Lil Mama Radio Interview Gone Wrong
Julia Hamdan
Tutor: Katie Freund
Tutorial: Thursday 1:30
Have you
ever wondered how society has the knowledge of how to behave within specific
situations? The ability of knowing what to say and what to do seems to come
naturally for most people. These implicit behaviours are known as micro
interactions, which assist in running the ways of society as smooth as
possible. Micro interactions can be defined as the everyday interactions that
are along the basis of a face-to-face encounter (Mouzelis, 1992). Mouzelis
(1992) states that a micro interaction occurs when society ignores the idea
that members of politics, economics and cultural leadership have an increased
power in social construction. Micro interaction is where daily interactions, through
interpersonal individual agency, allow each individual within society to
contribute to social construction.
This being
said, what happens when the expected ways of social construction is found being
violated? When an individual or a group display behaviours which deviate from
the social norms, they are usually questioned as to why they have acted in such
a way. There are specific “rules” of micro interactions which explain why
society behaves the way they do and so when these rules are breached it is a
matter of concern.
An example
of a micro interaction is seen through the radio interview conducted on an
American radio show with Johnjay and Rich. Johnjay and Rich are in the midst of
interviewing African-American female rapper Lil Mama, when suddenly the
interaction goes pear shaped as an employee decides to breach the codes of
conduct by interrupting the interview in a socially unacceptable way. The
context of the interview revolves around Lil Mama calling into Johnjay and Rich
in order to promote her new album “Voice of the Young People”. Throughout the
interview, Lil Mama is seen behaving in ways which deviate from what is
expected within a radio interview. The interaction becomes more interesting
when a wrap-up guy interrupts the interview in order to bring the interaction to
an end. When Johnjay and Rich insist on continuing the interview, the wrap-up
guy begins to behave in an unprofessional manner, yelling at both the hosts of
the radio show as well as Lil Mama.
This
interview is a good example of a micro interaction as it presents certain
aspects of presentation of self and Dramaturgy. The theory of turn-taking in
conversation is also evident. This essay will attempt to break down these theories
of micro interactions by analysing the breaching of conduct through the Johnjay
and Rich interview with Lil Mama, as well as mention what some of the
consequences that may arise due to the breach.
Within this
micro-interaction, the theory behind obligation and expectation is presented
within the interview. Expectations are where people predict the behaviour of an
individual or group based on the social norms in which relate to the current
context (Mellema, 1998). This is distinct to the definition of obligations,
where a person is needed to perform an action within a situation. In other
words Mellema (1998) believes that a person may be expected to perform an
action, but this does not mean that they must
behave that way. Cohen (2011) understands obligations as an inclination for
individual to meet with external standards. These standards can be seen on a
social as well as a professional level and through obligations, individuals and
groups must comply with their social or professional code of conduct.
The concept
of obligation and expectations begins right at the start of the interview.
Johnjay and Rich begins the interview by playing Lil Mama’s song “Lipgloss”
while then leading onto a conversation about a television program called
NipTuck which “Lipgloss” appeared in. From the first second of the interview,
Johnjay and Rich are filling their obligation of having done some research on
the celebrity that they were to interview. This obligation allows Johnjay and
Rich to keep informed about Lil Mama and portrays them as professional radio
hosts for being prepared with obscure facts. To their shock, Lil Mama did not
find this appropriate for the interview and as seen at 0:50, she interrupts by
saying “Alright, we’re gonna skip over that and talk about Voice of the Young
People, do you mind?”. This interruption emphasises the obligation of Lil Mama
in promoting her new album. Throughout the interview Lil Mama continues to push
for the plug about “Voice of the Young People” until 1:25 within the recording.
Within the times of 0:50 to 1:25 Lil Mama is found name dropping every other
celebrity that she collaborates with for her album and also specifies the
release date of her album continuously.
Although Lil
Mama is found acting in a way that fills her obligation priorities, she does so
in a way that is not expected within a radio station environment. This reinforces
Cohen (2011) and the concept behind professional obligation, where Lil Mama is
needed to promote the album and do just that. Lil Mama’s predicted and expected
behaviour was not displayed, but this is because she was not obliged to behave
in a certain way, but only to promote her album. This supports Mellema (1998)
where even though Lil mama was expected to act a certain way, this does not
mean that she is obliged to perform the predicted manners. Her only obligation
was to promote her album.
Another
example from the interview of where the theories of obligation and expectation
are seen is through the behaviour of the wrap-up guy. At 2:13, the wrap-up guy
attempts to end the interview by shouting “wrap it up”. At 3:03 he yells “times
up guys, WRAP IT UP!!!”. The wrap-up guy was obliged to fulfil his duty in
attempting to smoothly end the interviewing process, but what is interesting is
that when he deviates from what is expected
throughout the interview both the Johnjay and Rich team as well as Lil Mama
become defensive about the entire situation. At 3:10, the wrap-up guy
emphasises a large sigh and continues yelling “God motor mouth wrap it up!!!”.
This deviation of what is expected tarnishes the reputation of the wrap-up guy
and in result neither Johnjay and Rich nor Lil Mama are willing to take
responsibility of whom this man is an employee of. This leads onto the next
theory in which this micro interaction possesses; Face-work.
Goffman
(2003) describes “face” as a reflection of positive social values. He believes
that social interaction revolves around the ability for an individual or group
to show their face in a way that is approved by social agencies. Goffman (2003)
says that to “lose face” is to be in wrong face, out of face or shamed-faced,
and that the process of distinguishing between which face you are in is known
as face-work. Face-work can be utilised in a way to save yourself or others
around you from embarrassment (Lee, 2009). Goffman (2003) refers to face-work
as a rule of self-respect, where saving face is used not only to protect one’s
own face, but also the face of the other party involved. Lee (2009) sees
face-work as a way to keep the conversation flowing, when an unexpected event
occurs within an interaction.
Throughout
the interview, the concept of Face-work is present. As previously mentioned, no
one wants to take responsibility of the rudeness that was displayed by the
wrap-up guy. Both Lil Mama and Johnjay and Rich attempt to stay in good face by
not admitting that the wrap-up guy was an employee of theirs. They continually
pass the blame back and forward on who is responsible for the unprofessional
employee throughout the rest of the interview. This is seen at 3:20, where one
of the hosts of the radio station says “Is that one of your people Lil Mama?”. In
order to further protect their professionalism, an employee of Johnjay and Rich
says “no that’s your guy, yeah that’s not us!”. Supporting Goffman (2003) it is
seen here that face-work is used to prevent losing face, which Lee (2009) would
say is an attempt at saving themselves from embarrassment. This behaviour of
passing off the blame continues until the end of the interview. There is still
no knowledge of which party the wrap-up guy belonged too and most definitely
for good reason. By ignoring the issue altogether, both Johnjay and Rich as
well as Lil Mama attempt to stay in good face, while also trying to make the
opposing party lose face.
While both
parties attempt to save face they are also trying to protect their demeanor. Demeanor is an image that is
created by an individual in order to fulfil a higher goal (Goffman, 1967). Lil
Mama has a status in which she needs to keep within the music industry, while
Johnjay and Rich have the reputation of an entire radio show to take into consideration.
If the public and especially other celebrities were to hear of unprofessional
employees at Johnjay and Rich, this may cost them business in the future. Celebrities
may not want to book interviews with them which jeopardises the life of the
radio show. Lil Mama needs to keep her demeanor as she may lose the respect of
fans, which in the end can end business deals she has. As Goffman (1967)
describes demeanor, this interaction may put Lil Mama and Johnjay and Rich’s
demeanor at risk of being damaged.
Goffman
(1971) conveys the idea of Dramaturgy where every individual is acting on a
large-scaled stage. It can be described as a drama where protagonists perform
in order to affect audience’s perspective and interpretation of particular
events (Benford & Hunt, 1992). Frontstage and backstage is an important
aspect of Dramaturgy where frontstage is the refined performance given to
audience to define the situation, whereas backstage is the preparation of the
frontstage performance (Goffman, 1971).
An example
of frontstage within this interaction is evident where Johnjay and Rich attempt
to be as welcoming as possible towards Lil Mama even though they clearly have
no interest in the promotion of her album. As soon as the interview ends at
3:50, the team at Johnjay and Rich respond with “what the hell was that?!”.
This feeling of disgust continues at 5:10 when it is said “Listen here Lil
Mama, I have no desire to talk to you”. Goffman (1971) would classify this as a
backstage scenario, but instead Johnjay and Rich deviate from social norms and
brings this into the frontstage for the public to hear. Going back to face-work,
this deviation creates vulnerability for the radio show and results in losing
face.
Turn-taking
in conversational analysis is a major issue within the data. Conversational
analysis is the process of how everyday micro interactions are manipulated so
that it fits the purpose of the context (Goodwin & Heritage, 1990). These
include such things as tone of voice, pauses and interruptions. Goldberg (1990)
defines interruptions as an immediate way to gain control of an interaction. In
support of Goodwin and Heritage (1990), manipulation of conversation through
interruptions creates what is known as asymmetrical and symmetrical class. An
asymmetrical class is where one party over powers another party, while
symmetrical class is where all parties involved are on a level plane (Goffman,
1967).
When
referring to the radio interview, an asymmetrical class between Lil mama and
the radio hosts are evident, but when the wrap-up guy appears both Lil Mama and
Johnjay and Rich are seen as symmetrical in class because both attempt to obey
the demands given by the wrap-up guy. At 2:10, Lil Mama immediately begins to
finish up what she’s saying as well as saying her thanks. In this instance it
is seen how the wrap-up guy is seen as asymmetrical to both parties, where he
is in the superior position. It is interesting that throughout the entire
interview, neither Johnjay and Rich or Lil Mama directly interact with the
wrap-up guy himself. This emphasises the asymmetrical power and superiority of
the wrap-up guy, supporting Goldberg (1990) and the theory of interruptions as
a pathway to gain power over the interaction.
This
interaction of the Johnjay and Rich show is a perfect example of how various
aspects of micro interactions are formed through manipulations and deviations
of social norms within everyday interactions. It portrays frameworks which
reinforce theories of presentation of self, dramaturgy and conversational
analysis. Overall the data highlighted the significance of stages of micro
interactions in which society seem to take for granted within everyday
interactions.
References
Benford, R.D
& Hunt, S. A 1992, ‘Dramaturgy and Social Movements: The Social
Construction and Communication of Power, Sociological
Inquiry, vol.62, no.1, pp.36-55.
Cohen, J.J
2001, ‘Fulfilling a Social Obligation’, Journal
of Graduate Medical Education, vol.3, no.3, pp.444.
Goffman, E
1967, ‘The Nature of Deference and Demeanor’, Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behaviour, pp47-96.
Goffman, E
1971, ‘Performances’, The Presentation of
Self in Everyday Life, pp.28-82.
Goffman, E
2003, ‘On Face-Work: An Analysis of Ritual Elements in Social Interaction, Reflections, vol.4, no.3, pp.7-13.
Goldberg, J,
‘Interrupting the Discourse on Interruptions’, Journal of Pragmatics, vol.14, no.6, pp.883-903.
Goodwin, C
& Heritage, J 1990, ‘Conversation Analysis’, Annual Review of Anthropology, vol.19, no.3, pp283-307.
Lee, J 2009,
‘Escaping Embarrassment: Face-Work in the Rap-Cipher, Social Psychology Quarterly, vol.72, no.4, pp.306-324.
Mellema, G 1998,
‘Moral Expectation’, The Journal of Value
Inquiry, vol.32, no.4, pp.479-488.
Mouzelis, S
1992, ‘The Interaction Order and the Micro-Macro Distinction’, Sociological Theory, vol.10, no.1,
pp122-128.
Newarkilly973 2010, Lil
Mama radio interview gone bad,
accessed 03/09/12, http://youtu.be/wQWHRaMD2iM
