Linear Notes - class: AMST 205 professor: Karen Tongson This is the song assignment you will PDF

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class: AMST 205
professor: Karen Tongson
This is the song assignment you will have during the middle of the class. here is my assignment draft i submitted and i got a 95 on the final draft. It's important to use examples and quotes and really have a strong thesis. It's totally okay if y...

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From traditional beauty pageants, to the exponential rise of cosmetic enhancements, beauty has been an important factor in U.S. culture since white powders and tight corsets. For a while euro-centric beauty standards constituted the “norm,” but now with diverse representations of BLANk and BLaNK, many have succeeded in challenging and arguably changing this norm. However, regardless of what the past beauty standard was, how we define that of the present, and what the future of beauty holds, one thing remains constant. “The beauty industry and image culture of contemporary US society [uses] the concept of women’s beauty as a means of control” (Brandt & Claire p. 146). This notion of the “beauty myth” relies on pop culture to make women feel as though they are judged upon their physical appearances and therefore must somehow fix or align themselves with some “norm.” This excessive emphasis on women’s looks, keeps them distracted, concerned, and obsessed with how they can alter their looks. Furthermore, the beauty “norm” they aim to achieve is typically defined by what a man desires in a woman. Thus the beauty myth gives men an advantage not only because their physical bodies are exempt from the myth, but also because they can use it to control the power and autonomy of women. This essay explores how that is done through the analysis of popular beauty-focused songs, rhythms, lyrics, and accompanying music videos. 1. “Pretty Hurts” by Beyonce The detailed descriptions of standard beauty industry motifs in “Pretty Hurts” clearly depict the hegemony that is the media facilitating men’s ability to maintain superior body-power to that of women. Beyonce lists out the common beauty tips and standards that are never straight out advertised to us, but implied through images and videos in the media that praise certain body types and face structures, promote certain skin, body, and hair care products, and shun those that deviate from what it considers “beautiful.” “Brush your hair, fix your teeth / What you wear is all that matters… Blonder hair, flat chest / TV says bigger is better / South beach, sugar free / Vogue says / Thinner is better.” In fact, Beyoncé calls out particular forms of media--“TV” and probably the most famous beauty and fashion media outlet “Vogue”--for promoting these popular beauty myths that concern women’s bodies and facial features. Women think that because these ideologies of beauty are sold and promoted to the masses that this is how they must look, and therefore focus on their physical looks in all capacities. They are more aware than men that their looks hold value on a scale of attractiveness and thus they must invest more in their looks. This is an example of how, “subordinate groups, often distracted by the very means of their subordination, do not regularly question the system of power because it is made to seem  natural,” ( Brandt & Claire p. idk) which is the theory of hegemony. In the “Pretty Hurts” music video pageant contestants are shown frantically getting ready backstage, comparing themselves to each other, and embodying the way in which beauty ruins solidarity between women. Not only are they concerned with being considered beautiful by mean, but also being more beautiful than the next woman, which pits women against each other. This occurs as a result of the beauty myth, as women are repeatedly sold these cosmetic enhancements and tricks, yet do not question where these beauty “norms” come from, who determines them, or what gives them validity. In fact, they are all “myths--there is nothing biologically or historically true about these common stereotypes and assumptions,” ( Brandt & Claire p. 147)--about beauty. 2. “Beautiful Girls” by Sean Kingston

Despite the male upper-hand, one of the main reasons the beauty myth works, is because it insinuates that women desire beauty and men desire women who embody beauty. While this male desire is what causes the disadvantage of women’s obsession with attaining beauty in the first place, it also attributes power to those women who are portrayed and considered to be “beautiful,”--but only because men want them. Sean Kingston’s, “Beautiful Girls” portrays how this shifting of power is rejected and combatted from the male perspective. He sings, “Your way too beautiful girl / That's why it'll never work / You'll have me suicidal, suicidal / When you say it's over.” His long, dragged out notes and blues-inspired melody emphasize the longingness of a man who wants to be with a girl but choses not to because she is too beautiful. Her superfluousness of beauty is what gives her power over him. Because she is “too” beautiful he would never leave her, but she then has the power to leave him and thus he does not want her in the first place because that is too much of a power imbalance for the man. This is explained by the idea in “The Demonization of Women in Popculture” (McCullough) of the “imagined threat of female power” (p.80). As soon as females appear too powerful to a man, in this case through their beauty, men see this power as a threat and thus shut it down at all costs. Even Kingston’s mentioning of “suicidal” feelings about the beautiful woman telling him “it’s over,” implies that men would rather die than have to face subordinance of power to women or the loss of control of women’s power.  3. “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars In contrast to how a woman is “too beautiful” and rejected by men for her excessive power, a woman who can’t recognize her beauty is particularly sought after by men. Bruno Mars “Just the Way You Are” exemplifies how men are conscious of the fact that women are overly insecure and concerned with their looks. He sings, “I know when I compliment her she won't believe me / And it's so, it's so sad to think that she don't see what I see … But every time she asks me "Do I look okay?" / I say / When I see your face / There's not a thing that I would change.” Somehow women undervaluing their own looks attracts a man more, because his positive opinion of her beauty is the validation that she seeks. It empowers a man to be the one telling the woman she's beautiful and it is as if she is only made beautiful by his determination. Her asking him in the song, “Do I look okay?” perpetrates the idea that she would not know if she was beautiful if she didn’t have him to tell her. 4. “What Make You Beautiful” by One Direction Taking this idea further, One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” exemplifies just how naturalized the beauty myth makes the fetishizing of woman’s insecurities. The chanty and well-known chorus line, “You don't know you're beautiful, oh oh / That's what makes you beautiful” straightforwardly admits that a woman who doesn’t already recognize her own beauty is beautiful to men for that exact reason. Even the first two lines of the song “You're insecure / Don't know what for” are fetishising a woman’s insecurity as if it’s “cute” and “playful” to be insecure, rather than a serious topic weighing on women that needs to be further addressed in the media. But this is why the beauty myth is exactly that--a myth. “What allows the reader to consume myth innocently is that he does not see it as a semiological system but as an inductive one… the myth-consumer takes the signification for a system of facts: myth is read as a factual system, whereas it is but a semiological system” (Barthes p. 130). Women are the myth-consumers in this case and thus do not question why they are made to feel insure or even what about having insecurities makes them more attractive and beautiful. In fact, the idea that they are achieving a status of beauty and desire from men by way of

processing insecurities, perpetrates the very notion that women should continue to be insecure. Women accept that their attractiveness being based on their insecurities is factual and that in turn leads to the maintenance of their insecurities and thus subordinate position to men. So while the media encourages men to reject the superior power of a “too beautiful” woman, it attributes beauty to a woman who thinks she is “not good enough;” only when her beauty is not defined by herself, but by men and the media, is she allowed to be “beautiful.”  5. “All About That Bass” by Megan Trainor Even when women claim their own autonomy in determining their beauty and attempt to break the old-time beauty myth that thin is beautiful, they inevitably can only do so in relation to male opinions and authority. Megan Trainor’s “All About that Bass” aims to promote beauty in all body shapes and sizes by saying, “I know you think you’re fat / but I’m here to tell you / Every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top.” However her own validation of women isn’t enough and she must bring in the male opinion and perspective to hammer her point home, “I got that boom boom that all the boys chase … Yeah my momma she told me don’t worry about your size / she says, boys like a little more booty to hold at night.” Again, popculture defines beauty standards in the context of what men want in a woman. The beauty myth exists to “serve as a ‘checkmate’ on women’s empowerment” (Brandt & Clare p. 147) becasue through it women can only be defined as beautiful in relation to men’s opinions and preferences. Suddenly, because a woman fits the mold of what a man wants, she can empower herself with the confirmation and validation of her beauty. This “checkmate” on women’s empowerment is caused by the fact that they are made dependent on men to feel beautiful, by the media, which continues to coerce women into believing they must fix themselves to fit the mold of the perfect woman in a man’s eyes.

6. “Scars to Your Beautiful” by Alissa Cara An upbeat tempo, with soulful hues, and Alissa Cara’s graceful voice singing an empowering message about defying beauty standards, “Scars to Your Beautiful” appears to promote women identifying their own beauty and surpassing the beauty myth, but in actuality it puts greater emphasis on the power disparity the myth causes between men and women. When women identify their own beauty they partake in the social construct of personal identity. “Identity has personal and public dimensions; it is both how we see ourselves and how others see us. But what happens when a disconnect occurs between the two?” (Brandt & Clare p.141) A disconnect occurs between the two when Alissa Cara’s chorus cheerfully chimes, “You should know you're beautiful just the way you are / And you don't have to change a thing, the world could change its heart.” In this case “the world” refers to the media and the beauty industry, and “heart” the standard beauty norm these entities of pop culture promote. So, yes, the world “could” change its heart and perhaps it should, but the fact of the matter is that it has not, and maybe will not for a while. Thus, by encouraging women to consider themselves beautiful “just the way they are,” whether they are aligned with beauty norms or not, creates a disconnect between how women personally identify their own physical looks and how the world publically identifies their physical looks. This risk of misidentification translates into the lessening of women’s power and authority over their own social identification. On the other hand, men are physically and bodily privileged, since they are given “an advantage based on the circumstances of their birth and factors to which [they

have] no control.” (Brandt & Clare) Male bodies are exempt from the beauty myth, and this privilege is determined by the institution that is the media. 

Beauty Myth, Class, Taste => women achieving status and promotion for their looks => hegemony, trying to subliminally get people to believe in the beauty myth The perpetration and promotion of the beauty myth through pop culture, serves to uplift euro-centric beauty over anything deviant from that so and create a sort of beauty hierarchy. … serves to ensure that women are valued more for their looks and must achieve status and promotion through beauty … that you need to spend money to be beautiful => contributing to commercial america That is the way in which beauty and the beauty myth that relies on pop culture, affect the power dynamic between men and women. Furthermore, the beauty myth asserts an aggressive heteronormativity, because it only affects the binary gender model and any person deviant from that, is already outside of the scope of beauty. Concept of the beauty myth as a means to control their power and autonomy within society by keeping them distracted by how they look as a direct result of feeling judged on how they look. -

All about that bass - megan trainor => “boys like a little more booty to hold at night” again defining beauty standards in the context of what men what - Patriarchal control => “check” on womans liberties

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Crooked Smile - J. Cole => “is it real” - Idea that beauty is biologically given and anyone who doesn’t have it must go through these insane measures to achieve it => and all for a man “killing yourself for a man who would kill for you” Pretty hurts - Beyonce => “brush your hair, fix your teeth, sugar-free, TV says bigger is better” => women being sold methods to make them prettier, beauty tips and tricks => hegemony - They think because these things are sold they must use them and using them means how they look must matter and since how they look must matter they must use them => women being brainwashed into believing that they need beauty Scars to your beautiful - alissa cara => “you don’t have to change a thing the world can change its heart” => beauty comes from the world needing to change - When someone identifies themselves different then how society identifies them => there is a disconnect between the inward and outward identity which puts them at a loss of privilege - You can think that you yourself are beautiful, but at the end of the day if the world doesn’t then you’re still going to be ugly Sean kingston - “beautiful girls” => “you’re way too beautiful girl, that’s why it’ll never work, you had me suicidal when you say it’s over / damn all these beautiful girls, they only want to do you dirt, they’ll have you suicidal when they say it’s older” - Men want women who are beautiful => but a woman who is “too beautiful” is scary to them

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Men talking more physical => a girl who can’t recognize her own beauty is beautiful => men prefer girls who are concerned with their own securities and can’t recognize their own beauty or worth because it means they are easier to control. A girl who isn’t already sure/secure of her own beauty, needs a man to tell her she is beautiful and is thus it is his words that validate her. - Just the way you are => “i know, when I compliment her she won’t believe me, and it’s so sad to think that she don’t see what I see”

Brandt and Claire - social constructions of identity - he beauty myth - Biopower Barthes - myths today McCullough - the demonizing of women in pop culture...