That Frozen Concotion That Helps Me Hang On

Having perused From Me To You: Dynamic Discourse in Popular Music by Matthew L. Bailey Shea, I pondered what song could be analyzed through this lens and chose “Margaritaville” by Jimmy Buffet. Arguably, one of the most wonderful songs ever, this laid-back beach anthem does in fact fall in line with some of Shea’s propositions. The narrative follows his activities as he spends his time in “Margaritaville” and contemplates why it is he remains entrenched in that lifestyle.

The song is set in a first-person narrative as he begins to recount his day. Clearly as one listens the song’s persona is none other than himself. However, in the first chorus the lyrics go, “Wasted away again in Margaritaville/Searchin’ for my lost shaker of salt/ Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame/ But I know, it’s nobody’s fault.” The second line, is perhaps a subtle and metaphorical address to a woman he lost. This is a possible inference due to the next line. However, margaritas are commonly coated with salt on the rim, it could be a line to merely make the song flow. Nevertheless, by saying “some people” Buffet brings in an influence from someone other than himself – using me, my, mine, etc.

The fourth and final line of the chorus is the most notable and brings together the whole song. As the song progresses, three choruses in total, that final line of “But I know, it’s nobody’s fault” changes. In the second chorus it reads, “Now I think… hell it could be my fault. The final chorus, Buffet admits that, despite “some people claim” it’s the fault of a woman, it’s actually “my own damn fault” (But I know, it’s my own damn fault”). This progression goes from distant to intimate as Buffet come to terms that he chooses to live the way he does and it’s not attributable to any woman. While the progression to intimacy is not traditional from singer to someone else, it is nevertheless a progression of intimacy within his own.

Shea addresses the topic of a double address where, “singer-songwriters to take advantage of the constant opportunity for what we might think of as a “double address”: the possibility of addressing both the imagined characters in a song’s fictional world and the real audience of listeners” (Shea, 5). This concept could be argued as a plausible possibility in Margaritaville. Clearly, in the song, Buffet is referring to himself as being responsible for wasting away in Margaritaville. However, surely he is not the only man to have been accused of being a certain way because of a traumatic relationship with a woman. 

As Buffet sings about “some people claim[ing] there’s a woman to blame”, you imagine that he has become a hermit in Margaritaville because of what a woman did to him. Not to say this is what Buffet is necessarily saying, nor do I think it is, but in a more serious reality, many men turn to alcoholism and other intoxicants after troubling relationships. 

Buffet could be employing a double address to say that it is never the fault of anyone else for the decisions that you make. Whether those decisions make you happy or not, they are always your decisions. Here Buffet seems to be pleased with his relaxed lifestyle despite the accusations that he is reeling from some woman.

Hiding in Discourse

From Me To You: Dynamic Discourse in Popular Music by Matthew L. BaileyShea opened my eyes to the shifts in various currents of musical meaning based on how different words are used in lyrics. He also suggests that the shifts in discourse may line up with the important changes in musical notes.

Many times I simply listen to songs without thinking anything of the way the intimacy changes throughout the song; therefore, I found it interesting that BaleyShea addresses the dynamic discourse in music.

BaileyShea goes into great depth about how pronouns in particular shape the level of intimacy in a song. He refers to the four types of narration that are used to create distance and the personal connection with the listener.

Hide Away by Daya is an example of the shift from distance to intimacy, an important pattern of discourse in music explained by BaileyShea. This song, released April 22, 2015, begins with a broad verse about what males and females seem to be attracted to in the opposite sex.


It starts in the first verse as a third person narrative because there is no reference in the lyrics to who the narrator is, or whom it is addressing. She generalizes the prefrences of boys with the statement “Boys seem to like the girls who laugh at anything, the ones who get undresses before the second date,” and makes a similar general statement about what girls like.

Daya quickly moves into the first person narrative in the first pre-chorus, adding a degree of intimacy by using pronouns such as “my” and “I.” By using these personal pronouns, she creates an obvious narrator: herself, but still has not identified an audience.

This song does not go into the second person narration because the pronoun “you” is never mentioned. Although the song does not embody all four narration styles, it still is considered to have dynamic discourse because it shifts narrations and becomes more personal than the third person narration it begins with.

Although someone is not specifically addressed, Daya creates a personal and intimate scene when she says “he’s gonna save my life like Superman.” This line infers that she is looking “good boy” to be with. She continues to show personal intimacy when she confesses, “I’m a good girl who needs a little company.”

It would not make sense for Daya to incorporate second person pronouns in this song because the main idea of the song is that there aren’t any good guys that she can be with. If she were to use second person, it would confuse the listener and make her quest for a man and the lyrics of the song seem inconsistent.

Reading this article has given me new insight to how songs are written and I’m sure I will notice the discourse in music much more often.

Lion Eyes

The Eagle’s are known for some of the greatest music in history, very rarely if ever did one of their songs disappoint. “Lying Eyes” by The Eagles while not their most popular song, still exemplified The Eagles’ musical talents. The song itself incorporates an interesting blend of narratives.

The song begins in a 3^rd person narration about a girl and an old man and their relationship:

City girls just seem to find out early
How to open doors with just a smile
A rich old man
And she won't have to worry

Using these lyrics, we can see that they have yet to address any specific audience, making it somewhat distant rather than intimate. As the song goes on, it continues to narrate and focuses the majority of the lyrics on the woman.

So she tells him she must go out for the evening
To comfort an old friend who's feelin' down
But he knows where she's goin' as she's leavin'
She is headed for the cheatin' side of town

Again the song goes on to develop the story through the use of 3^rd person narrative. The only pronouns is use thus far are still just she, he. However, after this line in the song there is a shift in the narrative.

You can't hide your lyin' eyes
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now you'd realize
There ain't no way to hide your lyin’ eyes

Here, the song finally addresses a much more specific audience of you. In this transition there is a shift from a 3^rd person narrative to a 2^nd person covert narrative. This shifts the song to a much more intimate and personal level. This transition in the song really does a great job of bringing emotion into the song and lyrics. Instead of looking on at the man and the woman, in these lines “the narrator tells what happens to you” (BaileyShea).

After this the song then transitions back into the 3^rd person again. It goes on to describe the girl once again and the troubles she faces.  The lyrics talk about her drinking, crying and even goes into her thoughts.

She draws the shade and hangs her head to cry
She wonders how it ever got this crazy

Even though the story is being told from the 3^rd person narrative, the lyrics still draw emotions out. These lines show her struggles both physically and mentally as she turns to drinking and this leads to emotional distress. After a few more lines, again the transition is made from 3^rd person a covert 2^nd person narrative:

My, oh my, you sure know how to arrange things
You set it up so well, so carefully
Ain't it funny how your new life didn't change things
You're still the same old girl you used to be
You can't hide your lyin eyes

This transition from 3^rd person to covert 2^nd person narration brings in even more intimacy and emotion. Again the lyrics use you to directly address the subject. These small transitions of narrative are what make this song so powerful. Quick transitions from a distant narrative to a covert narrative serve to reveal a much more intimate perspective.

More Than Just a "Girl"

A very common lyrical perspective is direct address. Direct address is essential the same thing as second person. It is about a direct conversation between the "I" and some second person or "you." You'll often hear a combination of the pronouns "I" and "you" in a direct address song, but imagine the scene - does it actually sound like someone else is present in the situation? 

The benefit of using direct address is the immediate immersion of the listener into a situation. The situation needs to hold enough drama to engage the listener, and the singer has to make sure the emotion of speaking to someone comes through during the performance. BaileyShea address that pronouns allow for a listen to make a shift from a distant perspective to one of intimacy.

In Matthew L. BalieyShea’s From Me to You: Dynamic Discourse in Popular Music, he talks about the persona represented in songs. He talks about two important questions to be asked: Who is the song persona and who is being addressed? In the song Ophelia sung by The Lumineers, the singer talks about a girl named Ophelia who you would assume was an ex girlfriend but after some digging into the song's background, Ophelia's persona is actually an analogy for fame. 

One verse in the song is “I, I got a little paycheck / You got big plans and you gotta move." You can see here the relationship between you and I as the singer is addressing Ophelia. Essentially what this verse is saying is that the artist made money from their time in the spotlight but Ophelia (or fame) has to "move on" because she cannot stay with one person for too long. Comparing this to the analogy, it is basically saying that you are only in the spotlight of fame for a certain time before fame has to move on to someone else, leaving you behind. The Lumineers use pronouns to display the persona of Ophelia, that being fame. 

Connecting Ophelia to her persona, The Lumineers use this direct address to create a personal intimacy with the song relating Ophelia to relationships but also relating her to fame. Another line said is “Ah, ah, when I was younger / I, I should’ve known better / And I can’t feel no remorse / And you don’t feel nothing back." The singer here is talking to Ophelia and what we can get from this is that Ophelia is unable to feel emotion meaning that fame really doesn't give back to you emotionally. The message they are giving is that Ophelia is a cold, detached and remote person; basically someone you would not want to be in a "relationship" with. 

The person he’s talking to, Ophelia, is similarly unfeeling, which could mean that fame really doesn’t give back emotionally: she’s a cold and aloof person to be in a relationship with. By using this point of view, The Lumineers are able to display two persona's given off by one character, using direct address, making it more personal and more intimate. 

Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody is one of the most well recognized songs from Queen, and it contains a well recognized story as well.  However, the way that Queen presents the song eludes to exactly what BaileyShea discusses in his article "From Me To You: Dynamic Discourse in Popular Music", especially the use of pronouns when changing which character in the story was speaking.  

The story in the song opens with a young man confessing to his mother that he has killed a man, and that he has to leave in order to avoid going to jail.  The introduction of the young boy as the singer is established with the opening line being "I'm just a poor boy".  In this section of the song, the persona of the singer and the persona of the audience are both clearly understandable.  However throughout the course of the song, the persona of the audience becomes the young man's friends, and even later the audience changes into the individuals that will be responsible for punishing him.  

The personas of a mother and her child combine to make the listener feel involved in a very intimate conversation.  This directly relates to BaileyShea's article and the discussion of how "the first person narrative adds a degree of intimacy" while the relation of the individuals who are involved in the opening exchange also brings the conversation to an intimate level (BaileyShea 2).  This "Direct Address" as BaileyShea describes it, is something that "provides a clear sense of intimate expression from one person to another".  

The intimacy stays close to the song even while the listener is distanced from the conversation when the young man sings to both his friends and the individuals in charge of what will happen to him.  The line "goodbye everybody, I've got to go" distances the listener, but the intimacy with the story has stayed because of the intro allowing the listener to be so close to the singer and intended audience.  The message of the next few interactions between singer and audience is that the young man wishes to be forgiven for what he has done because he has so much left to do in his life.  

While the message of Bohemian Rhapsody is relatively clear to the listener, the devices that the artists implore in order to draw their listeners into the song are not so clear.  The ability to make the listener feel connected to the song on a personal level is one that allows the song to function as one that will allow listeners to remember it.  The listener feels forced to pick a side throughout the song, which only deepens their wish to see what happens in the end, and is excited to continue until the end.  

Keep Away From Sue

After analyzing the reading, "From Me to You: Dynamic Discourse in Popular Music", presented by BaileyShea, I linked the topics and concepts he examines to the great song, Runaround Sue, by Dion. This song offers a clear example of the persona of a song and who the song is addressed to.

In the reading, BaileyShea poses the question: "Who is the song persona and who is being addressed?" (pg 2). Taking this question and then thinking about the song, Runaround Sue, the persona of the song is clear to be the singer and his experience with his ex girlfriend who is named Sue.

 The voice the singer uses contains a very sad tone and gives the listener a sense of sorrow for what the singer has gone through with his ex girlfriend. The song starts off with the lyrics "Here's my story it's sad but true" and immediately a sense of sorrow is brought upon the listener of the song. Also, as described in BaileyShea's article where he says that the use of first person "adds a degree of intimacy"(pd2), the singers use of first person makes the song and his experience more relatable.

As the song progresses, the use of second person becomes present, which adds to the concept of the singer being the persona. This also gives an idea as to who is being addressed because of his use of "you", which gives the song a speech-like feel, or as if the singer is giving you, the listener, advice. The singer sings "well, if you don't to cry like I do, I'd keep away from runaround Sue".

In the end, it is evident that Dion's song, Runaround Sue, shows some of the main concepts written about in BaileyShea's article. The different uses of first and second person create a clear example of the songs persona, the main singer, and also who his target audience is. He is singing to any guy who might come across Sue, or a woman who resembles Sue, and he is trying to warn them that she is distrustful and talks to other guys. He shows this message through techniques talked about in BaileyShea's article, and the songs message and persona are successful.

Somebody That I Used To Know

Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbre)" exemplifies much of BaileyShea's "From me to you: Dynamic discourse in popular music" in its use of pronouns to express emotion.

The song begins with a man, Gotye, singing about an old love that had recently done him wrong. He uses phrases like "you didn't have to cut me off" to direct emotion towards Kimbre and phrase like "you can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness" to direct emotion towards the listener. The song progresses and Kimbre being singing. Unlike Gotye, she only uses phrases like "I don't want to live that way, reading in to every word you say" to direct emotion back to Gotye and does not speak to the listener. Even later in the song, Gotye and Kimbre sing together, with Gotye singing phrases similar to his previous ones and Kimbre singing various notes in the background.

Both Gotye and Kimbre speak in second person in "Somebody That I Used To Know" because they are singing of past relationships and because they want to add "a degree of intimacy" and place the listener "into the song world as the central subject." The use of second person in a song, and specifically the use of first person in a way that is directed towards an individual or group, is called "direct address" and it provides "a clear sense of intimate expression from one person to another."

In addition to second person, Gotye also briefly employs third person to offer the warning "you can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness." This lyric, and the ones that immediately follow it, might stand as the true message of the song. Surrounding this section, Gotye and Kimbre sing of loves past and of how confusing each singer has found love to be. Here they turn that message around and warn listeners of this sadness that might occur when one falls in love. This type of perspective shift in a song is called "substitution," and it serves to allow a double expression of the song's message - one towards the ex love and one towards the listener.

It is important to note that "Somebody That I Used to Know" uses an interesting tactic to change the narrator's perspective. Both Gotye and Kimbre use the second person, and refer to themselves with "I," but the listener is able to distinguish between the two perspectives by relying solely on the voice of the current singer. This is done usually subconsciously and without the listener having to think about a change of perspectives, but it does showcase the power that perspective can have over the message and tone of a song.

Glorifying the Words behind the Lyrics

After reading Matthew L. BalieyShea’s From Me to You: Dynamic Discourse in Popular Music. I began to ponder about the deeper thing and the intention of lyrics. The first song that came to mind was the song Glory by John Legend and Common. This song made its debut in the film Selma, which was based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches. This song embodies a deeper meaning that really causes the listener to channel in and truly understand its true meaning. The writers of Glory intended to instill a sense power, and inspiration within blacks and to interconnect history with current day events.

This song incorporates quite a few aspects of BaileyShea’s article. The concept of pronouns is brought to my attention in his article. BaileyShea states that pronouns allow for a listener to make a shift from a distance perspective to one of intimacy. This concept is portrayed in the lyrics with the comparisons between the marches that took place in 1965 for equal voting rights and marches that have occurred today due to covert inequality.

When listening to the song Glory, one can hear a lot of pronouns such “it, ours, we and us,” these pronouns all signify third person. The use of third person in the lyrics emphasizes on the direct meaning of lyrics. It draws the attention of the listeners to the lyrics preceding and following the pronouns, therefore grasping a deeper meaning of the song’s intentions. The pronouns used also insinuate the claim that together as a race they can achieve their goals and withstand obstacles.

 “That’s why Rosa sat on the bus,

That’s why we walk through Ferguson with our hands up.”

These two lines that the artists state allow one to connect on a more intimate level. In the first line Common references the Rosa Parks boycott, which resonates a connection with the older black generation By stating Ferguson listeners of this generation have a comparable concept to relate to because it is an event that has recently occurred.  These two references together bring a sense of intimacy to the song because no matter the age deferential the topic of discussion is the same, equality, and that is something that all generations can connect on.

The song continues and throughout its lyrics embodies the name Glory with its use of narrative theory combined with pronouns. Narrative theory contains two branches, storytelling and mimetic role-playing, that BaileyShea claims in his article are within every song. He explains that the use of storytelling and mimetic role-playing is usually displayed as one or the other within a song. However, in Glory both concepts are exhibited although storytelling plays a more prevalent role than mimetic role-playing.

The entire song is set around the struggle to achieve equality for blacks. Therefore, the lyrics tell the story of the fight for equality.

“When it go down we woman and man up

They say, “Stay down,” and we stand up”

The lyrics stated tell a story; the story is that they will fight for their equality despite the predetermined ideals of authority figures and others who do not support their movement.         

           

 Within those lyrics is the phrase “Stay down,” which represents mimetic role-playing. These two words although miniscule, send a very symbolic message to the listener due to its historical and current day relevance it contains. The phrase, “Stay down,” is also common monologue used towards black men when law enforcement assume they are harboring illegal contraband and or participating in illegal activity. By saying “Stay down” within a song that already carries the idea of fighting for the equality for blacks, this phrase alone has the ability to impact the mindset of all blacks in a positive manner.

Some Post to Remember, Some Post to Forget

The Eagles ever-popular song, Hotel California, is a song that I found very interesting when thinking about dynamic discourse in popular music. When thinking about the question from the reading, “Who is the song persona and who is being addressed?” (pg. 2), and then comparing that to Hotel California, it is obvious that the song’s persona is the singer. However, it is more difficult to discover who is being addressed.

The song also creates a strong narrative with the persona entering this “Hotel California.” It feels as if we are in the passenger seat with this persona as he or she enters into this hotel. This is due to the first-person narration that is implied throughout the song. It also adds a strong feel of intimacy and as if I, the listener, can feel the struggle that is being told from the song.

The first-person narration at the start of the song sets the singer as the storyteller, explaining his own experience. However, throughout the story, the use of second-person pronouns during dialogue seems to assume the singer as the persona and the person being addressed. An example of this is in the final line of the song when the ‘night man’ says to the song’s persona, “You can check out any-time you like, but you can never leave!”

The song line mentioned above is also a very clear example of the double address mentioned in the readings. In this instance, the lover, which is normally apart double address, is the place that the song writer was before entering Hotel California, and the other side of the double address is actually inside of Hotel California. This example in the song is possibly what makes the song so great due to the tragically intimate ending that is left after hearing the final line. This slightly altered double address is paralleled to popular movies such as The Wizard of Oz, and Space Jam, where the main character or persona is in two separate dimensions throughout.

The classic Heaven vs. Hell debate can also be valid in Hotel California. The intimacy of the first-person persona makes this Hellish feeling a bit uneasy, especially after such a pleasant start to the song. However, this highlights one of the reading’s main points on distance to intimacy.

At the start of the song, there is only the persona. He or she is riding in his or her car and the journey to the hotel is an individual one. However, as soon as “she” entered the song in the tenth line, intimacy suddenly became present. As more characters are introduced throughout the song, a greater sense of intimacy is established. Just as the reading mentioned, the gradual addition of pronouns assisted in this more intimate side that the song grows into.

In conclusion, Hotel California is a very complex song with a point of view that is difficult to grasp. With the initial first-person narrative shifting into a vague sense of direct address, it is confusing as to who is being addressed in the song. However, with the help of the implied dynamic discourse throughout the song, we can attempt to decode the wishy-washy storyline of Hotel California.

WWIII: Feminism and The Media

Feminism and the feminist attitude is one that has developed over the years and continues to affect us today. While women today have many more rights and privileges than in the previous years, there are still issues that push the line of near equality.

"Rather than focusing on men's images of women,they focus on women's images of themselves and women's stories about their own experiences." This line was taken from Rakow's reading, about modern feminism. This line reminded me of a discussion we had in Sport Media about how women are portrayed in the media. A particular case we discussed was that of World-renowned tennis star Serena Williams. This year she was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated as Sportsperson of the Year, but not in the way you would think.

Instead of being featured as Serena Williams, the tennis star, she instead was featured as Serena Williams, the sexy model. There has been much controversy over this image and debate  over its true purpose or meaning. Sport's Illustrated actually stated it was Serena's idea, that it was "intended to express her own ideal of femininity, strength and power. This was likely in response to the media backlash about how Serena "isn't feminine enough," how she even "acts like a man."

Although Serena used this image to combat those negative comments, her actions do not reflect the new feminine attitude. She is simply using the comments made against her to further the images men consider feminine, instead of the images and experiences of women. An article from PetaPixel even states the cover "doesn’t help female athletes." If the image featured on the cover would have been Serena with her tennis uniform on, or on a tennis court, the responses would have been drastically different.

"Men and women live in two different spheres, and have two different cultural experiences." This is another theme Rakow talks about in his text. He states instead of women trying to have equal representation in one culture that we should completely separate both and not market to the other. Personally I completely disagree with Rakow, I would like to see the two cultures come together to an equal acceptance, but it will only stop when we focus on the actuality and realistic images and their meanings, not these over fantasized and sexualized  images we do now. Maybe in the future, if the media would portray the unbiased reality so often it became the norm, the feminist movement would cease, and the gender war would finally be at peace.

Feminism in FIFA

According to "Cultural Theory and Popular Culture”, by Rakow, women have been excluded in popular culture. In doing so, “men have monopolized, managed, and masculinized human activities, excluding women from many spheres of creativity and from many forms of amusement and leisure activities” (Rakow 203). This can be related directly to sport, and to the world famous covers on FIFA games for Xbox and PlayStation.

Here, we see the FIFA cover for 2015/16 football season. The main cover, as shown, entails Lionel Messi on his own. But, isn’t there a women’s equivalent of Lionel. Furthermore, the football world for women isn't as large but it's large enough for a World Cup to occur every four years. All we see here is a male, arguably the best player in the world, but shouldn’t 
a female represent the female football world. 


Even when searching for FIFA covers online, the search results were dominated with covers of Messi and other players besides him, appealing to the different leagues and teams mainly throughout Europe. I only saw the gender balanced cover when searching specifically for a female cover for the game, demonstrating the influence males have had in disregarding any association of female involvement in an apparent masculine game, unfortunately.

Here we can see how sport, especially soccer has been dominated and controlled by males, excluding the importance of the female game. The president of FIFA is male, along with the majority of the FIFA panel. Isn’t this clear evidence that males have steered a sport away from women, and as a result have not presented a clear picture of the football industry.

In the second image, you can see a special edition cover which displays Alex Morgan, a female football phenomenon. However, this cover isn’t the one exhibited for general sale. Here, we see FIFA covering their tracks and slightly attempting to notice the female football world and the growth it’s gaining. This cover, in fact, is the first FIFA cover with a woman on the front, owing to the success of the United States and the FIFA Women's World Cup gaining over 20 million viewers in the summer of 2015.   

The "Cultural Theory and Popular Culture”, by Rakow, talks about the recovery and reappraisal approach. The question here is given a male dominated culture, how have women been able to express themselves? In answer to this, we can see that women through the development in popularity, such as Alex Morgan, have been able to gain enough recognition to place them on such a popular video game.  As the female football world grows, hopefully sexism will cease to exist among the FIFA ranks, enabling women to receive adequate coverage, demasculinizing a male dominated game. 

Women Are More

In Lana F. Rakow's writing involving feminist approaches in response to patriarchal attitudes and actions involved in modern media, she dives into discussing certain questions that have been raised in how women are being treated and portrayed. She states that some of women's opportunities for creativity are being constantly evaluated and dictated by mean, this is in some way silencing and restricting women who may be interested in certain creative outlets. This is interesting to me because these actions taken by the patriarchy can be either blatant or subtle, and even some of these actions are so "normal" that we don't even view them as restricting.

The video above is a perfect example of how some of these actions taken by the patriarchy can be subtle, but can cause long lasting damage to young girls who inspire to be creative women in the future. The video is a Verizon commercial that shows young girls constantly being mentally and physically restricted from mental and physical discovery in science fields and once they get to a mature age they decide to go down different career and educational paths. The statement being made is that young girls are being conditioned into believing that the "messy" and "hard" science experiences are for boys and not for them. This goes along with the theory proposed by Rakow that I brought up in the previous paragraph in that there is a restriction being placed on women, but the scary part is that it has become so "normal" that we as a society don't even recognize that we are doing it.

National Public Radio (NPR) came out with an article three years ago that pertained precisely to the issue of women being steered away from the science communities purely because of their gender. This article involved many examples of scenarios of how gender stereotyping of "men being better at math or science" affected young girls' test scores and overall self esteem, and the effect was definitely measurable. There was also another article released by the New York Times that discussed the topic of women not receiving Ph.D.s at nowhere close the rate of men receiving Ph.D.s, why is that the case? It is stated that it is because from a young age and even still in college women are being brought down or restricted because of their gender, which backs up Rakow's thoughts/writing on the topic. There is clearly an issue of gender stereotyping and gender restriction occurring in our modern day society and it needs to be addressed and brought to light.

Scandalously Feminist

In Lana F. Rakow’s excerpt Feminist Approaches to Popular Culture: Giving Patriarchy its Due, she discusses one of her main ideas about feminism is through Image and Representations Approach. Within this section she poses four questions for the reader to review when looking at how feminism is portrayed in popular culture. The main takeaway point from that section is when Friedan states “mass media industries who focus on the fact at popular culture images are for the most part men’s images of women.”

The four questions that are to be considered when looking into popular culture are: What kinds of images are present and what do those images reveal about women’s position in the culture? Whose images are they and whom do they serve? What are the consequences of those images? How do such images have meaning? These questions can be answered with significant response due in part to the increase of feminism displayed in mass media.

In history a women’s role was defined by what a man envisions it to be, a housewife. The women of the house are intended to cater to the needs and wants of the family and the men are to uphold the role of the provider for the family. As times are changing so are the ideals behind that concept, although women still struggle to attain respect from there male counterparts for more than the housewife idea there is still progress being made and it is shown through mass media.

Currently in todays society there are examples of strong feminism displayed in mass media especially in television. For example, the popular TV show Scandal. The setting of the show is centered on an affluent successful African-American woman, Olivia Pope. She is portrayed as a ambitious and motivational driven in her work. Olivia Pope is represented in a vey high social standing for women and women of color, with a majority of the show taking place at the White House. The setting reveals to viewers that women can strive to uphold positions of male dominated settings, or in areas of high value in the eyes of society.

The concept behind the show gives off more benefits than costs for women. Almost every episode throughout the series depicts Olivia Pope aiding women and destroying the barriers that have been built to restrain women. One episode in particular, the former first lady resurfaces and is speaks of the impact that she had for the White House. She informs Mellie Grant, the current first lady that she had conducted the majority of political affairs for the her husband, the then current president, but she will not be recognized for her actions because she was only the wife to the president.  This message shows that society will give praise where praise is not deserved solely based on gender.

Overall, Olivia Pope’s career is one of what most women strive to obtain in the real world. She embodies the idea that women can enact change in a man-dominated work force.

These images allow viewers to see that women can achieve more than the housewife task that society enforces. For example, Her willpower to stand up for what she believes in constructs the idea for women that your voice can be heard.