Harry Styles as a Cecaelia: Sexuality, Representation and Media-lore in “Music for a Sushi Restaurant”

Giuffre, L; Hayward, P

Harry Styles as a Cecaelia: Sexuality, Representation and Media-lore in “Music for a Sushi Restaurant”

Giuffre, L Hayward, P

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Publisher:: Uniwersytet Lodzki (University of Lodz)
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Text Matters, (13), pp. 442-461

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Giuffre, L
dc.contributor.author	Hayward, P https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0018-0174
dc.date.accessioned	2024-01-08T02:48:08Z
dc.date.available	2024-01-08T02:48:08Z
dc.identifier.citation	Text Matters, (13), pp. 442-461
dc.identifier.issn	2083-2931
dc.identifier.issn	2084-574X
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/174084
dc.description.abstract	<jats:p>The music video for Harry Styles’s 2022 track “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” (directed by Aube Perrie) provides a surprising representation of the pop star (arguably at the peak of his career) appearing as a cecaelia (a monstrous figure with a human head, arms and torso giving way to tentacles around its midriff). The video is notable in two distinct contexts. First, in terms of Styles’s trajectory as a popular music performer who has received intense media attention because of his fan base, artistic persona and ambiguous sexual identity; and second, in terms of the articulation of a relatively minor media-loric (i.e. modern folkloric) entity in a high profile popular cultural context. The article discusses these aspects before moving to an analysis of the music video showing how Styles’s role as a cecaelia serves as a representation of his career position, public profile and desire to assert his creative-industrial agency in the early 2020s. The music video thereby illustrates the potential of media-loric figures to represent complex themes in contemporary cultural discourse.</jats:p>
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	Uniwersytet Lodzki (University of Lodz)
dc.relation.ispartof	Text Matters
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.18778/2083-2931.13.23
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject.classification	4702 Cultural studies
dc.subject.classification	4705 Literary studies
dc.title	Harry Styles as a Cecaelia: Sexuality, Representation and Media-lore in “Music for a Sushi Restaurant”
dc.type	Journal Article
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/School of Communication
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.date.updated	2024-01-08T02:48:07Z
pubs.issue	13
pubs.publication-status	Published online
utslib.citation.issue	13

Abstract:

The music video for Harry Styles’s 2022 track “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” (directed by Aube Perrie) provides a surprising representation of the pop star (arguably at the peak of his career) appearing as a cecaelia (a monstrous figure with a human head, arms and torso giving way to tentacles around its midriff). The video is notable in two distinct contexts. First, in terms of Styles’s trajectory as a popular music performer who has received intense media attention because of his fan base, artistic persona and ambiguous sexual identity; and second, in terms of the articulation of a relatively minor media-loric (i.e. modern folkloric) entity in a high profile popular cultural context. The article discusses these aspects before moving to an analysis of the music video showing how Styles’s role as a cecaelia serves as a representation of his career position, public profile and desire to assert his creative-industrial agency in the early 2020s. The music video thereby illustrates the potential of media-loric figures to represent complex themes in contemporary cultural discourse.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/174084