...As Benshoff and Griffin put it, “men in Western culture are taught that it is their birthright to do while women remain relatively immobile in order to be the object of the male gaze.” This ideology is commonly seen in most media texts where males are typically seen in lead roles where they are depicted as functional compared to females who are represented as distracted and dependent on men. Whilst this argument is widely seen throughout studies about gender roles in media, it functions as the center of my argument about the depiction of women in the music videos of “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams and “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel. Both videos revolve around the acquisition of female attention, which supports...
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...Different Genders with Different Roles: Representation of a Rae Sremmurd Music Video Have you ever seen a hip hop music video? If you have, you have probably seen people waving around money, women shaking their ass, or lyrics that degrade women. According to Judith Lorber, gender is a social construction: “it is a role created by society, and it is a role that is not necessarily biological”. Usually in a music video different genders play different roles. Men are shown holding money, because it is a sign of having power, while women are objectified by being portrayed half naked. The American hip hop duo Rae Sremmurd showcases these roles in their music video “Shake It Fast” featuring Juicy J. Just like hip hop artists in the past Rae Sremmurd is trying to show their hypermasculinity because it has always been a part of hip hop, and sex sells in hip hop. Hip hop artists have always been excessively conceited, or self-centered, which is why they always feel the need to surround themselves with money, and half naked...
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...Although nowadays there are many feminists against gender stereotypes, gender stereotypes still exist everywhere. It is hard for people to eliminate gender stereotypes overnight. Most people know that stereotypes are not true, but many still assume of roles based on gender. We may all be guilty of many gender stereotypes, such as assuming that men have to make money for supporting family, and women are supposed to be housewifes. In “ How Toys teach children stereotypical gender roles”, Denise Starr summarized traditional gender rules, which was “ Boys are doctors; Girls are nurses. Boys are football players; girls are cheerleaders. Boys invent thing; Girls use the things boys invent, Boys fix things; Girls need things fixed. Boys are presidents;...
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...Essay Question 2 Gender has shaped Hip-hop since the very beginning by influencing Hip-hop narratives and redefining gender roles; it comes to no surprise that gender has also influenced MCs and their work. In fact gender identifications have been so impactful they help determine an artist’s success in the music industry. MCing is known to be a male dominated art form and it is very difficult for females to become successful without having to conform to the preconceived notions about women in the music industry. In the Hip-hop world many male artists have created stereotypes for both men and women and their place in the Hip-hop music (NHP 06-11-2012). For some male artists these stereotypes have made success more achievable while, on the other hand, these stereotypes have made it harder for female MCs to rise to success. There’s no denying that Hip-hop stereotypes are an important component of Hip-hop performance (NHP 06-13-2012) in fact many artists today feel the need to utilize these stereotypes in order to get ahead in the game. For example, Big Sean is one talented MC in mainstream Hip-hop that doesn’t refrain from having half naked women dancing around in his music videos. His videos emphasize the most popular stereotypes which refer to women as “hoes”, “bitches” and “gold-diggers” (NHP 06-13-2012). Although these names are degrading and disrespectful to women, it is quite unfortunate that they have become acceptable in the music industry. It is also unfortunate that...
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...Music Video Effects on its Listeners EN 1320 / Composition I Music Video Effects on its Listeners Some would argue that these videos are simply a way for musical artists to express themselves in a way that they normally could not with just music, but statistics and research would argue otherwise. Studies have shown that a vast majority of music videos today have a negative impact on adolescents. These videos have a large influence on how teens view themes such as sex, drugs, violence and even influence their behaviors like how they see themselves and how they think they should fit in by establishing gender stereotypes. These themes are very dangerous as most of today’s youth get their information from the media. While some music videos are seen as an art form, they force much of today’s teens to hold very unrealistic views of life by skewing what their priorities and goals should be. Today’s music and its videos have a huge influence on many factors of a young adolescent’s life. One aspect in particular is sex. Studies have shown that sexual content appears in more than 75% of the videos being viewed (Ashby, 2005). Needless to say, this is a very high exposure of sexual content in music videos. The dangerous part of this is that young impressionable minds are viewing these videos and getting most of their information about sex and life decisions from the media instead of from parents. The danger is shown in other...
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...promote the artists and the song. * Convey ideas about the meaning of the song MTV – august 1st 1986 first time airing. After a while, people realised that music videos created a lot of money. This meant the videos on MTV were earning a lot more than ones that didn’t. “VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR” MTV is an outlet of music/video. And the more outlets a music group/ artist has, the greater their success will likely be. Examples of outlets: MTV Direct DVD sales Cinema TV Another huge event was the 13minute music video for Michael Jacksons “thriller” After thriller, “dire straits, money for nothing “ became the most popular. 1987 - 1.6million homes reached. Furthermore at the end of 1987, peter Gabriel’s sledgehammer. After a while, more people became away that “star image” (looks) was extremely 1987- 1989 – MTV had reached 6.7million homes. 1990 – MTV UNPLUGGED. * Music videos can promote directors as well as they gain artistic credibility. SYNERGY – Music and TV - e.g 8 mile, Eminem Product placement – Lady GaGa Record Label / producer Lesson two: 1981-1991 – “rise of the directors” Chris cullingum – very strange yet artistic videos for music. Style – the way in which something is said or done Styles of music videos: * Interpretive * In-concert “as live” * Animation (stop motion, digital) * Narrative * Surrealist - make less sense * Impressionist...
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...Pussycat Dolls “BUTTONS” -Music Writing Task With over 82 million views just from YouTube, the music video “Buttons” has definitely influenced the viewers unknowingly. It was unsurprisingly easy to find a video to discuss about gender and even throughout the video none of the actions or contents surprised me. Why? The Pussycat Dolls are being portrayed as sex objects. (I am straightforward, I know) This was distinctively shown through their actions and costumes throughout the video. The movements in the music video are extremely provocative to the man and perhaps quite daring as well. (See source 1 and 2) The costumes expose the majority of the body parts creating the sense of seductiveness, but whatsoever could still find a way to strip more off, which I found was quite impressive. (Clearly, that was sarcasm) (See source 3). Not only were they presented physically as sex objects but it can be proved via the lyrics of the video (see source 7). This suggests that the audience should look at the video from another light. “This could be yours” suggests that they are doing this on their own decision and is as if willing to advertise their body is an object to give out. There is a clear division of sexism throughout the music video. The fact that there is only a man throughout the video suggests that he is the centre of attention and has women surrounding which is typically what all men wish for. Women are being presented as if they thirst for sex simply through the choice...
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...Why does it seem that women in Country music today are always portrayed in the same, stereotypical way? The newly popular country duo Maddie and Tae are protesting ‘Bro Country’ and have decided to turn the tables in their hilarious video for ‘Girl in a Country Song.’ Since being posted on the YouTube Channel MaddieandTaeVEVO less than four months ago, the video has gotten 12,000,000 views. This video puts a very interesting twist on what most viewers think of a “country” song, and It’s no surprise that this video has become so popular,as it is an obvious parody on how most modern country music videos portray women. This isn’t your everyday parody video. It is very well thought out, and even from the first few lines, the theme of this video becomes apparent right away. But the theme of "Girl in a Country Song" and its video can't be misunderstood. The song is not...
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...research is to state the effects of pop music (and music videos) to overall well being of children and teens. This paper will focus on the negative side, on two major fields: Behavior (including health) and Interpersonal relations. I picked 10 current Pinoy music videos of varied genres. I formulated a mini questionnaire and let random children and teens answer it. It took me almost 3 weeks to gather information and make conclusions. I chose to do a research on the effects of listening and watching pop music/music videos because me, myself is an avid listener and viewer of pop music. It will be much easier for me to do a research if I choose a topic, which is very relatable/close to my heart and to my being. And also, the reading assigned to me in the class, which is an experiment to pop music video viewers and its effects to gender and sexuality of teenagers, influenced me to do this paper. Below is the actual survey questionnaire that I gave to 8-20 year old children and teens, to be followed by an explanation of why I chose those kinds of questions. Questionnaire 1. State your gender: _____M _____F 2. Age range: _____5-12 _____13-25 _____26-30 3. Do you watch music videos? _____Yes _____No 4. How often do you watch music videos? _________Hours 5. Where do you watch music videos? _____TV _____Phone/iPod _____Youtube 6. Do you like to see dance routines within a music video? _____Yes _____No Why? _________...
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...This article is a detailed, academically supported body of work, designed to retort the following questions: How and why are semantically sexualised women used as a perceptive marketing stunt’ and ‘what role does the media play in legitimizing gender discrepancies through framing and cultivation strategies? Coaxed by the issue of female objectification in the mass media, the following research was conducted both practically, and theoretically, to overtly annunciate the social and democratic problems associated with advertised female subordination. The relative research involves a semiotic analysis of two sources, coupled with a survey of 40 candidates of varying ages. Furthermore, theoretical mechanisms of media framing and cultivation have been deconstructed throughout this article to uncover the impact of magnified female subordination on the domestic expectations of children and young adults. Through the collection of data, it was able to be conclusively recognized the impact of objectification on social attitudes. Results had shown the many conceptions concerning the female purpose, these include; a woman’s role as a domestic and sexual slave to her male partner. Through the convergence of data, semiotic analysis and academic theory, it may be meticulously understood how female objectification in the mass media is a social complication in the construction of an egalitarian future. ‘Women’s bodies are predominantly valued for its use to others’ Fredrickson & Roberts 1997 ...
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...GENNDER REPRESENTATION Gender simply means the hierarchical relationship between male and female. Due to the state of being different in sex, the people are assigned roles and viewed at each other differently. This difference starts to exist immediately the child is born, let say through clothes, names, sex and body differences, just to mention few. As the children grows as their gender relations becomes more determined accordingly to their sexes. Gender representation is the way the gender relations are portrayed in different fields to reveal the real gendered life situation in the society, be it in politics, media, education, economic and other fields in the particular society. Music, movies, television radio and magazines as parts of media, gender has been represented through music in this text as follows; This text concerns the representation of gender, or the discourse of gender. If you watch television, walk on the street, wait for the bus or do other things, you are always confronted by images of men and women. In movies, television series and advertisements you see these images and they may influence you consciously or subconsciously. Since media is such a big part of people‘s everyday lives, and is some ways may influence how people perceive themselves and the world, it is interesting to see how representations in movies portray gender. These images, whether it is known or not, may have an important impact upon people‘s lives and how people create their identities. It...
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...Currently when you turn on television, you will come across a lot of music videos playing, what surprises most about these music videos is their actual presentation. As you watch and listen, you see naked girls, cars and money. These main aspects surrounded the hip-hop artist and flooded the screen. As the music raged on, a different state of shock fell upon me while studying what occurred on my TV. The constant display of inequality and hegemonic power made me uncomfortable and disrespected, yet this particular musical artist’s song sits at the top of the charts in the music industry. From a Feminist Anthropologist’s perspective, the actions presented in this specific video I watched, along with many others, shows a complete imbalance between male and female gender roles. However, this behavior portrayed does not go unnoticed. In a song performed by the pop artist, P!nk, titled “Stupid Girls”, she states, “What happened to the dream of a girl president, She’s dancing in the video next to 50 Cent”. [1] This quote is particularly important because P!nk is inferring that women will aspire to be less because of the way other women are presented in the media they are exposed to. I feel the demeaning nature of the treatment of women by hip-hop artists is a problem and is a focal point of concern for many Feminist Anthropologists today. According to Carole McGranahan, a post-structuralist anthropologist, post-structuralism focuses greatly on the existence of power within hegemonic...
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...One of the hottest American singles in 2013 generated critical reaction towards the music business. The American production Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I portrayed a “grey area” between consensual sex and assault. Despite a positive reaction towards listening to the music, an erotic content of lyrics and music video caused a controversy among followers of the song. As the title states “Blurred Lines”, is a genuine message of the “thin line” between what is or isn’t appropriate on a woman. Both the music video and lyrics depict a negative connotation and representation of woman integrity in society. Even though, this song can be considered a parody about “norms” the way it’s being expressed is not positive correct....
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...Sociology of Gender Gender is defined as the social distinctions between masculinity and femininity. People often use the terms gender and sex interchangeably. The former is defined above, whereas the latter is defined as a determination of male or female on the basis of a set of socially agreed-upon biological criteria. Music Videos such as Stupid Girls and If I Were A Boy by singers Pink and Beyonce respectively demonstrate clearly the assumptions or categorizations we evoke simply by using the terms girl or boy. Although the topic of gender in sociology is vast, this paper focuses on how gender is reproduced and how the gendered body is displayed in society. There are three ways in which gender is reproduced in society. It is reproduced through the family, education and the media. From birth begins gendered expectations. According to the social norm, the color pink is mainly associated as a feminine color and the color blue masculine. Family and friends who go to see the birth of a baby girl fill the hospital room with pink balloons, teddy bears with pink ribbons and if a boy was born the room would be filled with presents which are blue in color. Growing up, girls receive presents such dollhouses and kitchen sets which reinforce their femininity. Parents raise their boys and girls differently. Even though research shows that boys at an early age (around 2 years) are just as interested in playing with the same toys girls play...
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...Contents Chapter-1 Introduction 3 Chapter-2 Review of Literature 4 Chapter-3 Methodology 5 Chapter-4 Data Analysis and Result 9 Chapter-5 Summary and Conclusion 19 Chapter-6 Bibliography 20 Team Members : 12HM33 TO 12HM40. Sachin , Shrikar B. 12HM34 Salman, Santosh, Saurabh, Sayelee, Kynsailin Snaitang Shruthi H, Chapter-1 Introduction A decade back, mobile phone was considered a luxury. But today, it is a necessary tool for communication, even for the students. Students of NITK vary in terms of parental income, interest, age, attitude, place of domicile, gender. They use mobile phone for information, entertainment and to stay connected with their family and friends. For some students mobile phone is also a fashion-oriented product and the use of mobile phone is directly affected by the change in prevailing fashion. The present study was undertaken keeping in view the above factors. The study of applications of mobile phones by students of NITK was conducted with the following objectives: 1. To study the purposes for which Students of NITK use Mobile phones 2. To study the inclination of students towards...
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