Wow. Throughout the entirety of the “We Can’t Stop” music video I kept thinking to myself, what the heck? Who thinks of something like this? I believe Miley Cyrus created this music video with the intention of making a statement, mainly regarding herself. For many years, when the name “Miley Cyrus” was said, people used to immediately think of the lovable “Hannah Montana”. I believe Miley wanted to change the image that popped into people’s minds when they heard her name. This music video definitely changed her image. As written in the Boston Sunday Globe, “…the most obvious extension of Cyrus’ new image embodies the ethos of YOLO (you only live once)”.
The video opens with Miley cutting off what looks like a probation ankle monitor, representing the fact that she is no longer a “good girl” and that she will no longer be restricted or tamed. She then proceeds to turn up the volume on a radio and pop in gold grills. This video is filled with a variety of wild and inappropriate things, however one commonality is that they are all rebellious and dangerous. Miley intends to show the world that that she is no longer a little girl, that she is no longer “Hannah Montana”. To quote the Boston Sunday Globe, “Because Cyrus was first known as Hannah Montana, the girl next door who parents hailed as a role model for their impressionable children, this brazen reinvention has been a shock…” The expectation of the audience is that they see this video and change the image they once had of Miley Cyrus.
After focusing on the visuals of the music video, I shut my eyes and listened to the lyrics, extracting some of the following: “it’s our party, we can do what we want to”, “we can kiss who we want, we can say what we want”, “this is our house, this is our rules”, “we can’t stop and we won’t stop”, “we run things, things don’t run we”, “dancing with Molly”, “remember only God can judge us, forget the haters”. I sense that Miley’s tone is defiant, carefree and energetic.
Many do not approve or accept Miley’s severe image change, however she is simply discovering herself. She is metamorphosing out of the Disney TV “Hannah Montana”. The Boston Sunday Globe writes, “You may not like who she has become, but she clearly does”. In addition, “Artistic liberation is also about the freedom to be who you are, whether that’s chaste or hyper-sexualized”.
(Ironically, as I was eating breakfast and looking through the Boston Sunday Globe, I came across the Sunday Art section and splattered across the front cover was a huge picture of Miley Cyrus. The accompanying article by James Reed was extremely pertinent to what I was writing.)
Oh boy, that was tough to watch. I am a bit speechless right now.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, you do some things pretty well here. First, you write well. Thank you. Second, you clearly identify MC's purpose early in your analysis and you continually link all of your subsequent observations to this purpose. This is a good model to follow. I think my only real issue with your post is that you seem to avoid addressing the video, your "text," directly. I am not sure if this is because of the scandalous content of the video, or because you found the Globe article more interesting. I like that you incorporated the Globe article. This demonstrates that you are making connections and exploring a variety of sources. Unfortunately, because you reference the Globe article four times, you really don't leave yourself much space to actually explore the video. How does MC go about achieving her purpose, other than by simply doing risque things. The first sentence of your second paragraph is your only real analysis. Ideally, the majority of your post would be similar to this sentence.
This post is good, don't get me wrong. And I do like your references to the Globe article and the MC lyrics. In future analyses, try to stick closer to the actual text. In this particular case, I totally understand why you did not. The video gives me the creeps.