Thursday, March 08, 2007

essay

‘The revolution will not be televised’ was a rap by Gill Scott Heron in 1972. The rap mainly revolves about the ‘Other’ ethnic minorities, in this case Black people being under represented.

During this time the civil rights were being taken place whereby black people were treated as second class citizens. However nowadays there are many successful black entrepreneurs who have been reflected through the media, breaking away from the conformed stereo types of black people who in ‘The revolution will not be televised’ are all are referred as being savage.

Gill Scott Heron challenges the establishment of propaganda in the media, as white people oppressed the minority and limited the amount of media which represented black people. Heron made his point clear that the bad things that the minority of black people do are shown on the news, however when something good comes of them it is not ‘televised’, furthermore informing us that there is no equality between the ethnic minorities in America. This links to the effects theory as white people have oppressed the media only showing the bad side to black people leaving the audience no choice but to believe what is shown through the media. Heron try to break away from this in his song by arguing the fact that a white police shooting a black man would never be in the news enhancing the fact that there is no equality or justice between different ethnicities.

The title of the song has been repeated constantly throughout the song, this makes the song seem more political. The jazzy background and the lyrics does not conform to the typical conventions in contemporary texts nowadays as most artists just rap about money, wealth, girls and fast cars. The song challenges hegemony and the status quo whilst the rising of black power. It also differs in comparison to contemporary texts in a sense that this song is aimed at an older audience, whereas raps nowadays are aimed at a younger audience.

‘Your revolution’ by Dj Vadim ft Sarah Jones was a rap which was released in 1998. This differs from ‘The revolution will not be televised’ as in this rap she is not fighting for equality between different ethnic groups, but she is fighting for equality between man and women. As it was released in 1998 this portrays the fact that women did not completely gain their independence, and they did not break away from the stereotype that women were only seen as sex objects for the male gaze. This goes against Mulvey’s ‘gaze’ theory where by women were fetisized with phallic objects in order to fulfil the needs of male desires and anxieties.

Women in the past’s purpose was only one thing which was to cater to the males and be housewives, directly indicating that they had to do what the men told them to do leading them to be less superior to men. However Sarah Jones goes against this as she says that women are not only there to serve the males, allowing the audience to breakaway from typical stereotypes.

However in contemporary texts such as ‘Fast And The Furious’ and ‘Candyshop by 50Cent’ women are still being portrayed as passive sex objects such as putting girls on leaches and treated them like animals, furthermore portraying that women are living in a patriarchal society and are still subordinate to men. This supports Sarah Jones views in her song as her meanings covey that black people have now gained equality and they have been successful black people in music since ‘The revolution will not be televised’ however she was getting the point that women are still being treated unequally and that they are still being miss represented by portraying women negatively in the media. The males that are being represented in contemporary texts are all machismo males who for example 50 Cent are all egotistic and treat girls bad. However Sarah Jones retaliates to this as she does not like males who are like that and ‘She fakes it’.

This is similar to ‘The revolution will not be televised’ as both artists have created a political rap piece of music which was aimed to make change and both were created to break away from the conformed stereotypes, and widening the media in all areas so that it is not being oppressed giving the audience no freedom to choose what they want to believe in.

‘Your revolution’ is very post modern as she makes reference to other black artists and uses their lyrics in a sense that she is mocking what other black males are rapping about.

Both artists and songs similar in ways such as they want to break away to conformed stereotypes. However they are trying to break away from different stereotypes one is for women and the other was for black people to gain equality.

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