Post Modernism

What I believe to be Post Modernism, is a variety of cultural positions which excludes major features of regualr thought. It is also a new way of thinking about past events and traditions.An example could be religions, politics or communism which are theories of identity. It is also like one going out side the cultural norms of a liberal society and they all can't be wrong. There can be a truth to the different theories.

As far as my semester topic with Beyonce, I believe that she does fit with the Post Modernism theory. At first I had to really think about her as an artist and decide if she really did fit within this topic . She is in the music industry and is very much apart of pop culture. If I were to buy her CD I don't have to listen to all of her songs; I could listen to just some of them. Society says that in order to fit with the mainstream its is better to know all of the songs in order to firt in with pop culture. However, most likely if I do buy one of hyer CD's I will listen to all of the songs and decide for myself what songs I will listen to or not. Furthermore, some would say if I don't buy all of Beyonce's albums I am not considered to be a true fan, but I will not be pulled into that whole system of being like a crazy fan.

Beyonce has come along way within her music she at first was in a group, but then branched out on her on. Most people thought that was not a good idea because she probably wouldn't make as much money as before, but inconstrast she actually is doing much better for herself because of her doing her own thing. The music industry likes when there are groups that get promoted and stay together but she went against that and wasw strong enough to do so. The truth is that Beyonce can go exceedingly far in the music industry as long as she gives what the people wants. Yes, she has her own style but she appeals to a variety of cultures and not just one. So bringing the subject back to Post modernism she is in her world of singing and we are like the people or objects that keep her going. With out the support of her people she wouldn't be considered to be apart of pop culture.

Other than that there are some people that do not like Beyonce and believe that she shouldn't have what she has because of past events and they are neither right or wrong. In addition, those that feel like those people are being negative are nor wrong either. Bascially, Beyonce is doing what she loves and some may like it and other may not. I believe that she is an artist that is working through the system just like everyone else but maybe a little harder because she is a black woman. Lastly, being in this society there is a pressure to give people what they want but I feel like she is doing both and still staying true to herself at the same time.

Race and Gender/ Beyonce Knowles

With Studying Beyonce Knowles, she has been quite an inspiration to the Black and African American community as well as young women in general. For one, she is young beautiful and has a free spirit about her. Within most of her songs she tries to show power and confidence and some may come across as too confident. I believe the reason is that because she is a young black woman she does have to work extra hard to be noticed and excepted by everybody in the media. However, she knows that not everyone is going to like her but her general audience are young people particularly females. In addition, as far as her identity it seems like she is trying to appeal to the white audiences because her hair was died to a very light brownish gold color. Also her skin is light so more people sadly will be more attractive to her within more races than just one. It is my reason to think that she has this look on purpose to get through the system. Other than her looks her confident song called, "Independent Women", talks about how women do not always have to have a man to feel important. The chorus to the song says, "All my independent women through her hands up at me, and all my sexy women through hands at me, and all my modeled women through your hands up at me". The song represents joy and excitement because it is letting everyone know that I am independent it is OK. Not only am I independent but I am a black woman at that. Some may not read into that but, because I am one and it is easier for me to understand the lyrics to her songs and the inspiration behind it. Additionally, within gender Beyonce's fans seem to gravitate more to the meaning in your songs and her great sex appeal. Furthermore, there is another song that shows more female Independence and it is called, "Charlies Angels". Yes, the song title is from a movie but it show that a relationship should be fifty -fifty. One of the lines says, "Question, tell me how you feel about this, I buy my own diamonds and I buy my own rings and I even buy one own celly when I am feeling lonely. Ladies! It ain't easy being independent.. Jewels on my feet I've got it, the ice I am wearing I've got it, the house I live in I've got it, cause I depend on me if I one it." Those lines are showing that she could have a man to buy her those things but she just wants him to know that she can by them herself. I like her confidence which is encouraging to a lot of young women and hopefully they will see that it is OK to be strong and an independent woman that does not no have a man.

Racsim within the Black Community

For several centuries black people have been discriminating against one another. It is such a incredible problem that many blacks have been come quite aknowledgeable. My answer to why their is discrimination within our culture is because of what black people have been told. Black people come in different shades from really light skinned, to light skinned, to Caramel, bronze brown, to brown and finally dark skinned. Our culture has taught us that having dark skinned is ugly and that the lighter that you are the more accepted you will be. It is just simply ridiculous to have people do that to each other. In the slave days the lighter skinned people were allowed to work either near the front of the house or inside the house. I believe that is what started the problem and so many other blacks felt inferior if they weren't light skinned and some do. Not to point the finger or be judgemental but the slave owners implanted that seed of inferiority into the black culture. It is crazy and ob sered to worry about who is lighter or who is darker. This whole prejudice continuum just infuriates me so much! Black people for many generations have been beaten down by the dominant people in society and many blacks have been brain washed to believe that they are below another group of people or above another. It just is not right, why is skin color such a major issue in our culture? I have never dealt with someone looking down on me because I was either lighter or darker than them, however I have been guilty of having prejudice thoughts.I wish that I didn't have those thoughts sometimes, but I know that I am not perfect and that I am only human. In addition, it is sad that lighter skinned people are more liked over darker skinned but is the dominants people's ignorance that have made it difficult. We all are special people and if you really think about it skin color is a silly issue to divide our selves over. I am not a perfect human and as long as we live in an imperfect world racism will continue to exist. Humans are always competitive against one another;instead of us all working together positively we end up drawing barriers. Like I said before we live in a fallen world and problems like these seem to be expected.

Beyonce/ Marxism

It was difficult at first to think of how Beyonce fits into Marxism's view of Popular culture. Marxism was interested in what is happening within society when it comes to the working class producing objects for consumers. He feels like the working class are alienated form the dominate classes when it comes to income. Additonally, with Commidy Fethism the object is worth much more than what they end up selling it for. The money ends up spreading to the store in which the object is being shipped to and the employee who sell the object. However, very little of the money goes to the people who create the object and who shipps the object. Marx feels like that is a major problem. As far as Beyonce she course is incredibly rich and most of her income comes from touring. I found that when she toured with Alicia Keys and Missy Elliot her income was 19million dollars and she is worth 16.1million. Her last allbum called, Danergously
inLove sold over 1.4 million copies and her annual income is always over 250,000 dollars! The problem that Marx has is how much do the CD factories make with creating these blank CD's for artists to use? He feels like the working class who create these CD's in the factories are not being paid fairly. A lot of times society does not realsize that in order for things to work for themselves there is always someone that behind the operation. Further, Marx feels that Capitlaism is exploiting the factory workers and that they should know about the issue. Now with Beyonce she probably has no ideas how abblivious she is when it comes to the means of production. All that she is knows is that her producers help her make her allbums and she gets paid for singing. Other than selling CD's Beyonce also has a franchise selling, perfume and clothing. However, than again who makes the bottles for the perfume and how much are these people paid to construct a bottle? Society is cut of by knowing that part of information because it seems insignificant. Also, there is a shipping cost and of course these people are paid but money goes to everybody but the working class doen't get nearly as much as they should. As for the clothing there are people that make the fabric and construct what Beyonce wants are clothing designs to look like. The designer gets paid a lot but what about those that made the variety of fabrics do they get over looked? Everything within production is spread through the ruling class and Marx talks about how his definition of ideology expresses his meaning. In addition, over all he talks about how the economy controls the ideas of production and therefore, the top group exceeds the subordinate class. Futher, those that are helping with the Upper class such as Beyonce, they are going to do what ever they can to make sure she is paid what she wants. Lastly, this way of production has been going on for a long time now and it is now that I realize that the people who make these objects should recieve more recognition instead of being partically ignored.