Publication
Title
Resistant masculinities in alternative R&B? Understanding Frank Ocean and The Weeknd’s representations of gender
Author
Abstract
With the emergence of alternative R&B, contemporary R&B and hip hop culture are being confronted with a subgenre that challenges its key characteristics. One of the aspects that typify alternative R&B is the emergence of an alternative masculinity. The aim of this study is to research whether the alternative masculinities represented in alternative R&B resist the hegemonic masculine ideal established within R&B and hip hop culture. To this end, this study conducts a textual analysis of the representations of gender in the work of Frank Ocean and The Weeknd, artists considered representative for alternative R&B. The analysis reveals that Ocean’s work features successful nonnormative masculine identities, whereas The Weeknd refrains to representing postmodern exaggerations of the hegemonic male. Despite divergent representational strategies, both artists do engage in questioning what it means to be a man in R&B and hip hop culture and thereby at least attempt to challenge the supremacy of hegemonic masculinity.
Language
English
Source (journal)
European journal of cultural studies. - London, 1998, currens
Publication
London : 2015
ISSN
1367-5494 [print]
1460-3551 [online]
DOI
10.1177/1367549414526730
Volume/pages
18 :3 (2015) , p. 283-299
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Publication type
Subject
External links
Record
Identifier
Creation 19.10.2021
Last edited 22.08.2023
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