- In this article, Bell Hooks writes that Beyonce’s Lemonade album should’ve done a better job with black empowerment. Hooks explains that Beyonce made Black women very violent and over-sexualized. Beyonce had many videos in this instance. Hooks explains that the lyrics could’ve been represented better and with more women black empowerment. in order to bring in the audience, she starts by giving positive critique and then goes to a little bit more negative. She does think Beyonce is making women feel more powerful but she would’ve used better strategies. She had explained that the video “Hold Up”, was very violent and unnecessary. Beyonce was hitting cars and store windows with a bat. I think the purpose of doing so its to show that she is angry that her husband is cheating on her. The lyrics say so so; “Hold up they don’t love you like you”. She doesnt understand how her husband chose another woman when that was her only man in her life. Beyonce showed her love and her husband passed boundaries. I personally believed Beyonce’s Lemonade album was empowering and made me feel powerful. I felt her feelings towards her husband’s affair and how she was so hurt. She explained her feelings really well and the videos made me like the music even more. I felt like a boss b*tch singing to her music. In one of the songs, “Hurt Yourself”, she says “You aint married to no average b*tch boy, you can watch my fat ass twist boy, while bouncing to the next d*ck boy”. In these lyrics, she explains that she can leave her husband for dis valuing her worth. She knows she is a queen. She knows that she can get another man that will treat her the right way. Her words inspire me to never settle for less and never lower my worth for a man.
- The genre of this article is a movie review with the author’s own opinion and analysis. The audience is anyone who has watched Black Panther and those who think Black Panther was revolutionary for African Americans. I think this piece is trying to evoke those to realize that Black Panther was more racist than it was revolutionary. He compares and contrast the relationship between T’Challa and Eric to Thor and Loki. He explains that Loki was given many chances even after almost killing his brother Thor and killing millions of people. Eric tries to bring power to African Americans and get the throne, he gets killed in one movie. This is obviously ridiculous to the author because why should Loki be alive and Eric not. All Thor does to Loki is a small slap on the wrist and he continues to go along with this shenanigans. The author than continues to compare shows like Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. Luke Cage also had to kill a relative in the show due to major conflict. The author is just asking why do these black men always lead to violence to fix these issues while white characters are saved and still alive. The author argues that when T’Challa offers Eric another chance at life and he says no, because he knows he’ll be incarcerated. Why does he have to live that way. It seems in the movie they make black men who relate to Eric, a black man who has lived in poverty and had walked a “bad” path, as villains and not fit for Wakanda. It just shows that Black Panther was not revolutionary and rather disrespectful to African Americans. I think this article was very eye opening because I had thought the movie was very revolutionary but to actually analyze other films and compare to Black Panther, it needed a lot more work. In another perspective though, marvel movies typically go in order as the comic book, so there wasn’t much to be done. If they would’ve kept Eric alive, comic book fans would be upset at the change. It’s difficult to please all.
- Amanda Stenberg’s purpose of the video “Don’t Cash Crop on My Corn Rows” is to bring people to a realization that cultural appropriations are occurring in hip hop and media. She backs up her purpose by mentioning artists like Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Kesha, etc. Stendberg says that white artist uses black hairstyles and characteristics of black culture and use it in their videos and posts. The audience of this video will be those who want to learn what cultural appropriation is and how it’s being done day-to-day. The visuals are proof of her claims. She is citing her words with real-life examples of white artists. These visuals help the audience believe her claims and further be persuaded. Cultural appropriation occurs in every aspect of the world. It happens with music, fashion, and art. Fashion designers create shows that have models wearing headdresses. It’s a disrespect to Native American culture. To wear a headdress is to represent power and respect to their community, not for money or a model walk. “Influencer’s” would tan their skin to look nowhere near their skin colors. They would go as far as looking like a different race. This is called black face. It’s a cultural appropriation for people of color. These non-black influencer’s try to look like these people of color, which is disrespectful and makes them look ridiculous. Cultural appropriation can also relate to gender and sexuality. Films where the plot consists of a character being gay or trans, the actors chosen for the films tend to be straight in real life. There are so many LGBTQ people who would more than like to represent who they are and their story. For example, in the movie “The Danish Girl”, Eddie Redmayne, a straight man, plays the role of a trans girl. In “Call Me By Your Name”, straight actors Armie Hammer and Timothee Chalamet, have a romantic relationship.
