Postcolonial theory

Wider reading on race and Old Town Road

Read this W Magazine deep dive on the Yeehaw agenda and answer the following questions: 

1) What are the visual cues the article lists as linked to the western genre? 

the visual cues associated with what could be classified as western cowboy hats, cow prints, rhinestones, and fringed suede jackets

2) How did the Yeehaw agenda come about? 

In September 2018, the trend of black pop-culture figures wearing cowboy garb was dubbed the “Yeehaw Agenda” by Bri Malando, a Texas-based pop-culture archivist. Her Instagram account, also called @theyeehawagenda, functions as both an archive and celebration of black cowboy aesthetics in popular culture.

3) Why has it been suggested that the black cowboy has been 'erased from American culture'? 

The imagery associated with America is overwhelmingly white 

4) How has the black cowboy aesthetic been reflected by the fashion industry?

In fashion shows and as costumes for artists 

5) Read the section on Lil Nas X and Old Town Road. What does it suggest about race and the country music community?

It is very dominated by white artists and typically the black artists are overshadowed and ignored just like the black cowboys

6) What elements of the song and music video are suggested to be authentically country and western?

Costumes, sandy desert settings, saloon, bank robbery, horses and the props

7) What genres of music does the article suggest have been shaped by black influences? 

rock and roll, punk, riot grrrl, and electronic music

8) In your opinion, what do you think has been the driving force behind the Yeehaw movement? 

I think that people are trying to recognise the black artists in the country industry and the history that has been hidden of black cowboys

Applying postcolonial theory to Old Town Road

Revise the postcolonial theories we have studied and apply them to the Old Town Road music video: 

1) How does the Old Town Road music video both reinforce and challenge black stereotypes in the media?

• He reinforces both Alvarado's idea and Hall's idea that often black people are represented as comedic and entertaining, this is seen through Chris Rock's character and the way that the black girl is dancing on the horse.
• He subverts Hall's idea that black people are often represented as a 'slave figure' presented as powerless and passive, however Chris Rock plays the sheriff and opens the music video and ends it in the prologue and epilogue.
• He reinforces both Alvarado's and Hall's theory that black people are presented as dangerous or as the 'Native' since the opening scene is Lil Nas X is seen running away from just robbing a bank. 

2) How could you argue that the Old Town Road video challenges Gilroy's theory of double consciousness?

Lil Nas X combines both the past and present but also the country and rap genres, in both the past and present Lil Nas X is looked at as if he is different or does not fit in (othering) however in the end he fits in and dances with the white people in the bingo hall showing the multiculturalism.

3) How does Lil Nas X and Old Town Road provide an example of Hall's theory of race representations? Alternatively, you could argue against this if you prefer.  

Hall's theory 

• The Native - Lil Nas X robbing the bank
• The clown/entertainer - Chris Rock and the little girl dancing on the horse
• The Native/Slave Figure - subverts with Chris Rock as the sheriff presenting him as powerful

4) Are there any examples of Alvarado's theory of black stereotypes in the Old Town Road video? Why/why not?

Alvarado's theory

• Exotic - Lil Nas X's costume 
• Dangerous - Robbed the bank
• Humorous - Chris Rock 

5) How does Lil Nas X provide a compelling case study for bell hooks's theory of intersectionality?

He is both black and gay therefore he is discriminated against twice as much

A/A* extension task: 

Media Magazine - This Is America: Music, Politics and Protest
Read This Is America: Music, Politics and Protest in MM65 (p14). You can find this in our Media Magazine archive. This is a great article on the power of music video in American culture. 

Both ‘This is America’ and ‘Formation’ were praised for their undiluted blackness, which in a culture of white hegemony is seen as a powerful political statement in itself. But they do not exist in a vacuum: hip-hop has

been an inherently political form since its inception