Gender Female-Fronted Irish Pop Band the Cranberries

Gender

Female-fronted Irish pop band The Cranberries address issues related to gender and sexuality tacitly in the song "Animal Instinct." The song lyrics do not overtly discuss feminist discourse, although the music video for the song does. Issues related to compulsory heterosexuality, the dual character and double standard for women, and gender roles are all topics addressed in "Animal Instinct" and its music video. The content or theme of the song can be best understood by an analysis of its title. "Animal Instinct" refers to the most basic human impulses. Thus, The Cranberries draw from Freudian theory. The structure of a song conveys a poetic sensibility, which can be construed as a stereotypically or archetypically feminine given its non-linear format and use of unconventional grammar. In other words, a song as poetry can be purposefully subversive of patriarchal language, grammar, and mechanics. However, the video for "Animal Instinct" is ironic in that it simultaneously substantiates and subverts patriarchal social structure.

The Cranberries are a female-fronted band but the musicians are male. This construction is immediately suspect; because so much of rock and music history in general has been dominated by men. Moreover, the lead singer appears in the video dressed in a stereotypically feminine way by wearing flowers in her hair and a flowing white dress. The woman featured in the video is also ironic, in that she is both independent and dependent. She is escaping from an unfortunate situation -- implied to be a bad or abusive relationship. Her liberation from the situation is meant to be inspiring. At the same time, the woman has proven herself to be financially dependent. When she leaves with the children, she has no money to pay for food. The video ends with a disturbing message: the woman and her children must eventually get rescued by a truck driver.

Ironic, contradictory, and ambiguous gendered messages aside, "Animal Instinct" does have some redeeming feminist elements. The woman in the music video seems to have had a personal awakening regarding heteronormativity. She was in a heterosexual relationship and had two children: thus fulfilling societal gender norms. Playing the role of the mother and housewife, the woman was obviously unemployed, which is why she is financially strapped in the video. She also subverts a symbolically patriarchal structure in the form of the government child services office. The government taking control of children represents patriarchy. Thus, the woman in the video overcomes patriarchy almost wholly on her own. If she were not rescued by the truck driver -- who is presumed to be male or else the videographer would have structured the video to show a female driver -- the protagonist in the video would come across as being a feminist hero. As it stands, the video is ambivalent about feminist discourse. The viewer wonders what the "animal instinct" the narrator refers to, and what the protagonist's goals and ambitions are. Are her animal instincts referring to her desire to extricate herself from the heterosexual relationship she had with the children's parents? Or is her animal instinct a wistful recollection of that heterosexuality? Is the protagonist leaving a man for some unseen lesbian lover?