Using the comparison of these two texts as your starting point, explore the media issues and debates which they raise.
In your question you will need to address:
- Key concepts
- Contextual facotrs
- Media theory

Text 1: Gil Scott-Heron's "The revolution will not be televised"(1972)
Text 2: Dj Vadim (ft Sarah Jones') "Your revolution"(1998)

Gil Scott- heron's "Your revolution will not be televised" is a song desired to protest about the under representation of black people compared to white in the mainstream media. He talks of the main idea that if black people revolted, even a big event like this would not be shown on television purely because it is black people who are demanding rapid change. Sarah Jones' "Your revolution" is a pastiche and protest song. Jones is protesting about female representations in the media instead of black.

Different periods of the 20th century shows that by 1998 although black people were represented more on TV, the women especially were stereotyped to be sex objects belonging to males. In her song, Jones parodies other texts such as the Fugees' "Killing me softly", Foxy Brown and L.L... whilst Heron parodies the phrases and slogans seen in advertising. The ideas behind these are very different. Heron writes "The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal" suggesting that through advertising, audiences are in a state where they have to conform to what they are being told/persuaded to do (buy the product) under a hegemonic society because of the "sex appeal" it will genrate. Here, by mocking and parodying advertising slogans, he almost makes the fact that the revolution will not be televised a good thing as he suggests that the reveloution would be too good to be shown on TV and it will not need to be forced on black people by the elite through the media.

Jones parodies songs from the past which are about women being passive and sexual. She writes "My Jamaican brother, your revolution will not make you feel bombastic and really fantastic, and have you groping in the dark for that rubber wrapped in plastic". This portrays black males to be self-obsessed and egoistic whilst the portrayal of women is conforming to Lauras Mulvey's theory of the male gaze and them being objectified because of their sexality and to-be-looked-at-ness. This signifies that the song is a post-modern text showing the mysogonistic values of black males.

Heron also uses the stereotypes of black people in his song. He writes "there will be no pictures of you and Willie May...trying to slide that color TV into a stolen ambulance" representing them as savage criminals because they are steeling. This is similar to Michael's Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" as he tries to understand why black people are treated as criminals on the news especially. Heron also goes on to say that "there will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock news...the theme song will not be written by Jim Webb, Francis Scott Key", suggesting that the revolution will not at all be affiliated with white people creating segregation between white and black people in 1972. By this time black people had civil rights in America but this was not portrayed correctly by the media.

When Jones wrote her song, black people were being represented in the media but the women still had to fight for thier rights. Heron uses "brother" showing that the audience for his text is black males and Jones writes "brother" as well, talking back to the men who thought the black revolution was going to happen and even Heron himself. This shows that black people were, in Jones' eyes, over ambitious with their revolution as "your revolution will not be you flexing your little sex status to express what you feel". This suggests that black males are very active and Jones wants to revolt against them. Black males empower the females to achieve a high sex status and Jones wants the reversal; for women to empower men.

Lastly, the idea of power is also seen in "Your revolution will not be televised" as Heron writes "There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers in the instant replay". This conforms to the theory of the Frankfurt School as "pigs" are the police and "brothers" are black males where the media has oppressed minorities but showing little and bad representations of them, such as the criminal and victim. This shows that the media directly effects the ways in which white people think for the stereotype to be present, tying in with the effects theory. Therefore, this song goes against the uses and gratifications theory beause in 1972 there was less media so it was more likely to be owned by rich, white, ruling elite who imposed forceful ideologies into the borgeoisie through the media.

In conclusion, both songs are a representation of the society they were living in at the time. Gil Scott Heron wants greater and realisitc black representation in the media and Sarah Jones wants the same with females. They use key issues such as stereotypes, conforming to the theory of Laura Mulvey, and a hegemonic society. Gil Scott-Heron wants to achieve a marxist sociey after the revolution where white people would be the borgiouse and black people the ruling elite. Sarah Jones plays on black male's egoistic, materialistic and mysoginistic values, damning and cussing them because the media's representations of women needs to be revolted against.