Of course we all heard about this years MTV's Video Music Awards and the scandal that happened involving a Mr. Kanye West and poor Taylor Swift.
Yet,why is it important you might wonder? It's important because of the backlash that has occurred from it which has turned this event into a pop culture moment and a mass media blow up that event got the President of the United States involved.
This year at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards Taylor swift, a popular country singer, was awarded with the moon man for the best female video. Taylor seemed surprised and even shaken by the fact that someone who was not a "pop" artist would be considered good enough to win the award. I think it's important to note this lack of confidence by Taylor Swift since why would someone with talent think that she didn't deserve to win an award? Could it be the media who makes it seem like country artists are not mainstream enough or pretty enough or talent enough to win? While I am not a Taylor Swift fan or a fan of country music in general I really do not think anyone should question their ability to win at something, especially if they were voted to win the award. While this is not the important moment it is crucial to remember that Taylor was already nervous which may have added to the backlash from the event.
While delivering her acceptance speech Kanye West, another popular rap artist, jumping onto stage and stole the mic from Taylor Swift and then felt compelled to comment "Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'ma Let you finish, but Beyonce has one of the best videos of all time!" which turned quickly to a stunned and humiliated Beyonce and a booing crowd. To watch her response and her expression here is the clip of the event:
So why would something like a simple comment and a pop artist have to do with regards to the media? The backlash. The very night and next morning came a flurry of blog post, vblogs, and internet memes (which are units of cultural ideas presented through speech and pictures. For the internet it is visually based) and even the President Obama speaking out by calling Kanye an ass. But why would Kanye wish to put his career into jeopardy? Why would someone who is a multinational selling artist threaten his reputation just to let everyone know his opinions? I believe this ties into the concept of male masculinity and Kanye's need to feed his own ego by becoming a figure of anti-authority.
By jumping onto stage Kanye defied the rules and violated social norms about respecting people when they are talking. Instead of blogging or expressing personal opinions in private he choose to assert his masculinity by demanding the mic and embarrassing Taylor Swift in front of the nation. He used his own masculinity to present Taylor Swift as weak since she was not able to defend herself or comment back which was what his comment accomplished. So how does mass media react to this? By of course commenting on Kanye's comment! The internet exploded with comments from popular internet bloggers and vblogs and even nation wide TV programming in response to this famous saying. In fact the internet actually went to embrace Kanye's need to repeatedly act like an ass and made him into a meme. By editing and using this famous line people created new ways of commenting on the event by the use of humor. But what does humor do? Dose this make Kanye's actions ok? Like in the Jackson Katz video "Wrestling with Manhood" does using humor and entertainment make Kanye's need to push his masculinity perfectly fine? How can we as people and pop culture consumers stand for this? It's important to ask these kinds of questions since Kanye continues to be the anti-authority bad boy of the pop world.
Well whether you think he's an ass, an idiot, or whatever else I'd like to present to you some of the best Imma let you finish memes courtesy of the interwebs, I hope you find some of them a bit funny:
I am so glad that you posted this topic. I had not seen it yet and I think that he is very rude and his behavior was unacceptable. Why does he think that he has the right to go and take another artists joy away from them? Is it because he makes money? Why do people feel validated that they have the right to treat others this way? I remember watching him last year accept an award and he was mistaken for a fool in my opinion. I do not agree with the way he behaved and I certainly do not think that he is setting a positive example for viewers of any age.Do you think that the rich and famous should feel justified to treat others however they choose? I certainly do not!
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great example of how humor can make something acceptable/validate certain behaviors in our culture.
ReplyDeleteThis could be compared to the Xzibit, Yo Dawg meme, that celebrates the ridiculousness/excess nature of the show Pimp My Ride. He puts something completely unnecessary in the car of the owner, just to be flashy and cool.
The Kanye meme, like many memes before it use the same concept of taking a serious matter(that in any other circumstance would be horribly offensive-and often still is) and turning it into a joke, thus making the public more desensitized to many serious subjects.
A more extreme example of this could be, Pedo Bear(a cute cartoon bear that enjoys child pornography).