Beyonce’s performance at the Grammys was certainly an attention-grabber. She was scantily clad, moving seductively and digging deep in the playbook of erotic moves. The performance was more than most expected, and left some parents concerned that the show wasn’t quite family-friendly.
The reactions varied across the web, with some people being highly critical of the wife and mother getting on stage and showing her “goods” to the world. But some people felt that it was par for the course, and not nearly as disturbing as the performance by Miley Cyrus at the MTV Video Music Awards a few months ago.
One magazine, the UK Metro, took things a bit too far by referring to Beyonce as a Wh@re in their title, which goes over the line of decency in entertainment criticism. The magazine may have been seeking to get attention and sell papers, but it might have also succeeded in making itself look very bad.
The appearance by Beyonce was due to a performance of the song “Drunk in love,” performed with her husband, Jay-Z. The song has been criticized as promoting domestic violence, with one lyric saying, “Eat the cake Anna Mae,” referring to the infamous scene in the film, “What’s Love got to Do with it?” starring Ike and Tina Turner. The film is known for being a wakeup call to the terrorism that some women experience at the hands of men.
Beyonce has referred to herself as a feminist, but as scholar and writer Crystal Hayes says, Beyonce may need to learn that feminism is more than a label and actually requires a commitment to specific principles. What are your thoughts? Should Beyonce be criticized for the performance, or was it fine? Beyonce is accustomed to pushing envelopes, so she is probably prepared to deal with the controversy. But this may set the bar so high that each year, one performer is going to have to outdo the last one.
(Via Kulture Kritic)
