Blog 1

In her controversial “Window Seat” video, Erykah Badu strips down and gets shot in the head to spark discussion about “groupthink”.  Using Hall’s Encoding/Decoding model, we can understand how Badu creates discrepancy over the meaning of her video.  Badu uses a previous video, (“Lesson Learned”) by Matt & Kim as her inspiration, and shot the video guerilla style, meaning that the street she strips down on was public and functioning at the time she chose to bare it all.  This tactic is particularly useful here, as being nude in public is obviously not legal, but Badu and her crew manage to film the video in two minutes without being stopped by police. Badu encodes a message of “groupthink”, in an effort to launch a discussion of non-conformity and self-expression without scrutiny.  Badu stripping her clothes and walking nude down a busy Elm Street in Texas symbolizes something out of the norm, her creative and artistic expression.  Badu being assassinated almost exactly where President Kennedy was shot symbolizes people being too ignorant and narrow-minded to accept something out of the ordinary or unconventional.

Matt & Kim's video "Lesson Learned", in which Matt and Kim strip nude in the middle of Times Square, was a source of inspiration for Badu's "Window Seat" video.

"EVOLVING" is spelled across Badu's back in her music video.

            Responses to Badu’s video were mixed.  Some people derived the same message that Badu intended, and praised her for her originality and strong moral message.  Others decoded different meaning from the video.  People on the street shouted criticisms at Badu, while others expressed their opinions online in response to the video.  People claim that Badu’s nudity and mock assassination was inappropriate and distasteful, also noting that children were present when the video was shot.  One source also brings up a very good point, in that women’s nudity in the media often times is exploitative and objectifying.  Badu may be trying to emphasize that even when a woman is nude in public, for purposes other than exploitation of her body, people still receive this as going against social norms and even view it as so wrong that she actually deserves to be killed for it, or metaphorically, the idea deserves to be violently shot in the head.  Some view Badu’s video as a contradiction in itself, in that it is perpetuating the objectification of women in the media, and also that Badu herself is conforming to the masses of other women who use nudity.

Alanis Morissette's video "Thank You" similarly features her completely naked on a busy city street.

            In decoding Badu’s message, it is also worthwhile to note what Hall calls “frameworks of knowledge”.  Based on reactions to the video, it seems that not all people were aware of the greater meaning that Badu sought to encode.  Some individuals, including myself, have never heard of “groupthink”, and while the video may have been using nudity to encourage people not to conform to the masses, I think it became more of a distraction from the message.  People opposed to the video argue that the video is deliberately sexualizing Badu, and thus contradicting the overall theme.

            William’s idea of social inheritance plays a big part in understanding both Badu’s intentions with her video and public reaction to it.  The previous cultures that have created the foundation for our culture today view a woman nude in public as a strong violation of a social norm.  Historically, this has always been true, and while we may be increasingly more liberal as time goes on, a woman stripping her clothes on a busy public street is still deviant from the meanings and values embedded in our culture. 

Badu is shot dead near the end of her video, near the sight JFK was assassinated.

            The context surrounding Badu and her video is insightful for understanding its cultural implications.  Some audience members claimed that being shot in her video where JFK was shot in 1963 was disrespectful and created a mockery of the assassination.  Being that the video was shot in Texas, one might also assume that bystanders to the video are more likely conservative in their beliefs.  That immediate Texan audience also feels the effects of the relations of production and technical infrastructure in their decoding of the event.  While guerilla style filming was the most effective way, and perhaps the only way, that immediate audience very likely was unable to grasp the intended message. With some brief research, I found that Badu is notorious for going against the status quo of the music industry.  Badu challenges all of the behavioral codes within the industry by fighting against conformity in general.  William’s describes “selective tradition” as consisting of general human culture, historical record of a particular society, and rejection of considerable areas.  He also notes that our traditional culture will always correspond to our contemporary culture, which is continually selecting and interpreting values.  Badu uses nudity to represent a nonconformity that our traditional, historical, human culture rejects as normative.  Badu subscribes to what Williams calls “contemporary change”, in which she shatters tradition and draws new cultural lines through her radical, unconventional act.

            Overall, Erykah Badu should be praised for her innovation and strong moral message.  In her video she illustrates how doing something that may not be widely accepted by society is often times “shot down” and scorned for its deviance.  The video makes the point that because most of the world is part of a “groupthink”, people bury what they really wish to express to fit in with the group.  Badu makes a powerful example of leaving that comfort zone of conformity and facing scrutiny for not following the norm.  While some people may oversee her message, Badu’s artistic campaign against conformity is ever present.  Her courage and determination to change perceptions of what is acceptable is both inspiring and admirable.