Expectant faces pointed toward two tables paired haphazardly together, where a row of austere-looking professors and doctoral students sit with prepared speeches to discuss one topic: Miley Cyrus.
On Tuesday, the Cultural Affairs Commission’s DiverseCity Tours and Hip Hop Congress hosted a seven-person panel of professors and graduate students who analyzed Cyrus’ seemingly abrupt transformation from Hannah Montana to a controversial celebrity and public figure.
Titled “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: Critical Perspectives on Miley Cyrus,” the event was free for students on a first-come, first-served basis and was held in Sproul Lecture Room in Sproul Hall.
Before the last panelist arrived, the room was filled to capacity, with attendees lining the walls and sitting on the floor. The seating arrangements posed a fire hazard, however, and about a quarter of the audience was asked to leave.
Tamara Levitz, a professor of musicology, began the event by introducing the panel members. Four professors and faculty members represented the departments of musicology and English and the Bunche Center for African American Studies, and three graduate students represented the musicology department. The panelists gave a 10-minute prepared speech on their opinions of Cyrus and her performing motives and motivation. After the first three speeches, Levitz opened the floor to general questions, comments and discussion.
Mike D’Errico, a graduate student in musicology, opened the discussion with his prepared speech on the symbolic death of hip-hop and the effects of cultural appropriation on Cyrus’ performing persona.
Some notable points D’Errico presented were discussions on the hip-hop attitude of glorifying its artists and proponents. In addition, D’Errico provided commentary regarding the increasing commercial attitude of hip-hop artists in the mainstream music industry and started the event on a bright note by providing enough background information to keep the discussion smooth and consistent.
Levitz then moved the discussion to Wade Fulton Dean, a graduate student in musicology. Dean continued in the same vein as D’Errico, but introduced the concept of cultural appropriation that related to Cyrus’ MTV Video Music Awards performance more thoroughly.
According to Dean, Cyrus used black culture as a costume in her VMA performance and effectively used her African American backup dancers as props to further her own purpose of moving away from the Hannah Montana facade.
Members of the audience and of the panel shook their heads in disapproval or nodded emphatically in agreement as Dean spoke further on his views of Cyrus’ apparent disrespect of black culture and her blatant racism.
“(At the VMAs), one more time, blackness was being used as a costume,” Dean said. “(Cyrus’) VMA performance spoke to a stubborn and problematic practice by white artists and, dare I say it, American culture in its entirety of using blackness as a disposable means to separate oneself from a space of innocence.”
The discussion continued with Tiffany Naiman, a graduate student in musicology, who began her segment with a montage of music video clips demonstrating what she perceives as the outward sexuality and racism of female pop artists such as Rihanna, Iggy Azalea, Nicki Minaj, Britney Spears and Ke$ha.
The clips played into the focus of Naiman’s discussion, which sought to answer why Cyrus seemed to be the only one receiving backlash for her open sexuality when other female pop icons are doing the same, if not more shocking, stunts.
Naiman’s focus ultimately was too broad to answer, however, and the question was left unresolved even after Levitz opened the floor to general questions.
The questions from the audience provoked intense discussion from the panelists. The first question, which sought to clarify whether Cyrus’ motives were business-oriented, was posed by a graduate student from the Anderson School of Management, and the panelists came to a consensus that Cyrus was indeed pursuing her new career trajectory for monetary reasons.
After the question session concluded, the rest of the panelists presented their speeches.
Levitz and Libby Lewis, a postdoctoral fellow at the Bunche Center for African American Studies, both spoke about politics and cultural violations in Cyrus’ VMA performance.
Lewis, in particular, discussed the relationship between Cyrus and one of her backup dancers, Ashley Adair. Also known as Amazon Ashley, the dancer is most well-known for being spanked by Cyrus during her VMA performance.
Although Adair and Cyrus seem to have a relationship with heavy racial overtones, the two frequently proclaim the depths of their friendship over Twitter and other social media sites, which led to a discussion of empowerment versus racism, Lewis said.
“Is Miley Cyrus a black culture vulture?” Lewis asked. “Or (is she) an artist whose life is a canvas of empowerment?”
Alexandra Apolloni, a lecturer in the musicology department, immediately picked up the discussion after Lewis voiced her last thoughts.
Apolloni said Cyrus may simply be giving Adair, a black female, a voice by giving her the opportunity to share the spotlight, if only for a short period of time.
Caroline Streeter, an associate professor of English, then wrapped up the panel discussion with an improvised question opener to get the audience involved.
The audience was more than happy to participate, and voiced opinions and questions about sexism and racism that sparked debate amongst the panelists and the audience. At least two hands were raised at any given time, and the event was concluded before all could be addressed.
The Cultural Affairs Commission’s decision to bring the research- and textbook-backed knowledge of UCLA faculty and graduate students to a pop-culture issue provided an intellectual opportunity for students and professors alike to engage in questions not only on Cyrus, but dealing with the larger conversation of pop culture as well.