THE PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN KATY PERRY’S SELECTED SONG LYRICS.

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Amelia Lisara, 2013

THE PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN KATY PERRY’S SELECTED SONG LYRICS

THE PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN KATY PERRY’S

SELECTED SONG LYRICS

A Research Paper

Submitted to the English Education Department of the Faculty of Language and Arts Education of the Indonesia University of Education as Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for Sarjana Sastra Degree

By

AMELIA LISARA 0809428

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

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Lembar Hak Cipta

THE PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN KATY PERRY’S SELECTED

SONG LYRICS

Oleh Amelia Lisara

Sebuah skripsi yang diajukan untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat memperoleh gelar Sarjana pada Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni

Oktober 2013

Hak Cipta dilindungi undang-undang.

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PAGE OF APPROVAL

THE PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN KATY PERRY’S SELECTED SONG LYRICS

By Amelia Lisara

Approved by:

Head of English Education Department

Faculty of Languages and Arts Education

Indonesia University of Education

Prof. Dr. H. Didi Suherdi, M.Ed.

NIP.196211011987121001

First Supervisor

Prof. A. Chaedar Alwasilah, M. A., Ph.D. NIP. 195303301980021001

Second Supervisor

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ABSTRACT

The present study entitled The Portrayal of Women in Katy Perry’s Selected Song Lyrics aims at drawing the portrayal of women in the selected song lyrics and attempts to reveal gendered messages in Katy Perry’s selected song lyrics as viewed in post feminism perspectives. Utilizing a qualitative research particularly descriptive method, the discussion of the present study is framed within gender studies and theory of post feminism. The result of the present study shows that most of women in

One of the Boys album (2008) are portrayed through five portrayals highlighting

women’s physical appearance, women as sexual subject, women’s passive behavior, and women’s attitudes to cover their dependency on men. These portrayals support patriarchal ideology in which women are in accordance with patriarchal society’s expectation. The present study also discovers that gendered messages in most of song lyrics in One of the Boys do not show the notion of post feminism by being passive and dependent to men. Nevertheless, several songs explore the theme of sexuality as one of feminism values.

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ABSTRAK

Studi berjudul The Portrayal of Women in Katy Perry’s Selected Song Lyrics ini bertujuan untuk menggambar penggambaran wanita di lirik-lirik yang diseleksi.aims at drawing the portrayal of women in the selected song lyrics dan juga bermaksud untuk memunculkan pesan bergender di lagu-lagu terpilih Katy Perry dilihat dari perspektif post feminism. Menggunakan metode kualitatif khususnya metode deskriptif, diskusi studi ini dibahas dengan teori postfeminism dan gender. Hasil studi menunjukkan bahwa kebanyakan wanita di album One of the Boys (2008) digambarkan melalui lima penggambaran yang menggarisbawahi penampilan fisik wanita, wanita sebagai subjek seksual, perilaku pasif wanita, dan perilaku wanita untuk menutupi ketergantungannya terhadap laki-laki. Penggambaran-penggambaran ini mendukung ideology patriarchal dimana penggambaran wanita tersebut sejalan dengan ekspektasi masyarakat patriarchal. Studi ini juga menemukan bahwa pesan bergender di kebanyakan lirik lagu One of the Boys tidak menunjukkan ciri post

feminism dengan berlaku pasif dan tergantung terhadap laki-laki. Namun, beberapa

lagu mengeksplor tema seksualitas sebagai salah satu nilai post feminism.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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1.2 Research Questions ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

1.3 Aims of the Study ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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1.7 Clarification of Terms ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

1.8 Organization of the Paper... Error! Bookmark not defined.

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.1 Understanding Gender: The Roles and StereotypesError! Bookmark not defined.

2.2 Gender and Popular Songs ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.3 Reading Gendered Messages in Song LyricsError! Bookmark not defined.

2.4 Girl Power: Song Lyrics in (Post) Feminist PerspectiveError! Bookmark not defined.

2.5 A Brief Explanation about Katy Perry and Her SongsError! Bookmark not defined.

- Title of the song: Fingerprints ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

- Title of the song: Hot n Cold... Error! Bookmark not defined.

- Title of the song: I Kissed a Girl ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

- Title of the song: If You Can Afford Me ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

- Title of the song: I’m Still Breathing ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

- Title of the song: Lost ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

- Title of the song: Mannequin ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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- Title of the song: Self Inflicted ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

- Title of the song: Thinking of You ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .. Error! Bookmark not defined.

4.1. Findings ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONSError! Bookmark not defined.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents introduction of the present study. It consists of background of the study, research questions, aims of the study, scope of the study, significance of the study, research methodology, clarification of terms, and organization of the paper.

1.1Background of the Study

People may express their feelings and thoughts through varieties of media; one of them is song lyrics. According to Forest (2011, p. 53), song lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and in such cases it emphasizes the expression. Therefore, song lyric as one of literary works can be considered as a medium of expression.

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representation of female character in song lyric.For instance, in a paper critiquing Pink’s Stupid Girl, Leonardi and Dickinson (2007) discuss how each gender is

being portrayed in the song when they say, “Females are constructed and

portrayed through various negative strategies to be passive, shallow, unengaged, and disempowered creatures”. They found that the song supports patriarchy by making the woman seem inferior to the man and having the man seem to be a more powerful figure in the song.

Song lyric, as a piece of literary text, also contains the message in both explicit and implicit way. It is almost impossible for any types of literary text for not having a particular meaning. The connection between song lyric and its message, then, emerges in view of the fact that a songwriter whether in a conscious condition or not, always influences their songs with their intended meaning. Gendered message as the deeper meaning focusing on gender relation in song lyriccan be identified by emphasizing correspondence of lyrics and images as the elements in the texts(Silverman 2001, cited in Click and Kramer 2007).

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written and sung by woman and what gendered messages can be derived from the song lyrics as viewed from a post feminist perspective.

For this reason, this present study chooses ten song lyrics from One of the

Boys(2008) album by Katy Perry to be analyzed. The song lyrics are Fingerprints,

Hot n Cold, I Kissed a Girl, If You Can Afford Me, I’m Still Breathing, Lost,

Mannequin, One of the Boys, Self Inflicted, and Thinking of You.The writer

decided to choose the selected song lyrics above since those song lyrics provide representative examples of women stereotypes who are associated as “sentimental, superstitious, gentle, emotional, weak, dependent and sensitive”

(Williams & Best, 1982). Katy Perry co-wrote every song on the album as well as writing three of the songs herself.

Framed by gender studies and post feminist perspectives as its theoretical foundation, this present study utilizes text analysis in analyzing the popular song lyrics.Textual analysis helps reveal the way lyric tells different stories about women’s expectations and experiences while at the same time enabling the

researcher to read gendered messages in each song.

1.2Research Questions

This present study raises two questions, which are:

1. How are women typically portrayed in Katy Perry’s selected song lyrics?

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1.3 Aims of the Study

In line with the research questions above, this study is intended to:

1. To draw the portrayal of women in Katy Perry’s selected song lyrics. 2. To reveal gendered messages derived from the song lyrics as viewed from

post feminism perspectives.

1.4 Scope of the Study

This present study provides an analysis of the portrayal of women in the song lyrics written and sung by woman in the view of post feminism perspectives.The collected data are analyzed by using the stereotypical idea of women proposed by Williams & Best (1982) and post feminism theory. It is expected that the analysis can help the writer to interpret the portrayal of women in song lyrics and describe gendered messages in the song lyrics.

1.5 Significance of the Study

Gender notion in popular culture has become a subject for several studies. One example is Leonardi and Dickinson’s (2007) Feminism for Stupid Girls: A

Feminist Rhetorical Critique of a Popular Song by Pink. It is a paper that studied

woman’s portrayal in a popular song by using a feminism theory. Nevertheless,

this present study conducts a similar study with Leonardi and Dickinson’s paper highlighting women’s portrayal in media, in this case song lyrics, by using post

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portrayal in Indonesia University of Education, generally in Indonesia. Thus, the different findings and conclusions will enrich the knowledge about women’s portrayal in media.

1.6 Research Methodology

1.6.1 Research Design

The present study uses a qualitative descriptive method since the data used in this study is a text – ten song lyricswritten by Katy Perry-. According to Maxwell (1996), qualitative research design focuses on specific situations or people and emphasizes on words rather than numbers. This study is attempted to find out howwomen are typically portrayed in those selected song lyrics and what gendered messages can be derived from the song lyrics. The design is considered appropriate to be applied in this present study because it is proposed to describe the women’s portrayal and gendered messages found in Katy Perry’s selected

song lyrics. The data will be analyzed by describing, elaborating, and interpreting the findings. Thus, the analysis will be emphasized by means of description.

1.6.2 Site and Subject of the Study

The subjects of this present study are ten song lyrics written and sung by Katy Perry. They are Fingerprints, Hot n Cold, I Kissed a Girl, If You Can Afford

Me, I’m Still Breathing, Lost, Mannequin, One of the Boys, Self Inflicted, and

Thinking of You. The song lyrics are taken from the same Katy Perry’s album,

One of the Boys (2008). The present study will be conducted by analyzing the ten

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selected song lyrics. It will also investigate the gendered messages in the song lyrics in relation to post feminism perspective.

1.6.3 Data Collection

The data will be collected from ten Katy Perry’s song lyrics in the form of textual evidences. In addition, the data of the study is also gained from other source in written forms (books, academic journals, and articles) about the subject being investigated. Then, by leaning on the information obtained from analyzing the song lyrics and literary research, the study will try to meet the research objectives.

1.6.4 Data Analysis

The data analysis was presented through the following procedures:

1. Reading and re-reading the ten song lyrics being investigated;

2. Highlighting and collecting the textual evidences that can be acquired from lyrics that represent the issue of this study

3. Categorizing the textual evidences into some portrayals;

4. Framing those textual evidences with related theoretical frameworks; 5. Analyzing and interpreting the result of data collection;

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1.7 Clarification of Terms

In this study, there are some terms that need to be clarified in order to avoid misunderstanding of the concepts underlying the title of the study. Those terms are:

1. Portrayal: In the present study, it means the depiction of certain characters in literary works; it usually represents the stereotypes of certain roles and functions in society (http://www.genders_definition_portrayal.org.html). 2. Gender: It concerns on something unnatural that people perform and they

choose to conform or resist (Butler, 1990).

3. Popular culture: It is associated as local culture, something that is produced and consumed by people (Hall cited in Hollows, 2000).

4. Post feminism: A reaction against second-wave Feminism when all women have arrived at equal justice that leads to the issues of women’s own will and self determination(Faludi cited in Gamble, 2001).

1.8 Organization of the Paper

The paper will be organized as follows:

CHAPTER I

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8 CHAPTER II

The chapter covers some related theories which stand as the foundation of the study.

CHAPTER III

This section provides the research methodology, discussing the steps and procedures of the study, and the data resources in conducting the study.

CHAPTER IV

In this part the result of the research will be presented. This chapter contains the research findings and discussion.

CHAPTER V

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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents research methodology that covers statement of the problem, aims of the study, research subject and context, research procedure, data collection, and data presentation.

This chapter presents the research methodology that encompasses the research questions, the research subject and context, the research procedure, the data collection, the data analysis and the data presentation.

3.1 Statement of the Problems

Due to the broad issues of the study, the present study attempts to limit the

object of the study to discuss only the portrayal of woman in ten of Katy Perry’s song

lyrics and gendered messages in those song lyrics. The research is conducted to answer these following questions:

1. How are women typically portrayed in Katy Perry’s selected song lyrics? 2. What gendered messages can be derived from the song lyrics as viewed

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3.2 Research Subject and Context

This research focuses on the women’s portrayal in ten of Katy Perry’s song

lyrics. They are Fingerprints, Hot n Cold, I Kissed a Girl, If You Can Afford Me, I’m

Still Breathing, Lost, Mannequin, One of the Boys, Self Inflicted, and Thinking of You.

These ten song lyrics are selected since it provides representative examples of

women stereotypes who are associated as “sentimental, superstitious, gentle,

emotional, weak, dependent and sensitive” (Williams & Best, 1982). Moreover, those

selected song lyricsare sung and written by a popular American singer-songwriter whose works are often well appreciated by the listener and the critics.

3.3 Research Method

Since the form of the data is textual data, the present study applies descriptive approach, which is qualitative in nature. According to Maxwell (1996), qualitative research design focuses on specific situations or people and emphasizes on words rather than number. The design is applied because it is considered appropriate for finding and describing the answers to the research questions. It is in line with

Merriam’s (1988; cited in Alwasilah, 2011) statement that the aims of the design are

for understanding, describing, finding, revealing a hypothesis.

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which is women’s portrayal in Katy Perry’s selected song lyrics. Thus, qualitative

descriptive method is suitable to get a deep comprehension about the subject being investigated. The present study shows the collected data, conducting certain investigation from the cases and provides theories which are relevant to the subject of the study.

3.4 Data Collection

In the present study, the data were collected through reading and re-reading to

Katy Perry’s selected song lyrics for several times. In the first reading, the writer tried

to understand the song lyrics. The second reading was the finding process of the

issue, namely the women’s portrayal and gendered messages that would be analyzed.

Afterwards, the writer searched the appropriate theories which were relevant to the

subject. Since women’s portrayal in the song lyrics and its messages were the focus

of the present study, the next reading concentrated on the ways women are presented in the song lyrics and gendered messages appeared in the text. The data is collected

from ten Katy Perry’s song lyrics in the form of textual evidences that are selected

and directed to answer the research questions.

3.5 Data Analysis

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theory to uncover gendered messages in the song lyrics. The data analysis would be elaborated in the next chapter.

3.6 Data Presentation

The following tables were the sample of women’s portrayal in the ten Katy

Perry’s song lyrics. It involved in answering the research questions. The complete

tables could be found in the appendices of the paper.

Table 3.1

Samples of Women’s Portrayal

No. Song Portrayal Characteristics Line Textual

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Table 3.2

Samples of Gendered Messages in Song Lyrics

No Song Title Stereotypes Messages Textual Evidence

Interpretation Explicit Implicit

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40

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

This chapter provides the conclusions of the present study which are based on the findings and discussions in the previous chapter. It also presents the suggestions for readers as well as other researchers who might have an interest in conducting further research related to portrayal of women, gendered messages, and post feminism.

5.1 Conclusions

The present study is aimed to draw the portrayals of women in Katy Perry’s selected song lyrics and reveal gendered messages derived from the song lyrics under study. After conducting the study and analyzing the findings, it is revealed that females in Katy Perry’s selected song lyrics are portrayed as having characteristics.

Those characteristics are then described through five portrayals of woman. Most of the portrayals support patriarchal ideology patriarchy to make men central (and women marginal) to human life (French, 1985, p. 91). The present study also

discovers that most of Katy Perry’s song lyrics in One of the Boys album (2008) have

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Relying on the findings and discussions in the previous chapter, it can be concluded thatOne of the Boys album (2008)supports portrayal of woman to be in

accordance with patriarchal society’s expectation. Most of women in this album are

presented by performing traditional gender assumption to be feminine. In One of the

Boys (2008), Katy Perry demonstrates women’s quest for freedom and power both

sexually and personally. Despite all this, the gendered messages in most song lyrics exhibit feelings of low self-esteem and admit to a certain dependency on men.

5.2Suggestions

Regarding the investigation on song lyrics, the present study suggests that further researchers may discuss some other researchable issues in popular music study, for instance the identity construction in song lyrics, character’s development in

song lyrics, and the uniqueness of narration in song lyrics.

The study also suggests that English department should provide their students with more recent and updated resources on the issue of woman’s portrayal and gendered message. This is aimed to help students to have more solid knowledge in doing their research about woman’s portrayal and gendered message in particular.

Further study of portrayal of women and gendered messages can also be conducted by obtaining the data from particular novels which currently emerge as medium to portray the issues of woman’s portrayal and gendered message. It would

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