Sunday, July 24, 2011

Mini-Rant About Media Portrayals of Engagement

I really like Jennifer Hudson's song No One Gonna Love You:
The video, however, pisses me off a little bit. It's just an example of what can accurately be described as a mass-media trope: There's a relationship. Good loving girl/woman, distant standoffish bad boy/man. Man doesn't appreciate woman's love/treats her like crap. She finally realizes that he might not love her like she loves him. She gets all angry and thinks about leaving. He comes back with a sad puppy dog face and an ENGAGEMENT RING in lieu of an apology and all of a sudden she's all smiles and giggles and blinding herself in the reflection of the diamond.

...Really people? Is that the message we want to send to young impressionable minds everywhere? That it doesn't matter how a partner treats you as long as they're willing to "put a ring on it"? That the ring and the status it imparts is of obviously higher importance than the strength of the relationship it's supposed to be representing? That the end game is a white dress and a big cake and a new house and a new last name, rather than a loving caring equal partnership built on trust and respect? Smdh. In my opinion, Jennifer's character should have smacked that Negro across his bald head. 

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