Notes & Quotes ..

Notes & Quotes documentation on going.

Will publish once completed.

Thank you for being patient.

Critical Investigation Proposal ..

How do Female Artists Portray Themselves in their Music Videos?

Angle .. 

My angle focuses on  how female music artist have a negative effect on their audience, especially young teenage girls. To help me with this, I'll be exploring different Feminists Perspectives as my Critical Investigation focuses on different  female music artist.

Hypothesis .. 

My hypothesis is that female artist portray themselves negatively in their music videos and as a result this would have a harmful impact on young teenage girls.  

Linked production piece ..

Anita and Navneet and I will be making a music video for our linked production piece because we all have a similar critical investigation idea. We'll also includes the codes and conventions of a film and explores the reinforced stereotypes of how female and male artist portray themselves. 

MIGRAIN .. 

Media Representations ..

My investigation focuses on the text Beyonce Run the World and Dance for You, in both video's Beyonce's represented in  two different ways, in Run the World she's represented as a powerful, independent strong woman who doesn't need a man, the song expresses the power and independence of women. The video shows two sides, the men and the women, in the video the men are shown on the floor, weak and defeated. However in Dance for You she's shown in some aspects as a sex object thus creating Mulvey's theory of the Male Gaze, she's portrayed as under the man's control, she wants to dance for him, love him, she acts very dependent in this video.

Media Language and Forms ..

In both video's Beyonce's clothing is very revealing, either her legs are on show or her upper half. in Dance for You she's shown more seductive and "sexy". There's a strong contrast between Beyonce's make up and facial expressions for example in Run the world she has dark eye make up which connotes power and independence, she has a serious face throughout which only back's up the idea of power and strength. However in Dance for You, she has subtle eye make up but strong lipstick which is very provocative and inviting. The lighting in Dance for You is very low key which makes the whole setting very flirtatious and tempting. Majority of the lighting in Run the world  is daylight which is quite normal.

Narrative ..

Run the world basically shows Beyonce's army of women fighting the army of men, with her extreme dance moves, which is only a aspect of identification because she's known for her dancing. In the video Dance for You she's in a dark room dancing over tables, chairs etc, again a sense of identification. Both video's in some ways have the same values and ideologies for example the value of women is much stronger in Run the world however the clothing she wears in both video's shows that women are still there to look sexy and seductive. The idea that women must look a certain way again is portaryed in both video's, it's unlikely that a video like this would ever show a women whose maybe a little over weight or too skinny. Therefore, she has a mix of values and ideologies in majority of her video's.

Genre .. 

Both video's are in the R&B/hiphop genre. We know this through the lyrics, the types of clothing she wears, tight and revealing and though the fact that it's Beyonce, most of the artists in R&B videos are African Americans as they founded this genre, and Beyonce's well know for being in the R&B genre. The video's conform to the characteristics of the genre and the audience generic expectations are fulfilled by both video's through mainly Dance for You with provocative clothing and seductive lyrics, or though the fact that in both video's there's a lot of dancing which is a typical convention of R&B music or on the big focus of "showing off" what you've got, wealth of in this case Beyonce's showing off her body because it's what everybody wants, it's the perfect body in many peoples eyes, especially her fans

Media Institutions .. 

Both video's have been influenced by the institution which produced it, Columbia Records which is a premier recording label, under the ownership of Song Music Entertainment is Beyonce's recording label, they've influenced her video's though the fact that she has to do anything in order to get hits thus making revenue. Because they're such a well know, powerful recording label Beyonce has to make sure her audience loves her video's therefore making money for the label.

Media Audiences ..

Both video's address Beyonce's fans of young girls to adult women however she also attracts males through male gaze with her seductive clothing. Beyonce's has such a world wide target audience, demographically she attracts females of any age, mainly teenagers, race because she's so popular she attracts every race, and again education, no matter what level of education someone at she appeals to all. Psychologically, she appeals to everybody. Using the Uses and Gratification's theory Beyonce attracts people through diversion, when watching her video's people get lost in the dancing and the wild music they forget their own problems or Personal Identity, through the fact that people want to be like her, they idolise her because she's such a powerful women in the music industry etc. Personally, as an audience member, both video's influence people my age to act a certain way, dress a certain way. Especially women as they have pressure from the media as well as these music video's to dress and look a certain way that's accepted in society and lives up to other expectations .  

SHEP .. 

Social ..

Both video's have a huge impact on women socially, through the fact that they change the way they look or act to fit in with what's represented in the music videos. Also because of social pressure of fitting in, women adapt ways of speaking, dressing and living to be accepted in society. For example, Beyonce's music video's all portray her in a seductive way thus implying that young girls and women should be like this, have the body Beyonce has and nothing else is acceptable. Also, the writer Hannan Rosin, wrote a book on "The End of Men" which basically discusses the rise of women in society.  

Historical ..

Post-feminism, connotes the belief that feminism has succeeded in it's goal of ameliorating sexism, making it fundamentally opposed to the third-wave intentions of broadening feminist struggles. Relating this to my investigation, R&B music videos are examples of how feminism has exceeded, through the hit songs "Single Ladies" by Beyonce and "I Don't Need a Man" by The Pussycat Dolls. 

Economical .. 

The pressure on music artists (females) to attract a wide audience, appeal to their every need thus making enough money in order to live and carry on being popular.  

Political ..

The debates in the media on the effects these women have on their audience thus creating moral panic. Also regulations and censorship, whether the R&B music videos are too inappropriate for the audience to watch therefore they've been banned. A lot of music video's do regulate themselves which allows inappropriate content on Television. 

Issues/Debates ..

The issues and debates that I've chosen to include in my Critical Investigation are representation and stereotyping because my investigation focuses on the representations and the reinforced and alternative stereotypes of women in music videos. Media effects because I'm looking at the impact and effects it has on the audience, moral panic because obviously the way female artist portray themselves effects young girls to also act and look in a certain way thus creating moral panic for parents and adults.

Theories .. 

The theories that I've chosen to include in my Critical Investigation are audience theories because obviously my investigation involves the audience, Contemporary Media Landscape because my Investigation is always the top topic of discussion in the media, feminism has always been in the media and how females are represented. Marxism and hegemony, as hegemony means the position of power someone is given and my the person I'm focusing on in my investigation Beyonce is a powerful leader, she has many followers thus highlighting the concerns parents have for their young impressionable daughters. Finally, Gender because even though my Investigation looks at males, it focuses strongly on women and how they're represented in their music videos.

Research plan (media texts, academic texts and websites)

Media Texts ..

My main focus will be, Beyonce's hits ..

"Run the World" 2011

"Dance for You" 2011.

Other Media Text's 

I'll be looking at other artist such as, Rihanna "Stay" 2012, Nick Minaj "Starships" 2012 and Taylor Swiftt "I Knew you was Trouble" 2012. I'll also be making a reference to Pink "True Love" 2012, Britney Spears "I'm a Slave for You" 2001 and Mariah Carey "Without You" 1993 and "Touch my Body" 2008.

TV documentaries

"Miss Representations" Documentary about women in the media. http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/miss-representation-documentary-about-women-in-the-media-debuts-on-ow

Academic texts/books

Sheila Whiteley: Women and Popular Music: Sexuality, Identity and Subjectivity (2000)

Ronald Weitzer, Charis E. Kubrin: Men and Masculinities (2009)

Pirkko Moisala, Beverley Diamond: Music and Gender Page 207 (2000)

Emma Mayhew: Women in Popular Music and the Construction of "Authenticity (1999)

Michelé M. Prince: The Representation of Women in Popular Music (2009)

Internet Links 

1. Slideshare, speaks about representations of women in music video's http://www.slideshare.net/filmbuff/representation-of-women-in-music-videos
2. A Blog post talking about the VMA's performance of Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke with Blurred Lines http://www.thegirlsare.com/2013/09/14/blog-to-twerk-or-not-to-twerk-is-that-really-the-question/
3. The University of South Florida wrote a Dissertations on the "Audience interpretations of the representation of women in music videos by women artists" http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3623&context=etd
4. Representation of Gender In Music Videos http://heathenmedia.co.uk/red/2012/09/24/representation-of-gender-in-music-videos/
5. UrTurn blog post on Representations of Women in Music Videos http://www.urturn.com/documents/C503850D-7AF0-0001-17EC-65EFB93E7900

Presentation Feedback ..

Beyonce Ignite Presentation ..

WWW:

• Good topic - genuine media issue .
• Timing pretty good - not trying to squeeze too much in.
• Good points on stereotypes + representation of women. 
• imagine analysis works very well in the presentations.
• Excellent issue in terms of feminism + impact on audience (pressure on women etc).
• Moving from image analysis to lyrics work well. 
• Structure of presentation is pretty good. 

EBI: 

• Could link analysis to wider issues though (feminism representations of women etc.)
• Could bring in more media concepts/issues/theory - effects on audience. 

My presentations main focus was based on Beyonce's music video "Deja Vu", my Critical Investigation is based on how female artist portray themselves though their music videos. The research I did contributed to my presentation because it explained the point I was trying to get across. I looked at the main female artist Beyonce because she's a role model to many and she has some good examples that would help me explore my critical investigation further. I think the way I delivered my presentation could have been better, with more practice and preparation it would have been a clear and understandable presentation. However, I managed to start exploring my topic area. Towards the end of my presentation I mentioned that I would not only focus on Beyonce but also look at other popular female artist such as Nicki Minaj. My initial idea was to focus on how the Media represents women but then decided that looking at music videos and how important women (that have such a big impact of young girls lives) can portray themselves though their music videos. I now plan to develop the presentation into an extended academic essay by firstly mentioning how the women portray themselves, I want to show both the negative and positive side of how they can portray themselves and then I want to express the impact it has on women and young girls. Overall I think I've chosen a strong topic to write about, one that I myself is very passionate about (being a girl of course). 

Critical Investigation Examples ..

Representations of the police ..

During the course of Thursday’s lesson, each group has a question from past Critical Investigation’s to answer, my group and I had to focus on the question “Why is the representation of the police on television programs such as ‘Road Wars’ and ‘Police, Camera, action’ over-sensationalized?” First we discussed the reason, for example, it makes police officers seem powerful and successful with more status. We then looked at the stereotypical representations of the police on TV which were that they’re trust-worthy, never wrong, always right, helpful, well dressed and professional. Why might these representations exist? Well, firstly because they want people to feel safe , protected from danger making them seem powerful. Alternative representations of the police would be for example, criminals themselves and the main alternative, don’t protect people, aren't very helpful. The group then discussed what media concepts and theories could cover this particularly Critical Investigation, Start Hall with the concept of creating moral panic within the media and Mulvey with the concept of over exaggerating stereotypes and the media, again like Start Hall. Finally,  many different types of production pieces would work with this particular Critical Investigation such as a music video like Ill Manors, a documentary explaining the riots which was over exaggerated creating moral panic, a newspaper article again about the riots or a magazine article interviewing the police.