Iggy Azalea’s music video, “Bounce,” heavily uses elements of Indian culture to entice her target audience. The lyrics are about partying and the music has hints of Indian instruments like the Tabla and Sarangi. The music video more noticeably uses aspects of Indian culture by showing India from various diverse angles. Indian clothes, festivals, rituals, lifestyles, etc. are all depicted in the music video while Azalea is dancing. Azalea’s use of Indian culture has received critical backlash and has been viewed as step backward for the Indian community. Despite the negative feedback for “Bounce,” Azalea’s music video actually furthers the public’s understanding of Indian culture by showing India in a variety of different ways. The video
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Essentially, people mainly see Bollywood dancing in India, so that is another element they easily associate with India. Choreographed Bollywood dancing is exotic and makes Indians seem a bit more foreign. However, Azalea breaks out of this overused association by showing scenes of everyday Indians dancing as people from anywhere in the world would dance. By doing this, Azalea shows realistic behaviors of Indian people and breaks Lee, McCauley, and Jessie’s categorization or judgment that people might have previously held (9). Azalea includes Bollywood dancing in her video, yet still makes the Indian population seem more relatable to mainstream culture by showing them in a casual social …show more content…
The partygoers are dressed in Indian clothing bedazzled with diamond and gold-like accents. They men wear various accessories like scarves and turbans and the women all have polished jewelry and beautifully done hair. The partygoers have happy, vibrant faces indicating health and wealth. In contrast, the poor kids are small and thin. They have ragged clothes and somber looks. These are two very different viewpoints of India. Nonetheless, both viewpoints are true. The contrast between the two social classes reflects the huge wealth disparity present in India. This is a seemingly negative aspect of India that does not seem to portray Indians in a positive way. However, “Even negative but accurate perceptions of certain groups… may help us to deal with some social problems more realistically and effectively rather than denying real social problems” (Lee, Jussim, and McCauley 3). Wealth disparity in India is obviously negative, but Azalea publicizing the wealth disparity is positive, because as more attention is brought to the issue, more people take action to combat the problem. Azalea’s minute insights on India’s wealth disparity will not singlehandedly solve the problem, but it is a step forward in the media’s realistic portrayal of
Essentially, people mainly see Bollywood dancing in India, so that is another element they easily associate with India. Choreographed Bollywood dancing is exotic and makes Indians seem a bit more foreign. However, Azalea breaks out of this overused association by showing scenes of everyday Indians dancing as people from anywhere in the world would dance. By doing this, Azalea shows realistic behaviors of Indian people and breaks Lee, McCauley, and Jessie’s categorization or judgment that people might have previously held (9). Azalea includes Bollywood dancing in her video, yet still makes the Indian population seem more relatable to mainstream culture by showing them in a casual social …show more content…
The partygoers are dressed in Indian clothing bedazzled with diamond and gold-like accents. They men wear various accessories like scarves and turbans and the women all have polished jewelry and beautifully done hair. The partygoers have happy, vibrant faces indicating health and wealth. In contrast, the poor kids are small and thin. They have ragged clothes and somber looks. These are two very different viewpoints of India. Nonetheless, both viewpoints are true. The contrast between the two social classes reflects the huge wealth disparity present in India. This is a seemingly negative aspect of India that does not seem to portray Indians in a positive way. However, “Even negative but accurate perceptions of certain groups… may help us to deal with some social problems more realistically and effectively rather than denying real social problems” (Lee, Jussim, and McCauley 3). Wealth disparity in India is obviously negative, but Azalea publicizing the wealth disparity is positive, because as more attention is brought to the issue, more people take action to combat the problem. Azalea’s minute insights on India’s wealth disparity will not singlehandedly solve the problem, but it is a step forward in the media’s realistic portrayal of