Douglas Kellner, in his article “Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism, and Media Culture,” focuses on the representations of race, gender, and class in society, today. He acknowledges that in order to avoid focusing on one aspect of a project, a multipespectival approach that discusses production and political economy, engages in textual analysis, and studies the respection and use of cultural texts would be a rather productive way of cultural study (12).
Right from the gecko, Sisqos’ “Thong Song” illustrates a whorish representation of a woman. Dressed in “short shorts” and a bikini, she makes her way into the room the rapper is in followed by a young child, who curiously picks something off the ground. Afterwards, the music video portrays the young girl asking Sisqo, who in this case is her father, what it is she is holding. A thong is the object which she is holding, with a sense of carelessness from the lady who lay upon Sisqos bed reading a magazine and doing “her own thing.” This can be seen as degrading and inappropriate in a sense, but the production of music video itself allows this moment to be a seemingly funny situation. The introduction to this 2000 hit song most definitely grasps the viewer’s attention in a different, but smart way. Ironically, the depiction of the color white which is seen with the color of the walls, the furniture, and what Sisqo is wearing can sometimes be seen resembling virgin ideology, but in this case, it seems everything but that.
Following the opening scene of the video, a bunch of buses whom are loaded with many skinny girls dressed like they’re ready to go to a strip club in the Bahamas. These females are instantly seen as more or less sex objects to the viewer in the way they portray themselves. The producers of the video do a good job at focusing on them as well, for instance, enabling the “slow motion” effect when they are making their way off the buses. Various views are depicted, as come are seen from an angle looking upwards at the woman’s behind, while some are looking downwards. Both focus on the boobs and buttocks of the ladies, which once again reveal the importance of sex depicted in the music video. The gendered gaze is obviously visible in this music video, as the female body is consistently positioned for the pleasure of the male viewer. At this point, we can see that heterosexuality is seen as the norm in this video due to the caressing of the men seen by the women and also the amount of “booty shaking” while the men happily sit back enjoying themselves. The representation of the woman in this video resembles the inferiority that is commonly depicted in media, as well. An accurate representation of this is when the video shows the artist “walking all over the women”. As illustrated in Judith Mayne’s “Women, Representation, and Culture” article, from a “madona versus the whore” standpoint, we can surely see that the idea of the whore overwhelms and madona ideologies (162).
Alhough there is no provided evidence behind this; I can say that the intended audience is teenage girls. The artists revealing of his six-pack throughout the entire video, the social interactions between the male and female, and the overall demeanor of the video display this. His age, which is twenty-two years old in this music video, is another reason why I deem teenage girls the intended audience. The main aspect is the sexual display of women seen to be in their twenties and the fact that teenagers are more susceptible to what the video has to offer and the meaning behind it. Adults would never give this video a chance for the most part (not saying I would either, whatsoever), in the way that it’s aggressively sexual behavior and ridiculous concept altogether is just not suitable for one.
Fortunate enough for Sisqo, “Thong Song” became a hit success in 2001 and attracted a massive amount of viewers. Its popularity quickly skyrocketed, especially on MTV who soon after gave him his own show. Not only did “Thong Song” hit number 14 on the Billboard Top 100 in 2001, but he introduced the “booty dancing” aspect which thereafter became a prominent feature in many big artists’ music videos and is also still very popular today (Billboard Top). Personally, I never heard a worse song in my entire life and the fact that it won a “hip-hop” award is mind-blowing to me and showed the start in the downfall of gangster hip-hop, to a more sexually active, “money and bitches” aspect of the genre.
Works
Cited
"Bobborst.com." Billboard
Top 100 Songs of 2000. 2001. Web. 06 Mar. 2012.
Kellner, D. (2011). Cultural
studies, multiculturalism, and media culture. In G. Dines & J. Humez (Eds.),Gender, Race, And Class In
Media (pp. 7-23). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, Inc
Mayne, Judith. "Women,
Representation, and Culture." Reading Women's Live
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