{"id":3757,"date":"2021-08-24T15:57:03","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T20:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/read.streamapse.com\/?p=3757"},"modified":"2021-08-24T15:57:03","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T20:57:03","slug":"putting-a-new-twist-on-an-old-tradition-in-rumors-lizzo-and-cardi-b-pull-from-the-ancient-greeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/?p=3757","title":{"rendered":"Putting A New Twist On An Old Tradition &#8211; In \u2018Rumors,\u2019 Lizzo And Cardi B Pull From The Ancient Greeks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/grace-b-mcgowan-1200072\">Grace B. McGowan<\/a>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/boston-university-898\">Boston University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>It isn\u2019t often that a pop star releases a music video that aligns so well with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/amnesp\/profile\/grace-mcgowan\/\">my academic research<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But that\u2019s exactly what Lizzo did in her new song, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4P9XUrniiK4\">Rumors<\/a>.\u201d In it, she and Cardi B dress in Grecian goddess-inspired dresses, dance in front of classically inspired statuary, wear headdresses that evoke <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/caryatid\">caryatids<\/a> and transform into Grecian vases.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re adding their own twist to what\u2019s called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordbibliographies.com\/view\/document\/obo-9780195399301\/obo-9780195399301-0003.xml\">the classical tradition<\/a>, a style rooted in the aesthetics of ancient Greece and Rome, and they\u2019re only the most recent Black women artists to do so.<\/p>\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4P9XUrniiK4?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0\" width=\"440\" height=\"260\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Lizzo and Cardi B evoke ancient Greece in the video for \u2018Rumors.\u2019<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>White supremacists wield the classics<\/h2>\n<p>The classical tradition has been hugely influential in American society. You see it in the branding of Venus razors, named after the Roman goddess of beauty, and Nike sportswear, named for the ancient Greek goddess of victory; in the names of cities like Olympia, Washington, and Rome, Georgia; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aoc.gov\/explore-capitol-campus\/buildings-grounds\/neoclassical\">in the neoclassical architecture<\/a> found in the nation\u2019s capital; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.org\/article\/greek-influence-us-democracy\/\">and in debates<\/a> over democracy, republicanism and citizenship.<\/p>\n<p>However, in the 19th century, the classical tradition started being wielded against Black people in a specific way. In particular, pro-slavery lobbyists and slavery apologists <a href=\"https:\/\/oxford.universitypressscholarship.com\/view\/10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780199574674.001.0001\/acprof-9780199574674\">argued that the presence of slavery<\/a> in ancient Greece and Rome was what allowed the two empires to become pinnacles of civilization.<\/p>\n<p>Even though ancient Greece and Rome traded with, fought against and <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/the-african-roots-of-swiss-design-154892\">learned from<\/a> ancient African civilizations such as Egypt, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mfa.org\/exhibitions\/nubia\">Nubia<\/a> and Meroe, the presence and influence of these societies have tended to be downplayed or ignored.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, ancient Greek and Roman aesthetics were held up as paragons of beauty and artistic sensibility. Classical statues such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.louvre.fr\/en\/explore\/the-palace\/ideal-greek-beauty\">Venus de Milo<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.museivaticani.va\/content\/museivaticani\/en\/collezioni\/musei\/museo-pio-clementino\/Cortile-Ottagono\/apollo-del-belvedere.html\">Apollo Belvedere<\/a> are often considered the apex of human perfection. And because marble statues from antiquity have, over time, <a href=\"https:\/\/hyperallergic.com\/383776\/why-we-need-to-start-seeing-the-classical-world-in-color\/\">lost their painted colors<\/a>, it\u2019s influenced the widespread belief that all the deities were imagined as white.<\/p>\n<p>For these reasons, Black women have rarely appeared in classical depictions and reproductions.<\/p>\n<p>When they did \u2013 and especially in Western neoclassical art \u2013 it was usually in the form of mischaracterization or mockery.<\/p>\n<p>For example, in Thomas Stothard\u2019s 1801 engraving \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/collections.rmg.co.uk\/collections\/objects\/254621.html\">Voyage of the Sable Venus from Angola to the West Indies<\/a>,\u201d he depicts a Black woman in the style of Botticelli\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.uffizi.it\/en\/artworks\/birth-of-venus\">Birth of Venus<\/a>\u201d romanticizing the harrowing trauma of the slave trade\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/aia\/part1\/1p277.html\">Middle Passage<\/a>. In the mid-19th century, <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/how-sarah-baartmans-hips-went-from-a-symbol-of-exploitation-to-a-source-of-empowerment-for-black-women-160063\">Sarah Baartman<\/a>, a Black South African woman, was paraded around Europe and put on display due to her large buttocks. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/crj\/clz008\">She was derisively<\/a> dubbed the \u201cHottentot Venus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/ticketstream.streamapse.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3651\" src=\"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/TOP_BANNER_STREAMAPSE.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"968\" height=\"252\" srcset=\"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/TOP_BANNER_STREAMAPSE.jpg 968w, http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/TOP_BANNER_STREAMAPSE-300x78.jpg 300w, http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/TOP_BANNER_STREAMAPSE-768x200.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 968px) 100vw, 968px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Black artists push back<\/h2>\n<p>At the turn of the 20th century, however, Black women started reclaiming classical deities of beauty, such as Venus.<\/p>\n<p>Pauline Hopkins, a writer working in Boston for <a href=\"http:\/\/coloredamerican.org\/\">The Colored American Magazine<\/a>, played a pivotal role. A 1903 issue of the magazine published an editorial with no byline, though there\u2019s scholarly consensus that Hopkins penned the piece.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/babel.hathitrust.org\/cgi\/pt?id=uc1.b3793663&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=495\">The editorial controversially argued<\/a> that the models for two paragons of classical beauty had actually been enslaved Ethiopians.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAuthorities in the art world demonstrated that the most famous examples of classic beauty in sculpture \u2013 the Venus de Milo and the Apollo Belvedere \u2013 were chiselled from Ethiopian slave models,\u201d Hopkins wrote. Although it is difficult to know for sure, her editorial proposes an exciting set of possibilities around how African people and civilizations influenced classical beauty standards.<\/p>\n<p>During her time with the magazine, Hopkins also wrote several serialized novels, including \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/how-black-writers-and-journalists-have-wielded-punctuation-in-their-activism-161141\">Of One Blood<\/a>,\u201d which was published over the course of 1902 and 1903.<\/p>\n<p>In it, the protagonist discovers a hidden African civilization called Telassar that has retreated from the world and so was able to escape the ravages of colonialism and the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The protagonist discovers that he is the heir to Telassar and should join forces with Queen Candace to bring the country out of hiding and take its place in the world. Hopkins frequently describes the great beauty of all the women in the novel in terms of their likeness to the classical deity Venus.<\/p>\n<p>In both the editorial and the novel, Hopkins questions the very idea that the classical tradition can be deemed \u201cwhite\u201d or \u201cEuropean.\u201d She calls on her readers to consider if these aesthetics and beauty ideals were, in fact, rooted in African traditions, only to be corrupted and co-opted by white supremacists.<\/p>\n<p>Other artists have followed Hopkins\u2019 lead. Toni Morrison\u2019s fiction has reworked stories from the classical tradition, including Euripedes\u2019 \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Medea-Greek-mythology\">Medea<\/a>\u201d and Ovid\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/guide-to-the-classics-ovids-metamorphoses-and-reading-rape-65316\">Metamorphoses<\/a>.\u201d In Morrison\u2019s novel \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/117660\/tar-baby-by-toni-morrison\/\">Tar Baby<\/a>,\u201d the protagonist is a model who\u2019s depicted as the \u201cCopper Venus\u201d in a magazine spread.<\/p>\n<p>More recently, Beyonc\u00e9 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/07\/14\/arts\/music\/beyonce-twins-photo.html\">announced the birth of her twins<\/a>, Rumi and Sir, by adapting Botticelli\u2019s 1480 painting \u201cBirth of Venus.\u201d Meanwhile, artist <a href=\"https:\/\/linktr.ee\/bbychakra\">3rdeyechakra<\/a> has inserted Black female artists, such as Beyonc\u00e9, Megan Thee Stallion and Lizzo, into paintings of classical deities like Venus and Aphrodite.<\/p>\n<h2>An old tradition with a new twist<\/h2>\n<p>Which takes me to Lizzo\u2019s joyful and gleeful reclamation of the classical tradition in her new music video with Cardi B.<\/p>\n<p>In a song that focuses heavily on female empowerment and body positivity, Lizzo and Cardi B deploy the visual imagery, fashion, art and architecture of the classical era, while also populating it with people and bodies that have so long been excluded.<\/p>\n<p>Lizzo and her dancers perform their choreography atop classical columns, positioning themselves as the muses \u2013 an allusion, perhaps, <a href=\"https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/nylon\/18433024\/origin.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=630&amp;fit=crop&amp;crop=faces&amp;fm=jpg\">to the Black muses<\/a> in Disney\u2019s animated film \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0119282\/\">Hercules<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The bodies of the statues in Lizzo\u2019s video are not the chiseled physiques you\u2019re accustomed to seeing in museums, while the various Grecian-style vases are painted with images of women in bondage gear, performing on poles and twerking. Lizzo and Cardi B also perform in front of statues that are deliberately centered on the buttocks. It\u2019s an allusion not just to classical statues like the <a href=\"https:\/\/joyofmuseums.com\/museums\/europe\/italy-museums\/naples-museums\/national-archaeological-museum-naples\/venus-callipyge\/\">Venus Callipyge<\/a> \u2013 which translates to \u201cVenus of the beautiful buttocks\u201d \u2013 but also a playful dig at a culture <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/poverty-inequality-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2017\/08\/girlhood-interrupted.pdf\">that historically has hypersexualized the bodies of Black women<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d never suggest reading the comments section of any YouTube video. But with \u201cRumors\u201d you don\u2019t have to scroll for very long before coming across a heated debate around \u201ccultural appropriation\u201d in the music video. Some say that it\u2019s Greek and Roman art that\u2019s being pilfered and sullied.<\/p>\n<p>But to me, it\u2019s just another example of Black women trying to stake their own claim to the beauty, joy and power of this tradition.<\/p>\n<p>When Lizzo and Cardi B touch their acrylics in a gesture reminiscent of Michaelangelo\u2019s famous \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.italianrenaissance.org\/michelangelo-creation-of-adam\/\">Creation of Adam<\/a>\u201d painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, they\u2019re transfigured into a Grecian vase in a flash of lightning.<\/p>\n<p>Just like that, the centrality of Black women to the classical tradition is no longer just a rumor.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s true.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/166318\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/grace-b-mcgowan-1200072\">Grace B. McGowan<\/a>, PhD Candidate in American Studies, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/boston-university-898\">Boston University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>This article is republished from <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/in-rumors-lizzo-and-cardi-b-pull-from-the-ancient-greeks-putting-a-new-twist-on-an-old-tradition-166318\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Grace B. McGowan, Boston University It isn\u2019t often that a pop star releases a music video that aligns so well with my academic research. But that\u2019s exactly what Lizzo did in her new song, \u201cRumors.\u201d In it, she and Cardi B dress in Grecian goddess-inspired dresses, dance in front of classically inspired statuary, wear headdresses [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[228,605,606,607,608,437,609],"class_list":["post-3757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-music","tag-ancient","tag-cardi","tag-lizzo","tag-putting","tag-rumors","tag-tradition","tag-twist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}