Bibliography: Books

I was not able to take out my library books as my library card expired, however i will be able to collect them by fridays lesson. The books that i found were:

Bradley, Lloyd: Reggae: The Story Of Jamaican Music. London: BBC.

This book will assist me on researching the history of Dancehall music, it will allow me to out more about the Jamaican culture and how it is processed through Dancehall music.

Wilton, Tamsin: Sexual (Dis) Orientation: Gender, Sex, Desire and Self fashioning. Palgrave Macmillan.

This will give me an overlook on homosexuality and allow me to understand the concept of the cultural and sexual, identity known as 'homosexual'.

Archer, John and Lloyd, Barbara: Sex and Gender. Cambridge University Press

This book will allow me to look at the sociological aspects of sex and gender roles. It will also give me an insite into the crisis of masculinity as a reason for homophobia.

Schroder, Kim and Drotner, Kirsten and Kline, Stephen and Murray, Catherine: Researching Audiences. Arnold (Oxford University Press)

To show the effect of texts on audiences and how audiences react to texts. In relation to what audiences do after hearing Dancehall music, if it inspires or influences them.

Connel, R.W.: Gender and Power. Blackwell Publishers

Lancaster, Roger and di Leonardo, Michaela: The Gender and Sexuality Reader. Routledge

Clark, Vivienne and Baker, James and Lewis, Eileen: Key Concepts and Skills for Media Studies. Hodder and Stoughton

This book will help me look at genre, as i am looking at a music genre, Dancehall. I will also look at representation of men, as i am looking at homosexuality in males and i will also look at representation of black people, as they are the main homophobes in the text.

Blog buddy's....

I am pleased to announce that my blog buddy from 13C is Nathan and my blog buddy from 13D is Mo. However Rajan, Ramneet and Jatinder are also combined in my blog buddy group. The similarities in my topic and Nathtan and Mo's are that, mine is looking a specific music genre, so is Nathan's, both topics also delve into the crisis in masculinity but in a variety of ways, as my study looks at homosexuality as a result of the crisis and Nathan's looks at the exposure and sexual objectification of women as a result. Another thing that I have in common with Nathan's study and my main similarity with Mo's study is that it is looking at the representation of black people.

Textual Analysis

Text: 'Boom Bye Bye' (1992), Buju Banton

Media Language: soft, melo soundtrack with connotations of love, gentile behavior, invites the listener to relax and enjoy the music. However everynow and again there is a gun shot sound, which creates a paradox, or a contrast between the violent theme of gun shots to the soft melody of the soundtrack. Jamaican slang, colloquial terminology suits the the form of the song, reggae song so you would expect to hear this dialect.. The artists strong, deep voice creates power and emphasizes a stronger meaning, especially as it is contrasted over the soft background music.
Words such as 'boom' signify calling for the shooting of homosexuals, which reinforces hes strong dislike for them.

Institution: Was through Fontana records, it was sold in the US and Caribbean however was soon taken off shelves due to protests fro gay rights groups etc. The song goes against all that's ethically right and socially responsible as it does not 'dumb down' or use euphemisms in the lyrical content. Fontana's involvement in distributing the record has been thought to off been the reason for their sudden lapse in international success with the promoting and distributing reggae music.

Genre: 'Boom bye bye' is a musical text, from the Reggae sub-genre, Dancehall. The Jamaican slang or 'patois' implies it's a reggae song, however it seems to defy the usual conventions of the majority of reggae songs, where the soundtrack is called a 'riddim', and when one riddim is made it is then used by many different reggae artists. 'Boom bye bye' does not do this as Buju Banton is the only artist to make a track on this 'riddim', from this we can infer that the 'riddim' has been specially made for this song, which suggests the importance of the theme or issue the song addresses.

Representation: Different groups represented in the text are mainly homosexuals and black people. The representation of homosexuals is a lot apparent and easier to hear throughout the song. Negative representations of homosexuals placing them in disagreement with the Bible and God, can either do two things to the audience, either allow them to identify with the artist and be overwhelmed by this piece of 'propaganda' or feel identify with the victims (homosexuals) and take a sand against this unprogressive, unfair attitude. The slightly more concealed or hidden representation in the song is of black people. This is only acquired by a form of stereotyping, if we feel that all black people, or afro caribbean's feel the same way the artist feels we are then given a portrayal of black people ideologies on the issue of homosexuality, which we can hear from the text is negative.

Audience: The audience for this text is 18+ as the issue addressed calls for a mature approach. The main audience for reggae music are black people of Caribbean dissent however this genre of music is increasingly popular in Europe and therefore would get international exposure. The text would most probably be aimed at males, as the artist is a male and he would expect the male audience to agree and side with him as the majority of males seem to share the same values on topics such as these, also a female audience would be a lot more likely to challenge the values of this song, as they seem to identify with homosexuals more.

Values and Ideologies: To an outsider it is clear that the main ideology being pushed through this text is homophobia, its prejudice and discrimination towards homosexuals conforms with homophobic values. A single unprogressive yet common cultural value of the black community have been portrayed through the song.

Narrative: In a way you could see a slight link to Propp's Hero/Villain theory. In the text the artist is portrayed as the hero, with his strong, powerful voice and his extermination of the villain(homosexuals) is heroic and can be seen as the role of the rescuer as he is saving society from these villains(homosexuals).

'PAID NOT PLAYED'

Controversial reggae artist, Buju Banton has been subject to much criticism due his anti gay lyrics, in particular a song released in the early 90's called 'Boom bye bye'. Despite gay rights groups protests the song still manage to get extreme airplay and exposure. This is a spoof video of one of his songs, done by homosexuals seems to be a minor triumph in the fight for gay rights against reggae artists such as Buju Banton. The song is called 'Paid not Played' and you can see the original video from this link.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI-CW4bdp5o