Sexism in Pop Videos

Sexism 

Sexism is the objectification of a gender. In a patriarchal society, women are obejectified, whether it is in movies, music videos or real life. The fact is the media influences us and our way of thinking. It is most likely we will adopt sexist attitudes if we are exposed to sexist behvaiour. For centuries women were considered lower than men. In the 1960s, sexism was shown and advertised; some woman felt that it was the role of a female to subordinate. However, it caused uproars for others. Additionally, the cigarette was a "liberated movement" for women as they were allowed to smoke, on and off screen. It gave women a sense of power, and a taste of freedom to an extent.


 




Particular music videos which provoked a rather controversial response are "Blurred Lines," by Robin Thicke and "Wrecking Ball," by Miley Cyrus. They both are clearly different, but both are extremely sexual and provoke ideas of sexism.

Firstly, Robin Thicke's video seems to be encouraging  "good girl," to forget their morals and sleep with him, also TI explicitly explains how he will aggressively have sexual relations with her. It also seems quite creepy, especially when he repeatedly says "I know you want it." In fact, the singers didn't think they were explicit enough with minimally clothed women in their video, they made another video with the three women in flesh coloured thongs and no bra.

The lyrics indicate rape, and overly objectifies women. Oddly, the men are fully clothed - are the men the only one worthy of clothes? The video is degrading to women, and he makes it extremely clear, "People say, 'Hey do you think this is degrading to women 'I'm like 'Ofcourse it is. What a pleasure it is to degrade a woman. I've never gotten to do that before. I've always respected women."It appears he seems to take pride in objectifying women.

Some may find Miley's "Wrecking Ball," as a liberation for women, others may see her self moving towards the anti-feminst route. One of the "liberated woman" movements is being braless. They are described as "male contraptions." She is crashing the walls around her, perhaps she feels trapped and sees the way she dresses as an expression of freedom. Miley wants other females not to be ashamed of their bodies. However, others have found it disturbing and pushing boundaries as she licks objects and swings on a ball. It could be argued that the video is meant to spark controversy, and is meaningless. 

Laura Mulvey said that the “male gaze,” dominates the media world. It is a well-known, and discussed theory. The audience is constantly put in the perspective of a heterosexual man. A scene is normally decimated to the shape of a woman’s body. It is seen in movies, as well as music videos. It is used intensely in rap music videos in general. It may be seen as a way of glorifying the curvy female body which was once condemned before. However, most feminists beg to differ. They see this an a way of objectifying women, as if they were a piece of meat. 

There are deliberate camera movements which deny the woman’s human identity. The physicality is solely concentrated on. Also, 16% of movie makers are female which means most of the time we will see the footage from a male’s perspective. Female leads are rare, if they are present, they are mostly objectified; wearing less clothes. We live in a hegemonic society where the male is a dominant figure of society.

Shooting Schedule

Treatment

Model of the Media

Shot List

Relation of Visuals to Song

There are three main ideas which are used in music videos that we are all able to realise.

Amplify - The meaning and effects are manipulated which will eventually be drummed into our vision and minds.

For example - Clean Bandit  Rather Be 



In this video, there is a repetition of the same shapes; a triangle, square, circle and diamond.
Take a look, see how many you can spot. The most peculiar place they have placed the shapes, is when the butcher slices the meat.

Disjuncture - This is where the meaning is ignored, therefore the audience may struggle to figure out how it makes any sense.

For example - Sia - Chandelier



The video consists of a young, talented female dancer. But the lyrics are push towards an older female, who drinks to suppress reality. - "Keep my glass full till morning light."

Illustrate - Commonly, the lyrics tend to go along with the video. This is to create a story the audience can follow throughout. You could say, like a mini movie.

For example - What Goes Around Comes Back Around 



The song shows, love, passion and resentment which causes a tragedy. It almost has a Shakespearean sort've feel to it.

Audience Research Questionnaire

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Risk Assessment

Case Study 3: Alex Southam

Introducing Alex Southam

Alex Southam is described as "an exciting new talent," and is "self taught." He has worked with a "dizzying variety of styles," including he famous website, Live Nation and Animation. He has a creative stance when it comes to approaching he music industry. Southam worked on various promos, with the likes of the Walkmen, Alt+J and Lianne La Havas. By August 20112, Alex joined Agile.

In his videos, he wants to take control. He undertook working with the camera, lighting and editing. Now, he us currently the director of Photography. Clearly, he is a dedicated worker who loves, and enjoys thoroughly what he does. His creativity and dedication has lead him to craft exquisite music videos. He combines photography and interesting narratives to captivate the audience in an exciting way.

His standards are definately set high for future projects with Laura Mvula, and the up and coming Tom Odell.

The essence of his videos stems from a sense of "artistic freedom," and not limit oneself by exploring "new techniques." Commercials limit this sense of freedom for him, he wants opportunities to be boundless. Southam takes advantage of Vimeo by showcasing his videos on the website, open for everyone to access. It has become a tool as a form of advertisement for himself, and is catching up to YouTube.

His final breakthrough stems from the video Tessellate for Alt J - the budget was £10,000 and only had a day to shoot. There was a large cast, meaning there was a number of extras. AfterEffects was used for the special effects.

I interpret the song “Tessellation,” as a form of repetition. A tessellation is created by repetition, which can be seen as a symbolic image. There a three main groups of people who repeat the same patterns in the video. The lyrics states “triangle are my favourite shape, three points where two lines meet.” Perhaps the singer is content in consistency, and routine. That’s how he feels safe, in steadiness and stability. The cast are stood in front of a green screen. Southam used long continuous shots using Steadicam to emphasise the fluidity, breaking the shots would possibly break the symbolic meaning of the song. In order to understand why Southam has used this shot, you have to understand the general meaning of the song by the definition of Tessellation. The video is rather vague, which allows the audience to have their own interpretation of the song, however, keeping in mind the meaning of the song title.

Southam worked in Los Angeles on Chase & Status’ "Lost and Not Found", with a higher budget than Alt J - £50,000. It was filmed using a Steadicam, filming at 36 frames per second then was later slowed down through the editing. The idea of taking the video in one long take was influenced by Massive Attack’s “Unfinished Sympathy.” In the whole video, there is only three shots, which helps the idea of “fading away,” – underlining the lucid, and transcendent theme. The singer is observing everything in a dream like way.

Filming Day 3

We, as a group almost gave up on our main character, Tariq. Time seemed to be going by quickly, and we were behind on our schedule. I warned him that this would be his last day before we have no choice but to replace him. He has the potential to do well in the music video, so I though hard about what we could do as a group to bring the best out of him. The song is not particularly his music taste, so I thought about playing a song that is similar to his taste, "rap," and observing him. We placed the camera, and went to the corner of the room where, we and himself, couldn't see us. After that, we observed the footage and saw that he was more open and less static when we are not there. So, with this experiment, I took a few shots with us, out of view site. To our surprise, he had improved! Tariq was moving much more, and sounding the words out much more. When he sang along, he mumbled so I suggested to just lip sync the song but open his mouth wider. We had decided as a group, that there was hope and that we were proud of him - he is staying in the group. Finally making substantial progress.