Media representations of metal music in the Dominican Republic: Between oppression and social resistance

Abstract

Metal music is a global phenomenon, and research addressing its development throughout the world should focus on the local and regional factors that help shape it. The Dominican Republic saw the emergence of a local metal scene in the early 1980s. Unlike other scenes in the Caribbean region, the local media outlets (i.e. newspapers, tv shows, radio shows) have played a crucial role in its development. This article aims to examine the role that media has played in the development and hindrance of the local scene and its interrelation to shifts in the racial/class composition of its members. We carried out ethnographic observations and in-depth qualitative interviews (n=10) with local fans and musicians. All data were analysed and categorized using NVIVO software. In this short article, we discuss how the media played a dual role in the development of the local metal scene. Initially, media representations of metal music contributed to hinder and stigmatize local metal fans. Later, those same media outlets were used by metal fans to counteract stigmatizing representations of metal and expand the scene. Such was the case of the Avanzada Metallica, a local radio show that organized local concerts and informed the metal scene for 20 years. We will discuss how it became a platform to promote local metal bands in the Dominican Republic and Latin America through its organized activities, while simultaneously expanding the scene in terms of its racial and social class composition.

The role of moral reasoning & personality in explaining lyrical preferences

“…Despite metal fans being consistently stereotyped as immoral [5,6,7,8] and empirical data showing that they are no less moral than their non-metal counterparts in regards to aspects like violent imagery processing [9], the subject of metal fans' morality persists in being a topic of public interest due to the imagery and lyrical content associated with metal music-often interpreted by non-metal fans as morally and socially taboo. Metal music, along with other genres such as rap music, have been especially targeted by critics who claim that the lyrics associated with those genres of music lead to violence, adolescent sexuality, and misogyny.…”

The Role of Moral Reasoning & Personality in Explaining Lyrical Preferences

“…Despite metal fans being consistently stereotyped as immoral [5,6,7,8] and empirical data showing that they are no less moral than their non-metal counterparts in regards to aspects like violent imagery processing [9], the subject of metal fans' morality persists in being a topic of public interest due to the imagery and lyrical content associated with metal musicoften interpreted by non-metal fans as morally and socially taboo. Metal music, along with other genres such as rap music, have been especially targeted by critics who claim that the lyrics associated with those genres of music lead to violence, adolescent sexuality, and misogyny.…”

Are heavy metal fans sexist?: The relationship between metal music depicting misogynistic violence and sexism

“…Other themes prevalent in heavy metal, including drug use, suicide, and mental health struggles, are indicative of a pre-existing emotional vulnerability among listeners of heavy metal, with many using heavy metal music as a coping mechanism and as a source for social relatedness (Baker & Bor, 2008;Messick, 2021). Heavy metal listeners are consistently stereotyped as immoral (Aarons, 2018;Meij, Probstfield, Simpson, & Knottnerus, 2013;Mendoza,Varas-Diaz, & Rivera-Segarra, 2018;Spracklen, 2018), however, empirical data has supported that they are no less moral than their non-metal counterparts in regards to aspects like violent imagery processing (Sun, Lu, Williams, and Thompson, 2019), so metal listeners might be drawing a clear distinction between real and fictitious violence. Violent offenders have sometimes been heavy metal music listeners, but it is usually the case that these individuals actively search for lyrics that reinforce their pre-existing beliefs about revolutionary violence, rather than their behaviors being caused by the lyrics (Kiilakoski & Oksanen, 2011).…”