By Jesssica Hickerson
In my quest for an article topic for this week, I stumbled upon the E! Entertainment Television website, which contains various articles about celebrities and the entertainment industry in general. One of the articles that caught my eye was entitled: “Aguilera: Too Dirrty For Thailand.” For those of you who don’t know, Christina Aguilera, the ex-Mouseketeer herself, has come out with a new album, Stripped, and a controversial new track, “Dirrty.”
The controversy in Thailand, according to this article, is that the music video for “Dirrty” is too, well… DIRRTY! The article stated that music representatives in Thailand feel that Aguilera’s new video promotes an excess of sexuality, what with Christina’s barely-there wardrobe and her choice of dance moves alongside half a dozen sweaty guys. As a result of these doings, music channels in Thailand have refused to play Aguilera’s dirty video (pun intended).
When I read this article, I had indeed heard the song, but had not seen the music video in question. I flipped on MTV and sure enough, not ten minutes later, there it was: Aguilera in nothing but a bra, underwear, and some leather, in a wrestling ring with half a dozen sweaty, muscular guys, just bumping and grinding away.
This leads to my next question for the Thailand representatives: what the hell do you expect? Pop culture today IS sex. Everyone knows it. That’s the bottom line. Do you really expect to see Christina Aguilera dressed in a turtleneck and baggy pants dancing the Charleston with a fat guy? No, of course not.
That’s just not the way it is. That’s not what people want to see. And, most importantly, that is not what sells albums. So, boys and girls like Christina Aguilera do not mind shedding off some clothes and giving up a little of their pride if it means selling records.
Aguilera has stated that she is simply expressing herself through her clothes, dance styles, and attitudes in various programs and publications, such as MTV’s Diary and assorted magazines. Viewers and listeners have the opportunity to turn off what they don’t want to see or listen to. It is the viewers choice, not anyone else’s.
Personally, I do not favor seeing Christina Aguilera in her skivvies, gyrating around with a bunch of men; however, it is not my decision. I do not have anything at all to do with Aguilera or any of her videos, so who am I to say how she should do things? Obviously, this is what she wanted to portray in this video, no matter how much we agree or disagree with what this girl wants.
Basically, what I am doing is skirting around the whole censorship issue. It is not something I want to get into at this point, because other columnists deserve to have their columns published, and I could write for days on my feelings toward censorship. The bottom line, however, I will share because it is simply this: people should have the power to decide what they do or do not want to watch. Obviously, parents should have the upper hand when it comes to young children, but should anyone have the upper hand over the parents?
The Thailand representative’s refusal to air the Aguilera video is just another way of telling its citizens, “You obviously are not intelligent enough to choose what you want to watch and what you don’t, so we will just decide for you.” That’s a little harsh, I know, but I’m just being honest.
While I enjoy the song, I also feel the video could be considered inappropriate for some viewers; however, it is the individual’s prerogative whether or not to watch
Is Christina Aguilera a pop songstress or a “Dirrty” diva? That is your decision to make. No matter what you or I think, this ex-Mouseketeer enjoys expressing herself the way she wants to, and she enjoys pushing the entertainment envelope. And let’s be honest; everyone needs a little time to get “Dirrty.”
