Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Like A Boy
This video is just for fun. I actually haven't gotten to this week's readings yet, but I can anticipate a loose connection. Or, the video will at least make for an interesting conversation piece at some point in the semester. This is Ciara's music video for "Like A Boy," which, if I might be frank, is quite possibly the sexiest video ever made. Talk about a messy network of erotic gazes and racialized gender performances, all of which is only further complicated by rumors of Ciara being a lesbian (did she or didn't she 'get her freak on' with Missy Elliot?). Perhaps Reggie Bush's 'innocuating' presence (insofar as he thwarts the possibility of a completely homosocial screen space) was a must for those concerned with her public persona.
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4 comments:
to put it academically, I EFFING LOVE THIS SONG AND IT HAS BEEN MY JAM FOR THE PAST TWO MONTHS.
This video is undeniably amazing for many reasons but it also may be an interesting project to interrogate the different strategies of performance that enable these “rumors” to circulate about her sexuality. In what ways (possibly) do Ciara’s athletically svelte physique (and the frequent exposure of flesh), long hair, and excessively made up face in this video successfully diffuse any homosexual anxiety or panic. Her female masculinity is channeled into generalized female empowerment ala Madonna through not only the gendered ambiguity but also the ambiguous modes of address. Anyone would/could want Ciara “playin for their team” (I know I would).
On a side note, after watching the video (more than once) I was struck by the choreography for many reasons. Ciara’s impressive skills aside, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the moves of our lovely divas of the past few decades (Madonna, Janet, MJ). It turns out that Tina Landon, who did the choreography for Janet’s work also has helped out on a lot of Ciara’s videos, though I cannot say how much for certain.
I'm not sure that I would align Ciara's performance here along the same lines as Madonna's "female empowerment." There is some commodity lesbianism at work here, for sure, but I think different registers are being touched upon than, say, "Open Your Heart" (a la Bordo), or the Britney-Madonna 'moment.' I think part of what makes this video so titillating and perhaps weighted with a different set of cultural significations is that Ciara is couched by number of black female masculinities being performed among the backup dancers, who aren't hyper-feminized (but hey, it's not like there aren't lipstick dykes in the world). But, I think this video isn't just 'playing' with gender freely, but does in some way speak to categories of butchness, however tired queers are with this category, that still carry a particular valence in lesbian of color communities. But I'm totally trailing off into abstractions and formalist readings, and am feeling especially interpellated by Bordo right now.
That aside, Tina Landon 'til I die! She's another I always wanted on 'the team,' or at least I always wanted her bob in the 7th grade.
Holy god. Wow! Apart from obvious undertones of lesbianism, I have to say that I was mesmerized by "cross-dressing" black women dancing in very masculine coded performances. Way to reclaim mainstream hop-hop dance for women everywhere! Finally black woman aren't relegated to simple tits and ass shaking in the background. And Ciara's masquerade in a suit could definitely be paralleled to a modern day Dietrich!
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