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Here is something to consider, are artists today becoming products of cultural thievery? From Madonna to Lady Gaga their use of clothing such as scarfs covering their faces, essentially mimicking certain cultural religions. For instance Lady Gaga's recent fashion statement is reminiscent of the Burka which is religiously worn by Muslim and Islamic females. She even has a song called 'Burqa', whether this is offensive or artistic is yet to be determined. On the other hand younger generations like Miley Cyrus appropriates the black culture and Selena Gomez is inspired by the bindi wearing, arabian dress look. <br /> Are these artists using other cultures for attention and promoting their fame or is it just a gimmick?

I came across this article and it reminded me of the discussion in class where gender is fluid, it changes and what the meaning's on gender and sex were. According to article it describes a culture in Mexico where there are ''Muxes'', these are Zapotec indigenous men who dress and behave in ways associated with women. But Muxes are most commonly known as a third gender, rather than a sexual orientation. It is interesting to see that in the article the muxes aren't ridiculed in their hometown, but actually celebrated, for instance they have a party, and to the muxes themselves they see that it is ''important to have this party to rescue our culture, to rescue who we are and show the rest of the people in this city how we live our sexuality, how we exercise our rights''. On the other hand, mothers in the Juchitan area of Mexico encourage their sons of the muxe leanings because their think the ''Muxes are a blessing from God because their look after you when your sick.....''. All in all this culture in Mexico is very different and when many others see this type of identity as unusual or even disgraceful especially in more conservative places in Mexico.

I'm not sure if anyone has seen this website before but i though it was amazing with a capital 'A'!! Most of the posts are about the relationship between race and pop culture and the media. So if anyone was thinking of doing their final project with relations to race and pop culture then this is definitely a site to browse through.

Upon finding this video i thought it was quite interesting in relation to our popular culture class. Whilst social media is part of popular culture this video, 'musicalised' Twitter! In part it is satirising what twitter has become in that people write about absolutely anything and so we are becoming 'fools', also that the celebrity world (such as Lady Gaga vs Perez Hilton) can be watched in your home and you don't even have to leave your bed! However it also emphasises the positives of social media where everyone is now  ''connected far and wide''and that the world is intertwined. Therefore the message presented is that twitter is what you make it.

Best Trailer Ever! This video is a parody of the Hunger Gamer and made it into the Hungry Games.  This video can relate to the black culture discussion in class. The video uses black stereotypes and takes the mick out of what is considered 'black culture', whether it's attitude, music, style etc. Although if say a white person did this wouldn't there be backlash, so how is it okay for african americans to satirize themselves but not others?

On her show, Wendy Williams discusses racial appropriation, and how Miley Cyrus and others, have "picked up" black culture in order to be cool and make money, and then have the privilege of putting black culture away and return to whiteness when they're older.

This long - over an hour - but Dr. Dines discusses rape and porn culture and it's affect on society and the impact it has on women. I particularly thought her discussion of the Paris Hilton sex tape was relevant to our discussion about Miley Cyrus. She encourages people to "think about the trauma of being nineteen years old and that is circulating everywhere. Just for a moment what it must have felt like, and then, like most women who are traumatized," she had "two choices" to either "hide" or "decided...to embrace that trauma and 'own' it as your own....if you're going to call (Paris Hilton) a slut, then...(she'll) be the best slut you've ever met in your life". This all or nothing attitude that women in our "image based" culture must have to survive. Granted, this talk is about the porn industry, but I think a lot of it can also be used in discussions of women and pop music. Be warned, though, it does include some pretty graphic language. EDIT: Around 45 minutes in she talks about Miley Cyrus's photoshoot for Vanity Fair and the hypersexualization of young girls. It takes place before the VMAs, but she still talks about the transition from Hannah Montana to Miley Cyrus.

Following the recent spate of controversy over the sexualisation of artists in today's pop culture. Singer Annie Lennox has criticized not the artists but how musics ''market forces don't give a toss about the notion of boundaries''. However Lennox agrees with freedom of speech and expression, but it is effectively depressing to see and all the sexualised performances as just a glorified and monetized form of self harm.

This is just brilliant, Miley Cyrus needs to take an African American studies class!!  The writer first conclusion is that Miley has a 'problematic view of what "black" is'. Well all her butt shaking, drug referencing and down right attitude seems to me like she obviously knows what shes doing. This article goes into depth via an interview with an African American Studies Professor and his opinion of Miley Cyrus and how her video 'We Can't Stop', appropriates black culture.

This can relate to the class discussion on Lady Gaga's 'Telephone' music video and how there is this reversal of the black/white dynamic. This article continues to discuss how Gaga isn't oblivious to her own normativity and how she deliberately plays with her 'whiteness' but in actuality she is then oblivious to to white privilege. Thus the protagonist and in this case Gaga gets the attention while women of colour (beyonce) that are contributing to the redefinition of music and gender performances are marginalised.

An argument that Miley Cryus's VMA performance was (though unintentionally) a minstrel show that echoes the minstrelsy of the 19th century, especially performances of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." This is a heritage that we carry with us from theatre, and plays out in hollywood, such as "Orange Is the New Black" character Crazy Eyes.

Camille Paglia argues that the problem with Cyrus's performance wasn't that it was "disgusting," but rather that it was unsexy ("atrocious"), and that subversion and sexual liberation need limits and can't rely just on shock.

I might add that I think Paglia is largely right, but then again, wrong: Isn't she mis-identifying Cyrus? Cyrus was out for shock, not sexual liberation (in my reading). She's not trying to be the next Madonna. (If you read other Paglia arguments, a recurring theme is: "This new artist isn't Madonna.")

Camille Pagila is at it again! Although our class discussion is currently focused on Lady Gaga, I found this article Pagila wrote about Miley Cyrus interesting. Pagila does mention the focus on sex in the music industry and credits Madonna as the executive of such an image, in the most positive way possible. Pagila described Gaga as the striking end of sex and gender. Here, Pagila claims that pop music/culture itself is on the exponential decline. Don't forget to read the comments, they're quite amusing, actually!

Another take on Miley Cyrus and ratchet culture. Although it's clear Charlamagne's trying to be funny at points, he does raise some interesting issues concerning Miley (though, in my opinion, he's rather ignorant in the way he explains himself). He also mentions Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, and Justin Timberlake in this video.

A satirical critique on the news coverage of Miley Cyrus's performance.  It's more about using pop culture as revenue than the actual performance.

I found this article interesting not only because we have been discussing Lady Gaga as a class but this article was literally posted yesterday stating how Lady Gaga's new song isn't something to brag about and as a culture we will move on once the next shiny object appears... (Perhaps Miley???)

This article focuses on the mumblecore genre of film and discusses how it portrays youth culture and "privileged white slackers." It expands upon Halberstam's discussion of the films and gives new insight into it.

This artical discusses how Lady Gaga carefull creats her image through social media and youtube, this has enabled her to be so successfull. Lady Gaga is a brand and herself and her team work hard at promoting the brand.

I thought this music video contributed to our discussion about the theme of the coming of age, "good girl gone bad" story that is of interest in popular culture. It also comments on gender and feminism.

The Rolling Stone's interview with Miley Cyrus in which she attempts to explain her reasoning behind her VMA performance, the Wrecking Ball music video and ratchet culture.