I found this article in The New York Times about researchers who have opened the door to editing unwanted memories. Immediately, one of my favorite movies, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind came to mind. I know that this is not exactly in the realm of this blog, but I just had to share this with my loyal readers.
I am on the fence with a future that provides such procedures, but I understand the possible benefits of it. Nevertheless, the film gives us the opportunity to begin to think about how powerful memories can be and whether or not is it possible to interfere with them.
Click to see the a paper of mine on Michel Gondry’s BEAUTIFUL film after the jump
below is the introduction to my newest paper on profanity… any thoughts?
In her essay “Dirty Words,” Luisa Valenzuela writes, “the mouth was and continues to be the most threatening opening of the feminine body.” Although some who have the image of vagina dentata in their minds may disagree, Valenzuela’s statement provokes a worthwhile discussion on female language. Certainly female discourse has changed over the years but there are still barriers that have yet to be broken. In particular, there is continued widespread unease with women’s use of obscene language and even men’s use of it in front of women. However, there have recently been movements to recreate the space of profanity and other obscene language by women claiming it as their own and even creating female-centric obscenities. By first looking at examples of women who use “masculine” obscene language, this paper aims to analyze the success of this method. Mainly, is it possible that women can “upset the core of phallogocentric, paternalistic discourse” by using something a language initially created to demean them? The argument will then turn and focus on the creation of a new language of profanities that aims to replace the male obscenities and empowers women.
“Whoredom has existed, in various guises, for thousands and thousands of years. A main artery of the Goddess’s lifeforce, it is too powerful to annihilate.”
-Inga Muscio from her book cunt: a declaration of independence
It is definitely worth noting that in this group, Lil’ Kim uses the most swear words. She leads the pack with seven swears whereas second place belongs to Notorious B.I.G. with only three. In fact, with the exception of one fuck by Puff Daddy, it is not until she enters the song at 2:47 that swearing really begins.
Looking at this video through the lens of Karyn Stapleton’s paper “Gender and Swearing: A Community Practice” we can look at Lil Kim engaging in this aggrestive behavior to transgress the stereotype and expectations of femininity. Whereas women’s language behavior is pigeon holed as being “deferent, polite, nururing, and oriented towards the needs and feelings of others.” (Stapleton, ##) By forgoing all of these attributes, Lil Kim chooses to distance herself from the female behavior stereotype. In adopting the aggressive language of swearing, she constructs a masculine identity for herself.
I figured that I would post the lyrics to Lil’ Kim’s verse in “It’s All About the Benjamin’s.”
I’ll be back soon to discuss what it means that she uses the most swear words out of all the other artists in the song.
Lil’ Kim – Uhh, uhh, what the blood clot?
Wanna bumble wit the bee hahh?
Bzzzzt, throw a hex on a whole family (yeah, yeah yeah)
Dressed in all black like the oman (say what? )
Have your friends singin this is for my homey (thats right)
And you know me, from makin niggaz so sick
Floss in my 6 with the lex on the wrist
If its murder, you know she wrote it (uh-huh)
German luger for your ass bitch, deep throated
Know you wanna fill the room cause its platinum coated
Take your pick, got a firearm you shoulda toted, suck a dick
All that bullshit you kick, playa hatin from the sideline
Get your own shit, why you ridin mine? (uh-huh)
Im, a goodfella kinda lady
Stash 380s and mercedes, puffy hold me down baby!
Only female in my crew, and I kick shit
Like a nigga do, with a trigga too, fuck you
At the end of her verse, Lil Kim raps that she is the “Only female in my crew,” which gives the reader a potential opening to read into her choice of language, presentation of herself, and the lens with which she is portrayed in the video. Early in his career, Puff Daddy (as he then referred to himself) often recorded songs that included many contributors, which led to the creation of “the family.” This loosely defined group that was assembled for Puff Daddy’s debut album “No Way Out” included performers like Notorious B.I.G., Mase, and Carl Thomas. Although she is not the only female contributor, Lil’ Kim appears on multiple songs in the album and is the only female in the particularly crew assembled for “It’s All About the Benjamins.”
My professor suggested that I check out Puff Daddy’s video for All About the Benajmins as material for my profanity paper because of Lil Kim’s role in the song and video. One of Lil’ Kim’s lines is ”Only female in my crew, and I kick shit / Like a nigga do” and it really opens the channel for analysis of what Lil’ Kim must do to compensate for being the only female in this male dominated arena of rap and this particular song and video filled with men.
This is the first post in what will be a series that really digs into this song and video. I plan on analyzing the scoptophilic aspect of the video and reading implications of Lil Kim’s choice of lyrics.
“Voyeurism is perceiving something as a straight visual image and translating it to what’s actually happening in your own mind and applying those thoughts to what you’re seeing visually, allowing you to read what you want into any situation. Even though my picture of Brooke is a very straightforward portrait or head shot or beauty shot and because of who she is, one can create a voyeuristic fantasy about that person in the same way as what your media has created as well. Then, again, I think it depends on how much those images appeal to you” (27).
-Mike Donnelly from his essay “Media as Voyeurism” from Scopophilia: The Love of Looking edited by Gerard Malanga.
In his essay, Donnelly discusses the effect of looking at Brooke Shields in his image but also looking at the young woman as she stands in front of him. Full of personality and exuding a comforting childishness about her, the real life Shields is very different from the one depicted in his images. For each person, an image can mean very different things. Although people can see through their eyes the very same image, the perception of it changes when their minds begin to translate it. This allows people, as Donnelly says, “to read what you want into any situation.”
“The fear manifested by primitive or superstitious persons at the thought of having their likeness taken is commonly explained as a dread of magic. The idea is that anyone who possesses a likeness of someone else has him in his power, for everything that he does to the likeness happens to the person himself.” (336) From Otto Fenichel’s The Scoptophilic Instict and Identification from Visual Culture: The Reader
Read with the idea of mean girls and the representations of girl cliques in the media, this quote from Fenichel becomes very pertinent in explaining the cause of the homogeneous look among a group of girls. This possession of power by looking alike works in multiple ways. By having others replicate her look, the leader of the group is able to possess power over her followers who look towards her for inspiration. It is a viewable representation of her power over the actions of the other girls. This manifestation of power can often be seen in the make-over scene where the clique transforms an outsider into one of their own. By replacing her style with their own, the group places their own likeness on her and therefore is in control of her actions.
The other way in which this works is that by replicating the leader, the followers have the ability to eventually replace her. By slowing becoming the leader, the follower can eventually “possess” her status without requiring much of a change in the social climate.
The last way that this possession of power works is that the group as a whole is able to possess power over non-group members who idolize the girls and wish to be them. For the clique, this creates a sense of power by knowing that the are able to control the actions of other girls who attempt to replicate their likeness. In the case of “Gossip Girl,” young Jenny Humprey vies to become one of the popular girls at her private Manhattan high school. Eventually, due to her scheming she is able to become the leader of the group. However, it is noteworthy that as she gains acceptance into the group, her wardrobe noticeably changes to imitate that of current group leader Blair Waldorf.
“Gender is performed by the selection of particular semiotic items encoding gender information; it is not natural or innate; it does not spring full-grown from within. Instead, it is a highly sophisticated learned behavior.”
-Anna Livia from “I Ought to Throw a Buick at You”
I found this article in The New York Times about researchers who have opened the door to editing unwanted memories. Immediately, one of my favorite movies, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind came to mind. I know that this is not exactly in the realm of this blog, but I just had to share this with my loyal readers.
It is definitely worth noting that in this group, Lil’ Kim uses the most swear words. She leads the pack with seven swears whereas second place belongs to Notorious B.I.G. with only three. In fact, with the exception of one fuck by Puff Daddy, it is not until she enters the song at 2:47 that swearing really begins.
