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This article proposes the notion of 'plastic Orientalism' as an emergent cultural phenomenon in recent K-pop music through a textual analysis of BTS's 2018 music video 'Idol.' The music video features a yellow pavilion structure vaguely resembling the Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, but with a two-dimensional flat appearance and a derealized space imposed with computer-generated special effects. By taking a signifier conventionally coded as Oriental(ist) in dominant visual representation and returning such an image ironically with extra saturation, the yellow pavilion is characteristic of plastic Orientalism as a reflective and reflexive cultural technique that radically performs the logic of the surface. 'Idol' reclaims the overdetermined associations of 'the East' with inscrutability and excess by aligning itself with the architectural facade, offering a conception of subjectivity as routed through objecthood. I argue that plasticity as a visual rhetoric and reparative reading practice allows a renegotiation of the politics of hegemony and resistance for an ethnic-racial identity that disrupts and modulates among the discourses of Orientalism, techno-Orientalism, and ethnonationalism., 'NO MORE IRONY' WHEN THE KOREAN BOY BAND BTS MADE THEIR MUCH-ANTICIPATED. ALL-ENGLISH-language comeback with 'Dynamite' in August 2020, the single immediately debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot [...]

Although researchers have conceptualized beauty as unidimensional, modern-day cultural definitions of beauty are multidimensional. This paper focuses on two forms of mass media that play an important role in transmitting information about multiple and diverse cultural ideals of beauty-fashion magazine advertising and music videos shown on music television. We examine the overall prevalence of different beauty ideals and how these are distributed across specific vehicles within each medium. We also compare the emphasis placed on different ideals of beauty across these two communications media (print vs. television) and formats (advertising vs. entertainment). The implications of the findings for understanding the cultural construction of beauty ideals and for understanding how advertising and other mass media communications contribute to them are discussed. Several extensions of the present research are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article examines the production of patriotic music videos in post-Soviet Armenia. In particular, it deals with music videos dedicated to the heritage of Sassoun, a mountainous region in [...]

The present paper focuses on a Critical Discourse Analysis of an online discussion opposing 4chan users and pop singer Lauren Mayberry, regarding a video posted on YouTube. The lead singer of the band Chvrches gets targeted for being a feminist activist and appearing in a skimpy dress and occasionally wet hair in a music video, thus raising sexually offensive and negative comments of one of the world's most prominent online communities. This article uses a methodology combining semantics (Galatanu 2003), cognitive linguistics (Maillat and Oswald 2009) and proximization-legitimization (Chilton 2005, Cap 2014) in order to map a semantic topography of a corpus of 243 negative comments attacking Lauren Mayberry, particularly through the use of semantic nodes (Wagener 2012) and a critical discursive approach (van Dijk 1993), and the way they directly and indirectly produce semantic environments that are not always immediately accessible for the reader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effects of exposure to self-sexualization on young adults’ thoughts and beliefs about gender and sexuality. An experiment in which participants viewed music videos featuring self-sexualization of female artists (experimental) or performance-based music videos of the same artists (control) revealed that the videos primed thoughts about sex, but not power. Among men who liked the artists, watching self-sexualizing music videos predicted modern sexism and the beliefs that sex is power for women, women are sex objects, and men are sex driven. Among women who liked the artists, watching self-sexualizing music videos predicted enjoyment of sexualization. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 2009, scholars and journalists hailed YouTube remix artist Kutiman's 8-video musical opus Thru- YOU as an icon of democratic cultural production. This article builds from a close reading of those videos-and survey of press coverage and relevant scholarly literature-to ask why people attributed agency to the remixed rather than the remixer when fragments were appropriated from essentially private citizens rather than celebrities. Those fragments are analyzed through a new tripartite framework for understanding the commons as a 'goldmine,' 'pot of dirt,' and 'cutting room floor.' The concept of 'transparency' allows reconception of remix neither as 'bottom-up' cultural force nor as embodying the postmodern quality of being multiperspectival, but rather as subjugating individuals within the singular nonperspective of scientism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, a growing number of studies have shown a relationship between exposure to risk-glorifying media and risky driving perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. The present study contributes to this line of research by examining emerging adults' behavioral approach system (BAS) and behavioral inhibition system (BIS) as moderators of the relationship between music video-viewing and joyriding attitudes. A cross-sectional survey among a sample of 539 emerging adults (ages 18–24) was conducted to examine the relationships between these constructs. Advanced moderation analyses indicated that, after controlling for sensation-seeking, physical aggression, gender, BIS, and BAS, the relationship between music video-viewing and joyriding attitudes only existed for respondents with a low BIS profile. Thus, low sensitivity to punishment functioned as a condition for the relationship between music video-viewing and joyriding attitudes. Furthermore, the results provided initial evidence for the hypothesis that the relationship between sensation-seeking and joyriding attitudes is explained by respondents' BAS scores. Accordingly, it seems advisable to include BIS and BAS in future media research. The present study also has important implications for the construction and planning of prevention campaigns, which are extensively discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper discusses nihilism as it relates to contemporary urban multiculture in outer East London. It addresses how contemporary discourses on, and performances of, nihilism signal shifts in the constitution of urban multiculture. Attention is paid to acts of anti-sociability (and sociability) for what they reveal about contemporary urban rearrangement, and in particular the re-formation of urban multiculture in a moment defined by globalization, virtual communication, ethnic diversity and neoliberal marginalization. Through addressing discourses on, and performances of, nihilism the overall argument of the paper is for a renewal of the terms on which we understand and engage with urban multiculture, and for an appreciation of how relations between class, race and culture have shifted since key texts on the subject were published. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mainstream hip hop videos have long been known for their images of scantily clad women, extreme materialism, and misogynist and homophobic lyrics. In this article I focus on how rapper 50 Cent's masculinity is constructed and expressed through music, lyrics and images in his video ‘Candy Shop’ from 2005. This is a classically modelled hip hop video, replete with markers of hypermasculinity: fancy cars, ‘bling’, and lots of beautiful, sexually available women. Several scholars have discussed how women are exploited in videos like this and reduced to props for the male star. However, few have explored how this macho masculinity is constructed. Through a close reading of this video, using socio-musicology and audiovisual analysis as my approach, I propose that the macho masculinity presented here is threatened when the male body is on display, but 50 Cent reassures himself (and his audience) through selective framing, involving both other performers and the music. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the deployment of race, queer sexuality, and femme gender performance in the work of rapper and pop musical artist Nicki Minaj. The author argues that Minaj's complex assemblage of public personae functions as a sort of “bait and switch” on the laws of normativity, where she appears to perform as “straight” or “queer,” while upon closer examination, she refuses to be legible as either. Rather than perpetuate notions of Minaj as yet another pop diva, the author proposes that Minaj signals the emergence of the femmecee, or a rapper whose critical, strategic performance of queer femininity is inextricably linked to the production and reception of their rhymes. This article engages a pair of music video releases that reflect the range of Minaj's gender performances as cinematic lenses into the strategic moves that Minaj is able to make from her femmecee stance. King Nicki's hypervisibility as a black femmecee and refusal to cede to any regime of recognition confound the multiple common senses that seek to produce her as a compliant subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on Black youth culture, especially hip-hop culture, has focused primarily on the experiences of young men, with the experiences of Black girls being all but ignored. However, the recent appearance of Black women performers, songwriters, and producers in Black popular culture has called attention to the ways in which young Black women use popular culture to negotiate social existence and attempt to express independence, self-reliance, and agency. This article is an exploration of the representations of Black womanhood as expressed in the music videos of Black women performers. The author first identifies themes that reflect controlling images of Black womanhood, then those that exemplify an expression of agency, and finally those appearing ambivalent and contradictory. Overall, the music videos express how young Black women must negotiate sexuality and womanhood in their everyday lives.

A content analysis of rap music videos taken from the end of year countdowns aired on U.S. cable outlets (i.e. BET, MTV, and VH1) was undertaken. The analysis examined the body images of 258 female characters (87.6% Black, 5.8% White, 6.6% other) as a function of the thematic content in the videos (e.g., violence, sex). It was found that, overall, “thin” females were overrepresented in the videos. More interestingly, the body sizes of the female characters varied by three of the four video themes. When the music videos were high in sex, or high in materialism, women were more likely to have smaller body sizes. In contrast, when the videos were high in political awareness, women were more likely to have larger body sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the representation of adolescent pregnancy in mass media from a feminist perspective. The public debate that ensued after the 1986 release of a music video by performer Madonna that is titled "Papa Don't Preach" and the motion picture "Juno" which was released in 2007 is noted. The issue of teenage sexuality, pregnancy, and motherhood and the stereotyping of young mothers as irresponsible and selfish are mentioned. The choices challenging the fictional character Juno in the movie and the progressive representation of teen pregnancy in the music video are compared an contrasted. The discussion focuses on white, working class adolescent girls, socially acceptable behavior, and social stigmatization.

The article presents an analysis of the themes, music, photography, imagery and music which is found in the music video of singer Madonna's song "What It Feels Like For a Girl." A discussion of the ways that members of society are willing to quickly dismiss any women, including Madonna, who cross sexual and or social boundaries and challenge social gender norms despite the fact that they exist in systems of power or privilege, is presented. The role that the image of a bad girl plays in popular culture is examined.

This article examines a range of perspectives and cluster of discourses that are informed by the reading of one single video, "Toxic," performed by pop icon Britney Spears. In our investigation, we seek new directions for audiovisual analysis and attempt to explore the music text alongside symbolic meanings mediated by a video. Of particular interest are the intersection of characters played by the star with constructions of personal narrative, issues of exoticism in music, queering strategies, race and sexuality, audiovisual genealogies, and the relationship of the singing voice to song structure and meaning. We conclude that the musical interpretation of pop videos calls for a mode of analysis that reflects the multivalent and allusive nature of this audiovisual form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses on a video compact disc (VCD) entitled "Likhommai Panglong" or "The Promises of Panglong". The VCD is a collection of Shan pop music videos consisting of eight tracks and six songs about love and politics. The title of the song is a Shan nationalist ballad about a Burmese historical event in 1947 with the signing of the "Panglong Agreement" to form the Union of Burma. The VCD features images of the 1988 political uprising in Burma appropriated from existing films which contains political lyrics in Shan language that depicts the plight of the Shan people and oppression they experienced from the Burmese military regime. The production of this political VCD were done in Thailand by Shan migrants while in exile.

Michael Jackson's video, Dangerous, moves viewers beyond space and time to a liminal reality that invites the audience to identify with the music, lyrics, images, and persona of Jackson. This offers to ritually transform viewers from interpersonal and societal tensions of the 1990s to a utopian ideology that unites all peoples. Rhetorical analysis is used to uncover themes and patterns that suggest this latent ideology and create a ritual of transformation. This study uncovers the rhetorical movement of the ritual process within the video text. Jackson himself is the liminal bridge offering to move fans from victim to deity status. Ultimately, this ideology transforms Jackson as his persona is constructed, but it fails as it offers temporary solutions to tensions that reflect the status quo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous aboriginal music remains marginal to pop music TV in Australia, although some eclectic inroads are occurring. The mainstream TV competitors MTV and Rage are broadening their coverage to include crossover pop music. The greatest success was Midnight Oil's 1991 video 'Treaty' which concerned a proposed treaty to protect aboriginal rights.

Popular culture provides use with particularly compelling examples of the tension between dominance and resistance and one of the most engaging sites of such tensions is the feminist rap music video. Feminist rap music videos require the viewer to participate in their construction and analysis. This music explores tensions between black and white, male and female, in a direct and explicit fashion. For the feminist rapper, rap offers unique possibilities. Rap like all other forms of popular music, is not inherently feminist or political, and indeed some of the best known rap songs like Tone Loc's Wild Thing are obnoxiously sexist. Significantly rap involves post modernist qualities, an aspect of rap that has been ignored, perhaps because it is usually associated with white high masculine culture. To appreciate feminist rap videos, the viewer must first redefine the idea of a text, expanding it to include a multitude of nonverbal signs and freeing it from monologic and auteurist assumptions. Rap like other popular culture forms, can be usurped by feminists. In fact certain qualities of rap make it particularly suitable for feminist purposes. Because rapper endemically focus on themselves, once the performer is female, she can use this self-promotion without altering the musical form.

The article focuses on music video as a form of the adolescence of post-modernism. Topics addressed include semiotic and aesthetic questions raised by music videos, ways in which music video challenges the distinction between television and video art, and elements hybridized by the music video. Also addressed are the shift in the relation between nature and culture and postmodern aesthetics.

Deals with a study which explored the sociological implications of the epistemological content of popular culture productions with emphasis on music videos. Content analysis, deconstruction and cultural hermeneutics;Types of themes and topics depicted in music video productions.

High school, younger college, and older college subjects rated explicit, neutral, or Christian television music videos according to theme clarity/recognition and whether the respective videos were liked/disliked. Subjects of each age group were able to recognize the themes of each music-video category with a high degree of accuracy. Younger subjects and males were found to rate the music videos, especially those selected for explicitness, more favorably than older or female subjects. Sociocultural background factors were also found to be related to recognition and ratings of the television music videos. In particular, working class background subjects, subjects who watched music videos regularly, and those that seldom or never attended church rated the music videos, especially the explicit ones, more favorably than subjects from a college town background, subjects who seldom or never watched music videos, and subjects who regularly attended church. These findings were interpreted in terms of media-based social influence processes and reciprocal determinism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the ways in which the music video can be appropriated for explicitly feminist concerns. Right of women to determine their own sexuality; Inaccuracy and inadequacy of regarding popular culture as a source of only the objectification and subordination of women; Ways in which music videos are a potent form of social construction for women and minorities.

Examines how the success of female singers in the country music industry and the way women are portrayed in music videos affects the image of women in the United States. Research indications on how music videos influence the view on women; Progressive and stereotypical portrayals of women; Ratio of male to female artists' videos; Difference of country videos in portraying gender roles.

Examines the content of music videos from three types of music networks in the United States, to determine patterns of occurrence and co-occurrence of sexual and religious imagery. Background on the method used; What results indicated.