holy crap, that's funny.

but then, i've always been a fan of dramatic readings off of unintended subjects, like maxi pad boxes and such, so...

This is AMAZING. Jessica, where did you find it? I freaking love Alanis.

omfg >.

Thanks for sharing :D

Oh Alanis, only you could take one of the worst songs in the history of music and make it brighten my day. I love you.

haunting

Aww, Fuck-Yeah!

Alanis 1, Fergie 0.

Ah, the wonders of YouTube. Seriously, this is better than cheesecake.

When I first heard "My Lumps" (humps, whatever the fuck it is) I, too, thought it was one of the worst pieces of music to crusade through my ears and as protest I would STOP dancing everytime they played it in clubs (which gave my feet a much needed rest anyway).

But this, this makes that songs existence somewhat tolerable.

You don't want no drama!

I love this.

Best. Video. Ever. I'm going to show this to students to help them understand the ironic distance between lyrics and images (and to show them a woman giving some boys a forearm shiver) Love it! I wish she had left out the knee to the genitals, because it just brings out the antifeminists whining about our "revenge" and our "violence." Sigh.

Arsenic, while YouTube is amazing, I can't quite bring it up to the level of cheesecake. And I'm confident that Rose, Blanche, Dorothy, and Sophia would have my back on this one.

Oh my god..it's..it's...

ironic!

Oh yeah, and I love it!

I'd been laughing at that a mere half-hour before you posted it up. Such a small internet!

It's so excruciating and amazing.

I don't know anything about Fergie's other work, so I may be way off base, but I always thought the irony was present in the original. "All that breast inside that shirt"? Come on, that's got to be a joke.

I was really hoping she'd have a Kabuki mask on for the "drama" part, but all in all it's a beautiful piece.

Any truth to Fergie striking back with "Hand In My Pocket"?

What a gem!

If only the sound of her voice didn't make me want to go out and murder some pre-borns, I'd be amused.

OK. Am I going to lose all my feministing cred if I admit that I...don't get it? Would somebody be kind of enough to explain it to poor, geeky, out-of-the-loop me?

Am I the only one who thinks that a large part of the video's humor comes from a white girl imitating and mocking hip-hop "ghetto fabulousness," and that this is a problem because it uncritically reinforces negative stereotypes of the POC associated with hip-hop culture?

I mean, I'm not saying Fergie represents quality hip-hop or should be immune from parody, but it seems pretty obvious to me that Alanis is milking her whiteness (and white privilege) for laughs, even if she wouldn't put it that way herself.

standpoint333 : "Am I the only one who thinks that a large part of the video's humor comes from a white girl imitating and mocking hip-hop "ghetto fabulousness" Probably.
You do realize, that the original singer of this song is white? A blonde haired- on the cover of maxim- white woman? How does Alanis highlighting the offensive portrayal of gender relations in the song reinforce negative stereotypes?

Alanis is "highlighting the offensive portrayal of gender relations" in a genre (hip-hop) for which the primary public faces are people of color (even though the majority of consumers are middle-class whites), a genre that has been scapegoated for misogyny and violence while systemic white patriarchy (especially its effects on POC) goes largely unexamined in mainstream discourse. The fact that Fergie is white has little to do with it, since Fergie earnestly, not ironically, draws on hip-hop culture to produce her work, however second-rate the outcome.

Do you honestly think the imagery in the video speaks *only* to gender and sexism, and leaves race out? What happened to our intersectional thinking? To me, this video is like a white person giving a parodic misogynistic speech in "ebonics" and passing it off as comedy. We may gain some insight from it, but don't we also need to ask at what cost?

I look forward to Alanis's next deconstructionist video where she skewers the "safe" white pop artists.

EG - I don't really get it either, if it makes you feel any better.
I mean, I thought the original song was excrutiatingly stupid, and in this version...it still is. The fact that she's performing it in a mock-serious way doesn't really strike me as terribly funny, as the original--was as far as I know--delivered with a straight face also.
The serious delivery does mock the inanity of the lyrics, but doesn't seem to me to be commenting in any way on their specific content. She could have done the same thing with "Louie, Louie" and gotten a similar result.

If she's just going for laughs, it's amusing enough. If she's attempting some kind of cutting feminist commentary, it falls pretty flat.

Ok, that does make me feel better. I kept thinking that I must be missing something...Thanks.

standpoint333, I still don't see your point. The video uses imagery representative of what is called "bridge and tunnel" in NYC, so if it's insulting to anyone, it would be italian americans (who are still often portrayed in the "guido" sterotype). I understand the argument that this isn't really any more profound than people doing britney spears parodies, but I really don't think Alanis is scapegoating hip hop culture in this video.

a genre that has been scapegoated for misogyny and violence while systemic white patriarchy

"scapegoated"? You must be kidding me.

I suppose I'm just "scapegoating" hip-hop when I say that lyrics like "When I met you last night baby Before you opened up your gap I had respect for ya lady But now I take it all back" or "Wake up in the morning like 'yo, what the fuck we do?' I gotta go bitch You know I have stuff to do 'Cause if I get caught cheatin' then I'm stuck with you" or "Why you at the bar if you aint poppin the bottles What good is all the fame if you aint fuckin the models" are sexist and misogynist.

By the way, one of those quotes is from a song by a white artist.

EG, I don't think it's funny either and it's because we're pop culture-impaired not feminist or feministing-impaired.

scapegoated for misogyny and violence while systemic white patriarchy (especially its effects on POC) goes largely unexamined in mainstream discourse

I'm one of those people who can't stand misogynist lyrics in rap or any white rock music. A few times black women got mad when I asked them why black women listen to misogynist rap lyrics. The white dominated record industry pimps out these stereotypes and a few idiots take the bait and put out these lyrics for a lot of money. It's mostly the white record industry's fault and the 70% white male and female consumers but also the dumbasses who write these lyrics because it's the only way to get rich quick.

I'm not sure that's exactly what was meant, though, Law Fairy. At least, it's not how I took it.

I actually tend to agree that hip hop seems to have become a scapegoat, in certain ways.

Yeah, there is definitely sexist, misogynist hip hop. The stuff you quoted is definitely disturbing to me.

The problem, I think, is that hip hop takes heat for lyrics like that while, say, rock gets a pass, or country, or, really, any other genre. I routinely see people condemn all hip hop as being misogynistic, but ignore the same kinds of images and lyrics in other genres. I'm not convinced that hip hop is any more misogynistic than rock is. Another part of the problem is the way that all hip hop gets blanketed because of the groups that are pushed by and backed by, say MTV. The only genre I can think of, recently, that is judged so harshly based on handful of groups is emo.

I don't know...

I guess I sort of feel like there is something to the idea that hip hop, as a genre predominantly associated with POC, sometimes seems to get singled out for criticisms that other genres don't. I think that a lot of music is misogynistic. I think that there's probably some really disturbing race politics at play in the way that the media presents and pushes certain elements of hip hop.

Like I said... I don't know. That's just sort of my impression of the situation right now, though.

Thank you, roymacIII, for articulating my point better than I did. :)

Another person who spells it out nicely is bell hooks, in her essay, "Sexism and Misogyny: Who Takes the Rap?" If folks are interested.

Also, a guy named Byron Hurt is touring with his film called "Beyond Beats and Rhymes: A Hip-Hop Head Weighs in on Manhood in Hip-Hop Culture," which addresses similar themes (i.e. white americans using black misogyny to deflect attention from their own shit, and from systemic sexism and racism).

liontamer, I also noticed that the male backup dancers were white, and I absolutely agree that they were racialized in this video as Italian stereotypes. Given the history of Italian-American assimilation into standard whiteness in the States (in other words, they are sometime-whites), though, I actually think selecting that particular stereotype was an ingenious way to strike a delicate balance between whiteness and non-whiteness. I mean, imagine if the guy grabbing Alanis had been Black -- wouldn't that have fundamentally changed the feel of the video? And similarly, wouldn't it have been entirely different if the dude had been a WASPy-looking buisnessman, or a Midwestern NASCAR-fan dad? I think the race, and racialization, of the backup dancers matters a great deal.

And as many folks have pointed out on this blog, freedom from worrying about, or paying attention to, race and ethnicity is an important facet of white privilege. So it's not surprising that so many people would overlook the racist undertones in this video. I'm just asking that we try a deeper reading.

white americans using black misogyny to deflect attention from their own shit, and from systemic sexism and racism

There's a whole history about this that goes back to the 50s or earlier. Norman Mailer wrote an article called The White Negro which said white men appropriate black culture to escape without considering the lives of actual black people. This has not changed.

Have there been studies comparing the misogyny of hip hop lyrics and rock or country? As a layman, I find rap lyrics more misogynist than other genres. I know it's wrong and unpopular to say that but is that objectively true when you put lyrics side by side? There is probably no reason to ask this but just so I don't think I'm going crazy when people say there's no difference between rap and country lyrics. Roymac, can you give some examples of extremely sexist country or rock lyrics to compare?

After Norman Mailer wrote that article, white men used what they precieved as cool and physical in black culture and today, they continue to perpetuate these stereotypes by producing and distributing hip hop. Terrible terrible terrible.

Anyway, when I asked a few young black women why they listened to these lyrics they said they liked the beats and that everyone likes sex. But the videos and lyrics demean women of color. I'm probably just more attuned to feminism and sexism than most people which is why I don't understand these things.

(and before anyone asks why i took three black women to task, feministing knows better than anyone i take white women, men or anyone to task if they say or do anything anti-feminist.)

--hard ass

Am I the only one who actually does like the original Black Eyed Peas song/video if only for how ridiculous the lyrics/dancing are? I mean a song doesn't have to have clever lyrics to be catchy and fun. Also, the entire point of most of Fergie's lyrics are to put into question the objectification of women. Now whether it's taken seriously is another issue, but it's still the right idea.

But in regards to the Alanis video, I think it's merely trying to imitate the original video pretty closely with what they had on hand. It just looks like she and her friends got together one afternoon and decided to have some fun. I think the song is hilarious, and that you are over analyzing it.

AHAHAHAH. I came here just to see if someone had posted this video :D (I don't frequent, but I should!).

I don't think it's possible to overanalyze Alanis' cover - the decision to make the song a piano-driven weepy ballad is simply too ironic to say she just did it without thinking. That's like saying Shakespeare didn't intend to use any metaphors. It's satire, and it's highly likely that it's purposeful. Otherwise it would just be useless tripe like the original, which I can't imagine anyone intending. Ha!

I'm also not sure if I believe that the original song is ironic. I had wondered the same thing myself, but it often seems like the entertainment industry masquerades truth as irony just so it makes the performer look good. America has kind of a double standard where what we believe is morally right is not actually what we do.

Also, I find it hard to believe that a group who would write similarly disappointing lyrics such as "let's get retarded in here", "if you got boobies baby keep em all plump" and "When I see ya you can get boned if ya wanta" could be considered feminists writing irony.

Much respect to all the opinions above though :D

After reading ALL the comments I have to say that you all are super thoughtful and I never would have thought anything about a race issue here, and I'll definitely think more on it. Thank goodness for good conversation!