Why I Do not Laugh at My Aunt Anymore (Extra Blog)

The mediated popular culture – our everyday objects, actions, events, and even people (Sellnow, 2011) – play a powerful role in perpetuating society norms and values to the unaware audience (Sellnow, 2011). Amongst others, music videos are very important in our society of appearance, and they are accessible at any time to everyone who has a television (channels like MTV) or a computer (web sites like YouTube). Thus, many scholars took an interest in studying music videos and their effects on people. Here, I wanted to quickly point out two elements related with how we perceive relationships, and with the increasingly acceptance of date rape.

Enrique Iglesias and Chiara in “Taking Back my Love,” Adam Levine (Maroon 5) in “Misery” or Eminem and Rihanna in “I Love the Way You Lie” are examples of celebrities that chose to portray insane relationships in their music videos. In “Taking Back my Love” and “I Love the Way You Lie,” we can notice how the violence brings sensuality and passion (Araüna, 2012), as if fighting could be exciting… Integrating images of a relationship where the two partners are brutal and suffer has bad consequences. It can make people think that violence and pain are components of a normal relationship (Araüna, 2012). Imagine a teenager who watches those clips. He is still integrating social elements that will permit him to live in a society, and he has not great critical faculties yet. He is then more likely to retain the information conveyed in the videos (violence and pain are normal). Another very interesting element I have to point out is that “Taking Back My Love” and “I Love the Way You Lie,” which are mostly romantic-oriented, depict women as victims, while in “Misery,” which tend to be more humoristic, the woman is the one who has the power (Araüna, 2012). Yes, gender roles are usually very traditional.

Music videos can also contribute to maintain the “rape culture” we live in. Indeed, by being desensitized about sex and rape (Smith and Boyson, 2002), and objectifying women (Aubrey, Hopper Mbure, 2011), people – both genders – are less empathic and are more judgmental toward a victim of rape (Aubrey, Hopper Mbure, 2011; Burgess and Burpo, 2012; Enck and McDaniel, 2012). In other words, we are more likely to think that the woman probably acted like a vamp, so the man – incapable of controlling himself – had to have sex with her (Aubrey, Hopper Mbure, 2011). Music videos are commonly made in the same mold that corresponds to the male gaze, where hypersexualized women are a mean for men to achieve all their fantasies (Aubrey, Hopper Mbure, 2011). Popular culture thus may send “the incorrect message that rape is an oops on the boy's part” (Pearson, 2000) and it is, after all, the women’s fault. To illustrate it, we can think of an episode of the old seasons of Beverly Hills 90210. In the show, Steve forced Lauren to have sex with him. When she told her friends what happed – and called the incident a “date rape” – nobody believed her (Pearson, 2000). She finally forgave Steve, and the rape was never truly called a “rape.” The male character “was [even] portrayed as confident and popular, incredulous of her accusation, and unaware of his behavior” (Pearson, 2000).

Exactly like the Disney movies case, we have to be aware of the information conveyed in music videos, and we need to be more judgmental regarding them. I remember having laughed about one of my aunts who forbade her children to watch MTV, or some movies with explicit content. You know what? Now, I understand why, and I take it seriously. Issues like domestic violence, rape, or stalking are too common to be taken lightly...