Ariana Grande, the 25 year old pop singer, released an emblematic work of art in July of 2018 to her single ‘God is a woman’ from her fourth album sweetener. The title of the song itself gave a reason for people to listen to it. The song was shared by a large audience and it was praised by many.
Ariana tweeted out the video saying “to my fellow goddesses who work their asses off every day to “break the glass ceiling”, this is for you. i respect u and am endlessly inspired by u. pls continue to f*** it up, to be yourself
unapologetically & always know how celebrated u are. hope this can be ya anthem. ” The song truly is an anthem for female sexuality but the music video has many messages that showcase female empowerment.
The messages and imagery in the video can be decoded in many ways. As Stuart Hall states in his essay “Encoding and Decoding” the process of encoding and decoding is much more complex than just Sender, Message, Receiver. It is the process of “production, circulation, distribution/consumption reproduction”. Before consumption occurs the audience absorbs the meaning behind the media. Fans analyzed the each scene of Ariana’s music video. Halls also says the closer an audience is to the producer of the media piece, the easier it is to “decode” it’s meanings. It did not take long for fans of Ariana to understand the meanings in the video, for the people who do not follow Ariana, it is harder for them to understand some of the meanings.
The video opens up the with Ariana in the centre of the universe, representing a God figure. Then she is shown laying in a pool of purple and pink flowers that appears to represent a vulva (read more about the meaning behind this scene). At the end of the video, an all female creation of Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam” is replaced with Eve and God with Ariana. The most iconic imagery in the music video is when Ariana comes dressed in a helmet and gloves that write “power” on them. With help of Madonna reading of Ezekiel 25:17, the verse made famous by Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, replacing “brothers” with “sisters”: “And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my sisters. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.” The type of coding, according to Stuart Hall, is called the dominant code. This means that people, in this case fans, accept the meaning that is intended.
Although the message is powerful and inviting of all women to feel empowered, some Christians took offence, believing the song is disrespectful and insulting. Some tweets read,
Ariana chooses to ignore the negative comments. She cannot please everyone. This shows that encoded messages can be decoded in different perspectives.
Overall, the meaning of the song and matching music video can be perceived in many ways. Fans of Ariana are able to better understand the meaning as they have been following her for years, therefore they are able to decode the content, rather than the random people who find offence. The message and the video shaped a new way to embrace female empowerment and sexuality.
References
Nesvig, Kara. “A Famous Painter Inspired Ariana Grande’s Body Paint in ‘God Is a Woman.’” Teen Vogue, TeenVogue.com, 21 July 2018, www.teenvogue.com/story/alexa-meade-inspiration-ariana-grande-god-is-a-woman-music-video.
Stiernberg, Bonnie. “Ariana Grande’s ‘God Is a Woman’ Video Is an Incredible Manifesto for Empowering Female Sexuality.” Glamour, Glamour Magazine, 16 July 2018, www.glamour.com/story/ariana-grande-god-is-a-woman-video.
Whittum, Connor. “Ariana Grande’s Epic ‘God Is a Woman’ Video, Decoded.” Billboard, Billboard, 13 July 2018, www.billboard.com/articles/news/8465375/ariana-grande-epic-god-is-a-woman-video-decoded.