Blog 2: Jay Park's "Mommae"

Prompt 1: The cultural artifact that I chose was the song/music video, “Mommae” by Jay Park. Both the lyrics and the video revolve around the idea of the “male gaze,” which is when women are shown as sexual objects for the pleasure of the male viewer. I chose this because it portrays women as just props.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx_mg-1WhWw

Prompt 2:

Who created/authorship: Rap and hip hop culture created this text. Having women in their videos, whether it be direct interactions or just in the background, has been happening for years. In fact, it has been so long that it has become a norm. The maker of this in particular would be Jay Park himself, he could have chose to not write a song about women or at least not in a way that portrayed them as just sexy objects.

Techniques/format: The whole video itself seemed to be very colorful and had a lot going on which attracts attention. But when you take a closer look, the girls in the video were centered around Jay Park and his co-artists, and they all revealed a lot of skin while the males wore regular clothing with their flashy jewelry. Some girls wore shorts that basically served no purpose because of its cut, bikinis, bunny costumes, lingerie or tight bodycon outfits. Aside from the clothing, the dance moves were focused on certain body parts, such as their chest and butt. The zoom ins on these parts mostly happened during their dancing.

Understanding: To the artists, using the girls may just be a way of bringing in the money and viewers/listeners. Some may think of it as a bad influence due to the girls being in practically no clothes and the way they are dancing, the guys’ actions towards them and the partying that goes on.

Values/lifestyle: Jay Park’s “Mommae” was a portrayal of women being used to fulfill men’s desires. Beginning to end, women were used as objects and displayed their bodies. His lyrics even stated things such as:

“Where you goin? Sorry for staring

But you’re so sexy

I can’t take my eyes off of you

I wanna see your body”

And

“If admiring you makes me a pervert,

then I wanna be a pervert”

While ugly duck’s lyrics say

“Are you sure your parents are Korean?

Your hips are like an import. If you’re hot then take it off

No conservative clothing allowed. I wonder how you

taste like – A desirable natural. Peach, watermelon”

Putting these two together is just one but common point of view men have of women. In reality, women feel disgusted by the staring eyes, cat calling, etc however, in the music video it shows that they enjoy being treated like this and it shows women to not value themselves. In addition to these values, a partying lifestyle is portrayed and may lead to reckless drinking and smoking amongst the audience. Lastly, the song is catchy but if you listen closely you will understand the true meaning behind the lyrics, which may tell people it is okay to treat others poorly.

Audience: The audience could be for both men and women since it not only contains mostly naked women but also a shirtless Jay Park. The song itself is very catchy however, the visuals and portrayal are an example of the male gaze.

Why/purpose: This message being sent is to exhibit/present the typical thoughts that go on. It kind of embraces the societal norm that women are to be sexy and flaunt it. Most of Jay’s fans are girls however, he does seem to have a big male audience due to the video being at over 28 million views. People focused on the objectifying of women for a little but it quickly passed as they fixated on Jay Park himself since he too, was shirtless and showing off his body throughout the video. The message being sent may be to tell men it is okay to think a girl is hot and treat her like how they did in the music video, and to tell women to embrace being sexy.