Representation in music videos

REPRESENTATION IN MUSIC VIDEOS

Representation in music videos focuses on the way a particular person or object is portrayed in that video and in that genre of videos. In music videos certain features are highlighted in order to portray a particular aspect of their personality or appearance. This might be:

·         Age

·         Gender

·         Financial status

·         Race/Ethnicity

·         Job

As a result of the way the person or object is portrayed, the viewer makes certain assumptions about them, and feels in a certain way towards them.

Music video producers pick up on certain aspects of reality in their videos and centre on these, representing the person or object in a particular way in order to sell their product. In this way stereotypes become common and are easily recognisable by the audience.

Representation of age

Age is often stereotypically portrayed in music videos.

Young people / teenagers are often portrayed in rebellious, anti-establishment behaviour, such as smoking, drinking, drugs and violence. They are shown as young and free, wanting to live in the moment. This is the stereotypical view of young people put forward by the media and particularly in music videos. They are also portrayed as rebellious and violent in the punk genre.

The older generation are seen not to do much during the day and don’t like having much going on around them.

Representation of gender

Boys are taught to be tough and masculine and not to cry. This is the traditional stance. It can be seen in music videos for example Jay-Z’s music video ’99 problems’.

In rock and heavy metal videos, men are often portrayed as rather mean and moody, exhibiting intense stares into the camera. The men are portrayed as big and strong usually with numerous tattoos all over their body.

In hip hop and rap videos, the men are portrayed as the dominant sex. They are shown as the ones with the money, the power and the amazing accessories that go with an extremely glamorous lifestyle. There is often an underlying sense of violence.

Women are constantly portrayed in a very sexual, seductive way in many genres of music videos. They wear scant, provocative clothing and perform in a highly sexual manner, adopting suggestive poses. Skirts are short and tops show a lot of cleavage. Beautiful girls are often dressed in tight underwear showing off their bodies. In pop videos, many of the female stars are shown dancing and gyrating in a suggestive manner. The scene can include pole dancing which has very definite sexual connotations.

In some music videos, this representation is challenged, for instance in Pink’s ‘Stupid Girl’. Here she attacks celebrities such as Paris Hilton but portrays women Hilary Clinton as a positive role model.

Women are often represented as a stereotype of a burlesque girl with feather boas, corsets, fish net stockings and hats and canes. Again they are portrayed as very feminine and sexy. They are seen in very revealing outfits as to appeal to the males watching the video. This uses Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze Theory’. An example of this would be Madonna in the music video ‘Open Your Heart’.

In hip hop and rap videos, women are portrayed as sexual objects for the gratification of the men. They are shown as adoring figures who follow the men around, and are happy to be treated as inferior objects. They are often seen draped over the men, looking up to them.

Voyeurism is a common theme in videos, and women are portrayed as objects to be looked at and desired. They are passive, there just to be watched. The women’s sexuality only exists in relation to the men.

Representation of financial status

In many videos, council estates are shown as part of a gritty, run down Britain, where people on low incomes and benefits live in one room flats in high rise blocks. It is a deprived and poor setting, and the colour grey is often used to give a dull, uninspiring environment. Violence is often linked to these scenes. In pop music videos the pop star is usually seen in a very expensive and very wealthy environment.

Representation of race/ ethnicity

Different ethnicities are often portrayed in very stereotypical ways in music videos.

In rap videos, African American men are often portrayed as pimps and drug dealers. They are also stereotypically represented as unemployed and as criminals who steal and form gangs. In contrast to this the pop music predominantly white, artists are usually portrayed as very rich and wealthy living a very privileged lifestyle.

Madonna’s ‘Like a prayer’ features a woman witness the murder of a white girl by white males and the arrest of a black male who tried to prevent this from occurring. This video exposes racial prejudice in the modern day society. Madonna also dances in front of burning cross, which represents the KKK who terrorize the African American community.

Afrika Shox’s ‘Leftfield’ follows a third world country civilian walking through New York. The message in this video is that poverty goes on in everyday life while everyone else continues on with their everyday life. There are numerous examples in this video of this, for example there is a white business man sitting opposite a black poverty stricken man and the white man just ignores him and continues to read the newspaper.

Representation of job

In music videos, the lifestyle of a pop star is portrayed as extremely glamorous, and worthy of great adulation and respect. There are numerous examples of the pop star playing out this glamorous lifestyle in the videos. This is contrasted to the rap and hip hop videos which see the artist as poor and unemployed, usually living an unprivileged lifestyle.

In our music video we will depict representations of the following:

• Age-All of the characters in our video will be in their early twenties. This is a time in your life when you have started on your career path but not yet settled down to a family lifestyle. You enjoy going out and socialising and are still possibly looking for a permanent relationship.
• Gender-The girls in our music video will be dressed in short skirts and low riding tops to show off their sexuality. 
• Social class-Our characters will be taken from the middle classes who enjoy partying and socialising with their friends and are able to afford to do this in pleasant surroundings 
• Job-Our characters will all work in a good job, possibly office based where they are used to dressing in smart casual clothes. They will earn enough to finance their lifestyle. 
• Ethnicity-Our characters will be white Europians fitting the idea that many people who work in this type of environment come from this race. 

Representation in Rock Videos

 

I have studied representation in rock videos in order to try to incorporate these ideas into our own music video as I feel it is important for our video to be as authentic as possible and fit the genre of music.

In rock music videos, there is often not one dominant male but a group of males in the band performing the song. Females are usually portrayed through the storyline if the video is a narrative video telling the plot of the lyrics. Sometimes the band is showing playing in live gigs, where females are shown dancing as part of the crowd emphasising the live nature of the music. If the lead singer of the band is female, she is often dressed in black to fit in with the dress code of rock videos. An example of this would be Suzy Quatro, who usually performed in black leathers.

It is very common for fans of rock music to be represented as being aggressive, disruptive and in some cases violent. The genre is often associated with drugs and alcohol, and with the anti-establishment behaviour that these can induce. Punk rock particularly is associated with loud music, a rebellious and independent attitude. Rock artists get a lot of attention from the media in terms of their sex lives, their use of drugs and their dependence on alcohol. Well known rock stars such as Mick Jagger, Ozzy Osbourne, and punk rock stars such as Kurt Cobain, are intricately linked with the drugs scene. The lyrics of rock songs often speak of substance abuse, death and violence. These traits are portrayed in the music videos. Rebellion is a strong theme in much of rock music.

Some modern rock bands are not nearly as aggressive and destructive in their music, for example Green Day however the themes opf rebellion and drugs are still present in some of their songs.

In our video, we are going to try to incorporate the sense of rebellion but in a slightly more controlled manner. It will combine images of the band and the music with the narrative of the lyrics.

Peter Godwin