Representation of Women in the Music Videos - Research Paper Example

Representation of Women in the music videos Introduction In the modern world, music videos have turn out to be an essential part of the music industry. Earlier, the concept of the music videos was alien to the consumers of the music industry. With the advent of the MTV in USA, the music videos became important. The MTV started broadcasting in the USA in 1981. As the channel broadcasted their programs the whole day, it became important for the channel to place much importance on the music videos. This marked the growth of the music videos. It became important for the artists to develop their looks and the acting talents in addition to their vocal skills. The music videos have been active in developing the careers of many singers. Madonna is a prime example in this regard, as the videos portrayed the singer in a new face. Music videos have become very important nowadays as it often decides the success of the album to a certain extent. The birth of the music videos have been debated for the decline in the quality of music as the consumers are now engrossed in watching the visual extension of the artists. It has become obvious for the artists to look good and the quality of the music has become secondary.1 With the development of the music videos, the music companies have realized the importance of meeting the visual appeals of the consumers. For this purpose, they use women in a sensual way in the videos and use their sex-appeal to attract the consumers. Madonna has been successful in her music videos because of the use of her sex appeal. The use of the women in the music videos has become a common phenomenon. The paper deals in the representation of the women in the music videos using one of the most highly controversial videos of all time by Snoop Dogg. 2 “Beautiful” by Snoop Dogg One of the most successful videos in the modern day era is “Beautiful” by Snoop Dogg. It was released in the year 2003 and was directed by Chris Robinson. The video featured Pharrell Williams. The video was shot in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and it was so successful that it reached the Number 6 spot in the “US Hot 100” chart. The lyrics of the song depicts the artist stating love to his interest in the video in a matured way. The lyrics contains words which depicts the sexual character of the woman. The artist says how he longed for her in the school days and praises her physical features. The lyrics of the song reveals the physical characteristics of the woman in the video and uses the words like the “big fat booty”. He invites her girl to share drinks and then to indulge in physical interaction. He praises the features of the woman and likes her black body and the curly hairs in the song. The lyrics of the song underlines the fact that the video of the song had to be sexy. The film was shot at the beaches of Rio De Janeiro and featured several models wearing the bikini. The girl who plays the love interest of Snoop Dogg in the video is a black woman with curly hair as described in the lyrics. The first part of the video shows Snoop Dogg making his feelings felt to the girl. The video captures the local beauty of the city and uses the beach to the full effect. Snoop Dogg and Pharell Williams is shown to be sitting on the stairs in the streets of the city. The girl in question is shown for the first time on the window wearing revealing clothes. There is an interaction between Snoop Dogg and the girl and the artist proposes love to the girl. The song plays in the background and it adds to the feel of the video. The video turns to the beaches of the city. The beach shows various women wearing revealing clothes and gives special mention to the main leads of the video. The women are engaged in various activities like beach volleyball and surfing. Pharrell Williams is shown to make his intentions felt to another girl in the beach. The next part of the video shows the physical features of the girls to full effect. The artists of the video then take the girls to a hotel and the video shows intimate scenes between the lead pairs. The scenes are revealing and shows physical features of the girls. The “big fat booty” comes into picture. The lovemaking scene was an essential component of the video according to the lyrics. The scene shows the pairs in revealing outfits. After the love making scene the video moves on to the last part where a group of boys and girls are shown to be enjoying and dancing. The girls were sensual and the clothes they wore revealed sensuality. The use of the women in the videos added sensuality to the video and they were used for increasing the popularity of the video. The video was termed as sexy and was highly popular among the viewer.3 The popularity took it to the top of the charts and the artist became popular. Therefore, it can be said that the use of women in the music video and their sensuality helped the video to gain popularity. The popularity of the video helped Snoop Dogg to reclaim the position of one of the most coveted stars of the rap genre. The video was so successful that it prompted the artist to come up with a separate album consisting the hit single and its different genres. The album also comprised of the video. The video helped to raise the popularity of the song and much of the credit for the popularity goes to the sexy and sensual women in the video. The songs of Snoop Dogg got popular because of the sexual contents in them and the video of Beautiful further strengthened the status. 4 Representation of Women in Music Video The popularity of the music videos soared with the introduction of the MTV in the living room of the people. The MTV has been helpful for the development of the careers of many singers and the use of the music videos became important. In the modern context, the music videos are as much important as the song itself. If we take note of the history of the music videos from the days when it came into being, we will see that the videos have always used the women to add on to their effect. The music industry has become a consumer driven industry. The music industry comprises of several people like the producers and the singers. The main motive of the people involved in the industry is to increase the sales of the album. Therefore, they look to cater to the needs of the consumers in the society. The development of the music videos followed a growth trajectory from the days it came into existence and several methods have evolved to make the videos popular. One of the most preferred techniques of the music videos is to show the sensuality of women. The music industry uses the theory called the “scopophillia” which in other terms is known as the male gaze. The theory suggests that the males get visual pleasure in watching the sensuality of the women and this has been used as one of the most preferred strategies in the music industry for the popularity of the music videos. The music videos are closely related to the MTV culture from its advent. Studies show that the majority of the viewers of the channel are in the adolescent age and are coming in terms to the modern world. At this age, the people are curious about the sexuality and the female fantasy. This has been a major factor in the representation of the women in the music videos as objects of sensuality. This gave rise to the rise of the female singers in the music industry like Janis Joplin and Tina Turner. The success of these singers paved the way for the rise of the female singers of the new generation like Madonna and Janet Jackson. The new singers used the music videos to good effect. The music videos of the new singers were filled with sensuality and this helped in driving their popularity. The broadcasting of her videos by MTV influenced the popularity of Madonna. This projected Madonna as the “bad girl” of her generation and contributed to her growing number of fans. The videos of Madonna had so much of sexual content that the MTV decided not to broadcast her video “Justify my love”. Most of the videos of Madonna were sexy and showed the body of the artist. The image of Madonna during the period was that of bad girl and it contributed to her popularity. The videos of Madonna show the intimate postures of the artist and it combined with the expertise of the camera to define high amount of sensuality. In one of her videos, Madonna is shown single and the postures of the artist is the main choreography in the video. The camera moves to various angles creating spaces between the artist and the camera. The camera moves up and down the body of the artist to show the intimate parts of the body. Madonna is shown crawling towards the camera and is projected to be in love with the camera. The camera is the representative of the viewers and the viewers feel the passion and the sexuality of the video. These kind of videos were popular in the market and show the artist as sexually assured which was a representation of the women in the modern era. The videos did not only showed the female as a sex object and some of the videos of Madonna are an example to the fact. In one of the videos, termed the Dance II Madonna is shown dancing in the streets with a group of men. The men in the video follows the foot steps of the main lead and Madonna is the central figure of the video. The video did not show any trace of sensuality and projected the figure of Madonna as the larger figure in the video. The women of the modern generation related to the video more affluently and the video was popular among the consumers of all classes and sectors. Therefore, the representation of women in the music videos ranged from sexually implicit to the more assuring women in the modern age. The image of Madonna was sensual at one hand and reassuring persona of a woman on the other. The videos shows that the image of the women is not bound by the male gaze in the society and there are other facets to the characteristics of the women. The new age women can compete with men in all aspects.5 However, it cannot be denied that the women in the music video were primarily used for the projection of the male fantasies. Music industry has become more dependent o9n the visibility of the product and the music videos have become an integral part of the industry. The importance of the videos has risen so much that more emphasis is given nowadays on the videos than the quality of the songs. Sex has been an integral part of the music from the advent of the rock and the country music. The lyrics of the different forms of music contained sexual content and the videos had to show sensuality in order to run in accordance with the lyrics. The music videos before the advent of the MTV revolution generally contained features like kissing and hugging. With the advent of the MTV the practice of the sexual contents in the music videos increased. It was found that 89% of the music videos aired in MTV had sexual content. The music videos after the advent of MTV helped in the portrayal of women in equal footing to that of the men. In the modern world, the music videos have reduced airtime as the channels like MTV entered into other genres. The more accepted way of the marketing of the music videos has become the internet. The videos can be seen in the websites that holds them. The main target consumers from the olden days of the music videos are the young boys and girls nearing their adolescence. The boys and girls of this age have a general curiosity for sexuality. Studies show that the boys of this age are more interested in the explicit content materials and generally associates music with anger and pride. Women on the other hand associates music with more subtle emotions like excitement and happiness. This is why there has been a general preference of metal and rap in the case of males while the women prefer a softer feel to the music. The men are more interested in the disturbing contents of the music videos like anger and violence which is associated with the metal and the rap videos. The women are more aroused with the emotional love songs. There has been an acceptance of the sexually charged videos from the males and the females alike and the producers have cashed on the popularity of the sexual content by producing more and more sexually content videos. The consumers of the sexually content videos fall into the three categories. The first one is called the metamorphosis and involves the boys and the girls of adolescence. This group of the viewers are coming into terms with the rules of the modern world and are curious about then sexual implications. The second group is the more mature viewers and this groups want to fulfill the sexual fantasies by watching the videos. The videos directed to the group are aimed at garnering more and more viewers. The mature group of viewers watch the videos. The third group is the Power group which is aimed at women who like to place themselves at par with the men. Therefore, the sexuality in the videos has been successful in catering to the needs of all types o0f the customers depending on the age and genders.6 Modern Trends The modern industry has undergone a huge change from the days when the music videos first came to the market. The market is now flooded with the music videos consisting of sexually content materials and the videos use the models with distinct features to rouse the interest of the viewers. The size zero models are the latest trends that are being used in the music industries. The fashion industry has been invaded by the zero size models a long time back and the industry have just noticed the ill effects of the zero size models. The zero size models are skinny and they look to be unfed. There have been reports of the collapse of some zero size models and the health organizations around the world have banned the use of the zero size models.7 The zero size models are used in the music videos because of the male fantasies. The models look younger and they look to be virgin and are the ultimate male fantasies. The industry is cashing on the fantasy of the men and the producers are using the zero sized models to good use.8 Another of the most common male fantasies is the thin waist of the women. The American males rate the thinner women as the most beautiful and that had led to the thinner models invading the music video industry. The males with full waists are regarded as the mature females and are usually married. The women with the thin waists and are regarded as younger and sexier of the females. That is why they are popular among the viewers of the music videos.9 The American Black men have a lust for the women with the voluptuous bodies. Unlike the white men that like the thinner women, the black men have a preference for the fat women with meat i8n her body. This finds reference in the video of Snoop Dogg. Snoop Dogg is a black men and his liking for the big bum has been represented in hi lyrics. The fantasy of the black men are different to that of the white men. The blacks to a certain extent dominate the rap scene in the US and the models with voluptuous figures find preference in these videos.10 Therefore, it can be seen that the men have certain fantasies about the physical characteristics of women. The women with the predominance of these features are used in the music industry for the videos. The women are used to portray their sexuality which attract the viewers to see the video. With the music videos gaining in respect and stature of the modern market dynamics it has become important for the artists to ensure the success of the videos. Therefore, more and more women are used in the music videos. Conclusions The music videos have become an important tool for the popularity of the artists. The artists and the other components of the music industry play a lot of attention to the music videos. The females are used in the videos to capture the sensuality in the videos, which help to attract the viewers. Sex is a powerful form of marketing medium in the modern world and the music industry is following the trend of using sex to sell music. The sexuality of the music videos caters to the needs of all the customer segments- even the women. The women view the videos to place them at the same level with that of the men. Therefore, it can be said that sexuality has become an important medium, of marketing in t5he modern music industry. References 1. White, A. (1st August, 2007). Oficial history of music video. News York Press. Available at: http://www.nypress.com/article-16889-official-history-of-music-video.html 2. Marin, I. (n.d.). Some History facts on music videos. Ezin articles. Available at: http://ezinearticles.com/?Some-History-Facts-on-Music-Videos&id=85854 (Accessed on 14th April, 2010) 3. Snoop Dogg-Beautiful. (n.d.) You Tube. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLsx1kDKEzQ (Accessed on 14th April, 2010) 4. Discography. (n.d.). Malice in Wonderland. Available at: http://www.snoopdogg.com/discography/ (Accessed on 14th April, 2010) 5. Bannes et al. (2007). Before, between and beyond: three decades of dance writing. Wisconsin Press. 6. Reichert,T and Lambiase,J. (n.d.). Sex in consumer culture. SVEDKA. 7. Pressure mounts for “ban” on zero size models. (16th September, 2006). London Evening Standard. Available at: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23367018-pressure-mounts-for-ban-on-zero-size-models.do (Accessed on 14th April, 2010) 8. The New Size 0.(n.d.). Virgin Models. Available at: http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/virgin-models-the-new-size-0 (Accessed on 14th April, 2010) 9. Harrison (29th November, 2004). Sex Roles. Springer Netherlands. 10. Wooten, T (2006). White men can’t hump as good as black men. Bloomington. Read More