Girls Like Girls: Hayley Kiyoko's Dance-Pop Anthem for LGBT Community

Girls Like Girls

The music single 'girls like girls' by Hayley Kiyoko can be classified in the music genre of dance-pop. The video that was released on June 24th, 2015 on the steel wool was co-produced by both Austin s Winchell, and Hayley herself sent shock waves not only in the united states but also internationally. The target audience for the song is the society in general and specifically the LGBT community. Hayley also targets the male gender in the message of the song. The title of the song "girls like girls" is an excellent choice for the song as it arouses interest to listen to it to understand what the young singer means. This essay provides a rhetorical review of the song regarding its context, forms of activism, the claims, beliefs portrayed, and what is encouraged.

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Various artists have produced various songs as a means of protesting against specific social issues, raising concerns against social injustices, discrimination, and also to raise awareness about specific pressing problems affecting the society in general or a particular segment of the population. Listening to such songs, popularly known as protest songs, makes one realize that they contain highly significant and cognitive content. The issue of equal rights for LGBTs is an issue of much significance and prevalence in society today. Cases of discrimination and sexual harassment against LGBTs, particularly gays, have become more rampant in the United States and also other parts of the globe, despite various efforts by non-governmental and governmental bodies trying to lobby for equal rights for them too.

Kiyoko's song, "Girls like Girls," is a narrative that presents the story of a girl who is in a relationship with a boy but is still seeking to get involved with girls. The song goes ahead to describe that the girl finally succeeds to steal the guys' girl, thus changing the social notion that only boys can steal other guys' girls. The song and the video also portray the image that it is okay for girls to like or fall in love with other girls. She is against the notion of the society that it is wrong to be gay and that gay people cannot be happy in life. The video clearly shows the two girls having fun and enjoying themselves without letting the thinking of the people around them ruin their lives. She also protests of the fact that society discriminates against gays and lesbians and goes ahead to reiterate that a society that hates or discriminates against a certain group of people is either dysfunctional or unproductive.

In the second stanza, the line 'Tell the neighbors I'm not sorry,' she is encouraging other girls who are attracted to girls not to feel sorry as there is nothing wrong with being attracted to a girl. She also goes ahead to show that it is better to be in a relationship with another girl rather than being in an abusive relationship with a boy. The significance of the song to the issue of discrimination against gay people is that it encourages young people in gay relationships or those who are attracted to people of the same sex to be real with themselves and the society at large. She also rhetorically implies that a society that discriminates against minorities stands no chance of progressing.

To sum up, the song has successfully raised the issue of discrimination against gay people in society and how young gays are suffering silently by tolerating abusive relationships with the opposite sex. The message has both sent a strong message of protest and encouragement to society and gay people. The combination of musical and rhetorical artistic themes has proven effective in conveying the message to the intended audience.

Rhetorical Analysis of the Film Wind River (2017)

Wind River is a film drama, mystery, & suspense film written and directed by Taylor Sheridan. The film which was released in theaters in the United States on August 4th, 2017, has a strong adult theme that is comprised of violence, rape, strong language, and disturbing images. The thriller showcases an inexperienced FBI agent working with a community member (Jeremy Rener), with extensive tracking and hunting experience, in her investigation involving the murder of a young girl on the native Indian reservation. The cast of the film includes Gil Birmingham, Jon Bernthal, Julia Jones, Kelsey, and James. The context of activism has been rhetorically exhibited in throughout the film to show how the government of the United States has continually ignored the security concerns of the native Indian reservation in Wyoming. This rhetorical analysis reviews the various ways in which the writer who is al director of the movie has used the theme of activism against the whole issue of insecurity and invasion of their land by a private oil company.

Taylor Sheridan has used various themes such as symbolism to show the plight of the people living in the native Indian reservation that stretches all the way from New Mexico through Texas. The beauty of Wyoming, where the movie is shot, shows the beauty of the reservations and how much people love the place. However, the fact that Jeremy Rener moved his family to the township due to the harsh weather conditions and insecurity shows that the federal government and the judicial system has neglected or ignored their cry for help over the issue of insecurity and violence against women.

The film revolves around the disappearance of a young Native American girl who is later found dead in the ice. The main character informs the FBI agent that there are many cases of disappearing young women whose deaths go uninvestigated and unrecorded. The director of the film is trying to raise the plight of the native Indian community of the fact that the federal government has neglected them. The film brings out the pain felt by the family and friends of the women who disappear without a trace or who are later found dead in the ice. It is clear that the message of the film is intended for the federal government and other relevant authorities.

Additionally, the writer is trying to broadcast the plight of native Indians with the hope that the community gets some help. The other evidence of activism in the film is the instance where Jeremy Rener tells his friend that he has to question his wife to find out whether she knew who his daughter's friends were or whether she knew where she had gone to before they discovered that she was missing. When his friend tells him that his wife was hurting herself as a way of mourning for her daughter, he seems disturbed and bitterly reprimands his friend about it. This has brought out the theme of cultural enlightenment. Rener does not like the fact that his friend's wife wouldn't tell him anything to help find her daughter's killers, but instead, she was busy hurting herself as a way of mourning her daughter.

The director of the film has creatively used a combination of different themes to pass the message that the issue of insecurity in the Wyoming native Indian reservation and to his intended audience, the federal government of the United States and the entire world. The fact that many disappearances and murders of women go uninvestigated and unrecorded is a serious issue that the government should be dealing with at all costs.

Works cited

Kiyoko, Hayley. YouTube, YouTube, June 24th 201 www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0MT8SwNa_U.

Sheridan, Taylor. "Wind River." 5Movies.Cloud, 2019, https://5movies.cloud/film/wind-river-21778/watching.html?ep=5786461v2. Accessed July 15th, 2019.