Coursework Essay (18/09/2013)

Explore the representation of gender through the evolution of music videos

My investigation involves looking at how men and women in music videos have been portrayed over the years and how their representations have evolved due to development in society and music culture. I decided to focus my analysis on male artist videos because I found similarities regarding women being treated as ‘props’ and lacking a solid identity.  The videos that I have looked at involve N.E.R.D.’s Lapdance, 50 Cent Ft. Olivia’s Candy Shop and Robin Thick Ft. T.I & Pharrell’s Blurred Lines.  My aim was to find evidence supporting and challenging the hypothesis that gender inequality and overt sexualisation of women is concurrently still an issue in today's society. My investigation entailed of textual analysis, dissecting relevant articles, and a focus group, in which I obtained the views and opinions of both male and female.

The N.E.R.D Lapdance (2001) was the most shocking out of my three chosen videos due to its overtly sexual nature and provocative lyrics. The audience received the video very negatively finding it derogatory and offensive towards women and it was reviewed as ‘borderline pornographic’. The men are introduced riding bicycles towards a tracking camera, with low saturation and hoody’s/hats. These editing effects, clothing codes and props create a threatening and intimidating vibe, which links to the notion that the men are fully in control and taking advantage of an area which is patriarchal. The confrontational language and ‘macho’ facial expressions add to their masculine image which is a traditional stereotype towards the gender. To add dramatic emphasis to the masculine image, Pharrell is always filmed surrounded by women who give them their full attention. This could connate the ideology that woman is a man’s ‘possession’ and that it is their ‘duty’ to please.

The main points which I summarised from this video include how the women can be looked at as objects of sex, dressed as strippers and prostitutes and how they have been used to succumb to male sexual fantasy’s. This is supported by the extreme close up shots of women licking their lips, a classic semiotic of sex, and high camera angles emphasising the female form. Throughout the entire video, the women are looked at through the male gaze which encourages people to sexualise them. This is emphasised by the fact that many of the camera shots are purely of their bodies, with the faces blacked or cropped out; this could create the impression that they are literally only being used for their bodies. My focus group allowed me to obtain both male and female opinions on the video. It was interesting to find out that they all agreed that the N.E.R.D. video was too extreme, offensive to women and that they found the men’s behaviour to be disgusting. They also noted the contrast in clothing codes between the men and women- the men being fully clothed, dominant and respected, and the women being stripped down completely and reduced to objects for being sexualised.

The next video that I analysed was 50 Cent’s Candy Shop which was produced in 2005. Similarly to the Lapdance video, the male is represented as a figure of wealth and power. 50 Cent is introduced riding a sleek, red convertible car which symbolises prosperity and success; immediately he is given a high, respectable status. In contrast, the women are filmed immediately from a low angle, coming down stairs, to accentuate the length of their legs, being looked at through the male gaze and giving people the opportunity to sexualise them. The metaphor of a ‘candy shop’ is used to relate 50 Cents experience at this house full of beautiful women to a child being in a sweet shop, and being surrounded by so many tantalizing treasures. One could also look at the notion of ‘candy representing women’ as objectifying and sexist. The video consists of numerous scenes of different women dressed in different outfits and ‘displayed’ in different situations. The roleplay consists of a nurse/doctor and a dominatrix holding a whip. One could argue the positive representation that the women are expressing sexual empowerment and are represented in a dominant manner, being in complete control. A point that is important to consider is that although the lyrics are sexual, it does not solidify the statement that the women are being ‘used’. This is because a female singer repeats identical lyrics to 50 Cent which could signify how the women are as eager and comfortable as the other gender.

An alternative interpretation of this music video, as opposed to women being treated as sex objects, is that the women are fully in control and take on the more masculine/dominant role. This is shown through the female body language being leading, powerful and in command. A person in my focus group described the women as ‘catering to the needs of the man and being used solely for the purpose of sex’ however the counterargument was that the women ‘remain in control’ and are central the whole time. The overall opinion from my focus group, regarding their reactions to this video, was less shocking in comparison to the Lapdance video. When asked why this was, they stated that the women were more respected, more clothed, and given a more active role.

The Blurred Lines (2013) video has recently caused immense controversy from its receiving audience regarding the discrimination and objectification of women, and the ideology that Robin Thick is consenting rape due to the fact he intends to bed the women even though they are giving him ‘blurred lines’ and not saying yes or no. Feminists have been outraged and many parody videos have been made in criticism to his video; an interesting parody which I came across involved gender reversals in which the women are fully clothed, and the men are stripped down. A strong and popular argument was made through the mimicking of lyrics: ‘This is not liberation; this is objectification, and some degradation, leading to rape justification. There is no ‘blurred line’ in consent’. From my research, it is clear that feminists were outraged by the video; I therefore found it really interesting to obtain the views of a male audience through my focus group. As expected, the females described
Thicke’s behaviour as ‘disgusting’, ‘unacceptable and ‘misogynist’. Contrastingly, the men only had positive reactions to the video, admiring the beauty of the females and finding no offence regarding sexism. This raised an interesting argument: the women stated that the video promoted the sexualisation of females, deeming it as acceptable behaviour. The counter argument was how it can be looked at as the positive free choice for women and sexual liberation.

The introduction of Blurred Lines begins with an extreme close up shot of a man’s legs wrapped around a woman’s bare legs. Not only could this be considered sexual but there is also a possessive element present, linking it to N.E.R.D.’s video. This pose could connote the message that woman belongs to the man which contextually links to Harry Enfield’s ‘Woman, know your place’. There are three males and three females present, of which we connate with sexual fantasies; the men are dressed in presentable black suits which are semiotics of power, dominance and respectability. Dissimilarly, the women are completely stripped down and are shown to make much more of an effort through dancing in comparison to the males. Through the use of props, such as a lamb and hay stacks, an extreme and negative representation becomes apparent placing women on the same level as animals. An alternative interpretation could be how these animalistic traits can be focused on the male characters, placing them in the category of being instinctive, possessive, and having old fashioned values of masculinity.

An interesting factor to note about the 2001 and 2013 music videos is that they both feature Pharrell Williams. In Lapdance, he is represented quite negatively by treating the women in a shockingly derogatory manner, acting sleazy and taking advantage of a derelict area with strippers and prostitutes. His clothing codes create an intimidating and threatening visage and these representations contrast to his much more respected appearance in Blurred Lines. He upholds a sense of decency, superiority and male dominance through his clothing and body language. An argument could be made that both male and female behaviour challenges the ethics that one would hope today's day and age would uphold. From the research that I’ve done, I’ve reached the conclusion that the women and men in music videos are represented as binary opposites. The men- respectable, reputable and highly regarded. The women- seductresses who lure men into dark, secret places of temptation. The women personify the act of sexualisation and seem to cater to the men’s sexual desires. They are not given any identity and have to work harder to gain attention- often through being explicitly dressed. On the other hand, the male representation can be looked at as acting derogatory towards females, and encouraging misogynist behaviour.

An argument could be made that these representations challenge the ethics of chivalry- due to this behaviour becoming ‘the norm’, it makes sexist and inequality values seem socially acceptable, when in reality, not only it is categorized as offensive and critical, but it is a misrepresentation of male and female characteristics. Most women do not ‘lure’ men into dark rooms, tempting and seducing them, and many men are not completely sex driven and misogynic. Vladimir Propp, a Russian scholar, created the theory of ‘stock characters’ whereby he recognized how certain narrative elements, such as basic problems and the types of characters, constantly recur through different texts. He focused on the way these characters seemed to be ‘types’ rather than individuals and this is evident in the three music videos which I have looked at. The men are always either the ‘hero’ or ‘helper’ who go on a quest in search of something (in this case, women and sex). The women fit the ‘damsel in distress’ type role, needing to be ‘liberated’, and apparently craving escapism from their abysmal lives. They could also be considered the ‘reward’ because ultimately, the ideology within the videos is that sexual intercourse is inevitable, thus, further supporting the negative belief that women are merely objects to be used.

“The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure”. Women are put in a position of being displayed, looked at. They are always displayed as an erotic, sexual appealing object in the cinema. It becomes an unfailing law in any mainstream cinema.” – Laura Mulvey from ’Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’. This act of voyeurism is very much present within Lapdance and Candy Shop and this could make the atmosphere appear quite dirty and underhanded. It’s possible that the producers encode the messages that women will go to any lengths to make men happy, and that sex is an imperative and necessary part of being human which we should accept and embrace. However on the contrary, an audience could decode these messages as women being degraded, offensively sexualised and being placed below men in terms of equality.

The research that I have undergone has led me to the conclusion that the inequality and sexualisation of genders in music videos are still very much an issue in today’s media. Even in the 90’s, rappers would use women as sexualised objects within their lyrics, and as years have passed, women remain treated with an air of inequality. Unfortunately, it appears that the only difference now is that videos, such as Blurred Lines, create the false pretence that sexist treatments of women are now tolerable and acceptable.