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Ghia Godfree

Breaking Down Binaries: Redefining Gender and Sexuality through the Music Videos of Björk and

The visualization of music has far- RespectME line, designed in conjunction with reaching effects on musical cultures Missy Elliott’s input. Although the and popular culture generally, not collection of American director ’s the least of which is the increase in music videos does not include any Missy Elliott visual interpretations of sexist power videos, she is known for their original relationships, the mode of visual collaborations including “” (1997), “Sock storytelling, the increased focus on how It to Me” (1997) and “” (1999).4 a singer looks rather than how he or she Despite the different genres of music in which sounds, the need to craft an image to they excel, one of the most themes in accompany one’s music, and ever-greater Björk’s and Missy Elliott’s music and video work pressure to abide by corporate genre- is the seemingly unlikely combination of nature formatting rules. and technology. This juxtaposition, which is most —Tricia Rose, Black Noise: Rap Music often manifested in videos that reconfigure the two and Black Culture in Contemporary women as distorted or technologically enhanced America1 bodies, challenges preconceived notions about characteristics and behaviors that are usually Amazingly, this paper owes its existence to a categorized as either feminine or masculine. Just DVD—Palm Pictures’ “ Series” as their music offers a sense of the “natural” compilation of French director ’s female voice infused with the technological music videos—and a pair of shoes—orange and enhancements of and sampling, these pink RespectMe sneakers from .2 These videos are visualizations of Bjork’s and Missy products have strong connections to Icelandic Elliott’s ability to confound popular conceptions singer Björk Gumundsdottir and American rap of gender in which “categories of nature and and hip-hop artist Missy Elliott, both of whom technology are socially constructed respectively have been successful in continually breaking the as feminine and masculine.”5 Additionally, “corporate genre formatting rules” and upending because both of these artists take an active role in the “sexist power relationships” that scholar the planning and subsequent construction of their Tricia Rose attributes to most popular music music videos, they arguably empower the female video.3 Gondry, for example, is responsible for subject-performer to discover new and broader seven innovative videos in collaboration with ways of understanding gender and sexuality. Björk including “Human Behavior” (1993), In spite of these connections and these artists’ “” (1996), and “Joga” (1997). The ability to demand attention by confounding popular sneakers on the other hand, represent Missy conceptions of what it means to be a woman in Elliott’s partnership with Adidas resulting in the an industry that rewards sexual objectification,

A SCREEN OF ONE’S OWN 61 Heather Osborne-Thompson, editor, Spectator 25:2 (Fall 2005): 61 -70. BREAKING DOWN BINARIES their status as “agents” within the realm of music are relegated to the “position of scopic object video production tends to take a back seat to the within the diegesis” and effectively stripped of any privileging of the director’s authorial vision. power or agency within the music video narrative.7 Within the Gondry DVD, for example, the music This stripping of power usually coincides with the videos by Björk are visually stunning as well as physical removal of clothing. Ironically, this is aurally captivating and are undoubtedly a product especially true of many hip-hop videos that allow of both the artist, Björk, and the director, Gondry. black rappers to participate in the white man’s Yet, because the videos are packaged for sale as world of patriarchy and privilege through the part of a larger “Directors Series,” Palm Pictures subjugation of the black female form. tends to emphasize the role of the director, Gondry, In her 1994 book Black Noise: Rap Music and diminish the contributions of the performer, and Black Culture in Contemporary America, Björk. In addition, the absence of any Missy Elliott Tricia Rose elucidates the difficulties hip-hop videos on the Hype Williams compilation acts as music videos have presented for female performers a negation of her work within the canon of hip- interested in articulating other than hop videos. With such elisions and inequities in stereotypical viewpoints on gender and power. mind, this paper attempts to refocus attention on The usual hip-hop music video narrative objectifies both Björk and Missy Elliott as authorial agents in women by casting them as relatively unclothed their music videos by considering their positions accoutrements on par with other visual commodities within the music industry more generally and featured. For example, in March of 2005, the lineup music video specifically by examining in detail the on MTV’s Request Live and BET’s 106 & thematics of several of their videos. Because their Park, two shows where viewers vote to determine music, stage presentation and offstage personas what is broadcast, included the following videos: are all manifested within their music videos, such ’s “Freek-A-Leek” (2004), Snoop considerations might help to open up a space for Dogg’s “Let’s Get Blown” (2004) and ’s the possibility of female authorship in what has “” (2005). Each of these videos, traditionally been considered a “male” genre. which selectively focus on female body parts, demonstrates an aesthetic that is perpetuated on the Women and Music Videos major music video channels, and as a result, music videos continue to inhabit a space seemingly devoid Although it is possible to point to successful of positive or empowering images of women. female artists, such as Björk and Missy Elliott, whose videos do not follow typical conventions, Agency and Authorship the majority of music videos are defined by images of sexually objectified women. This framework— The problems surrounding the representation of exemplified by revealing outfits, suggestive dance women in music videos is further exacerbated by moves and close-ups of open-mouthed, glossy- the disproportionate number of well-known male lipped visages—was established in the early days directors relative to the number of female directors of ’s videos and continues with a myriad working in the field of music video production. The of other female stars such as , structure of the industry more generally contributes Beyoncé Knowles, and Christina to this disparity; MTV’s and Aguilera.6 These female artists arguably are BET’s 106 & Park rarely feature work from female complicit in creating music videos that conform to directors. In addition, the glossy Thirty Frames patriarchal modes of looking; they often adhere to Per Second: The Visionary Art of the Music Video these conventions because, at the end of the day, contains the videographies of a select number of if the sexiness of the video guarantees it receives music video directors, fifty-three of which are rotation, then record sales are sure to follow. men and eight are women.8 This continues to be a This logic applies to male performers as well, worrisome trend for female artists, as young female as the tendency is to include sexually objectified music video fans may get the impression that they females in the music videos. These “video ho’s” can be performers but not directors.

62 FALL 2005 GHIA GODFREE The dearth of female directors is also In addition, Björk is producing work in a genre highlighted by the release of the Palm Pictures that is typically construed as masculine. According compilations featuring the work of four male to music scholars Charity Marsh and Melissa West, music video “auteurs”—, “because of the innovative uses of technology in Michel Gondry, and Hype Williams. , it is often deemed a ‘masculine’ Dominated by images of the directors making art form, and this leaves little room for women.”14 decisions on set, the compilations perpetuate the Björk’s emphasis on lyrics, collaboration and myth of the director-as-auteur. The Cunningham, experimentation suggests otherwise. Throughout Gondry and Jonze sets even come with booklets that her music, Björk utilizes narrative-based lyrics interview the directors about each of the videos. The to distinguish her songs from much of electronica choice to include such behind-the-scenes segments in which the male producer/mixer controls the thus positions these men as the main creative forces female voice using it as merely a repeated hook. behind the resulting music videos and elides the Furthermore, Björk is an artist whose music and contributions made by female performers in the music videos demonstrate her commitment to construction, production and reception of their partnerships with other talented musicians and videos. Yet because it is also possible to locate artists. This is especially obvious on the entirely a gender-bending themes that are more closely cappella Medulla, released in 2004, which associated with unconventional female artists, features bass lines provided by the astounding such as Björk and Missy Elliott, in these original vocal capabilities of Japanese beatboxer Dokaka videos, it is important to consider a new conception and The Roots’ Rahzel, the self-proclaimed of authorship that takes female agency in current Godfather of Noise.15 music video production into account. Background on Missy Elliott Background on Björk Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott was born in Björk Gumundsdottir was born in 1965 in Reykjavik, Portsmouth, in 1971. She began singing at . According to her mother, Björk started singing a young age but eventually felt it would be difficult at the age of seven months which could explain why to obtain a record contract because in her words, she landed her first record contract at the tender age “I wasn’t 5’6,” size three, with a tiny waist.”16 of twelve.9 Björk describes her early music in bands Missy Elliott’s recognition that popular culture’s such as Kukl and Sugarcubes as “punk and literature, stereotypical conception of a female music star is with a surrealist sprinkle on it.”10 Björk continually defined by their lithe appearance convinced her experiments with genre but she is best known for her that her weight would prove debilitating to a future work within electronica. In 1993, Björk released her solo career. However, her success co-producing first adult solo album entitledDebut with well-known eight tracks on the One in a Million album by the dance producer Nelee Hooper. Debut would garner R&B star, , led the female head of Elektra, Björk Best Newcomer and Best International Female , to grant Missy Elliott her chance at Solo artist at the British Recording Industry Trust a solo album. , released in 1997, awards that year.11 Subsequent such as Post in featured a number of guest appearances by R&B 1995, Telegram and in 1997, and rap stars but it was producer ’s in 2000 and in 2001 established Björk catchy beats underlying Missy Elliott’s infectious as one of the only women producing records in vocals, unexpected lyrics and innovative sampling the electronica genre.12 Although Björk is typically that drove the record to the top of the R&B charts described in popular media as the exotic Other, and number three on the pop charts.17 In 1998, “mysterious and magical,” or pixie-like because of her Missy Elliott became the first hip-hop artist to Icelandic heritage and alternative fashion sense, such appear on the all-female music festival . diminutive labels belie Björk’s inspiring work ethic, Subsequently she found time to produce tracks for organizational skills and serious interest in creating an Destiny’s Child and as well as artistically rigorous finished product.13 continuing to release her own albums including Da

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Real World in 1999, Miss E… So Addictive in 2001, Under Construction in 2002, This Is Not a Test in 2003 and in the summer of 2005.18 Missy Elliott is an accomplished hip-hop singer, , lyricist and producer. While Björk’s “It’s Oh So Quiet” video by Spike Jonze stands out precisely because of its Broadway stage-style dancing, Missy Elliott’s music videos ally more closely to the traditional framework of choreographed dance routines that are a staple of female videos. Missy Elliott continually depicts herself as the leader of a girl posse performing synchronized dance routines, as in the video for “I’m Really Hot” (2003). By situating herself with her crew, Missy Elliott reveals that her videos exist within a larger tradition of hip-hop cultural expression that foregrounds the rapper with their posse.19

Crossing the Nature/Culture Divide

In contrast to Missy Elliott and her crew, Björk usually exists in her own individual world within the narrative of her music videos. For example, Björk’s “Hyberballad” begins in a natural setting with Björk lying on a bed of decaying leaves. Björk rests peacefully when suddenly the sound of static is heard on the audio track. Simultaneously, television snow is projected onto Björk’s serene face. Björk recasts femininity as technology by utilizing her face as a screen upon which a previously captured video image of Björk singing is visible. This superimposition of technology onto nature is extended with the appearance of an animated Björk character. The animated Björk runs through a landscape of power line towers and then falls through the surface of the earth. The natural forest setting for Björk’s “Human Behavior” is also an effective moment within Björk’s music video reportoire where nature and technology exist within the same space. Björk resides in a log cabin in the middle of a surreal forest inhabited by giant bears, hunters and flies. Elements of the set design appear to have been constructed by hand which reinforces the “crafty,” homemade quality to the production value of the video. The giant bear suit in particular resembles a handsewn teddy-bear doll brought to life. All of these low-tech elements within the video are analagous to the “natural” and “feminine”

64 FALL 2005 GHIA GODFREE aspects of the video. In contrast to the low-tech, “crafty” elements that dominate the video, Björk wears a dress made of a reflective silver material that “alludes to the metallic and to images of technology.”20 The dress also alludes to the specific technology that is later used to generate the tiny image of Björk inside the bear’s stomach and when she appears next to the sleeping hunter. This intermingling of low and high tech and nature and technology within the diegesis of “Hyperballad” and “Human Behavior” works to break down the rigid binary of feminine/masculine. The divide between nature and technology is further blurred in Björk’s video for “Joga,” which alternates between expansive vistas and microscopic views of nature. This video also contains an animated Björk character who invites the viewer to gaze inside her heart and find an image of Iceland. Throughout her career, Björk has maintained a close connection to nature and her homeland through her references to “Iceland’s geographical and social characteristics” in her music, interviews and videos.21 Within this video, Björk does not simply show the landscapes and vistas that inspire her; she also utilizes computer technology to alter these landscapes. “Joga” opens with vistas that soar towards and away from the camera establishing an emotional link between Björk, nature and the viewer. Within electronica, the voice is treated as a natural element whereas sounds are more masculine. Björk’s vocal delivery corresponds with beautiful views of nature until the heavy bass beat enters the song and the landscapes start to slide and tear with the help of computer intervention. The video visually conveys that the combination of Björk’s voice with the techno beats aurally destroys the binary opposition of nature/technology and puts forward a new future for popular music. According to Marsh and West, “Björk opposes the common belief that technology is cold and soulless, instead believing it to be warm and sentimental.”22 During Björk’s compositional process, she infuses technologically produced Above: The natural and technological merge sounds with a sense of soul. “Joga” merges nature in Björk’s “Hyperballad.” Opposite Top: Bjork and technology to show a series of emotionally in the infamous . Middle: Missy charged landscapes and situate Björk as the Ellliott in her hip-hop gear. Bottom: pink and quintessential daughter of Iceland. While the role orange Respect Me sneakers, designed by of daughter is decidedly feminine, Björk achieves Missy Elliott and Adidas.

A SCREEN OF ONE’S OWN 65 BREAKING DOWN BINARIES her status through the use of a stereotypically culture that is traditionally male. In her privileged masculine technology. position as the song’s mixer, she adds aural elements In general, Missy Elliott’s videos focus on to the song that are produced electronically but similar themes of blurring the boundary between clearly derived from nature such as the braying of an nature and technology. In particular, Missy Elliott’s elephant. The look and feel of “Work It”—with its video for “Work It” (2002), opens with a shot of Adidas track suits and talented breakdancers—echoes bees swarming over her “working” a turntable Missy Elliott’s hip-hop roots. The breakdancers also switchboard. The title and chorus of “Work It” add a sense of the improvisational nature of earlier play on the word “work,” which simultaneously forms of hip-hop cultural expression divorced connotes the creation of the music as well as the from the controlled aspect of modern day music intimacies of a sexual relationship. By equating production. The video resonated with viewers who the work she performs as a musician with the work gave it Video of the Year and Hip-Hop Video of the involved in sex, she suggests that both activities are Year awards at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards pleasurable; however, she also implies that both are Show.25 In “Work It,” Missy Elliott dissolves the labor-intensive. Although the majority of the song is rigid structure surrounding conceptions of nature and about Missy Elliott’s ability to “work it” musically, technology thus challenging of gender lyrically and sexually, she also wonders aloud within popular culture. whether she will receive oral sex from her partner. “” (2003) also opens with Within her explicit lyrics, she raps, a scene that blurs the boundary between nature and technology. Missy Elliott and her dancers Phone before you come, I need to shave are transformed into scarecrows in a cornfield. my chocha The cornfield recalls M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs You do or you don’t or you will or won’t (2002) and later in the video there is an overhead ya shot of crop circles. Crows supplant the bees of Go downtown and eat it like a vulture23 “Work It” as a more menacing element of nature as they peck at the scarecrows and establish a While using technology to include a section of the theme of persecution that resonates throughout the chorus played in reverse, Missy Elliott also “flips” video. The first threatening image of the crows is the narrative when she demands that her partner at replaced by alien spaceships that reference Close least consider “working it” for her. Missy Elliott’s Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), as well as willingness to discuss her sexual relationships in helicopters that hound Missy Elliott reinvented as such a frank way, “challenge[s] male notions of King Kong.26 The crows, spaceships and helicopters female sexuality and pleasure,” a strategy similar are all manifestations of the harassment that Missy to those used by the first wave of female rappers as Elliott feels because of her weight, sexuality and described by Tricia Rose.24 race. “Pass that Dutch” even includes a scene where In several songs, Missy Elliott refers to herself Missy Elliott and a car full of her friends devour a as “The Queen Bee” and in this video she brings the would-be car-jacker. By turning herself into King moniker to life. The walls behind Missy Elliott mimic Kong and a woman with a voracious appetite, the structure of a giant honeycomb and the bees fly Missy Elliott is proclaiming performatively that around unperturbed as Missy Elliott “spins” or works even in the face of criticism, she is going to pursue the records back and forth in time to the music. her distinctive creative vision. Rather than present herself as someone’s honey, she Partly owing to Missy Elliott’s size and is the Queen Bee on her DJ throne while her worker masculine stage presentation, speculations about bees buzz around her. Nature as represented by the Missy Elliott’s ambiguous sexuality appeared as set design and the presence of the bees intermingles soon as she entered the public eye. Her costuming with technology as represented by the DJ turntables, choices often reflect hip-hop style evidenced by speakers and headphones. Missy Elliott defies oversize tracksuits, airbrushed shirts and headgear. stereotypical notions of gender by situating herself The tracksuits in particular allow freedom of behind the turntables as the DJ, a figure in hip-hop movement when she dances and performs but are

66 FALL 2005 GHIA GODFREE also considered a more masculine aspect of hip-hop style. During one dance segment, Missy and her dancers also wear masculine suspenders and white button-down shirts with colorful berets to honor the contributions of the late Fred “Rerun” Berry (What’s Happening!! (ABC 1976)) to the legacy of African-Americans on television. When a giant Missy Elliott displaces King Kong and towers over City, she wears a shirt emblazoned with an airbrushed image of the late R&B artist Aaliyah on the front. The “Rerun” costume and the Aaliyah shirt symbolize a theme of grief and remorse within the video over losing Aaliyah and other hip-hop stars such as and Biggie Smalls. However, Missy Elliott’s heartfelt, public mourning for the untimely passing of her friend, Aaliyah, has led some to speculate that her feelings of loss are predicated on a love that she felt was more than platonic. By continually choosing outfits that signify masculinity and control, Missy Elliott demonstrates ownership of her body and her performative image despite the “negative” connotations some have tried to attach to them. In contrast to her masculine outfits, at another point in the video, Missy Elliott and the dancers wear a black leather outfit that emphasizes their sexuality. The beating of the crows’ wings is visualized in the dance movements of Missy Elliott and her leather-clad dancers who flap their arms in time to the music. During their dancing, Missy Elliott and the girls also turn and Top: Elliott’s inflatable vinyl suit in “The Rain” shake their butts for the camera. This moment is calls into question the notion of the “normative” then reiterated from the side. Tricia Rose views female body. Bottom: Bjork’s mirror image explicitly sexual outfits and dance moves within cyborgs embrace in “.” the music videos of black females as both negative and positive. On the one hand, Rose argues that the aesthetic hierarchy that renders black many women are complicit in contributing “to women’s bodies inadequate and sexually an already entrenched understanding of women’s unattractive.28 bodies as objects of consumption.”27 On the other hand, as Rose states in her analysis of the early Missy Elliott furthers this “inversion of the aesthetic female hip-hop group Salt ’N’ : hierarchy” by showcasing her butt, her hips and her thighs along with those of her dancers in the video. She The aesthetic hierarchy of the female centers her body as unapologetically sexual, which in body in mainstream American culture, itself is groundbreaking considering the conception of with particular reference to the behind Missy Elliott as ambiguous sexually and overweight and hips, positions many black women and thus excluded as a desiring subject and object of somewhere near the bottom. When desire. In addition, Missy Elliott’s blatant sexuality viewed in this context, Salt ’N’ Pepa’s within the video confronts the legacy of silence rap and video becomes an inversion of surrounding black female sexuality in America.

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Cyborg Bodies body parts suddenly expand out of proportion with the rest of the body. Missy Elliott confounds nature Another way in which Björk and Missy Elliott and technology by the distortion of her physical self, challenge preconceived notions of the female subject- which is complemented by the aural distortions of performer as sexual object is through music videos that the sound of chirping crickets. Throughout the video, reconfigure the two artists as distorted, technologically Missy Elliott alters her hairstyles, her costumes and enhanced bodies. By distorting their bodies with her locations. from an industrial complex technology, Björk and Missy Elliott highlight the to the beach to a cartoon landscape with a brilliant ways in which popular conceptions of gender might blue sky and white clouds and impossibly neon be altered. In the video for “Oceania” (2004), Björk green grass. In all of these locales, Missy Elliott situates herself in a sensuous underwater world. Only experiments with distorting her body and calls into the top half of her body is visible in the darkened sea question traditional music videos’ reliance on the and by not allowing the viewer to see her legs, Björk objectified female performer. transforms herself into a sea creature. Within the video This reliance is further questioned within two she sends out jellyfish and orchids with her voice, very different music videos where both Björk and which alternatively trills, coos and growls through Missy Elliott technologically enhance their bodies the song. Björk utilizes technological processes to in ways that recall Donna Haraway’s cyborg. In the make her sojourn in the sea appear seamless and the “All is Full of Love” (1998) video, Björk literally resulting video envisions her as an Earth Mother of becomes the human-machine hybrid that according the sea. The glittering silver jewels that are affixed to Haraway constitutes “a machine/human construct to her face simultaneously transform her appearance that challenges dichotomies of identity and carves and reference the technological through their metallic out new hybrid spaces of being.”30 The video shows nature. Björk not only distorts her body but once a pair of robotic arms constructing a cyborg with again addresses the nature/technology dichotomy the face of Björk. As the technologically advanced to imagine a new world unbound by limitations on construction of the cyborg takes place, Björk sings, female representation. “You’ll be given love, You’ll be taken care of.” Missy Elliott also creates new worlds where Interspersed with shots of her body slowly being body distortions focus attention on the limitations of pieced together are close-ups of sparks flying off popular conceptions of the female body. In the “Work her joints and water running over her. The fire It” video, Missy Elliott satirizes her image within and water are natural elements necessary for the mainstream media as a large woman. Her mouth creation of a perfect hybrid of female and machine, distends and expands so that she can swallow a toy the cyborg. Towards the end of the video, the Björk model Lamborghini. She highlights the absurdity cyborg is greeted by its mirror image and the two of popular culture’s fascination with what women cyborgs kiss and embrace. The narrative subversion weigh and eat by suggesting that her own appetite is of ideas about female sexuality coupled with the so voracious she could swallow an entire car. use of the cyborg bodies is important because it Perhaps Missy Elliott’s most famous body further demolishes the opposition between nature distortions occur in the video for “The Rain” in and technology and thus feminine and masculine. which she donned an “inflatable vinyl suit pumped With the destruction of this binary goes the idea that up by attendants at a gas station near the set.”29 The the world is fixed and incapable of change. Through giant, reflective suit becomes an organic extension its narrative of transformation and allusions to of Missy Elliott’s body as she dances, creating an narcissism, auto-eroticism and same-sex desire, “All undulating amorphous effect. Rather than use the is Full of Love” represents a world where women video as a space to appear smaller than her real size, are free to determine what is “in their nature” rather the outfit in “The Rain” accentuates her large stature than having their nature dictated by rigid power and makes her body appear even bigger. In addition, structures and systems of representation. there are numerous moments within the video when Missy Elliott also reconfigures herself as a the camera distorts one part of her body after another. cyborg, albeit a much different version of one, As the camera closes in on an eye or a lip, these in the video for “” directed by Hype

68 FALL 2005 GHIA GODFREE Williams. The color palettes of the two videos are within music video production by composing extremely different as Björk emphasizes the sterile electronica and mixing hip-hop beats—skills that environment through black and white while Missy are traditionally viewed as technologically advanced Elliott creates a colorful pop aesthetic with bright and thus linked with “masculine” conceptions of reds, purples and blues. The main reason these musical art forms. Moreover, by juxtaposing binary two videos look so different is that the songs they oppositions such as “nature and technology” and animate sound extremely dissimilar. While “All is “feminine and masculine,” within the same video Full of Love” is a slow, haunting piece, “Sock It space, the two women expose and dismantle the false 2 Me” is a bouncy up-tempo declaration of Missy limitations imposed by such rigid dichotomies. Björk Elliott’s power within an intimate relationship. and Missy Elliott establish themselves as agents While Björk as a cyborg is sleek, static and loving, who are involved in the music video production Missy Elliott embodies a futuristic cyborg persona process, continually determining the look and feel who is active, aggressive and energetic. of the finished product and distancing themselves The prevalent use of computer graphics from the stereotypical role of the sexually objectified within “Sock It 2 Me,” creates a video game world female within the majority of music videos. Further where Missy Elliott and , a hard-edged discussion of Björk’s and Missy Elliott’s music MC who gained recognition with her debut album videos can build on this point by focusing on in 1994, recast themselves as powerful their relationships with particular video directors, women doing battle against the forces of evil including the collaborations between Björk and in outer space. Missy Elliott is a red and white Michel Gondry and Björk and Spike Jonze as well as or purple and white fighting machine that runs, those between Missy Elliott and Hype Williams and flies and swims away from a succession of giant Missy Elliott and . robots intent on her destruction. However, Missy Both Björk and Missy Elliott have a Elliott negates the male video game fantasy of a distinctive style that is reinforced in their music, supple female fighting character like Lara Croft offstage presentation and music videos. They and instead constructs a self-image that is literally are often whimsical and experimental in their larger than life. Whereas Lara Croft’s outfit is destruction of the feminine/masculine binary and skin tight and revealing, Missy Elliott’s costume in their distortions of their bodies within their is comprised of a series of round attachments that music videos. Björk and Missy Elliott have helped stick out from her body. Missy Elliott evokes a redefine the female subject-performer and her role male superhero by decorating her red chestplate in popular culture and both continue to break new with a large M that recalls the S on Superman’s ground with their most recent work. Björk has outfit. The visual cue of the letter M is repeated produced an unusual and haunting on the spaceship, which effectively stamps Missy album entitled Medulla, while Missy Elliott Elliott’s ownership on the various elements of continues to promote her own line of clothing the video. By positing herself as a new kind of with Adidas that instructs its wearers to “be sexy, superhero within the realm of traditionally white, be bold, be positive, be proud and be original.”31 masculine heroes, Missy Elliott articulates a more Both Björk and Missy Elliott are inspiring because fluid definition of gender. they sincerely embody these characteristics. Most importantly, within their music and their music Conclusion videos, Björk and Missy Elliott refocus attention on the female body not as a biological entity but as One of the most appealing aspects of Björk’s and a socially and psychically constructed arena open Missy Elliott’s music and music videos is that they to reimagination. continually exhibit a playful nature at the same time that they are interesting, innovative and engaging The author gratefully acknowledges Heather from a creative standpoint. They successfully Osborne-Thompson for all her invaluable help in illuminate and challenge rigid gender categories the preparation of this essay.

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Ghia Godfree is a graduate student in Cinema-Television Critical Studies at the University of Southern California.

Notes

1 Tricia Rose, Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America (Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1994), 9. 2 Adidas Homepage, http://www.adidas.com/campaigns/Elliott/default.asp. 3 Following the precedent already set forth by other scholars, Björk and Missy Elliott will be referred to as Björk and Missy Elliott respectively. See Carol Vernallis’ Experiencing Music Video: Aesthetics and Cultural Context (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004), 36, 71, 83, 288. While Björk may seem too familiar and Missy Elliott may seem redundant, it is an attempt to abide by the monikers that each performer uses in their public life. 4 The absence of Missy Elliott music videos in Williams’s Palm Pictures DVD may be a rights issue. In order to include the music videos on the DVD, Palm Pictures would need the consent of the label and the artist. Additionally, Williams’s DVD is not part of Palm’s “Directors Label DVD Series,” which features the work of Chris Cunningham, Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze. 5 Charity Marsh and Melissa West, “The Nature/Technology Binary Opposition Dismantled in the Music of Madonna and Björk,” in Music and Technoculture, eds. Rene T. A. Lysloff and Leslie C. Gay, Jr. (Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2003), 183. 6 E. Ann Kaplan makes the valuable argument that Madonna uses highly sexualized iconography within her videos to fashion a unique identity. Kaplan states, “In some sense, then, Madonna represents the postmodern feminist heroine in that she combines unabashed seductiveness with a gutsy kind of independence.” See Rocking Around the Clock: Music Television, Postmodernism, and Consumer Culture (New York: Methuen, 1987), 126. More recently, Carol Vernallis talks about Madonna’s sexuality in “” in direct correlation to her vocal delivery. See Experiencing Music Video, 233. 7 Miriam Hansen, “Valentino and Female Spectatorship,” in Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. 6th ed. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 638. 8 Reiss, Steven and Neil Feineman. Thirty Frames Per Second: The Visionary Art of the Music Video. Ed. Elisa Urbanelli. (Venice: Reiss Projects, 2000), 256-267. 9 Gillian G. Gaar, She’s a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll (New York: Seal Press, 2002), 419. 10 Ibid. 11 The are roughly equivalent to the Grammy Awards in America although any profit from the awards show is donated to the BRIT Trust. BRIT Homepage, 2005 BRIT Awards Limited, http://brits.co.uk/. 12 Björk Homepage, Björk Overseas Limited, http://unit.Björk.com/specials/albums/medulla/. 13 Rems, Emily. “Big Time Personality.” BUST, February/March 2005, 043-051. 14 Marsh and West, “The Nature/Technology Binary Opposition,” in Music and Technoculture, 185. Although Marsh and West concentrate on the music of Björk, this paper is indebted to their essay, which inspired an examination of whether the nature/ technology binary is also dismantled within Björk’s visual work. 15 For a more detailed description of the contributions of Dokaka and Rahzel see the review of Medulla by Little Richy at HumanBeatbox.com, http://www.humanbeatbox.com/forum/show-thread.php?s=&threadid=17417. Alternatively see the Björk Homepage, Björk Overseas Limited, http://unit.bjork.com/specials/albums/medulla/. 16 Gaar, She’s a Rebel, 463. 17 Ibid. 18 Missy Elliott Homepage. Betelgeuse Productions. and , http://www.missy-elliott.com/ missyelliott/music.asp. 19 Murray Forman writes, “This tendency is evident in the formation of an explicit identification with neighborhood ‘crews,’ ‘cliques,’ and ‘posses’—defined as relatively cohesive and locally identified peer groups—associated with the cultural forms and collective affiliations within hip-hop culture.” SeeThe ‘Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap and Hip-Hop (Middleton: Wesleyan University Press, 2002), 28. 20 Marsh and West, “The Nature/Technology Binary Opposition,” 195. 21 Ibid., 183. 22 Ibid., 185. 23 Missy Elliott, “Work It,” Under Construction, , Elektra, 2002. 24 Rose, “Never Trust a Big Butt and a Smile,” in Feminist Television Criticism: A Reader, eds. Charlotte Brunsdon, Julie D’Acci and Lynn Spigel (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 313. 25 MTV Homepage, MTVN Direct Inc., http://www.mtv.com/onair/vma/2003/. 26 “Pass That Dutch” also references Carrie (1976) and Drumline (2002) within its visual images. 27 Rose, Black Noise, 169. 28 Ibid., 168. 29 Gaar, She’s A Rebel, 463. 30 Lisa Nakamura, Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet (New York: Routledge, 2002), 113. 31 Adidas Homepage.

70 FALL 2005