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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 music video, 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 music genre 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. Miley Cyrus 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 Billy Ray Cyrus 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 Hannah Montana
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. Miles to Go
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 back to Tennessee. 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 album 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 Miley Stewart 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 “When I look at You”. 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 Nicholas Sparks.
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 “Bangerz” 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 Jonas Brothers 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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