Representation and Christina

For my texts I decided to analyze two Christina Aguilera videos from two different points in her career one from the beginning with her first hit “Genie In A Bottle,” and the second from her second album, which represents a stronger, and more defined Christina, with her video “Beautiful.” By examining the two different videos, I wanted to show how Aguilera exemplified her growth as a person, and in turn as an artist, by solidifying her views as an individual into her work. Both the idea of marked/unmarked identities being implicitly and explicitly addressed in the text, and Mayne’s idea of representation either functioning to reinforce oppression, or to create new possibilities, or a combination of both, are applied to each video.

In “Genie In A Bottle,” the main focus almost at all times is on Aguilera; however, when there are others in the scene I feel that there is an acceptable representation of different races, and both females and males. Unfortunately, marked identities, or any person who deviates from the identity “norms” of society that we addressed during class in the PowerPoint, specifically black men in the video are implicitly, or inferentially, used. In the video, the only time a group of black men is seen is during the chorus, which is also the “dance break” of the song. I feel that this is implicit use of the black male because it seems to state that it is only acceptable to view Aguilera with black men during what is supposed to be a more “hip hop” dance. In addition, during other parts of the video when Aguilera is associated with other men every one of them is white, implicitly stating that it is only allowable for Aguilera to be romantically interested in, and associate with, white men. There does not appear to be ay sort of explicit, or obvious, discrimination of any kind in the video. (Lull).

In regards to Mayne’s idea of representation, I feel that Aguilera affirms the idea of repression of women by representing herself as a sexual object with her low cut and cropped shirts, as well as presenting herself sprawled across the sand in what can be interpreted as a sexually suggestive position. The same can be said for the moments when she is on top of the car that her white male romantic interest is sitting in. (Mayne). Overall, Aguilera’s first video does not help fight oppression of representations or create new representations, nor does it stand against implicit use of marked identities.

Aguilera’s next video that I analyzed was a very different story than the first video. The second video is of the song “Beautiful.” Once again Aguilera does a decent job of representing multiple identities, both marked and unmarked, but this time she implicitly places typical self-conscious ideas for each particular identity on every single person in the video, including herself as she stands in front of a mirror. (Lull). In the video there are the following identities; two teenage white males one portrayed as striving to become a bodybuilder and the other belonging more to the emo/punk counterculture trying to ignore the judgment he faces from the world, two teenage white females one struggling with body issues and the second dealing with bullying, a teenage colored female also dealing with body issues possibly in regards to a lack of colored representation in popular media, a male gay couple fighting bigotry in society, and a white drag queen also fighting bigotry while trying to perform the gender that makes him happiest. Each of these identities are fighting the typical fights that society forces these identities to face, and by Aguilera bringing these issues into the limelight with her celebrity status she is helping to fight oppression of these identities and create new possibilities for each and every one of them. In addition, Aguilera also fights typical oppression of women as sexual objects by wearing an all black outfit consisting of a traditional tank top and pants, covering much more of her body than in most of her other videos. (Mayne). Overall, this video does the exact opposite of the first by fighting against oppression of all representations, and also against explicit and implicit discrimination of marked and unmarked identities.

Brown, Adriane. Privilege, Masculinity, and Race. 2009.
Mayne, Judith. “Women, Representation, and Culture.” In Reading Women’s Lives.
Lull, James. “Hegemony.” In Gender, Race, and Class in Media: A Text-Reader. Eds. Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez. Sage Publications. 2003. 61-66.