I have never paid much attention to the song "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke, mainly because I didn't like the song when it came out. The main reason why I never listened to it was because I thought it was annoying since all he sang was "I know you want it" over and over again. And trust me, I really don't want it. I'll admit that the song has a catchy beat to it that can get stuck in your head for days unfortunately. Also, I have never watched the music video before we saw it in class. My initial response is that I wasn't surprised at all by the content of the video. There are tons of music videos like that now a days. So I was pretty much expecting it when it was played in class. However I was surprised by some of the things in the two essays.
The first article was by Tricia Romano and is titled "Blurred Lines...Is Kind of Rapey." Since I have never really listened to the song this article pointed out a lot key lyrics that help tell what the song is about. One of the people that commented on this song in the article was a Canadian model by the name of, Amy Davison. “The women are clearly being used as objects to reinforce the status of the men in the video. The men have all the control and status because they are not vulnerable—they are completely covered. Whereas the women have no status and are totally open to be exploited ogled and used,” she said. “It doesn’t jibe with me.” I will definitely agree with this statement. I think having the women half-naked degrades them to nothing, while the men are in full clothing which makes them look like they have all the power. But I did not agree with the view that the song was "rapey." I think the song is meant to be more about temptation instead of sex without consent.
The second article was by Jennifer Lai and was called "'Blurred Lines' is Cocky, Yes. But Rapey, No." Lai took a position that I supported in the paragraph before. Yes, the song is demoralizing women. But, it is not "rapey." She also pointed out exactly why the song is not "rapey." "I know you want it" chorus isn't creepy, let's do a closer reading of the other lyrics. The end of the chorus goes: "The way you grab me/ must wanna get nasty/ go ahead, get at me." The last part, "go ahead, get at me" very clearly kills any "rapey" vibe. If you look at all of the lyrics they definitely aren't the kind I would want my kids listening to but they do not show any signs of rape at all.
I also find it interesting that of all of the songs there is to listen to, we pick this particular song to judge the lyrics and music video. There are so many worse songs than this one! And yet no one wants to bring those to attention? I wonder why it was this song that the media chose to heavily discus instead of the ones that are more degrading and inappropriate.
