"Anaconda" vs "We Can't Stop"

I'm back ! :)
I haven't posted anything for a long time now - life was just crazy. I am on exchange in Toronto right now and I have been really busy. In my first post after this long break, I would like to share an essay with you that I wrote for my "Effective Writing" class. 

I'm sure most of you have heard of Nicki Minaj and her song "Anaconda", which caused some outrage because of its explicit video and content. In my essay, I compared "Anaconda" and "We Can't Stop" by Miley Cyrus. My conclusion provides a different interpretation of Minaj's actions, suggesting that her motivations for this song were maybe not only getting attention and making profit, but raising awareness of  flaws that are deeply entrenched in our society. 

 

“Oh my gosh, look at her butt!” – this line, which is part of the lyrics of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” (1992) and Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” (2014), sums up the recent public

outcry caused by the latter. Minaj was condemned for focusing on women’s assets and

objectifying them in her video in order to increase her popularity. However, Minaj’s ironic

depiction of women and race could also be interpreted as a critical response to the

perpetuation of misogynistic and racist binaries in contemporary pop culture, like in Miley

Cyrus’ song “We Can’t Stop”. The aim of this essay is to reveal how “We Can’t Stop”

conveys the binaries black/white and man/woman, while “Anaconda” exaggerates and

manipulates them. If Minaj’s primary intention actually was to expose and challenge the

systematic oppression of “the Other”, it is also important to ask whether she is effective in

doing so or whether she, too, perpetuates racial and sexual binaries.

In the article “Eating The Other” (1992) bell hooks explores how “the Other” is oppressed

in our “white supremacist capitalist patriarchal” (22) society. For hooks, the “Other” refers

to the non-dominant groups of non-white, politically disenfranchised, lower class or non-male people. In her article, hooks focuses primarily on racism, but she remarks that the

different units of the system interlock and influence each other. hooks concludes that racist

domination prevails in the system, because “the Other” is constructed as desirable, but not

equal.

Cyrus acts on this desire when she twerks in “We Can’t Stop”. Cambridge Dictionaries

Online defines twerking as “a style of dancing that involves bending low and moving the

bottom and hips.“ Cyrus brought the term to public attention when she made twerking her

trademark in 2013, aspiring to distance herself from her past as innocent Disney channel

star. Cyrus made it seem as if the dance style, which is based on the traditional African

Mapouka (Akindes 99), was her own invention and thereby appropriated a part of black

culture. This is her attempt to add “spice” to her performance, as described in bell hooks’

article, which claims that “encounters with Otherness are clearly marked as more exciting,

more intense” (hooks 26). On the other hand, Cyrus emphasizes her whiteness by

deliberately dressing all white and surrounding herself with black dancers. Even though

she pretends to empower her “homegirls … with the big butts”, she actually reduces them

to props and stresses her own power, for example by slapping their behinds. Thus, Cyrus

expresses her freedom by oppressing her black “friends” and ultimately enforces the

black/white binary.

Twerking is a central theme in Nicki Minaj’s song as well. Her video is focused on the

rhythmical movement of her and her co-dancers’ behinds. She praises the stereotypical

curvy body shape of black women, stating that men are much more attracted to large

behinds than to “skinny bitches”. In doing so, Minaj also promotes a beauty ideal that is

different from the prevailing, extremely slim, white norm. In this respect, “Anaconda” can

be understood as a response to Cyrus’ twerking efforts, making her appropriation of black

culture seem unsuccessful, since her “butt” is not “big” enough. However, Minaj’s

representation of black women is overly objectifying, begging the question whether she

aims to criticize this matter by exaggerating it.

Another prominent binary in our society is what hooks calls “patriarchy”, namely the

dominance of men. In “We Can’t Stop” Cyrus tries to stress that she is a powerful woman.

She claims “it’s we who own the night” and “we run things”. In her video men mainly

appear in the background. The verse “It’s our party, we can do what we want/…say what

we want/… “ is sung by a man, but he is never visible. At first, his voice emerges from a

radio, which is replaced by a computer-generated face when the verse is repeated.

However, the way Cyrus behaves in the video (e.g. sticking out her tongue and suggestively stretching out on the bed) and her choice of clothing are aimed at provoking desire in men, thus turning Cyrus into a sexual object.

Minaj, on the other hand, deliberately objectifies men and women throughout her video.

The only men who are part of her performance are Sir Mix-a-Lot, who sings the lines “[m]y

Anaconda don’t want none unless you got buns, hun”, but does not appear in the video,

and Drake, who gets a lap dance from Minaj. However, when he tries to touch her, she

departs, pointing out that she is in charge. In doing so, Minaj presents herself as well as

Drake as sexual objects and subjects at the same time. While women are reduced to their

breasts and behinds, men are reduced to their penises. Minaj highlights this in her song

title, using “Anaconda” as metaphor for a penis, and in the scene where she starts eating a

banana, triggering the idea of a blowjob, only to chop up the banana in the next shot. Thus,

Minaj challenges the prevailing practice of depicting only women as objects, while men

are usually the subjects in medial discourse.

In conclusion, both songs contain the binaries black/white and man/woman, but they

handle them in different ways. It is interesting to note that Cyrus expresses them in a

subtler and maybe even unconscious way, while Minaj seems to deliberately take certain

stereotypes to an extreme, in order to ridicule them. “Anaconda” managed to provoke

outrage in a society where half-dressed women and the appropriation of black culture are

“normal” and internalized. In doing so, Minaj awakened our dulled senses and stimulated

discussions about these problems. This is a first step towards “mutual recognition” of the

impacts of racism and misogyny, which is the only standpoint from which we could

change the status quo (hooks 28). However, many people seem to watch the video on a

superficial basis, only enjoying the visual traits, and not thinking about the underlying

criticism of cultural appropriation and the objectification of women. In addition, children,

who are unsupervised when watching the video, might not notice the irony and internalize

the stereotypes they see. Therefore, “Anaconda” could play an equal role in perpetuating

racist and sexist binaries as “We Can’t Stop”.

Works Cited

Akindes, Simon. “Playing it ‘Loud and Straight.’ Reggae, Zouglou, Mapouka and Youth

Insubordination in Côte d’Ivoire.” Playing with Identities in Contemporary Music

in Africa. Eds. Palmberg, Mai and Kirkegaard, Annemette. Nordic Africa Institute,

2002. 99-100. books.google.ca. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.

hooks, bell. “Eating the Other. Desire and Resistance.” Black Looks: Race and

Representation. South End Press, 1992. 21-39. Print.

Time-out

Last week I was sitting in my room, refusing to spend more time in the low temperatures on the city streets than absolutely necessary. I was snowed under with work; busy studying for exams. One day, I found myself staring at one of my wallpapers that looks very similar to this picture:

My thoughts started to drift away – to a relaxing vacation I spent in Italy a few years ago…  

I’m lying on a towel on a small, peaceful beach. Unlike overcrowded Italian tourist hotspots like Lignano and Bibione, only a few towels and sun loungers are scattered across the beach. I’m absolutely relaxed, reading a gripping book. My toes are moving in the warm, golden sand and I smell the scent of the pine trees that surround the remote beach. Feeling the sun warming my back, hearing the soothing sound of the waves brushing up on the beach, I close my eyes and slowly drift off to sleep…
When I wake up, the distant cawing of seagulls has been replaced by the chirping of crickets. I open my eyes, sit up and see the sun approaching the horizon. The beach, the pine forest and the sky are bathed in a warm orange and yellow light. I’m gazing at the dark blue and partly black sea that is contrasting sharply with the orange sky and somehow has a relaxing, calming effect on me. I can’t help but stay motionless, drinking in the atmosphere.  As the sun disappears, it becomes chillier and I realize I should probably get going…

My thoughts snap back to reality and reluctantly I turn my eyes away from the picture and continue studying, full of new energy ;)

Language Holidays in Ireland

In 2011 I spent two weeks in Ireland. A friend and I flew to Dublin and subsequently went to Galway, which is located on the west coast of the Emerald Isle, by bus. There, we spent our language holidays that were organized by “LISA! Study abroad” (in German the organization is called: LISA! Sprachreisen)

In case any of you is thinking about attending language classes abroad, I would like to tell you about my experiences and share my thoughts about language holidays:

+ school

One day after our arrival in Galway we had to take a “placement test” and were assigned to different classes, according to our level of English. Throughout the next two weeks, we attended classes before and after lunch, usually starting at about 9 am and ending at 5 pm (with two breaks in-between). From my point of view, the English lessons were very beneficial, especially in terms of improving my English speaking skills. We did a lot of fun speaking exercises and also extended our vocabulary on various topics like cars, food or law.

+ meet many people from different countries

In the course of my two weeks in Ireland I met students from Spain, Brazil, Russia and Italy and I am still in contact with some of them.

+ get to know locals

Concerning accommodation, we were given two options – we could either stay at a youth residence together with all the other language students or we could stay with a host family. I think everybody has to decide for themselves what suits them best. However, personally I would recommend the latter. I chose to stay with a host family and I gained some precious insight into the life of a “modern Irish women”. My host mother was a single mum and even though she did not spend too much time with her “host children” (I stayed at her house together with a Spanish and an Italian girl), she was really nice, told some interesting stories and would help us solve any kind of problem. Another advantage was that I was forced to speak English, while in a students' residence I would probably have met some German speaking people and would have spoken German to them.

+ afternoon activities

After class we could participate in organized activities, like for example going to the movies, bowling, seeing a Greyhound race or party in a disco on the campus. Admittedly, the disco was not what one would have expected by Austrian standards, since no alcohol was sold there and it closed at about 11 pm, but still it was a lot of fun, especially because the hot-blooded students from Italy and Spain showed off some amazing dance moves.

+ weekend trips

On the weekends some optional trips to sights like Bunratty Castle, the Cliffs of Moher or the Aran Islands were offered. If you ever visit Galway, a trip to the Aran Islands is an absolute must! They lie just off the West Coast of Ireland in Galway Bay. Exploring one of the islands by bicycle is a great opportunity to take in the typical Irish landsacape consisting of green meadows, low stone walls and sheep. Also, it is an amazing experience to stand on top of the steep cliffs and look down at the rough sea. In addition, visitors of the Aran Islands can get a taste of the traditional Celtic culture, since Irish is the main language spoken on the islands and the rugged natural beauty and thatched cottages really take you back to Ireland in Celtic times.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

 „I can’t believe the news today
Oh I can’t close my eyes and make it go away
how long, how long must we sing this song?...“

I am sure most of you know these lyrics. They belong to the famous song „Sunday, Bloody Sunday“ by U2. When I first heard this song, it did not have any meaning to me – I just found it was a really catchy song. However, after having learnt about the song’s background in my English class at university, it will never sound the same to me. That is why I would like to make you familiar with the reason why “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” was written; with the sad story that its lyrics tell.  

The song is about Sunday, January 13^th 1972. The period from the late 1960s until the end of the 20^th century was a time of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland. This conflict is also known as The Troubles. Basically, the reason for this conflict were tensions between the protestant and catholic inhabitants of Northern Ireland. While the protestant majority of NI mainly wanted it to remain part of the United Kingdom, the Catholic minority wanted NI to become part of the Republic of Ireland. This is why Northern Irish Protestants were also called unionists or loyalists and the Catholics, on the other hand, were called nationalists or republicans.  

In 1968, Northern Ireland had been ruled by a majority of unionists for over fifty years. The parliament’s attempts to solve social and political problems, such as institutional discrimination against Catholics, were too slow for nationalists and too quick for many unionists. This gave rise to violence between the two groups.

On  Sunday, January 13^th 1972 a peaceful Civil Rights March, that was part of a campaign for equality between Protestants and Catholics, was organized in Derry. Since the protestors were redirected by the British Army, they could not reach their original destination. However, some teenagers tried to get there nevertheless and on their way they threw stones at the police. The police started using water cannons, tear-gas and rubber balls against the rioters, but soon the situation got out of hand and the Parachute Regiment started firing against the crowd. As a result, 13 unarmed civilians were killed. 

Understandably, the Irish population was shocked facing such violence. As a consequence of the events of “bloody Sunday”, the nationalist’s resentment and  hostility towards the Army grew and the conflict between the two Northern Irish communities deteriorated. 

The Troubles are generally seen as having ended with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. 


Maybe now you see why this song gives me chills every time I hear it. The sad truth is that the starting lines of “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” contain so much truth. Every day the news tell us about shootings, killings, fights or terrorist attacks. And sadly, Bono is also right by saying we become immune to all of this. Since we read about new atrocities every day, we  start looking away.

What makes such conflicts even worse is when they are seemingly fought over religion. I really find it terrible and very sad that people in power often use religion to divide people. Because after all, you don’t have to be a genius to understand that all religions have one basic idea in common - compassion. Sadly, most of the events we hear about on the news do not have anything to do with this principle. 

What is Register?

Register in the linguistic sense is the style of language that is appropriate in a particular situation. Each and every person uses different registers in their lives, and often we do not even have to think about it. After all, it seems perfectly logical to use different words and grammar when writing a letter to a friend, a job application or when talking to a university professor.

Register affects grammar and style as well as word choice. Some words, for instance, can be categorized as informal, neutral or formal. For example, the words kids (informal), children (neutral) and offspring (formal) refer to the same people, but set up a different general atmosphere for the conversation.

For language students in particular, it is highly important to study the register of new words, since people are usually expected to use the correct register in each situation. Mixing registers or choosing the wrong register might result in amusement, confusion or, in the worst case, misunderstandings and offense.

I found two examples which illustrate the importance of register fairly well.

The first video shows a scene from the movie “My Fair Lady” (starring Audrey Hepburn). The plot is about the young Cockney flower girl Eliza. One day she meets the phonetics professor Higgins, who is disgusted by her accent and declares, he can turn her into a lady by teaching her how to “speak properly”. In the scene I chose Higgins takes Eliza to a horse race in Ascot. He has already taught her polite manners, how to pronounce English perfectly and bought her a beautiful dress, but the words she uses and the topics she talks about give her away and let the members of high society know that she is not one of them.   

In this clip from the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” Will Smith has an interview for Princeton University. However, he is not really interested in going to Princeton and therefore simply acts naturally. Whereas the representative of Princeton University uses very formal English, Will talks to him as he would talk to a friend, rather than to an authority. 

Sleeping Bear Dunes

In 2012 I visited some distant relatives who live in Michigan, more precisely in Traverse City, which is located on the “pinky and ring finger of Michigan” (if you imagine Michigan as a hand). Since one of my relatives had worked as a ranger in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore before he retired, my relatives took me to some extraordinary places in this area.

The National Park’s name derives from a Native American legend about two small islands that are located in lake Michigan, close to the shore of the National Park. According to the legend, a mother bear and her two cubs had to flee from a raging forest fire and as a result they were forced to swim across lake Michigan. The bears swam for many hours and eventually the two cubs became tired and slowed down. When mother bear finally reached the shore, she was very worried and desperately waited for her cubs to appear. However, the cubs were too tired to continue and drowned not far from the shore. The Great Spirit Manitou created two islands to mark the spot where the cubs drowned and a single sand dune to mark the place where their mother had been waiting for them.

In the course of a week I was given chance to explore this NP and I visited several memorable places, most of which are located at the shore of lake Michigan. It was amazing to stand in the yellowish, warm sand, looking at the light blue sky and seeing the sun’s reflection in the clear blue water. I was gazing towards the horizon, unable to spot the opposite shoreline.  

If any of you ever gets the chance to visit this part of Michigan, take it! Climb on the edge of a sand dune, enjoy the view, revel in the moment and experience the perfect mix of clear, blue water, golden sand, immense dunes, bluffs  and green forest.

You can find more information about the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on this website:

http://www.nps.gov/slbe/index.htm