How Women Are Treated and Looked at in "The Defiant Ones"

"The Defiant Ones" series directed by Hughes (2017) is a series aired on HBO that follows the interrelated lives of Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre who are among the music giants. The series documents the significant achievement in their careers which began and ended with a substantial deal with Apple. The message presented from this film is that the success of these musicians is fueled by maddening qualities such as stubbornness, rudeness, and the tendency to shut out their loved ones to focus on work. However, the series does not identify women who played a significant role in the success of the musicians. Furthermore, the perception and treatment of women by men as portrayed in this film is very harmful. The women are viewed and treated as temporary placements that can be misused and replaced whenever the men see fit. Moreover, men are not apologetic in regards to their behaviors towards women. For instance, the apology offered by Dr. Dre to Dee Barnes, the reporter was briefly mentioned in the film while the entire episode focused on the achievement of Dr. Dre (Moores par.4).

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With many significant faces being featured in the film, the role of the industry in how women are treated and perceived is very questionable. Music giants featured in this industry such as Dr. Dre, R Kelly, and Chris Brown all have faced allegations of being violent towards women. However, their songs are distributed to massive audiences. Moreover, the music being produced and distributed often feature aggressive and or derogatory towards women. The role of consumers is also questionable as they are often willing to receive and promote such songs to the extent that the music is played on repeat in night clubs despite the lyrics of the song being offensive to women. For instance, many of the people grow up profoundly relating to the 'underdog persona' presented by Eminem. As a result, they are greatly influenced by his songs that talked about raping and murdering women (Moore par. 10).

In hip hop history, women have rarely been acknowledged for their contributions. As Iandoli noted, "It's a problem that's persisted since women first picked up the microphone, navigating through a culture that's often regarded as a "young man's game" (par. 4). This notion is true as women have been portrayed as inferior to men, and the majority of their achievements are overlooked or completely ignored. For instance, Kimberly "Lil' Kim" Jones once expressed her disappointment on how she was portrayed in the film "Notorious," which was Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace's biopic. Her comment was overlooked until Sean "Puffy" Combs explained by stating that "Biggie Smalls respected her as an artist, as an MC and was into her like that" (Brown par. 5). Additionally, Moores quoted Roxane Gay's comment in regards to Chris Brown's alleged assault on Rihanna by stating that repentance takes time and sincerity (par 6). However, the fact that Dr. Dre in the film makes a fleeting and flippant apology in a documentary that takes time to celebrate how he became a billionaire portrays him as an insincere man. To make matters worse, he regards his assault towards Dee Barnes as "no big deal" and that all he did was "just throw her through a door" (Butler par. 2).

From these experiences, it is clear that hip-hop history does not have enough stories that portray the presumption and treatment of women. However, until recently, the portrayal of women in this particular history has been in a negative light whereby women have been ignored, and their achievements in this industry have been overlooked. The hip-hop artist veteran Jean Grae believes that women have a difficult time in pursuing their dues in terms of the merits of their talents which is likely to continue until they are viewed as equal participants within the hip-hop community (Brown par.8).

As from 2018, female artists from the hip-hop community have started coming up, and the industry has shown a lot of improvement in regards to how women are being treated. Iandoli noted that 2018 was a significant milestone for hip-hop culture as female rappers appeared on Billboard charts and dominated the music headlines while at the same time moving past the stereotypes to the point that the playing fields between male and female rappers felt more leveled (par. 1). For the first time in history, there was an influx of new talent as well as a return of the legends that were once part of the community. Iandoli further quoted the rapper Rhapsody who stated that "This year was just the foundation-2019 and beyond I think will be even bigger. You'll see more of us working together to build each other and the culture. We will have a strong footing and let the industry know we aren't going anywhere" (par. 19). The year 2018 has marked a new era where women who are ratchet, brilliant, and sometimes both at the same time and sometimes neither at all, show up to work on improving the perception and treatment of the women in the industry. Most importantly, the majority of female rappers are better than their male counterparts. This understanding introduces the dilemma of whether women should be portrayed as "sexy" which sells records and makes them superstars or should they "be real" or lyrical which makes them sound serious or even dull. The issue of sexuality is different between men and women. Women, unlike men, face harsher criticism for owning their sexualities even though the men may be more lascivious. The new generation has also improved on this aspect such that the issue of sexuality is reduced as compared to the previous years.

Despite all the hype on the possible changes, the community has a long way to go before they can declare victory in regards to the perception and treatment of women in the hip-hop culture. Hip-hop is to become the type of art that the community believes it has the potential to grow; it needs to both reflect as well as champion the female artists that have worked with the industry. Furthermore, the culture must also offer a platform where the female artists can express the lives they have lived and not just focus on producing documentaries such as "The Defiant Ones" that focuses on men and forgets about the women. This step needs to be taken with an open mind and by avoiding the negative perception of women within this culture. Currently, the female artists in the hip-hop culture are guiding a world that every hip-hop artist, regardless of their difference, is perceived and treated in the right manner.

Works Cited

Brown, Stacia L. "It's Time to Tell the Stories of Women in Hip-Hop." The New Republic, 26 Aug. 2015, newrepublic.com/article/122611/its-time-tell-stories-women-hip-hop.

Butler, Bethonie. "Dr. Dre confronts his 1991 assault on Dee Barnes in HBO's 'The Defiant Ones.'" Washington Post, 11 July 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/07/11/dr-dre-confronts-his-1991-assault-on-dee-barnes-in-hbos-the-defiant-ones/.

Iandoli, Kathy. "Are Women Finally Getting the Respect They Deserve in Hip-Hop?" XXL Mag, 10 Jan. 2019, www.xxlmag.com/news/2019/01/women-respect-hip-hop/.

Moores, Natalie. "'The Defiant Ones,' And The 'Major Blemish' Of Violence Towards Women." HuffPost, 15 Apr. 2018, www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/the-defiant-ones-and-the-major-blemish-of-violence_uk_5acf4325e4b007776af58046?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEeNAQPELE2g18YzQ0nJJqrG3kDeR7ggtyuc7XpHZw1k2HJ715F1lRfvEZN4kPYnsq_MPTQM10fRpkg-ba2HUGY1_4y9lvb_FJ8CtYtS7o6fl2mckCdW-tK-2CCabcGz8t6n8rzzg8LQB-gfV425FlAVN2UAQKt51B9ss-ttOlbj.