| To what extent have The Spice Girls
distorted feminist ideology for young women? In-depth independent study by Tanya Blackwell |
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So who do the Spice Girls think we are?
Today’s youth is being sold an outrageous lie that beauty is power. The largest, strongest form of power at their disposal. In fact the reverse is true. What these women actually sell is themselves as a sexual commodity. Money is the real power. And it is with that power that they become beautiful and sexually desirable. Hollywood has always sought to ‘proclaim and then, contain, the female sexuality.’
The vast majority of successful women of the ‘80’s and ‘90’s - women who have achieved the capitalist dream - have done so through the use of their sexuality. As Callie Khouri writes, "Hollywood is trying to resexualise it’s women back into submission. The whole idea that women are powerful because they are sexy is a crock. Sex isn’t power. Money is power. But the women who do best ... are complacent ... in the role of sexual commodity, be it Madonna, Julia Roberts or Sharon Stone."
The Spice Girls spin would have us believe that they created themselves. That they are talented song-writers, singers and dancers, who are a driving force behind the production of their work. They argue that they do write their own material, despite what the critics say. Their history, apparently, began in March 1993 when Melanie Chisholm, Melanie Brown, Victoria Adams, Geri Halliwell and Michelle Stephenson were the five successful auditionees for a new girl ‘band’, advertised in The Stage. Just three months later Michelle Stephenson left, and was replaced by Emma Bunton - an old friend of Victoria. By August they were sharing a house together in Maidenhead, and building up a body of work towards their debut album. Their management team were holding too much control over them, so they fired the management team and set out to find themselves new representation, which appeared in March ‘95 in the form of Simon Fuller; by the summer they were signed with Virgin Records.
The Spice Girls epitomise both old and new feminism, they are nothing more than a collection of symbols and icons that we have learned to read. They are nothing more than the product of their management, who control their songwriters, choreographers, stylists and PR. "Talented performers belong to the industry long before it displays them; otherwise they would not be so eager to fit in." (Adorno & Horkheimer)
The script of Spiceworld: The Movie was not only written by a man, it was written by the brother of their manager; Kim Fuller. Their success has been due to astute business minds who understand the media language of semiotics and paradigmatic images. Their appeal is obvious; they have great energy and colour. But their documentary The Spice Girls: The American Tour, and numerous interviews reveal their conversation to be empty of individuality, wit or significant intelligence. Although they appear to stick to rigid formula answers to satisfy their audience’s most basic needs, instinct implies that they believe themselves to be dispensing pearls of wisdom and great profundity. But the impression is over-ridingly that of simple girls from working class backgrounds.
It may be argued that The Spice Girls are modern art, embodying Andy Warhol’s celebration of manufactured products and the glamour of the trademark. The pioneer of Pop Art set out to glorify all that was considered shallow and commercial, and was acutely accurate in his prediction that ‘in the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes.’ Those whom he sought to represent have fulfilled his prophecy.