Music Reflection
Gender and Media Studies
Gwen Stefani’s 1996 chart topper “I’m Just a Girl” promoted women within rock music by promoting their cultural visibility. Gayle Wald, in her article, talks about this song as an “important moment within contemporary youth” while using a strategy of “appropriating girlhood” to express postmodern “gender trouble” (Wald, 1988, p. 588). In her advocacy of Riot Grrrl, she acknowledges their music of “tacitly shifting the emphasis” of women’s studies to “girl studies”, in an attempt to understand contemporary female performers in popular forms that were otherwise dominated by men (Wald, 1988, p. 607). This shows the ability of music to shift attention in public studies, helping understand the who, what, why and the dynamics of socially identified biases or issues and also brings the world we live in under the spotlight.
Ramón Rivera-Servera, talks about how as a migrant he embodies his position as a queer Latino through dance clubs. The rhythmic phrasings allowed him to feel the music, socialize with strangers and experience the vibrant community comfortably. It served as a place for uncensored expression and a “safe place free from the violence of a homophobic world” (Rivera-Servera, 2004, p. 259–260). The exchanges in the club were subjected to everyday experiences influencing the understanding of everyday life in an environment of intimate interaction in a creative manner. He continues saying that Latinidad became a marker of identity. Ana M. López says that “Rhythm has been — and continues to be — used as a significant marker of national/ethnic difference.”
According to Michel de Certeau, a pedestrian moves around “Linking acts and footsteps, opening meanings and directions, these words operate in the name of an emptying-out and wearing-away of their primary role. They become liberated spaces that can be occupied.” This can be applied to music as well, where people identify with the feel of a song, without caring who is singing to who, or the intended meaning of the lyrics, allowing for open interpretation, as in the dance club (Rivera-Servera, 2004, p. 275).
While Walking in The City relates to music allowing for people to have their own interpretations while they listen and let the melody sink in, these interpretations are limited. This limitation is explained by Stuart Hall’s Encoding, Decoding model of communication. Hall says that media encoded with messages are decoded based on a singular basis and is subjected to one’s own stories and experiences. In this model, the audience play a big part in interpreting and decoding these hidden intended or unintended messages.
While we can read history books, the example of Riot Grrrls and the dance clubs shows the timeless capability of an art form like music to capture emotions, embody and depict the world we live in, shift public focus, highlight socially constructed issues, and allow people to feel part of a community with the help of rhythm, lyrics, and performer influence.
References:
Certeau, M. d. (1984, 1988). Walking in the City. In M. d. Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life (pp. 91–110). Berkeley. Los Angeles, London: University of California Press.
H. Rivera-Servera, R. (2004). Choreographies of Resistance: Latinalo Queer Dance and the Utopian Performative. Modern Drama, 47(2), 259–280.
Hall, S. (1992). Encoding, Decoding. In S. During, The Cultural Studies Reader (pp. 90–103). London: Routledge.
Wald, G. (1998). Just a Girl? Rock Music, Feminism, and the Cultural Construction of Female Youth. Feminisms and Youth Cultures, 23(3), 587–610.
