Sunday, November 16, 2008

Week Nine: Popular Music

This week, my task is to identify an "undervalued" pop song and find a new way to evaluate that song that will assign it more cultural "value." Rather than address the question "Who is doing the evaluating?" I am going to assume that most people agree that my chosen song, "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls, is not widely considered to be an important contribution to the world of music.

Instead, my argument here is that "Wannabe," as well the music and image of the Spice Girls in general, provide an important influence on female adolescent development.

The Spice Girls arrived on the scene in 1996 with "Wannabe," the first single from their album "Spice." "Wannabe" became number 1 on the charts in 31 countries. The group, made up of five young British women, was formed as competition to the era's popular "boy bands" and was marketed directly to preteen girls.

Part of the marketing strategy was to give each band member a "personality" or nickname. Victoria became "Posh Spice," Melanie B became "Scary Spice," Melanie C became "Sporty Spice," Emma became "Baby Spice" and Geri became "Ginger Spice." The idea of these "personalities" is brought out to the point of parody in "Spiceworld," the Spice Girls' feature film which was released in 1997.

(from imdb.com)
Scary Spice: [as they are talking about being stereotyped] You know, I think it's the same with fish
[points out fish in tank]
Scary Spice: I mean, look at this, you've got the spotty one, that's *wacky*. You've got the fluffy one, that's *cute* And then you have this... ugly loser one. That reminds me of my ex boyfriend, Steven
Scary Spice: Ugh
Ginger Spice: Did you *know*, that the largest fish ever is the manta ray?
Posh: [continuing] And then you've got the little *ginger* one, which is full of *useless* information, about *manta rays*!

Ultimately, though, this marketing decision works in concert with adolescent development. Because adolescents form their identities by comparing themselves with others, young girls could pair themselves with each of the Spice Girls flat "personalities" and choose the one most like themselves. Once they'd made their choice, young girls often called themselves a "Baby" or a "Sporty," and dressed like the Spice Girl of their choice. This "trying on" of personalities, as well as "music's ties to identity" (Powers) in general, make the Spice Girls an important part of identity formation in preteen girls.

Another marketing decision made by the Spice Girls was their overall message of "girl power." The band's credo seemed to be that equal rights between the sexes and outward displays of femininity and sexuality are not mutually exclusive. This challenges and extends the typical response to media representation of femininity that "frames achieving an ideal, beautiful appearance as central to defining one's identity as a female" (Beach, 2007). The typical response to this is to disregard the outward feminine appearance altogether, but the Spice Girls promote embracing outward appearance IN ADDITION rather than INSTEAD OF equal rights based on inner traits.

The content and voice of many of the Spice Girls' songs show women asking men for what they want and making their relationship expectations explicit, challenging representations of women as passive members of their relationships. During the time the Spice Girls were popular, feminists had a lot to say about them and their "girl power" message. Using feminist analysis (Beach, 2007), I find that the Spice Girls portray women as sexually confident and assertive in their relationships.

Wannabe

Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,
So tell me what you want, what you really really want,
I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,
So tell me what you want, what you really really want,
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really
really really wanna zigazig ha.

If you want my future forget my past,
If you wanna get with me better make it fast,
Now don't go wasting my precious time,
Get your act together we could be just fine

I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,
So tell me what you want, what you really really want,
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really
really really wanna zigazig ha.

If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends,
Make it last forever friendship never ends,
If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give,
Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is.

What do you think about that now you know how I feel,
Say you can handle my love are you for real,
I won't be hasty, I'll give you a try
If you really bug me then I'll say goodbye.

Yo I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,
So tell me what you want, what you really really want,
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really
really really wanna zigazig ha.

If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends,
Make it last forever friendship never ends,
If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give,
Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is.

So here's a story from A to Z, you wanna get with me
you gotta listen carefully,
We got Em in the place who likes it in your face,
we got G like MC who likes it on an
Easy V doesn't come for free, she's a real lady,
and as for me..ah you'll see,
Slam your body down and wind it all around
Slam your body down and wind it all around.

If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends,
Make it last forever friendship never ends,
If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give,
Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is.

If you wanna be my lover, you gotta, you gotta, you
gotta,
you gotta, you gotta, slam, slam, slam, slam
Slam your body down and wind it all around.
Slam your body down and wind it all around.
Slam your body down and wind it all around.
Slam your body down zigazig ah
If you wanna be my lover.

The song "Wannabe," above, portrays a woman asking for what she wants in a relationship and making her expectations explicit. The speaker also initiates a dialogue, asking her partner what he wants from the relationship. My interpretation of the lines "If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends/Make it last forever, friendship never ends" is that the speaker expects her partner to act like a friend as well as a lover, which suggests equality in the relationship.

The Spice Girls were popular when I was a preteen girl, and I found myself buying albums, making collages of their pictures and choreographing my own dance moves along with thousands of other girls. As much as I am reluctant to admit it, because of the timing of the Spice Girls' success and my age at the time, the Spice Girls likely did have an impact on my development as a young adolescent female. I identified with Baby Spice as an11-year-old, which made me identify as more innocent, slightly less sexualized as the other members of the band. As I watched the film "Spiceworld," however, I began to see myself in Geri, who was the most articulate and was the "ideas" girl (see the manta ray quote from imdb, above). While many might see the Spice Girls and their music as danceable, slightly trashy pop from the late 90s, there are many young women today who can trace at least part of their identity development back to the first time they heard "Wannabe."

Monday, November 10, 2008

Week Eight: News

Local TV News Log:

WCCO 4 News at 10
November 10th

INTRO/TEASERS :20
NEWS Fake guns banned 1:57
NEWS Senate Recount :55
NEWS Body exhumed for crime investigation :21
NEWS Green Jobs :18
FEATURE Holiday Shopping/Economy 1:50
NEWS Obama/Bush meet, Obama family puppy :35
NEWS Teen drowns in MN lake :55
NEWS Bus accident in WI :18
NEWS Military battalion home from Iraq :18
NEWS Child hero :25
TEASERS :34
//commercial break//
FEATURE "Good Question: Are teens good drivers?" 2:42
NEWS Full length movies on YouTube :19
FEATURE BWCA birthday (a Don Shelby story) 3:55
WEATHER 2:40
EDITORIAL Good to Know w/Don Shelby (gas prices) 1:05
//commercial break//
SPORTS Vikings & Twins 2:34
//commercial break//
SPORTS Gopher football :53
//commercial break//
FEATURE Chimpanzee cuddles w/tiger babies :47

Reflection:

This mantra of this newscast seems to be "make it relevant to the viewer." In many ways, this broadcast takes viewers' interest and feedback into account. First of all, not a lick of international news was covered in this broadcast. The Bush/Obama meeting story was the only national news story, while the rest of the stories were concentrated at the state or local level.

The "Good question" segment, which this broadcast does each evening, takes a question e-mailed in from viewers. The show also reported on on online poll which asked viewers which breed of dog the Obama family should get when they move into the White House. Even the language used by the weatherman reflects the needs of the viewers; he often starts sentences with things like "at the bus stop tomorrow, you should wear" and other things to make the weather personal to the viewer.

This station, more than others, is covers more "progressive" material than I've seen on other networks. There is an "environmental" story almost every night, for example. Also, this broadcast seems to capitalize on the familiarity the viewers have come to have with anchor Don Shelby over the years. In fact, Don Shelby's stories (his editorial and his BWCA story) were given 5 entire minutes of the half-hour news cast. His seniority and "belovedness" allow him more airtime as an individual than most stories combined.

An activity for teaching critical analysis of news:

Working in groups, I would have students find coverage of a certain news event from a variety of sources. One group might look to local news, another might look at a 24 hour news network like CNN, another might look at BBC news or news from another country, another group might look to blogs, another might find political cartoons, the list could go on and on depending on the number of students.

After doing their research, each group would report back to the large group, and using a graphic organizer or just class discussion, the class would discuss which aspects of the story covered by each source. And, most importantly, the teacher would lead the discussion to WHY each source decided to cover the story the way they did, and their agendas in general.