Notes on Representation

How many of you watch music videos? Have you ever actually examined the stories contemporary music videos tell about women and girls, and by extension boys and men, provide a look at how these narratives both reflect and shape individuals and cultural attitudes toward feminity, masculinity, sexuality and race. There is an interplay between the large culture and music videos, it is highly recommended for collections that focus on pop-culture; for its investigation on the objectification of people, it is essential for women’s or gender studies; and for anyone at all invested in the debate regarding the media’s influence on the culture. In music videos it’s depicted as a male fantasy world and how these images form a negative impact on -functioned as important currency through which the stories of music videos are told. The closest form and content in advertising which has used depictions of female sexuality to draw attention to the viewers in a crowded or noisy environment nowhere in popular culture is the story focused and told in such relentless fashion then in music video. Whether it is rock music, or country music, or pop, or hip-hop, the presence of female bodies have become one of the easy solutions found by creators of music videos to the problem of how to both get attention and tell a compelling story that connects the music to visually arresting images. In videos the camera will zoom in on certain female body parts, by looking into the camera, they invite the viewer to gaze at them. They are shown enjoying being on display and wanting to be possessed by the gaze of men. This convey the message that the women is just a set body part for male gaze which detracts from thinking about women as real people, with thoughts, hopes, dreams. Do these images affect how men think about women? Our understanding of reality is shaped by the sum of images we receive in society. These images don’t directly cause violence against women, but they do shape our attitudes about what men and women are like and what men and normal behavior. The challenge of female artists is to try and stay true to their own vision of themselves but the pressure to conform is relentless and the conventional techniques that are adopted are easy to identify no matter the genre. Female performers must take on the fantasy roles that the pornographic imagination dictates.” These images and stories have worked their way into the inner identities of young women who view their own sexuality through the eyes of the male authors of that culture.”

 

 

 

This is something I might consider doing on my video by having male dominance as it vastly links to the plot. However, it would only be shown at one of scenes instead of through out the video. Even though it is a typical strategy however it could be seen as a unique selling point that would attract vastly a male audience.