Introduction
Current media today have evolved from the traditional print to broadcast, and now, streaming media where audio, video, and print combine to interact with its recipient. These changes, however, have been further mutilated with the convergence of media and marketing where two become inseparable.
In light of current media, this paper shall try to provide a substantial and informed analysis of the ideas, arguments, and positions expressed in the article “Passa Passa: Interrogating Cultural Hybridities in Jamaican Dancehall” by Donna Hope. It will use a few background ideas from “Media Now” (Straubhaar and LaRose, ) with the understanding that the discussion on media encourages readers to think critically about media and its effects on culture.
Discussion
Hope provided a backgrounder about dancehall as a reflection of Jamaican culture as well as stratification and a channel for youth expression. The article used “mix up and blender” basing on Passa Passa, a popular weekly street dance in examining cultural hybridity “from the viewpoint of dancehall culture as it participates in socio-cultural construction of personhood, meanings, and knowledge from within the restrictive and marginalized spaces designated for its primary creators, members of the black, lower-class, and inner cities of Jamaica,” (p 126).
The article used three facets of dancehall culture examining first the uneasy marriage between a popular and political culture where dancehall culture contain and expand the restrictive elements of Jamaica’s political culture, second, the interrogation of the alternative gender readings that tamper with the hegemonic readings of heterosexual masculinity, and lastly, analyzes the empowering and liberating potential of selective manifestations of the dancehall identity transmitted in the “socially darkened spaces of Kingston’s depressed communities,” (p 127).
It is to be understood that under Hope’s opinion who herself admitted as an insider for being a “longstanding dancehall fan,” Passa Passa temporarily integrates the “uptown” middle class with their “downtown” inner-city counterparts with particular importance on its location at Tivoli Gardens, a hub of the political opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) where outsiders were treated with animosity, even law enforcers.
However, this notion of danger in entering inner-city areas always emblematic of the chaotic place has been posited to be set aside as residents and regular patrons make outsiders feel safe as a symbolism of the “way the ghetto run” which could refer to Black city life reminiscent to the ghettos of the United States. The author was informed of a “one Order” community system based on fear of the ruling “Don” Duddus or The president, and his soldiers: deviant acts such as attacks on patrons of the Passa Passa, rivals in the inner city, robbery of patrons, and theft of motor vehicles are not tolerated. Violation would be construed as an attack against the Don.
In fact, despite the notion that the Don gets power through accumulated drug money, the Passa Passa phenomenon affects a bigger image that protects the community from economic loss, degradation of the social and cultural power of the poor as well as regression to their marginalized status. It is in effect a departure from the generalization of the inner city negative culture where even supporters of the ruling Peoples National Party feel at ease partying as the event integrates people of all political inclinations, classes, social status, and color.
Likewise, Passa Passa is also portrayed successfully as a dancehall event overriding the idea that it is an inner-city dance held in a partisan community. The lure of experiencing hardcore ghetto community also adds up to the attraction towards the rigidly guarded area but at the same time serving as a legitimate arena where marginalized locals vend goods from food items to alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, and even dope.
On the other hand, the negative implications of the Passa Passa provide a debate on the patronizing of self-declared criminals, trade of illegal substances such as marijuana, and touting of the lyrically offending music. Another notable implication was that male dancing, usually delegated to formal dances and religious events, has symbolized the rise of masculine expression, of hardcore dancehall men of a lower class, secular and patriarchal Jamaica as sex and sexuality are focused. Homophobia is also highly promoted where gays are “denounced as the arbiters of all forms of corruption and evil who must be eradicated from the face of the earth…” (p 132).
This, nevertheless, was seen as a form to compensate for the social power and status denied of the marginalized men (Hope, 2001). The continued evolution of the male as the center of attraction in dancehall also gave a glimpse of further decline of gay-bashing as intimate touches between the male performers considered as hardcore as it is viewed as a career and economic activity that hastens an exit to the poverty of the inner city.
Another exposition made by hope is the coverage made on Passa Passa as men compete against one another and female dancers within the range of the bright lights for photographers, video cameras, and the world at large where it has become important to be seen. Local cable television also became a portal for documentation of patrons attending. At this stage, wearing costumes, clothes, jewelry, and flashy display of brands as well as revealing outfits, erotic and x-rated dances have risen, for both females and males, more so on the growing dominant male groups in dancehalls. Visibility and recognition for publicity and the role of the media were negated as negative is portrayed and documented while the inner city’s best are ignored (Hope, 2006).
Conclusion
The role of the media in the portrayal of seemingly positive practices with regards to dancehall event Passa Passa is both negative and positive. By providing a perceived improvement in the neighborhood of Tivoli Gardens due to the respect for guests and even enemies, the lives of the impoverished inner-city Jamaicans are improved. Legal means of economic as well as status elevation above the negative one they were known due to poverty.
On the other hand, too much emphasis on male dominance and gay-bashing in the dancehall event also provides a backlash on what is supposed to be culture and traditional growth where respect for individual preferences should be a high form of commitment among improving societies. How the media plays a balanced presentation of the Passa Passa and dancehall, in general, should be discerned properly through an educated audience.
Reference
Hope, Donna P. (2006). “Passa Passa: Interrogating Cultural Hybridities in Jamaican Dancehall.” Small Axe 21, 119-133.
Hope, Donna P. (2001). “Of ‘Chi-Chi’ Men: the Threat of Male Homosexuality to Afro-Caribbean Masculine Identity.” (Paper presented at the 26th Annual Carribean Studies Association Conference, Maho Bay, St. Maarten, 2001).