Rihanna’s empire of pain: sexualised violence and the black Madonna
Article
Article Title | Rihanna’s empire of pain: sexualised violence and the black Madonna |
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ERA Journal ID | 124309 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | |
Author | Hopkins, Susan |
Journal Title | Celebrity Studies |
Journal Citation | 15 (1), pp. 111-114 |
Number of Pages | 4 |
Year | 2024 |
Publisher | Taylor & Francis |
Place of Publication | United Kingdom |
ISSN | 1939-2397 |
1939-2400 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2022.2115706 |
Web Address (URL) | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19392397.2022.2115706 |
Abstract | Last year, the popular feminist Ms magazine ranked Rihanna receiving the title of ‘Barbados’s National Hero’ number two in its list of ‘2021’s Best Feminist Pop Culture Moments’ (Hobson 2021). Online, ‘quote inspo’ inspirational memes have also celebrated Rihanna’s meteoric commercial success, citing the star’s most famous and prophetic utterance (to Paper magazine in 2007): ‘I want to be the black Madonna.’ While fans and the popular press alike, have celebrated Rihanna for her Madonna-like levels of ambition and resilience, there has been relatively little examination of how Rihanna has imitated and exceeded Madonna in the eroticisation of gendered violence, particularly playing on discourses of exoticism and race. Moreover, whether the iconography of Rihanna’s star persona and her incorporation of intimate violence, sadomasochism and bondage into her music videos, lyrics and lingerie sales really is such a force for (post)feminist ‘good,’ is a moral-political question which ought to be opened up for further debate within celebrity studies. |
Keywords | Rihanna; sexualised violence; black Madonna; pop music; female celebrity |
Contains Sensitive Content | Does not contain sensitive content |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 470107. Media studies |
Public Notes | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
Byline Affiliations | USQ College |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q7qq9/rihanna-s-empire-of-pain-sexualised-violence-and-the-black-madonna
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