Eating the Other

In Bell Hook's book "Eating the Other", she discusses the phenomenon when people take bits and part from a culture other than their own and use it as commodification for their own personal use or for the use of the masses. Miley Cyrus is a perfect example of this, and her outfit she wore at the 2013 MTV Europe Music Awards perpetuates this even further.

 

Cyrus wears a "dress" with the faces of Biggie and Tupac, two rappers from the late 1990's. Posted across the bottom of the dress are the words "Stop the Violence". What Cyrus is doing here supports a couple different theories, the first of which being eating the other.

 

Cyrus is taking "a bit of the other", in this case rap and the violence that surrounded these two figures' deaths, and wearing it as a billboard. She is attempting to send a message of peace, but wearing these images completely excludes the history behind Tupac and Biggie. Because these images are posted on an article of clothing, it is being commodified because Cyrus had to buy it, thus perpetuating the "eating the other" phenomenon.

 

Another thing Cyrus is doing by wearing this outfit is reinforcing white supremacy. In Yousman's article, "Blackophilia and Blackophobia: White Youth, the Consumption of Rap Music, and White Supremacy", he discusses how white youth is fascinated by rap music, while at the same time being afraid of African Americans which reinforces their white privilege. By Cyrus wearing this it reinforces her whiteness and shows how she can wear things from the culture, but doesn't have to actively be a part of it and can go back to her "normal self" at any time. It also falls under Yousman's theory that white youth associate being black with being cool, something that Cyrus is trying to do as well.

 

Overall, this outfit fully supports theories we have discussed and someone should have guided Cyrus to rethink her fashion choices and the deeper consequences they have.