Popular Culture as Resistance

Resistance• The bulk of our studies this semester

have emphasized the relationship between popular culture and social inequality:– In some cases, we have found that

inequalities in popular culture are a reflection of inequalities that are produced elsewhere

– In other cases, we have found that popular culture itself can be a tool by which inequalities are produced

Resistance

• But it could be a mistake to assume that popular culture can only create or affirm inequality

• It may also be possible for popular culture to be used as a tool for fighting against these inequalities—a tool of resistance

• Today, we will focus on the use of popular culture to resist messages that reproduce inequalities (content level)

• On Wednesday, we will focus on the use of popular culture to resist inequalities in cultural production (industry level)

What is Resistance?

• Resistance, for our purposes today, is any action that seeks to counter the prevailing cultural trends—particularly those trends that create inequality along lines of class, race, gender, sexuality, or disability status.

• Acts of resistance may engage a number of tools, including popular culture.

• I want to suggest 4 types of resistance that we can look for…

4 Types of Resistance1. Defensive Resistance: an act that

protects the individual from the prevailing trends, but leaves the trend in place.

– The individual creates a wall of protection around herself:

– Example: Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Record LabelCultural Trend

Individual

4 Types of Resistance2. Offensive Resistance: These are acts

that do more than simply protect the individual. These acts demand social change.– The individual or group goes on the

offensive and demands that the prevailing trends be altered

– Example: Documentary Supersize Me, which demanded certain changes by McDonalds

Cultural Trend Individual

4 Types of Resistance3. Failed Resistance: An act is undertaken with a

goal of resistance, but that act becomes re-defined as something other than resistance.– Isolation: No audience. Nobody pays attention.– Absorption: The act of resistance just becomes one

more available genre. Ms. Becomes just one more magazine to choose from on the newsstand.

– Division: The resistance community becomes divided within itself, as with East Coast/West Coast rap divides, or battles between gay/lesbian ideology and queer ideology.

– Appropriation: The language of resistance becomes mainstream, such as the ad that Jean Kilbourne refers to for flavored douches with the caption “Relax and Enjoy the Revolution.”

4 Types of Resistance4. False Resistance: Acts that look like

resistance or are presented to us as resistance, when in fact their source is the very cultural trend they claim to resist.– For example, Madonna’s video for

“Justify My Love” which looked like resistance against the restrictions of the music industry but which actually produced enormous profits for Madonna and the corporation promoting her.

Resistance: A Case Study

• We are going to examine two songs that seem to be forms of resistance

• The cultural trend they are resisting is the set of messages about women that are communicated through music and music videos

• The two songs:– “Video” by India.Arie– “Your Revolution” by Sarah Jones

(distribute lyrics)

“Video” by India.arie

• First single released from her first album, Acoustic Soul

• Released in 2001

“Your Revolution” by Sarah Jones

• Jones is a poet and actress who recorded this piece in 1999 (and performed it on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam).

• When radio station KBOO-FM in Portland, Oregon played the track on the airwaves, it was fined $7000 by the FCC because of the song’s “unmistakable patently offensive sexual references”

• Thereafter, no other stations would play “Your Revolution”

• With the help of People for the American Way, Jones and KBOO-FM sued the FCC in 2002 and won their case in 2003, forcing the FCC to reverse its decision

• Jones is now performing her one-woman show “Bridge and Tunnel” on Broadway. Her producer is Meryl Streep.

Comparison

• Do these songs seek similar goals? • How do they differ? Do the

differences matter?• What kinds of resistance are these?• Do the songs work?• Which song is the most powerful?• Which song reaches the most

people?

Analysis• Message strength varies inversely with

audience size– The stronger a message of resistance is, the

smaller its audience will be– Put differently, the less a producer of

resistance culture cares about audience size, the stronger her message can be

– But toning down a message can have the effect of broadening the audience

– “Video” reaches a large audience with a comparatively weak message

– “Your Revolution” offers a strong message to a comparatively small audience