Mona AKA Sad Girl: A multilingual multimodal critical discourse analysis of music videos of a Japanese Chicana rap artist. (June 2018) - Helland, Kristin I.
Highlights: Artist's use of multilingual and multimodal intertextuality contributes to glocal identity. Interview with artist, blog, Facebook posts and YouTube comments inform analysis. Use of transgressive language and multimodal iconography challenges Japanese norms. Videos reveal underlying discourses of nationalism, feminism, and multiculturalism. Study shows how the super-vernacular of Chicano rap is both multilingual and multimodal. Abstract: Sociolinguistic studies on the globalization of hip hop have focused on multilingual lyrics as emblematic of superdiversity and hybrid identity, but the multimodal turn in sociolinguistics suggests the need to consider how lyrics interact with musical and visual features. Drawing on studies of music videos, TV ads, and film in cultural and media studies and multimodal studies, this paper examines an under-researched area of hip hop, the global spread of Chicano rap, by conducting a multilingual, multimodal critical discourse analysis of several videos by Mona AKA Sad Girl, a Japanese rapper whose lyrics switch between Japanese, Spanish, and English. This genre-based study looks at how the artist constructs a feminist glocal identity through a combination of song lyrics, musical style, cultural iconography, body decoration, gesture and film techniques that localize the oppositional super-vernacular of Chicano rap while challenging discourses of patriarchy and nationalism. The study also takes into account data from an interview with the artist and social media to gain insights into issues of authenticity and cultural appropriation.