Vid Project

Jennifer Lopez's "I Luh Ya Papi"

Reverse role parody of the objectification of women by objectifying men

What is the Feminist Approach in Art?

The Feminist approach to art can be described as work that is rooted in the analyzes and commitments of contemporary feminism and that contributes to a critique of the political, economic and ideological power relations of contemporary society. It is not a stylistic category nor simply any art produced by women, but a response to the normalized phenomenon of hyper-sexualizing and objectifying women is in today’s society.

Elements and Principles evident in the video

Light: The director uses light throughout the whole video to act as symbols of energy.

Color: The use of light throughout the entire video from the beginning to the end portrays a cycle because of the constant use of it.

Time and Motion: Jennifer is constantly moving in action with her fierce dance moves, and she actually stops dancing and captures some good photos of her own by taking pictures with an iPad.

Line of Sight : The director uses implied lines as Jennifer stares directly at the camera which forces us to look at her.

Unity and Variety: He constantly changes the use of light. The director uses natural light and lights of a room from beginning to the end.

Brief Video Summary

 In this particular video, men are seen wearing very little clothing and posing provocatively. The viewer is bombarded by multiple scenes of men presented in an extremely sexual manner, wearing next to nothing, draped over women who enjoy the attention. The men are on display to be seen by the women. The hyper-sexualization of men at the hands of women is a recurring theme in video whereas hyper-sexualization of women at the hands of men is a recurring popular culture.

Since the invention of music videos, women have been positioned in extremely objectifying ways, and although the times may have changed the underlying themes remain the same. Women tend to look over men attributes and love their drive when it comes to ambition. In popular culture, men are constantly portrayed as the dominant and powerful sex while women are depicted as mere sexual objects. The real problem arises when the constant exposure to these themes in media artifacts allows the viewer to accept this pattern of men as powerful and women as passive as an ideology.

The video exhibits hyper-sexualization and sex objectifying based upon these two simple visual contexts 

1. Sexual objectification: is the act of treating a person as an instrument of sexual pleasure and objectification more broadly means treating a person as a commodity or an object without regard to their personality or dignity.  http://www.apa.org/education/ce/sexual-objectification.pdf

2. Hyper-sexualizing: is the process of exhibiting unusual or excessive concern with or indulgence in sexual activity. It also mean inappropriately imposed of one's sex through media, marketing or products directed at them that encourages them to act in adult sexual ways. http://www.cwhn.ca/en/hypersexualizationprimer

TSU Olympian Critique

My second critique for my Art Appreciation  class will be about a sculpture, which was created by Jane-Allen McKinney. This sculpture, The TSU Olympian, was construction on Tennessee State University’s campus around the year of 2004. I wanted to pick this work of art because I have been attending Tennesse State University for two years now and I haven't got a chance to find out what it was. In addition, I choose this because I love landscape architecture and this sculpture gives the campus more life during athletic events. Since it stands 45 feet and 8 inches tall and is shaped like a track runner showing implied motion you can't help, but feel connected to it when involved in a game.The track runner is made up of three different metals: brass, aluminum, and copper. Looking at the sculpture the different metals stand for the number of Olympic medals earned by track athletes from Tennessee State University. The track runner is also holding a brass diploma/baton is its right hand, which is supposed to represent both sides of the educational athletes similarities when completing a long run. In the left hand is the Olympic torch made of metal, the flame is kinetic and rotates 360 degrees.The runner stands on two Egyptian-style columns. One stands at 16 feet 8 inches and the other is 14 feet. They are made the way to give off the illusion of implied motion. This sculpture represents the run through life and the obstacles it brings. 
The visual components of this sculpture would be its diagonal line which fills this sculpture with restless and uncontrolled energy. Secondly, the style of this sculpture is representational because it is clearly recognizable human form. Thirdly, this is a three-dimensional work of art because it is free standing sculpture. Two principles of design in this work of art that stands out is scale and balance. The scale of this was created to be huge so it may have a greater impact on your sense. The scale of this sculpture also adds to its importances of the community it has been placed in. The balance of this sculpture was the most import in this freestanding sculpture because the physical stability of a reclining figure is not easy to perfect and if the balance is not perfect enough the sculpture will lose its sense of dynamic or static harmony of the diagonal line approach.
            I feel that The TSU Olympian sculpture relates to me on a personal level because I am a student who is trying hard to graduate and be successful as Architectural Engineer. Yet, it goes deep than that since I was an all round athlete throughout high school I understand how important leaving a mark and building a legacy up is what every athlete tries their hardest to do. However, not just athletes can learn from this sculpture, but anyone who is trying to overcome obstacles in their life