Hey everybody guess what! Apparently it's now awesome to be awful! At least that's the case for thirteen year old "pop start sensation" Rebecca Black and her infamous "Friday" song. After Daniel Tosh posted her song on his Tosh.0 blog it caught the media's attention which sparked its popularity. The message of Rebecca Black’s song leaves only one question to ask ourselves, What has our society come to?
Pop has been criticized for sounding similar, however I think "Friday" definitely reached a new low. We've gone from lyrics like "I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been to sit with elders of gentle race" by Led Zeppelin to lyrics like these "Yesterday was Thursday, today it is Friday, tomorrow is Saturday, and Sunday comes afterwards,” by Rebecca Black. If I do recall correctly, I listened to songs about the days and weekend on a show called Sesame Street.
It is sad to see that people no longer become famous for being talented but instead for being exactly the opposite. To be fair, we shouldn't blame the media's craze on a thirteen-year-old girl. Realistically, any other privileged thirteen year old could easily be target by the media. So I believe that it is unfair and unrealistic to blame this on Black. After all, our society proved that as long as you have a computer, money, or a video camera then you too could become the next big thing.
After viewing the music video, it was apparent to me that the underlying messages were not only stereotypical but also very obvious. The first thing that I MUST point out is the fact that the children driving this convertible are probably not any older than Rebecca's age, which is three years younger than the legal driving age. But that’s not the only thing wrong with that image. Did anyone else notice that these kids are driving a convertible? Thirteen year olds driving a CONVERTIBLE... Hmm sketchy. No wonder in today’s society there is an urging need among teens to look older.
Last time I checked, you never saw 13 year olds portraying high school students in movies probably because they only showcase twenty year olds as high school teenagers. Throughout the video, Rebecca sings about “Getting down on Friday” and the video went as far as to show Black at a “party” singing on stage, objectifying her and placing herself above everyone else. Are these truly the type of images we want to exploit to young viewers?
Another very disturbing and stereotypical aspect of this video was the fact that they showcased the only African American in the video as a male rapping about “getting down on Friday”. If the actual image of watching a 30-year-old rapping along to a 13 year olds’ cheesy song is not disturbing enough then what is?
Also, has anyone else noticed that songs and music videos in today’s culture only portray black males as rappers? Of course, to make my point clear, I don’t have anything against talented rappers but it’s interesting to see that the media stereotypical portrayal of African Americans as rappers. As if this is the only role they could have in society.
Our society has come to such extremes that thirteen-year-old girls or even younger must view themselves as teenaged, privileged sex symbols as an actual way to gain popularity. And, this always seems to lead us back to the media that ultimately targets the young population. But if we allow these images to be accepted and adapted into our society we set these standards or images of what is accepted.
Personally it is truly horrifying to see that the music industry is in such bad terms. I think that future generations will view the objectification of young girls as horrendous. In all seriousness, what will future generations think of us? We are a generation in which our "role models" strip almost every piece of clothing on TV, a generation in which women are mostly seen as sex symbols, a generation derived not only by the media but also by the rich, a generation where you are targeted not by your intellect, but mostly and almost always on your looks.
I believe it's a case of teenagers not using their minds. Yes we are taught the days of the week, that's why we do use our minds. Those working at school or in a profession always use their minds to count the days until it's friday. They know in their minds the next day is Saturday where they are looking forward to be with all those they love and teens will be having fun fun as a let down at the weekend. These days too many teens are not seeing the reality of life, but use social networking sites to spend most of their life on.
ReplyDelete"Our society has come to such extremes that thirteen-year-old girls or even younger must view themselves as teenaged, privileged sex symbols as an actual way to gain popularity "
ReplyDeleteThe majority of female singers of today, make themselves look like sex symbols. An attractive young girl get's knocked down going on her looks and portraying the life of normal teenagers who do pick up their school friends and enjoy their time on the weekends. Sadie the cleaning lady, was a song about a cleaning lady at the time the lyrics would have been slammed, but the song went to no. 1.