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CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Semiotic Theory

Semiotic is a study of sign found by a Swiss linguist, Ferdinand de Saussure.

The main function of this theory is to analyze and decode the sign which becomes the

central object of the theory. Sign becomes the central object of this theory because it

is “the smallest unit of communication within language system” (Turner, 1996, p. 14)

that is expressed through word, gesture, image, sound, and dress (Ibid). Saussure

mentions that sign is composed by signifier and signified. Signifier means the “the

physical form of the sign” which is image or sound, while the signified means “the

mental concept referred by signifier” (Ibid). Moreover, Saussure mentions that his

theory of semiotic is composing and generating meaning of sign through the primary

signification. Primary signification according to him only produces the literal

meaning or denotative meaning. For example the picture of the horse that is a sign

composed by the signifier, physical form of the „horse‟ and the signified, the mental

concept of the horse which is “a large hoofed mammal having a short coat, a long

mane and a long tail” (www.thefreedictionary.com/horse).

A French semiotician namely Roland Barthes in his Mythologies has theorized

and extended Saussure‟s Primary signification of meaning into secondary

signification of meaning. Barthes believes that sign produces not only denotative

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meaning, but also connotative meaning. The denotative meaning refers to the literal

meaning of the sign, while the connotative meaning refers to the cultural meaning of

the sign. The primary signification of meaning generates the denotative meaning

using the first system (signifier and signified) and becomes the signifier for the

connotative meaning. To understand the connotative meaning of the sign, therefore,

the secondary signification is needed because the signified in the secondary

signification of meaning is “cultural associations and social knowledge” attached in

the signified (Turner, 1996, p. 15).

Moreover, Barthes‟ secondary signification of meaning function as tool to

read and understand the signs composed in the work of popular culture. By using

Barthes‟ secondary signification of meaning, we will be able to read and understand

the signs composed in the work of popular culture; like fashion, literature magazine,

music, and photography. Barthes in his essay, “Myth Today”, has theorized that

“secondary signification in which social meanings attach themselves to sign is

tantamount to connotations attach themselves to a word” (Turner, 1996, p. 15),

therefore; the sign composed by the signifier and the signified produced as the

primary signification of meaning becomes the signifier in the secondary signification

of meaning. In the secondary signification of meaning, the sign are composed by the

signifier and the signified. The signifier consists of the sign constituted by signifier

and signified in the primary signification of meaning, while the signified is attached

by “cultural associations and social knowledge”. Barthes has called the attachments

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as the „myth‟ because cultural associations and social knowledge are embedded in the

signified. Moreover, Barthes has pointed out that “myth itself has in fact a double

function; it points out and it notifies, it makes us understand something and it

imposes in on us…” (Barthes, 1987). Thus, myth can explain something to us about

our own world. Barthes (1987) himself has mentioned about the principle of the

myth;

Myth…it transforms history into nature. Myth does not deny things, on the

contrary, its function is to talk about them, simply, it purifies them, it makes

them innocent, it gives them a natural and eternal justification, it gives them a

clarity which is not that of an explanation but that of a statement of fact.

(http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/sem06.html)

Myth appears as the explanation of our world‟s history. Through myth, the history

can be explained clearly. Besides, Barthes mentions that myth is ideological. “Myths

are ideological because they are primarily concerned with the ways in which

particular images of the world are conveyed and reinforced through texts and

practices” (Campbell & Kean, 1997, p. 9). Therefore myth also exists in the work of

popular culture.

For example, a picture of a horse wearing armor stands in the battle field

symbolizes a power. It happens like in the Celtic culture that “horse is always

identified with war, victory, conquer, longevity as well as procurement of territory

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and other spoils that come with triumph in battle” (www.whats-your-sign.com/horse-

symbol-meanings.html). This depiction, in the primary level of signification, consists

of signifiers which are images and colors. These primary significations produce the

signified that it is a horse wearing armor stands in the battle field. Then those

signifier and signified produce the primary sign that becomes the signifier for the

secondary signification of meaning. Therefore; in the secondary level of signification

the meaning of a horse wearing armor stands in the battle field represents the war,

victory, conquer and longevity. Thus, it can be concluded that in the primary level of

signification, there is a denotative meaning which is represented by „a horse wearing

armor stands in the battle field‟ while in the secondary level of signification, there is a

connotative meaning of the horse with armor that it lays for war, victory, conquer and

longevity.

Since color appears as the signifier in the primary level of signification, it is

important to analyze the meaning of the color because it gives contribution in creating

the meaning of the image. Besides, Color plays a major role in creating a certain

mood of an image. Color “affects our emotions beyond thought and can convey any

mood, from delight to despair. It can be subtle or dramatic, capture attention or

stimulate desire” (Hoofman, 2003, p. 11). Moreover, color becomes a very powerful

tool for the artist or celebrity or those working in the world of art. In art, “color is a

vehicle for expressing emotions and concepts as well as information, and it is a very

powerful element of design” (p. 12). Thus, by understanding basic theory of color we

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might understand the message carried out by a certain color appeared in the work of

popular culture.

There are eight basic colors conveying a certain meaning which are usually

used in the work of popular culture; they are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple,

white, and black. The meaning of the colors is analyzed through color theory

summarized from www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html.

1. Red

Red is the color of fire and blood. It is usually associated with

energy, war, danger, anger, strength, power, determination as well as

passion, desire, and love. Red is a very emotional color; that has high

visibility and very powerful color. There are some colors derived from

the red color with their followed meanings, they are:

Light red : joy, sexuality passion, sensitivity, and love.

Pink : romance, love, friendship, feminine qualities

and passiveness.

Dark red : vigor, willpower, rage, anger, leadership,

courage, longing, malice, and wrath.

Brown : stability and masculine qualities.

Reddish-brown : harvest and fall.

2. Orange

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Orange is the color of combination from the energy of red and

the happiness of yellow. It usually associated with joy, sunshine, and

the tropics. It represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity,

attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation. This color has a

very high visibility, therefore, it is good to promote or highlight

something. There are some colors derived from orange, they are:

Dark orange : deceit and distrust.

Red-orange : pleasure, domination and thirst.

Gold : prestige, illumination, wisdom and wealth.

3. Yellow

Yellow represents pleasant and cheerful feeling. It is associated

with joy, happiness, intellect and energy. Derivation of yellow color:

Dull (dingy) yellow : caution, decay, sickness, and jealousy.

Light yellow : intellect, freshness and joy.

4. Green

Green is the color of nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony,

freshness, and fertility. Moreover, it usually relates to safety when

dealing with drugs and medical products. Derivation of green color:

Dark green : ambition, greed, and jealousy.

Yellow-green : sickness, cowardice, discord, and jealously.

Aqua : healer and protection.

Olive green : peace. commit to user

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5. Blue

Blue is the color of sky and sea. It is usually associated with

depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence,

intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. Blue is close to mind and body

that it is linked to consciousness and intellect. Moreover, it

emotionally opposed the warm colors like; red, orange and yellow.

Derivation of blue colors:

Light blue : health, healing, tranquility, understanding, and

softness.

Dark blue : knowledge, power, integrity, and seriousness.

6. Purple

Purple is the color combining the stability of blue and the

energy of red. It is usually associated with royalty. It symbolizes

power, nobility, luxury, and ambition.

Light purple : romantic and nostalgic feelings.

Dark purple : gloom and sad feelings (frustration).

7. White

White is the color of perfection. It is associated with light,

goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. Besides, it relates to

coolness and cleanliness; since it is the color of snow.

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8. Black

Black is the color of mystery closely linked to fear and the

unknown thing. It is associated with power, elegance, formality, death,

evil, and mystery. It usually relates to negative connotation; since it is

a very powerful colors and a very aggressive color.

Moreover, since the research is concerned about the ideological messages

appeared in , therefore, some of music video elements like; moving

images, music, and lyrics are needed to be observed. It is because music video is a

type of audiovisual communication between the performers and its audiences in

which the meaning is created through the correlation of its moving image, music and

lyrics.

The imagery is gained from several flows of audio visual information

including moving image, music and lyricss and something sound effect that

the resultant meaning is perceived as a complete whole, created by both ears

and eyes. (Carlsson, 1999, p. 1)

Thus, these three elements are crucially important; that they correlate each other to

create the meaning carried out by the music video. Moreover, by using Barthes‟

theory of semiotic, the concept and the meaning behind the music video can be

analyzed through the moving image, music and lyrics appeared within it. Besides of

moving image which becomes the most dominant part in the visualization, the music

and lyrics are important too. commit to user

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The musical features of song bend the moving image; even sometimes they

also shape the moving image on the video, while the lyrics in the music video

are depicted by the moving image to give the clear description of the song to

the audiences. (p. 2)

It is an inevitable thing that moving images are the most important aspect

when dealing with video. It is because moving image visualizes the content of the

song. Moreover, moving image is “a form of entertainment that enacts a story by

sound and a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement”

(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/moving+picture). Christian Metz defines that the

film consists of “shot as the smallest element in the film which is compatible to

words in language, scenes as sentences and sequences as the paragraph” (Metz in

Monaco, 2000, p. 160). It means that a shot within a film stands as a single piece of

film which becomes the sign to represent the messages. Therefore, a shot within a

film is similar with a shot in a music video. However, moving images in music video

and film are rather different in that the visual form of music video is close to the

musical form since it is made for an already existing tune. “By manipulating color,

motive setting, story footage clothing and so forth, the music video director creates a

couple of ideas which are repeated and varied” (Carlsson, 1999, p. 3).

There are three visual motifs appeared in music video; they are, singing

performance, visual story-telling or narrative, and the non-narration of modern art (p. commit to user

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4). Since music video intertwines those three visual motifs and constructs a sequence

of a short film, therefore, the analysis of mise-en-scene and cinematography elements

are needed.

Mise-en-scene is what we see in a film. It is “the arrangement of actors and

scenery on a stage for a theatrical production” (http://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/mise-en-sc%C3%A8ne). Therefore mise-en-scene can be

defined as a theatrical process of staging that consists of setting, lighting, costume

and staging. While the cinematography elements are the elements constructing the

video or the film. It is the process of filming the video or film itself. It is necessary to

understand the character of the object within the scenes. It consists of shot (close-up

shots, medium shots, long shots), camera angles (eye level camera, low level, high

level camera), and camera movement (titling, panning, tracking).

Besides the moving image as the most important aspect within the music

video, music elements are important too. Music elements are important things in the

music video; because it shapes the moving image within it. It is necessary to

understand the including musical sound properties like; pitch, tempo,

dynamic, accent and melody (Milner: 2005).

a. Pitch : classifying a sound as relatively high or low. It is

determined by the frequency of sound wave vibrations.

b. Tempo : determining the speed of music‟s beat. Faster tempo

means faster beat while lower tempo means lower beat. commit to user

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c. Dynamic: determining the level of loudness and softness of a

song.

d. Accent : knowing the way notes is stressed to gain special

effects.

e. Melody: determining the progression of tones and rhythms.

Both moving image and music bend together to visualize and depict the

content of the song. However, it is not yet a song when the lyrics do not exist.

Therefore, lyrics are needed to complete a song. The term of lyrics is determined as

“the words that go along with a song or melody” (http://www.definition-

of.com/LYRICS). It is important in music video, because it provides a clear

visualization completing moving image and music. As sound and moving image

becomes the signifier, the lyrics are the signified. Therefore, by understanding the

lyrics, it helps the process of analyzing music video. Moreover, lyrics go along with

the music and the moving image in the music video; that they correlate each other to

create the meaning.

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B. Socio-cultural Condition of American society in 21st Century

The socio-cultural condition of American society in 21st century apparently

shows a portrayal of postmodern society. The term postmodern appears as a term

representing a condition where universal truth no longer exists. It prominently uses

the flexibility and multi interpretation to see something. Thus, the things can be seen

through relativism. “…a typical postmodernist conclusion, that universal truth is

impossible, and relativism is our fate” (Butler, 2002, p. 16). Since relativism leads the

concept of the era, human identity comes to an unstable way that it has turned to be

fragmented and ruptured. Postmodern society are basically shaped by personal

experience, self-seeking, and mass media, rather than the religious and moral

institutions which shaped the society for so long. This society has remarked a certain

cultural shift in American culture through decades which portrays the shifting of

American beliefs and values. as a young American celebrity takes

crucial role in representing those shifting.

1. The Rise of Celebrity and Young Generation

Celebrities are famous persons derived from the media. They are “person

who is well-known for their well-knowness” (Boorstin in Turner, 2003, p. 5).

Their „well-knowness‟ are “dependent on their manufactured images of who

they are which appeared in media” (Nachbar and Lausse, 1992, p. 26).

Through the visibility in the media, they expose their professional and private

lives to attract public attention; however, the private lives will be more

interesting to be exposed. It shows that celebrities are the “Potential role commit to user

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models for public behavior or people whose public and private lives were

interchangeable” (Newbury, p. 257). Celebrity‟s life cuts across the imaginary

and real life; that their public and private lives stand in vague lines. Through

both of their professional and private lives, they have created their own

images and representations in goal of winning public attention. By winning

the public attention, directly, they will be popular; because “the celebrities‟

images are fabricated on purpose to satisfy our exaggerated of human

greatness” (Turner, p. 5). Moreover, to upkeep their images in popularity, the

celebrities do the variations of their constructed images. Celebrities are the

people coming in and out in a short time because celebrities live in media;

while media cannot stay in one static image of a celebrity.

Everyone has his or her fifteen minutes of fame, and for celebrities,

this is true as well. Celebrities can easily be placed in public eye by

the media, but maintaining celebrity status can be difficult. Once a

celebrity is on national stage, the public loses interest in that person

after a while. It is only when celebrities have something else with

which to entertain the public from the public stage that their status

once again returns and their notoriety becomes reestablished.

(Gregory, 2008, p. 10)

As stated by Gregory, celebrity needs something new to stay popular in

media. They have to know what the things people are interested in. It is

because the celebrities are popular due to their images in media, thus, they commit to user

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have to play with their personalities; to learn about how to be different and

unique; therefore, people will stay with them. “The celebrities are popular

because of the differentiation of their personalities from others, not

achievements; therefore, by differentiating their images, they can develop

their capacity of fame” (Turner, 2003, p. 5).

Besides, celebrities have to be aware of the values developing along with a

society over time, and because of the dynamic nature of the values, celebrities

often fade in and out with the times. “When times change, when values

change, the most famous figures can be rendered anachronistic and discarded

like human zoot suits” (Gabler, 1994, p. 3). As the role model of the society,

they tend to perform as the subject of the shift in contemporary popular

culture; especially in dealing with fashion and taste. "Each new shift in

fashion is offered as the end of civilization as we know it, with the real

motivation being an elitist distaste for the demotic or populist dimension of

mass cultural practices" (Ibid). This is to say that celebrities as the role model

have brought the new shift in our culture; identified with the shifting in

fashion taste which are releasing from mainstream culture into the subculture.

“Celebrities, like clothing, go in and out of style. Style is also heavily

influenced by the media because the media tells people what looks good and

what is in style” (Gregory, p. 15). Celebrities, because media also tells about

“Who‟s Hot and Who‟s Not”, fluctuate in and out of the style.

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As the wheel keeps turning, the celebrities who last-and there are very

few of them-are not necessarily those whose achievements are the

greatest. They are the ones who manage to embody something so

timeless and transcendent that they are beyond fashion, beyond the

loop, beyond celebrity. They are individual whose images stubbornly

refuse to yield to the new-people like Fred Astaire and Babe Ruth and

Ernest Hemmingway. Their images freeze in our consciousness while

the parade of lesser celebrity continuous on its way to obscurity.

(Gabler, 1994, p. 3)

For example; the shifting fashion and performance's taste of Madonna. As a

big American star, Madonna has "fashioned herself as an erotic commodity,

creating a Madonna brand, an original style of performance, often outrageous,

always sexy." (Rutheford, p. 173). This makes Madonna 'a queen of

vulgarity'; even she becomes the 'symbol of sex' just like Marilyn Monroe, but

by having such a 'perversions' display, "she certainly energized her career and

became so extraordinarily famous and notorious"(Ibid).

Vulgarity of celebrities is also known as the celebrities' flash point; which

is performing the media domination. "Flash points means that the celebrities

dominate media coverage, producing excessively focused global public"

(Turner, 2003, p. 91). It happens when celebrities present their provocative

images. As famous persons, celebrities may get in such public controversy to

stay famous in public media. Therefore, as the public figure, celebrities commit to user

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construct their provocative images. Moreover, their provocative images are

usually known as the celebrity flesh; that "fame or pleasure derived from

capacity to be invasive, exploitative and vengeful" (Ibid., 122). Besides,

within the celebrity flesh, the image representations of the celebrities are

likely all about "nice faces, naked cunt, cocks, tits, arses" (Ibid). This

condition portrays the celebrity culture which performs the vulgarity to be

involved in public controversy in case to attract the public attention and to

gain or maintain their popularity.

Besides, the vulgarity in performance happens in the celebrity's life is

considered as an expression of art that is commodified. Baudelaire (1945) in

Fusees answers a question, "What is art?" with only one word; that is

"Prostitution". Basically, performing an explicit body in performance is like

putting art inside; because the women's bodies themselves are art. Moreover,

to convey meaningful and beautiful stage persona, performers need to concept

their art work in a certain way to win the public's attention. Thus, putting the

explicit body as a part of their performances is necessary.

Making any body explicit as socially marked, and foregrounding the

historical, political, cultural, and economic issues involved in its

marking, is a strategy at the base of many contemporary feminist

explicit body works. Manipulating the body itself as mise-en-scene,

such artists make their own bodies explicit as the stage, canvas, or

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screen across which social agendas of privilege and disprivelege have

been manipulated (Schneiner, 1997, p. 20).

As the performers use the explicit body image in performance, they are

directly linked us to the term that female body producing excessive explicit

body image produces a desire that is commodifed. Hence, it is noted that

desire itself is manufactured and commodified as commodity.

The image of female body has, throughout the twentieth century,

served as a symbol of desire in general. Desire is bought into, just as

any tangible object is bought. Like a commodity, desire is produced.

Desire must appear as unmarked, as "human nature". But, like

commodities themselves, it is nature designed, packaged, and sold (p.

5).

For a reason, putting an explicit body content within the popular art work

is important since it gives a strong touch of art that excessively attracts the

public attention. Therefore; by putting this element, it helps the performer to

create a beautiful, meaningful and powerful performances that the audiences

have expected.

Besides of Madonna who empowers explicit body in performance, there is

also an influential star namely, Lady Gaga who empowers young generation

to be braver, kinder and true of who they really are. This empowerment is

undeniably affects younger singer like Miley Cyrus. As a part of American

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young generation widely known as millennial generation, Cyrus has shown

how this generation are taking rule of the world wide society through the

advance of technology. They are the people who are walking and living in

blinders, glued to their handheld technologies, checking at text messages,

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Path, or the latest social media rage. They are

generation with new perspectives and opinion who will be able to make

dramatic changes to make a better society. “They are smart, well-educated,

open-minded, and independent- politically, socially and philosophically”(p.

13). Besides becoming a generation that is smart, they are a generation that is

caring so much; thus, it is inevitable that they become the generation

influencing America and the whole world. Then, they are the generation that

is self-aware. “They readily identify themselves as a unique age group with

shared attitudes, experiences and characteristics”(p. 21). Therefore, even

though this generation was rooted in America, but it does work well for the

young people all over the world; since they share similarity of becoming the

millennial generation. Then, they are the progressive, creative and tolerant

young people. They are the generation that look forward and tend to see no

limit of the world. “Millennials do not see a world of limit but one of

possibilities in which anything can be accepted with enough creativity and

determination”(p. 29). Moreover, they are kind of tolerant generation in any

social issues; for instance the sexual tolerance. “It is striking just now how

much tolerance of diversity and difference defines this generation‟s commit to user

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perspectives. In fact, they pride themselves on this tolerance and see it as

distinctive to their generation”(p.40). Then, the most important thing of this

generation is that they are wired generation. They live their lives through

internet; since then, the internet becomes the most important thing within the

millennial‟s generation life. “They use online file-sharing, videos streaming,

blogging, and gaming as ways to socialize and compete with people from all

over the world, without regard to races, class or educational background”(p.

94). The wired generation has been driven by technology and they feel good

to connect to people electronically. They are being shaped by technology, and

then they shaped their own world in their own ways. They create value and

norms based on their own perspectives. This leads to the idea of postmodern

society where relativism and multi interpretation on seeing something is

highly prized.

2. Woman‟s Body and Sexuality

As the postmodernists mention that the world is marked with

patriarchal society which directs the domination toward men and overrides

women‟s consent, it has turned women to be seen as submissive and passive

creatures. As the ones seen in subordination, women tend to be the object of

sexual objectification by men as well. It is seen by the way the women‟s body

have been valued as something pleasing men‟s desire and desiring products

by male capitalists to gain money. However, some women state that their

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body is not merely a matter of objectification, but a matter of liberation

toward their own bodies. They have put their struggles in order to create

equality between men and women which is seen by feminist‟s movements

including the first, second and third waves.

The first wave of feminism began in 1848-1960s with the purpose

fighting for the right to vote and the right to control their bodies especially in

terms of reproduction and sexuality. This movement was marked by the

Seneca Falls Convention held in 19 and 20 July, 1848 in New York discussing

the social, civil, and religious conditions and the rights of woman. This

convention has brought to its victory marked by the ratification of 19th

amendment which delivers women‟s right to vote. After successfully gaining

right to vote through the first wave, feminists keep struggling to gain more

equality by provoking second wave of feminism. The second wave of

feminism emerged in 1960-1980s with the purpose to achieve sexuality and

reproductive rights and passing the Equal Rights Amendment to the

constitution guaranteeing social equality regardless of sex. This movement

was marked by Betty Friedan‟s Feminine Mystique in 1963 protesting male

supremacy that requires women to be good in domestic and leads them into

submissiveness and passivity. The second wave of feminism are against the

terms of submissive and passive, and therefore, there was a protest against the

Miss America pageant in Atlantic City in 1968 and 1969 by crowning a sheep

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as Miss America and threw “oppressive” feminine artifacts such as bras,

girdles, high-heels, makeup and false eyelashes into a trashcan. Besides

standing against the oppression, this radical movement also stood for body

politics which makes the similarity between their bodies and men in order to

get right to seek freedom to define their own sexualities, reproduction and

abortion practices.

As the first and the second waves had brought women into an issue of

oppression, the next wave has brought women into a new phase where they

have their own liberty on exploring their bodies and sexualities without being

exploited. This wave which began in the mid-1990s is popularly known as the

third wave of feminism. The main focus of this wave is about “to embrace

femininity and girliness as well as a celebration of diversity among women”

(Zaslow, 2009, p. 27). This wave has also made a strong empowerment to

define the feminine beauty for themselves as subjects, not as objects of a

sexist patriarchy. Therefore, this wave encourages women to be proud of their

bodies by putting makeup, wearing high heels and exposing their sexy

cleavages without thinking that it is done under the male oppression. Jennifer

Baumgardner and Amy Richards, the third wave spokeswomen revealed that

third wave is “a new feminist strategy in which the feminine is celebrated,

accentuated, and consciously performed rather than dismissed as a source of

oppression” (ibid). This is to say that women in this era were free to wear any

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girl‟s decorative things including make-up, stilettos, and revealing clothes.

They want to be sexually attractive and stylish without being exploited. This

wave also prized the individual choice. Moreover, the individual choice is

strongly related to „Girl Power‟. Girl Power offers women to have freedom of

choices toward their own life.

Girl power offers girls and women a sense that they can choose when

to be girly and when to be powerful, when to be mother and when to

be powerful, when to be mother and when to be professional, when to

be sexy for male pleasure and when to be sexy for their own pleasure.

(Zaslow, 2009, p. 3)

Girl Power encourages girls and women to identify themselves both as

traditionally feminine objects and as powerful feminist agents. The coming of

Girl Power was noticed by the emergence of The Spice Girls. This British pop

singing group has brought girls and women into a new vision as they sing

about “female solidarity, demanded the ability to control their relationship,

and voiced their sexual desire” (ibid). Furthermore, Girl power has extended

beyond The Spice Girls, for instance, it comes across the pop stars and

celebrities‟ life like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and many more. Therefore, there

is no wonder that celebrities become the role model of Girl Power. Moreover,

the notion of Girl Power has widely spread in the era called Post Feminism

through the existence of media.

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Girl power is diffused through all media, especially media addressed

to, or engaged with, by girl audiences, in a postfeminism era. It defines

a new model of a girlhood replete with a postfeminist system of values

and practices. (ibid, p. 4)

Post Feminism era itself offers girls and women more choices. They

are free to celebrate their sexual freedom, including exploring and expressing

their sexualities. Post Feminism “celebrates women‟s sexuality and

encourages women to explore sexual options and express themselves in

whatever ways they feel comfortable” (Gladen, 2007). Moreover, Post

Feminism let women be feminist in their own way. Some of them are wearing

make-up and high heels without being considered as loosing their Feminist

soul. “Post feminism attaches considerable importance to the formulation of

an expressive personal lifestyle and the ability to select the right commodities

to attain”(Negra, 2008, p. 13).

Since Post Feminism gives women wider choices in their sexual

freedom, it comes to be seen as “the new and improved mind of feminism

which fits for the new millennium generation” (Genz & Brabon, 2009, p. 12).

As I have mentioned previously, American youth today is a millennium

generation who is strongly driven and shaped by technology. Moreover,

technology in this era has affected everything, including women. Women

nowadays tend to be more explicit in media representation. They tend to see

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their bodies as a source of sexual pleasure and affirmation of their sexual

identities, as well as an exercise of freedom of choice (p. 94). One of the

examples is women‟s appearances in Victoria‟s Secrets. Victoria‟s Secrets is a

very popular product offering and selling women‟s lingerie. It has sold

„sexiness‟ along with its clothing. This product has gained high degree of

attention which is drawn to the sexual of women‟s bodies. Moreover, there is

an approval and acknowledgement that this product has changed the way to

see women in revealing and provocative lingerie. Through this product,

women who wear it will be seen in their pride and power. “These „new‟ kind

of women are both feminine and feminist at the same time, merging notions of

personal empowerment with the visual display of sexuality” (p. 92). Women

wanted her body to remain erotic, sexual, both desired and desiring. This is to

say that women in Post Feminism embrace femininity/sexuality as an

expression of their power.

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F. Miley Cyrus‟ Biography

1. Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus was born on 23 November 1992, in Franklin, Tennessee. She

was born with name „Destiny Hope Cyrus‟, however, her name is changed into Miley

Cyrus since she was always smiling when she was a baby. She is the daughter of „90s

country star who is married to Leticia “Tish” Cyrus. She is growing

up in a lovable family living in family farm near Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A with

five siblings; they are Christopher (older half-brother from a previous relationship

Billy Ray had been in), Brandi and Trace (older half-sister and half-brother from a

previous relationship of Leticia), Braison Chance (younger brother) and Noah

Lindsey (younger sister). Miley loves her family so much, especially her Dad (Billy

Ray).

As the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus loves

everything about acting and singing. It is genetics that she inherits her Dad‟s talent.

Moreover, she enjoys every inch of her life along with lyrics and melody. She was

passionate for acting at her young age, that she appeared in her father‟s television

series, Doc, and in Tim Burton‟s Big Fish in 2003. Her father was very proud of

Miley that she became the girl the world would come to know as

who was ultimately fated for great business in 2004. However, in 2005, the entire

family of Miley Cyrus had to move to Los Angeles, California, in purpose of

accommodating the filming of Hannah Montana. (All of the information above is commit to user

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summarized fromhttp://www.biography.com/people/miley-cyrus-299134 and

http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/miley-cyrus.html).

2.

After being chosen for the role of Hannah Montana, Miley‟s life has changed

through the years. She has transformed from a Southern girl into a pop superstar

touring over the U.S.A. She had gone for miles away from her home, Nashville.

Miles by miles she reached up to make her dreams come true. She was living

commuterring back and forth from Nashville to Los Angeles to New York to Toronto

and . She did that over and over again that she was always sleeping

in a bus or car. Miles to Go is a story of her life; real life since it was written by Miley

Cyrus herself. It answers the questions she has never been asked before.

Miley was fifteen when she wrote her own autobiography. It was the time

when she had flourished her wings in entertainment business. She wrote a lot about

her own characters and personal life that media never published. She told herself in

many ways that people never had imagined before.

People know Miley Cyrus as a great girl of Hannah Montana living in

notorious and happy life. However, it was just what appeared in the media. Miley told

her readers in her book that she was just a person who had no friend and lived in

pitiful story when she was in school. When she was in sixth grade, she told that she

hated school very much. It is because her classmates hated her more than anything.

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“There is a club of anti-Miley…an Operation MMM (Make Miley

Miserable)”(Cyrus, 2009, p. 18). She often threatened and intimidated by those girls.

They were always messing up with Miley; like, making her come late to school,

hiding her book, screwing her hair, talking behind her, and locking her in bathroom.

Another reason comes from the fact that Miley is the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus;

therefore, her friends were never getting along with her. She had no friend that she ate

alone in the cafeteria. “I was friendless, lonely, and miserable”(p. 21).

As a girl hated by her friends, Miley becomes a unique person. She loves to

do what she loves to do; she has thick skin that she never looks at her haters or take

revenge for their cruelty. She believes that God always with her; therefore, she lays

her life to Him. There is no problem for her to stay alone or friendless; as soon as she

has dreams, she is alive. “Like I said before, weird or not, I‟m okay being alone”(p.

64). She grows uniquely and differently. “I wanted to feel unique, quirky,

different”(p.15).

Being a friendless and unique person, Miley started to be a little rebel. It is

shown on how she messed up with her teacher in the first day of school when she had

moved to Canada.

There was no way I could sit still and focus for hours on end. People didn‟t

know exactly how to handle me. It‟s not that I was trying to be disrespectful,

but I. Could. Not. Be quiet. On my first day of school one year, my teacher

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told me I‟d get detention if I said one more word. I turned to my friend and

whispered, “One more word.” Boom!Detention. For whispering. (p. 16)

Miley was always wanted to be true of who she really is without feeling shy about it.

In another side, Miley is a dream believer that she believes in every dream she has.

She had huge dreams. She wants to be an actress and singer. Acting and singing are

her favorite things to do. She never feels tired of it. To her, dream is just like what

you are and what you might be. “It‟s about having a dream and seeing it in the

distance. It‟s about working for what you want. It‟s about the climb”(p. 120). She was

working so hard to reach her dream and in the end, she ended up with the dreams

which come true. As a dream believer, Miley has successfully made her dreams come

true. “I was lifted up, not so much by success or fame or anything to do with

Hollywood status as by the moment. My heart was flying. My soul was soaring. I felt

radiant”(p. 62). She is living in her dreams. She becomes a singer and actress.

Moreover, she has produced lots of works in entertainment business; that she acted in

TV series, movie, and released fourth with best rating and selling.

3. Career

This information is compiled from http://www.biography.com/people/miley-

cyrus-299134, http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/miley-cyrus.html

and any other related sites I mentioned.

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Miley Cyrus has a long journey of careering. It is started when she was ten

years old; precisely in 2003. In 2003, Miley has started her journey in the

entertainment business; that Miley along with her Father were staring TV series Doc

and Tim Burton‟s Big Fish. Then in 2004, Miley has successfully beaten out 1,000

girls looking up for cast on the hit Disney shows Hannah Montana.

Hannah Montana is a young pop superstar (Montana) hiding her celebrity identity to

be an everyday teen in real life (Stewart). As staring Hannah Montana who is a pop

superstar, at the same time Miley becomes a real pop superstar. In the next year,

Miley continued her career in Hannah Montana TV serial along with her Dad as

Robbie Stewart (Miley Stewart‟s Dad). Within these three years, Miley‟s persona

appeared as a successful girl chasing her dreams to be a singer and actress.

While in the next year, precisely in 2006, Miley signed a record with Disney

that; she was going to sing in Hannah Montana album soundtrack. She sang the

whole songs within the album and did a little tour for it. Then in 2007, Miley

continued on releasing the double album of Hannah Montana, entitled Hannah

Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus and launched a tour: “Best of Both World”. As Miley

became more popular as a singer through her double album soundtrack, Miley started

to release her own studio album in 2008. Her first studio album entitled “Breakout”

describes how Miley was disappointed of her broken relationship with her “prince

charming”. However, one of the singles entitled „‟7 Things‟‟ has successfully become

the huge hit reaching the top of the pop album charts. In the other hand, in the same

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year, Miley has involved in a little controversy that she has posed half naked in

Vanity Fair magazine. It did a little disgrace for Miley‟s image and might disturb her

career. But in the end, Miley apologized to her fans for posing in inappropriate way.

Within these three years, Miley appeared as an American popular singer and at the

same time produced an image of a girl in puberty that she fell in love and broke up

and was desperate for it. Besides, the image of a girl in puberty was appeared as she

posed semi-nude in a popular magazine.

In 2009, Miley wrote her own autobiography entitled “Miles to Go”. Within

it, she has told everything about her life that has never been asked by the media.

Then, she released her third works EP The Time of Our Lives with hit singles “Party

in the U.S.A” and “”. Within her EP, Miley had made herself an

American teenager who was happy, cheerful, and beautiful. Moreover, she was a girl

in love; because in 2010, Miley stared a romantic drama The Last Song together with

Liam Hemsworth (her fiancé to be), a film based on a novel by .

After starring the film, she started to release the next album entitled “Can‟t Be

Tamed”. In this album, Miley started to leave her Hannah Montana image, but it was

virtually unrecognizable.

In the end of 2010 it was known that Miley had performed a rebellious image

through “Can‟t Be Tamed” album; but it was unrecognizable. However, Miley‟s

career in 2010 had been recognized through her movie with Liam entitled The Last

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Song. Until then, in 2011 to 2012, Miley focused on acting and did not produce any

song.

In 2013, Miley came back to sing a song. She released her fourth album

entitled “” with “We Can‟t Stop” and “Wrecking Ball” as the huge hit

singles. Miley comes in different persona that she cut her hair and dresses in a

provocative fashion style. Her new persona which is away from her Hannah

Montana‟s images has gained thousands of controversies from world wide society,

especially American society. This is to say that she became the queen of controversy

in this year.

4. Personal Life

Miley Cyrus has a complicated personal life; especially dealing with „lover‟.

Miley Cyrus had dated Nick Jonas, one of the personnel in 2007.

Their relationship was not working and ended. After that, Miley dated an underwear

model; Justin Gaston and actor Carter Jenkins. Then, in 2010, after acting on

romantic drama with Liam Hemworth, Miley announced that Liam was her first love,

the first man she loved seriously. They had been in relationship for three years.

Within the three years, they had gone tough times; that they broke up and reunited

again in 2011. In June 2012, they announced their engagement, but unfortunately,

their relationship ended in September 2013. They have separated after four years of

dating. Relating to her latest relationship with Liam Hemsworth, Miley felt big loss.

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She had gone through hard times with it; and it did depress her. It can be read from

her music and the lyrics inside that describe a deep loss.

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