Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Juxtaposition


Sheryl Crow’s song “Woman in the White House” she says that it’s time to elect a woman into office. She does this not only lyrically but visually as well. Crow uses a lot of assertive language in her song but the language is kind of filtered by the sweet country sound. She categorizes women to be all the same. She says that women are nurturing and are less likely to fight and cause a ruckus and that’s what we need in office. Within the lyrics she is basically putting women to a higher standard than men.  While she is saying all of these nice sweet things about women in her song, the picture she chose for the cover of her CD depicts something completely different. The cover shows a woman in front of the White House. The only thing that is visible are the woman’s legs and the woman is wearing black stilettos and black panty hose which gives off more of a sexual vibe than what her lyrics show. I feel that she went this route instead of using current politicians because she intended to appeal to women but I think that she believed this photo would also help her appeal to men.

While Crow had good intentions, I don’t think that this song really furthers the message of a woman in office. However, I think that a lot of people are likely to listen to this song. Crow did a good job at making this song catchy. The fact that this song was so old school country made it hard not to have it stuck in your head. Crow also appealed to ladies everywhere making them feel as if someone like them could be elected into office. Crow also did a good job at making you want to listen to the song. The title will draw women in, but the CD cover may draw in men and make them want to listen. The song is catchy, so it has the opportunity to get people to continue listening and spreading the song by word of mouth. I think her song can be successful, but I don’t think that the song will be taken seriously enough to further the message. While the song is catchy I don’t think that people will take it seriously enough to further her message.
- Breanna Hargrove
(389 Words)

1 comment:

  1. I agree with what you are saying about how it using assertive language that is filtered by a sweet country sound. The lyrics in her song are putting women in high regard and sort of degrading men in comparison. Where the lyrics do certainly appeal more to women the cover is definitely directed more towards a male audience to help sell the album. The song does have an important message it is trying to get across but it could have been done in a different way that would have been more effective. The juxtaposition she draws between women’s gender roles and how a women president would be are clever but take away from the seriousness of the song with her lyrics and that in conjunction with the country vibe makes me consider this song a joke. I agree that the song is catchy and that the seriousness of the song is just not there. (155 words)

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