Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses hegemony theory and how it relates to popular culture. It particularly focuses on Christina Aguilera's song, "Beautiful" and how hegemony theory and Marxist theory relate to it. The paper discusses the views on hegemony theory and Marxist theory expressed by John Storey in his work, "Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction."

From the Paper:

"Both Hegemony Theory and Marxist Theory serve as useful lenses through which to view the video because each emphasizes aspects of Beautiful that are central to its importance in greater popular culture. Viewer responses to the video on sites such as YouTube provide telling evidence as to the viability of these two perspectives. In the tradition of Hegemony Theory, many viewers interpreted Beautiful as an affirming challenge to dominant culture, writing comments such as "this video taught me that it's ok to be different and had a big change on my life." Other users, in the tradition of Marxist pessimism, interpreted the video as yet another traditional reaffirmation of social ideals. As one user eloquently put it, "Yeah Christina's trying to change her image and I don't know about that. But damn she's still hot.""

Sample of Sources Used:

• Storey, John. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 2006.

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• Cause and Effect Essay # 128035 : "Youth And The Media: The Harmful Relationship"
• Analytical Essay # 126509 : "Schizophrenia and 'A Beautiful Mind'"
• Analytical Essay # 33604 : "A Beautiful Mind"

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