Representation in Music Video Lesson Topic gender representations

Representation in Music Video

Lesson Topic : gender representations in music video Lesson Aims ▪ To consider why gender representation in music video is important ▪ To understand Laura Mulvey’s theory of the Male Gaze ▪ To see whether this theory can be successfully applied to music videos

Representation and music video What does the term representation mean to you ? REPRESENTATION is the way different groups in society are re-presented by the media. Useful to note that different people can interpret these representations in different ways. Representation can focus on different things– gender, age, ethnicity, class etc. For today’s lesson we will focus on gender as this is often a main focus for music videos. The image of any artist in a music video has been carefully planned: from the choice of clothes and style of hair to the situation or narrative that the artist is placed within. As an audience we will ‘read’ or deconstruct, this representation and interpret it in relation to our own cultural references and understanding. These representations almost become generic signifiers in themselves.

Generic signifiers and Representation Genre is a very important term in media – both for media producers and audiences. In what way is it used ? Try and think of 3 different music genres: For each genre, think of the music videos associated with the genre and write down the stereotypical (you can add this to your blog); - Setting - Props - Representation of men - Representation of women The points you made about representation are called generic signifiers Generic signifiers give the audience clear clues and re-assurance that they can identify the genre and also identify with the meanings of the representations found in that genre.

Laura Mulvey, the Male Gaze and Music Video In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze project its fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly. (Laura Mulvey 1992) 1. Rewrite Laura Mulvey’s quote in your own words 2. What kind of representation of women could you expect to see in music videos if the ideas of Mulvey are accurate ? 3. Thinking back to the previous activity, is this more prevalent in some genres of music videos than others ? 4. Do any artists or groups challenge these ideas ? 5. Are Mulvey’s ideas relevant to day, 25 years after they were written ? Mulvey also discussed the idea that women are ‘dismembered’ in all forms of media – that there is a focus not on the woman as a whole but on parts of the body – legs, bum and unmentionable bits – so their body is dismembered. Men, she argues, are shown as a whole.

Laura Mulvey Read the article on Laura Mulvey and how her ideas can be seen as relevant to Transformer and Disney films. As the article indicates her ideas were initially about films (the dominant medium for representation for over half the 20 th century) but many critics feel they can still be applied to different forms of media.

Thinking about Mulvey’s theory and music video We are going to watch 3 music videos. Analyse the representation of gender in each of the videos –to help do this note down: ▪ the different shots of female bodies ▪ the different shots of male bodies ▪ any shots that show a reaction to another gender/ to a ‘body’

The 3 videos are Chris Brown – Questions (The Male Gaze ? ) Carly Rae Jepson - Call me Maybe (The Female Gaze ? ) Beyonce – Sorry (Empowered women ? ) https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=m. H 76 Vv. Wk. Nw. A https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=f. WNa. R-rx. Aic https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Qxsm. Wxxou. IM Using your notes from when you watched the video, for each video try and work out: ▪ what is the video saying about women ? ▪ what is the video saying about men ? ▪ from whose perspective are we looking at, in the video ? ▪ who is the audience for each video ? Is this a fair cross representation of music videos – what do YOU think is the dominant representation of gender in music video ?

Post(s) to the blog ▪ Write up your thoughts on Mulvey and the 3 videos – and any others you want to use. ▪ You could do this as 1 big post but it might work better as 1 post on Mulvey and 1 post on the 3 videos. (You could also do a post on generic signifiers in music videos). ▪ Then choose 1 video of your own choice and analyse, in essay form, the representation – and how it is constructed. ▪ This essay can be done as a separate essay or on the blog (it would be good for the blog if you are going to do music video but if you’re not- then do this as a ‘separate’ essay).