they shouldn’t be ashamed of them.
Hi Denisse! Someone like her who doesn't necessarily fit in the standardized beauty of this society definitely encourage people, especially girls to appreciate their own body types. It's like being told that it is okay to be different, and differences make us beautiful. I've never thought being different was a bad thing growing up, but the media manipulated us to believe in othering of a certain people as time goes by. I assume it wasn't easy for her to become who she is today, and there must been a lot of bashing despite her talent, but there would be a lot of girls looking up to her.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you Denisse! There is definitely a message of body positivity be portrayed by the lyrics and music video of this song. The dancers and even the singer in this video are diverse ethnically and physically. It is challenging the gender stereotype of women that are often seen as catty and putting each other down. For this cultural artifact, women are trying to make other women feel confident about their curves because a lot of the times, media portrays the perfect body as thin and tall.
ReplyDeleteWhen I heard this song on the radio it definitely caught my attention with fast fun upbeat rhythm. When I listened to the lyrics it made me feel good and happy about myself because it is promoting body positivity which is something I and most people struggle with thanks to societal standards. Although this songs is praised for its positivity and diversity when I watched the video and started reading some of the comments I realized the song also has a negative side to it which I think is important to note. The one part that is controversial is how they pick on the skinny girl and make her feel bad. They probably did not mean to do it negatively in fact I think they might used that as a way to say screw societies standards. I just feel like it could've been done in a different way that didn't target another group of people because you don't know what people are going through.
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