DON'T FORGET! - SEX SELLS - August 5, 2009

TheHolodigm.com

SEX SELLS

DON'T FORGET! - Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and sexual display has always accompanied the performing arts. Many of the great popular music icons have made hyper-sexuality a component of their public image. This has proven most effective when the sexual energy is part of the artist's personal attraction. Often strong sexual content is used to mask the less attractive artists so that the videos are likely to be watched. Whatever the reasoning, it is obvious that misogyny plays a big role in the current video format. This is truly a sad state of affairs. Of course, the women performing are not themselves to blame. What we are observing here is a mind set owned and promoted by the artists themselves. Demeaning women is worst in the Hip Hop world but is demonstrated in other genres as well. These videos project an image of women, as second class citizens, through a lens crowded with over imaging of sex, guns, cars, jewels and gold. These acts are long on the cultural symbols of success and short on artistic integrity. They are not likely to endure. As record companies devote less and less money to video budgets, the production style is changing. High concept, low tech, low cost videos depend more on cleverness than flashy symbols of wealth and power. Webios and micro-movies along with low tech documentary footage provide a glimpse of authenticity as well as promotional value. Some of this material is recorded on cell phones. Gaudy demonstration pieces are surrendering to personal and revealing observations of the art and heart of the pop star's personality. But it is a business, and sex sells.