Erykah Badu: Embracing the Messiness

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The Bluest Eye represents Toni Morrison's critique of race relations that have shaped history. Written in the height of the 60's 'Black is Beautiful' movement, the book has a unique perspective of the Depression-era social norms that came to define black individuals. Morrison's aim to deconstruct racism and the social norms that restrain individuals, finding the "how" rather than the "why," parallels R&B artist Erykah Badu in her aim to break free of stereotypes. Erykah Badu's brave embrace of her individuality, her 'messiness,' sets the standard for a new black women that will leave behind the racial self-loathing Morrison emphasizes.

The "Queen of Neo-Soul," Erykah Badu incorporates R&B, rap, soul, jazz and funk into her music. She has worked with artists as diverse as The Flaming Lips, The Roots and Sergio Mendez, virtually creating a unique genre of music that is more than a way of making a living, but a passionate cultural protest. Erykah Badu's incorporation of funk in many of her songs, most significantly in her song "Funk you Up (Love of My Life Remix)" ft. Queen Latifah and Angie Stone, adds to her image of embracing individuality. Historically funk referred to body odor, but with the 60's Civil Rights movement it came to represent an acceptance and pride of blackness. In The Bluest Eye, Morrison uses the binary aspect of racism to contrast the Geraldines of the world, who are committed to changing themselves to fit white beauty standards and be secure, with the funky individuals, perhaps the Claudias who must learn to embrae their 'defects.' Geraldine has learned "how to get rid of the funkiness. The dreadful funkiness of passion, the funkiness of nature, the funkiness of the wide range of human emotions" (83). It is this funk, the blackness and individuality, that Erykah Badu so admires in her music, even implicitly citing the original propagators of funk, Parliament Funkadelic, in this song. Singing

 Yeah, funk you up, we gon' funk you up
If you not ready, you better get yourself together               
We gon' funk you up, we gon' funk you up

Erykah Badu seems to call on P. Funk's line, "I want my funk uncut,... I wants to get funked up," emphasizing the impact the 'funk' had on history and racial identity.

In addition to her music, Erykah Badu physically embodies her protest against the accepted "scale of absolute beauty" (122). By leaving her hair natural, in an Afro, the singer rebels against the Geraldines of the world, the "they," Morrison writes about. These girls learn to restrain themselves physically to make themselves more white: "they hold their behind in for fear of a sway too free; when they wear lipstick, they never cover the entire mouth for fear of lips too thick, and they worry, worry, worry about the edges of their hair" (83). The Afro historically is one of the most powerful symbols of the Black is Beautiful movement, contrasting the straightening of hair that erases blackness and individual identity. Singing

This is how I look without makeup...
I got a little pot in my belly
So now a days my figure ain't so fly
My dress ain't cost nothin' but seven dollars
But I made it fly
And I'll tell ya why
But I'm clever when I bust a rhyme

Badu reinforces her idea of natural beauty - her body in all its biological glory. She even reinforces her pride in her talent for music, a talent that has come from years of hard work and love for music rather than a genetic gift.

Yet Erykah Badu goes farther than breaking the hair stereotype. The singer garnered attention and critique for her video "Window Seat," which portrays her walking along a crowded street in Dallas, stripping down to the nude until she is shot down. The powerful images, a two minute, one-take shot that earned her a fine and sixth months of probation, showcase how society punishes people for taking off their superficiality. The video cites indie duo Matt & Kim's video Lessons Learned, which also plays with physical beauty, one of the "most destructive ideas in the history of human thought" (122). By embracing herself in her most natural state, ignoring the idea of biological defects, Erykah Badu is even liberated on a sexual level. Geraldine, and by association the rest of the secure black girls playing white, sees sex as an obligation and restrains herself from enjoying it. Uncomfortable with nudity, Geraldine chooses to lift "the hem of her nightgown only to her navel," contrasting the freeing nudity Erykah Badu demonstrated in a crowded street. While the artist is not making her sexuality a point in the video, obviously not using her body to sell music, she is transcending the image of a woman as not just a sexual object but a confident individual. Erykah Badu ultimately has turned her 'defects', which biologically give her a unique appearance but environmentally have become another justification for social constructs of beauty and racism, into a protest.

"Window Seat" - Erykah Badu

Embracing individuality is a brave act, and has earned Erykah Badu plenty of criticism. In response to critiques of her hair, style, music and videos she writes:

"They who play it safe, are quick to assassinate what they don't understand. They move in packs, ingesting more and more fear with every act of hate on one another. They feel more comfortable in groups, less guilt to swallow. They are us. This is what we have become, afraid to respect the individual."

The "they" she refers to brings to mind the "they" Morrison uses in describing Geraldine. The power of the group leaves Geraldine with a (stereo)type she is content to fill, but with no voice. Assimilation gives security, but also immobility: "Their roots are deep, their stalks are firm, and only the top blossom nods in the wind" (82). This quote attacks the ease of assimilation, feeling "more comfortable" with the power in numbers. Erykah Badu's funky music, her dedication to natural beauty, and her desire for change help define her as an artist with a social conscience. She exemplifies the kind of change Toni Morrison expects from the black individual, paving the way for a new stereotype: the individual.

Most Destructive Ideas: How Hollywood Corrupts our Ideals of Life

"Welcome to Hollywood! What's your dream? Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don't; but keep on dreamin' - this is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreaming'."
-Happy Man from Pretty Woman

Hollywood first began working its way to fame in the early 1900's. In fact, it was originally a ranch named after the English holly and woods when Thomas Lincoln Tally built an Electric Theater where tickets were sold for ten-cents a pop. Overtime, the Electric Theater grew from black and white to color, just like the ranch around it developed from a ranch to a city in 1910.  Hollywood's diverse landscapes and predictable weather began to attract numerous film producers and screen writes which severely expanded the city's film reputation. Nowadays, Hollywood represents the "land of dreams:" where fame is inevitable, and film agents are on every corner just waiting to discover you. In this sense, Hollywood has become a symbol of the American Dream; a continued promise for glory that is known and hoped for by everyone, but only attained by few. The dream of "making it" is fueled by the overexposure of those who do so. Harrison Ford for example, began in Hollywood as a self-taught carpenter and was discovered by George Lucas while furnishing his cabinets. After being placed in some minor roles by Lucas, Ford finally gained his Super-Star title through his role as Han Solo in the George Lucas film: Star Wars. However, Ford's quick fame was not only a pivoting moment for him, but also for the thousands of other undiscovered Californians who were provided with new hope of their own "inevitable" fame.

Hollywood not only has the ability to manipulate our hopes, but also has the ability to manipulate our social normalities. During the 1930's, the MPPDA or, the Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors Association, created a strict guideline on what they considered was appropriate for American audiences to see. These "guidelines" however, proved to modify the silver screen into a world of perfection rather than a world of realism: " There the flawed became whole, the blind sighted, and the lame and halt threw away their crutches" (122). As a result, the movies became the only place in the world where the American Dream of perfection, prosperity, and opportunity was real. The movie's perfection began to influence it's audiences, especially those in poverty. By continuously observing the "Happily Ever After" scenarios, members in the audience began to connect a character's looks and mannerism to his or her success. This connection led to a mindset in which one's beauty was equivalent to one's worth in life. Even today, movies such as "Pretty Woman" are produced which promote the idea of successful beauties. "Pretty Woman" revolves around a Cinderella-esque circumstance in which a stunningly beautiful prostitute meets her "knight... on a white horse with these colors flying" and becomes wealthy and happy for the rest of her life. Originally, the friend of Vivian Ward, the prostitute in "Pretty Woman", makes fun of Vivian for even considering that she might have a future with the millionaire Richard Gene, when she compares Vivian to "Cindafunkin'rella."

However, by making the "Cindafunkin'rella"scenario come true, the producers of "Pretty Woman" are putting a realistic twist on a false promise that all good opportunities come from looks: specifically Caucasian looks.


In the novel The Bluest Eyes, Pauline's ideals about herself and others are distorted because of the unrealistic social normalities that are taught through the camera. Indeed, Pauline makes it very clear to the reader that before her "education in the movies," she loved Cholly and was content with her life and all of it's hardships (122). In fact, it was only after she watched the silver screen that she began to become discontent with her life because she began to compare her world to the unobtainable world of the movies. Consequently, as the comparison or, "the most destructive ideas of human thought," slowly insinuated her mind with the realization that her life was not perfect,  it became harder and harder for Pauline to "come home" from the fantasy world (122). This realization could even be why Pauline became obsessed with her white people. The white family was the closest connection she had to newly desired dream world: they gave her a sense of white security and white power that her own family could not offer her. However, this decision, or rather, this need for the perfection and security of the white world just made her more miserable when it was time to come back to reality. Hence, the movies created a catch twenty-two for Pauline: by continuously dreaming to have white perfection, she began to despise her reality which only made her love of unreality increase. This mindset caused her to distance her self in every way possible from her family: her home became a house, her family became sources of sin and anger, and she erased all memories from her "black" possessions.  As a result, her identity, her blackness, and her funk was gone. In conclusion, the idea that her life could be better if only she became white, caused Pauline's life to become an empty shell, whereas "she absorbed in full...the silver screen" (122).