Nicki
Minaj ‘Anaconda’ and Flo Rida’s ‘Turn around’
Nicki Minaj ‘Anaconda’ and Flo Rida’s
‘Turn around’:
Media
Representations
Women have been represented as
the weaker sex compared to men in the 21st century music videos and have
been given less importance. These women are being taken advantage off and shown
in explicit and over sexualised ways to help the artist win over its audience
and have a financial gain. These women are used as objects and are not seemed
be respected in anyway. This may be because the music videos are just a
representation of the lyrics these artists come up with and there for they are
just adding moving images to what we may already interpret by listening to the song.
Although male artists are seen more too present women in this way, female
artists present themselves in this way too to probably attract the male
audience to their music videos. This is seen in Nicki Minaj’s ‘Anaconda’
video as she presents herself in a sexual manner which has 240 million plus views
on her YouTube page since it has been released. The latest trend in society is
the booty shaking which has just been on a spiral from when ‘Good Girl’ Miley
Cyrus changed how she was and her personality when she produced, ‘We Can't
Stop’ in which she was twerking and being sexual with the extras in the video.
The ideology of what the
videos would link too is the male gaze and female gaze of the audience’s reason
for looking at the videos. These videos would link to the audience trying to
have some sort of escapism.
Media
Languages and Forms
The denotative levels of the meaning is that women have become inferior
in the way they are represented in music videos, this is evident in videos such
as, Flo Rida 54321 Turn Around and Nicki
Minaj’s ‘Anaconda’ video . This is also evident as women represent themselves in this way too
and don’t really support or promote the independence of women and feminism.
Women are presenting themselves in ways they want to be seen by certain
audience rather than presenting themselves how they would like to been seen.
The connotations of the representation of these female in the music
videos, Could be that they are just used for financial reasons. This evident as
music videos which are very sexual or display women half naked tend to get
publicity for the raunchiness of the videos and have a wide range of views by
the public. This has meant that the significance of the text’s connotation
could subvert the stereotypical view of women, being strong, independent
and smart. This is because in the music videos women are shown as flaunting
their assets or using this to get their way. These costumes are normally tight
clothing, short or revealing, to catch the eye of the audience and make them
want to watch more of the video and this in turn means that the audience will
be listening to the song even if the lyrics were bad. Much of the screen time
is devoted to goddess-like women circling around the place in waist-high
underpants while licking or doing something with random objects. This also involves
these women dry hump whatever's closest to them a man, woman or objects.
Narrative
In relation to the narrative
the audience are positioned to view the video for pleasure and satisfy their
male or female gaze. This view contrasts the stereotypical view of women now in
the 21st Century of being independent. Most media now are described as
having a feminist ideology, meaning it promotes the idea that women are the
equal of men and should not be discriminated against on the grounds of gender or
role.
Genre/Media
Institutions
The genres of these music videos which contain these explicit videos are
mainly Rap and Hip-Pop. This is different compared to back in the days when rap
and hip songs such as 2Pac - Keep Ya Head Up were mainly about the lyrics
and the main artist in the video. Cash Money Records is the record
label in which Nicki Minaj is signed to and the label consist of other artist
who also present female extras in the downgrading ways she does. These artists
consist of Lil Wayne, Tyga and The Game. Universal
Music Group is the distributor worldwide and the largest music corporation in
the world with a revenue of $6.552 billion in 2013. These artists are signed to
Cash Money Records as they produce songs which link to the genre of
the label which is rap and hip-pop.
Media Values
and Ideology
The main value that is being
presented is the representation of women as the weaker sex and has been shown
to be less important compared to men. This reinforces the traditional
stereotypes of women being the inferior sex and perceived to do the labours of
the household and not capable of matching the working capacity of men. The way
men have been portrayed in music videos is mainly dominant. You also get the
rare videos where females show themselves in power with men in the background,
but in these videos they also portray themselves as sexual objects to get more
views. When females put males in the background they always seem to be muscular
and just have a dominance with their presence.
Media
Audiences
The targeted fan base for the
music videos would be the demographic of both males and females that are aged
between 12 years old and 35 years old who would be in the social classes of B,
C1 and C2. As these institutions are mainstream organisations they would target
the audience of mainstreamers. These songs and videos are also for inspirers,
as they make the audience want their flash and expensive lifestyles and people
who want a sense of escapism. According to Bulmer and Katz theory of uses and
gratifications there is evidence of escapism, as the audience is known to
escape reality and avoid there real life problems and relieve stress form work.
The audience pleasures consist of using women as a sex object to attract the
male gaze which is also clear to see. My reading and evaluation is heavily
influenced by my age, gender and background.
Clamps:
Costume:
·
Tight clothing
·
See through
·
Shirt clothing
·
Revealing
Lighting:
·
Dark- e.g Clubs
·
Bright- e.g Beach and Exotic Places
Actor’s expressions:
·
Sexual expressions
Make up:
Props:
·
Household objects
·
Objects
·
Food
·
Vehicles
·
Expensive jewellery
Sound:
