For my found poem, I took lyrics from the song “Blurred Lines”, by Robin Thicke and rearranged them to tell the story from the woman’s point of view. I chose this song because I remember there being a lot of backlash towards it when it first came out due to its derogatory and disturbing lyrics. The story in the song is told from a man’s perspective where he’s talking to a girl who he is trying to have sex with, but when you realize what he is saying it really makes you uncomfortable (at least that’s what happened when I read the lyrics).
I decided to pick apart the song and cut out lyrics that I could put into the point of view of a woman who is being sexually harassed or assaulted. In the first half, I told the story of the man approaching the woman and then assaulting her. However, half way through the page I shifted the arrangement of the words to be more empowering for the woman. She wants to tell her story so that she no longer has to live with the secret of what happened to her. Throughout the song the words “get up” are repeated. I also did this throughout my poem, but I utilized them as if the woman was encouraging herself to get out of the situation.
While creating this found poem I felt proud of myself because I was able to turn such a lyrically awful song into something that can help to empower women. I wanted to show that even though these things may happen, women are able to get through it.
Hello Kayla,
Your found poem is very empowering to woman, personally i’ve heard the song once or twice and was never really a fan. However, the way you put the lyrics together was interesting and really made me think about the song. I decided to watch it and listen and realized how this could be very controversial. In the video they have women strutting around in the nude. Im disgusted because i know that if my two younger sisters had been put in any situation like this i would be furious. It is a very degrading song to women because it is a man who is basically “catcalling” these women as they walk around. It is unacceptable.
I like how you decided to put the lyrics in the perspective of a woman who had been put in a very dark situation and it is very powerful.
Hey Kayla,
I also chose to focus on the song “Blurred Lines” for this project. I feel the same way as you do about how this song is extremely degrading towards women. I loved how you went a different direction with it by writing as if you were the woman the song was being sung to. I loved how you threw in “get up” as much as you did because it is so common throughout the song. It works perfectly when speaking for the woman trying to get out of the situation. Overall, I thought this was a powerful recreation of this song!