Pink's Stupid Girl Essay
Pink’s music video stupid girl encapsulates many ideologies that seem to contrast with each other.
The dominant reading of this text is feminism which is explicitly shown through the mise-en-scene. We see that in the initial 10 seconds, a young girl has to choose between the stereotypical female which is portrayed as the devil or a non-stereotypical female which is portrayed as an angel. The binary opposites clearly capture the producer's meanings and highlight that to be women you cannot possess stereotypical traits. This is evident in the entire video, despite being a dominant feminist reading, portrays the stereotypical women in a negative light.
Throughout the video, Pink herself takes on the role of several stereotypes of Caucasian women in American society and uses them as a mouthpiece to convey her message. The fact that they are portrayed negatively suggests that although it may be a feminist reading, it contradicts several values and beliefs of other waves of feminism. One may argue that it is a post-feminist or second wave feminist reading, however looking closely we see that as audiences there is a problem.
The fundamental issue with this music video is that it segregates women in society. By having two binary opposites that are contrastingly different and each one of them is portrayed in a positive or negative way, we see that the young girl does not have the choice to be both. This raises an issue as the producer's intentions convey that you cannot possess some stereotypical traits yet be unique. This goes against many feminist beliefs whereby women should have the basic right to express themselves regardless of whether they fall into the stereotype category. Additionally, feminism espouses equality which the video doesn’t. The stereotypes are looked in a less respectful manner as opposed to the non-stereotypes. This creates somewhat of a hierarchy.
We see that by segregating women into two contrasting categories and portraying them in various ways creates a hierarchy. It seems as if the producer believes that the non-stereotype are of a higher class in terms of value as opposed to the stereotypes. This is evident as the non-stereotypical women is a female president who is of higher class and status. Whereas, the women in the car, as well as the tanning salon, seem like middle-class women who have no social status and are treated like tools. This completely goes against feminist ideologies and so the more that we analyse, we see that this video is not a feminist reading but a patriarchal reading. This can be understood as the stereotypical females are appealing to male gaze whereas the non-stereotypical women aren’t. The non-stereotypical women are given positions of power that usually men would have and so suggests that in reality, the non-stereotype is the masculisation of a woman and the true meaning behind these women is lost.
In conclusion, we see that Pink attempts to experiment with feminist ideologies and on the surface level this may be seen through her video. However, the underlying messages that are encoded appear to go against feminist beliefs and values but have some sort of a patriarchal undertone appearing frequently and consistently throughout the text.
The dominant reading of this text is feminism which is explicitly shown through the mise-en-scene. We see that in the initial 10 seconds, a young girl has to choose between the stereotypical female which is portrayed as the devil or a non-stereotypical female which is portrayed as an angel. The binary opposites clearly capture the producer's meanings and highlight that to be women you cannot possess stereotypical traits. This is evident in the entire video, despite being a dominant feminist reading, portrays the stereotypical women in a negative light.
Throughout the video, Pink herself takes on the role of several stereotypes of Caucasian women in American society and uses them as a mouthpiece to convey her message. The fact that they are portrayed negatively suggests that although it may be a feminist reading, it contradicts several values and beliefs of other waves of feminism. One may argue that it is a post-feminist or second wave feminist reading, however looking closely we see that as audiences there is a problem.
The fundamental issue with this music video is that it segregates women in society. By having two binary opposites that are contrastingly different and each one of them is portrayed in a positive or negative way, we see that the young girl does not have the choice to be both. This raises an issue as the producer's intentions convey that you cannot possess some stereotypical traits yet be unique. This goes against many feminist beliefs whereby women should have the basic right to express themselves regardless of whether they fall into the stereotype category. Additionally, feminism espouses equality which the video doesn’t. The stereotypes are looked in a less respectful manner as opposed to the non-stereotypes. This creates somewhat of a hierarchy.
We see that by segregating women into two contrasting categories and portraying them in various ways creates a hierarchy. It seems as if the producer believes that the non-stereotype are of a higher class in terms of value as opposed to the stereotypes. This is evident as the non-stereotypical women is a female president who is of higher class and status. Whereas, the women in the car, as well as the tanning salon, seem like middle-class women who have no social status and are treated like tools. This completely goes against feminist ideologies and so the more that we analyse, we see that this video is not a feminist reading but a patriarchal reading. This can be understood as the stereotypical females are appealing to male gaze whereas the non-stereotypical women aren’t. The non-stereotypical women are given positions of power that usually men would have and so suggests that in reality, the non-stereotype is the masculisation of a woman and the true meaning behind these women is lost.
In conclusion, we see that Pink attempts to experiment with feminist ideologies and on the surface level this may be seen through her video. However, the underlying messages that are encoded appear to go against feminist beliefs and values but have some sort of a patriarchal undertone appearing frequently and consistently throughout the text.
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