Live Fast, Die Young: Bad Girls Do It Well – A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of M.I.A’s Music Video “Bad Girls”

Abstract

Feminism has become part of the pop music discourse in recent years. Through M.I.A’s “Bad Girls” video, not only the image of empowered, independent, rebel women are portrayed, but also the celebration of culture and the relationship between women and men in an environment of equity is suggested. In order to propose an analysis and interpretation of “Bad Girls” video and song lyrics, a multimodal discourse analysis (Machin, 2010) is followed, as well as Halliday’s systematic functional linguistics framework. The findings from this analysis suggest a discourse of feminism and empowerment, but also inclusion and acceptance regardless of race, religion or gender.