Over the weekend, I have finished the basis of the music video. (Backgrounds for length of shots and text placement/actions). Now I am onto the last stage where I draw my characters before inserting them to my music video. I will use photoshop to cut body parts and rotate them to give the look of animation.

Here are my characters/actions. The Utopia of my character happens when their headphones are on whereas when the headphones are off, they are in reality.

(Note: I am not very good at drawing so these are my best attempts!)

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How useful are ideas about narrative in analysing music videos? Refer to the close study products ‘Ghost Town’ and ‘Letter To The Free’ in your answer

Narrative in music videos are important as it adds a story and structure to the music video. Vladimir Propp explains how each story has 7 main characters; the hero, the villain, the princess, the victim, the dispatcher, the false hero and the father. Todorov explains how each narrative should follow a structure of equilibrium, disruption and then new equilibrium.

Analysing the music video for Ghost Town, there is a clear equilibrium, disruption and new equilibrium. The music video starts with the band driving down a lone road with no cars around, giving it an eerie and ghostly feel. In the middle of the music video, the band drive the car uncontrollably, this may represent how the unemployment rate started spiraling uncontrollably. Then as we enter the last part of the music video we see the new equilibrium start to play out as the band has much more gentle approach with throwing rocks across the water, creating the feeling that the madness has passed and they are in a much more normal state of world.

Analysing Letter To The Free, the equilibrium would be the guy playing the piano alone, which symbolises a lone voice expressing their self. The disruption in the middle would either be the appearance of the black square which could symbolise an empty space/feeling, or it would be all the people joining in which shows a group chant of them expressing the same feelings. And then the new equilibrium would be the pianist going back to playing by himself with the mellow tune like he started out with.

Referring back to the question, I believe that narrative’s are very important when analysing music videos, this is due to being able to follow a clear story line and see a dilemma pop up, like an incident which affects a character or changes the mood of the story, and then having the final equilibrium which shows that the dilemma got resolved.

Representation: The female form

Structural level and textual level – individual images

Radical and reactionary

Toril Moi: Feminist = A political position

Female = A matter of biology

Feminine = a set of culturally defined characteristics

Laura Mulvey – Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. The signs of visual please and the male gaze. Women as an image and the male as the bearer of the look. Pleasure in looking has been split between active male/ passive female. Scopophiloia is the natural pleasure in looking, Vouyerism is the sexual pleasure gained in looking.

Raunch Culture – The sexualised performance of women in the media

Representation of feminism

Happens at both a structural level and a textual level

Radical and reactionary

Toril Moi:

• Feminist – A political position
• Female – A matter of biology
• Feminine -A set of culturally defined characteristics

Laura Mulvey – Visual pleasure and narrative cinema

• Visual pleasure
• Signs of visual pleasure
• The male gaze
• Woman as image, Man bearer of the looks
• ‘The pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female
• Scopophilia – taking people as objects and subjecting them to a controlling and subjective gaze.

Raunch Culture

• Performers believe they are powerful owners of their own sexuality.

representation: feminist critical thinking

• structural (organisations)
• textual (individual images, films)
• Radical and reactionary

Toril Moi’s

• Feminist- a political position
• Female- a matter of biology
• Feminine- a set of culturally defined characteristics

Laura Mulvey – visual pleasure and narrative cinema

• Visual pleasure
• “the woman is seen as image and the man as the bearer of the look”
• The male gaze
• A world ordered by sexual imbalance
• Concept of scopophilia (looking)
• Vouyerism ( sexual pleasure gained in looking)
• Fetishism ( a cut out styled fragment)

Jacques lacan- This mirror moment

• Highlighting the “mirror stage” of child development
• ” A complex process of likeness and difference”

Feminism

• First wave of feminism- suffragettes
• Second wave of feminism- 60s society structured around men
• Third wave of feminism- younger women
• Fourth Wave of feminism- intersectionality, plurality

Raunch Culture

• Is the suxualised performance of women in the media that can play into male stereotypes of women as highly sexually available, where its performers believe they are powerful owners of their own sexuality

Intersectionality- Queer Theory

• Different experiences due to differences of identity

Representation

• happen at a structural level in terms of institutional, companies and organisations
• happens at a textual level, individual images and films
• radical and reactionary

Toril Moi’s (1987) – distinction between ‘feminist’ ‘feminine’ and ‘female’

• feminist- a political position
• female – a matter of biology
• feminine – a set of culturally defined characteristics

Laura Mulvey (1975) : visual pleasure and narrative cinema

• visual pleasure and the signs of visual pleasure
• ‘the woman is seen as image and the man as the bearer of the look’
• the male gaze
• a world of imbalanced power and the power is sexual
• ‘the pleasure in looking is split between the active male and the passive female’
• womens appearances are coded for strong visual and erotic impact
• ‘scopophilia’ – pleasure in looking
• ‘vouyerism’ – sexual pleasure gained in looking
• ‘fetishism’ – the quality of cut out, stylised and fragmented

Jacques Lacan – ‘the mirror moment’

• highlighting the parallel between the ‘mirror stage’ of child development and the mirroring process that occurs between audience and screen.

sexualising in music videos

• woman sexualised in music videos
• first wave of feminism = suffragettes
• second wave of feminism = late 60’s/70’s society structured around male experience
• third/fourth wave of feminism = more radical e.g. #metoo movement and #freethenipple

Raunch culture

• performers believe they are powerful owners of their own sexuality – Hendry & Stephenson

Intersectionality: Queer Theory

Ariel Levey

Judith Butler

Bell Hooks

Jean kilbourne

• Kilbourne is internationally recognized as an expert on addictions, gender issues, and the media. 
• Jean Kilbourne has transformed the way in which organizations and educational institutions around the world address the prevention of many public health problems including smoking, high-risk drinking, eating disorders, obesity, sexualization of children, and violence against women. 
• part of second wave femininsm

• Representation in terms of female and looking through the lens of FCT
• Happens at a textual level (films, people etc) and structural level, about society’s groups, companies, communities etc
• Where will people be placed in different situations, radical and reactionary, it’s also about the decisions being made
• Tori Moi’s (1987) – Distinguished between Feminist, Female and Feminine
• Laura Mulvery – wrote an essay on visual pleasure and narrative in 1975. Visual pleasure, signs of visual pleasure, ‘woman as image, man as bearer of the look’ ‘pleasure in looking has been split between active/male passive/female’
• Structured around a male ideology. Women are looked at and displayed. Connecting Lacan’s theory/stage to the media
• Scopophilia – Natural pleasure in looking
• Voyeurism – Sexual pleasure gained in looking
• Fetishism – Cutting out a certain part, looking at certain parts
• Jacques Lacan – There’s a moment in child development when they recognise/understand they’re a person, a moment of consciousness. ‘Mirror stage of development’
• Representation of females in real life is portrayed through other things as well such as games, films, music videos
• ‘boys are boys’ and ‘girls are girls’ problematic issues could arise from this as not everyone is the same and ideology has changed over time
• Jhally comments on how music video clips create a dreamworld based around a range of predictable codes/conventions
• Women are objectified a lot in everything in today’s society
• Raunch culture: Ariel Levy thinks Raunch culture is ‘ a product of the unresolved feminist sex wars he conflict between the women’s movement and the sexual revolution‘ (2006:74).
• ‘Raunch culture is the sexualised performance of women in the media that can play into male stereotypes of women as highly sexually available, where its performers believe they are powerful owners of their own sexaulity’ Hendry & Stephenson (2018:50)
• Intersectionality – The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.
• Judith Butler – Suggests that we have multiple identities that are performed to different people, in different settings
• Bell Hook – Multicultural Intersectionality, cultural criticism and transformation. Advocates media literacy, the need to engage with popular culture to understand class struggle, domination, renegotiation and revolution. Put another, encouraging us all to ‘think critically’ to ‘change our lives’.

• religion prevents acceptance of sexuality
• representation – females
• lens of feminist critical thinking
• happens in s structural level (companies, organisations ect)
• also happens at a textual level (individual images, film ect.)
• radical and reactionary, draw on different ideas
  • toril moi said:
  • Feminist = a political position
  • Female = a matter of biology
  • Feminine = a set of culturally defined characteristics
  • power of image
• laura maulvey – visual pleasure & narrative cinema
• movement can re enforce gender stereotypes
• signs communicate objectification of women
• the male gaze, the signs of visual pleasure
• ‘woman as image, man as bearer of the look,’ 
• imbalanced power, we can see through narrative cinema
• “pleasure in looking has been split between active/male passive/female.”
• constructs a male fantasy – no truth in female representation, they are coded for strong visual & erotic impact
• scopophilia – pleasure in looking
• frioden psychology: looking is voyeurism – the sexual pleasure gained in looking
• fetishism – cutting out certain parts to draw focus to something
• She draws from Jacques Lacan: child development – when a child understands they are a person, a moment of consciousness
• when a person looks in a mirror & sees themselves & understand it is them (mirror stage)
• this connects to the media in which we see ourselves in characters
• what we see is only a reflection, a mirror image
• ‘a complex process of likeness and difference‘
  • Sut Jhally – music videos has unlimited sexualisation, convents of pornography
  • masculinity and femininity are constructions
  • women representation is related to domestic abuse
  • accepting normative values is problematic
  • deconstruction of music video can reveal sexism, racism ect.
  • over exploitive representation of female
• first wave of feminism – suffragettes
• second wave of feminism – 60s & 70s, society is made around male desire
• third wave of feminism – women who are younger who believes in plurality, more alert, and can use power for good
• fourth wave of feminism – defined by technology
• raunch culture – ariel levy
• see sexuality as a movement of power
• performers believe they are powerful owners of their sexuality
• they can use their body in a way of liberation – empowering themselves, their gender etc
  • intersectionality: queer theory
  • not essentialist or reductionist, a pluralistic approach
  • judith butler – perform – acting, performative- produces a seis of effects
  • gender is socially constructed
  • prioritise your individual agency
  • bell hooks – politics of difference

Representation in terms of female

Happens at a structural level in term of industry, company, and organizations

Individual images and films how they represent female

Radical and Reactionary

Toril Moi’s (1987) crucial set of distinctions between ‘feminist’, ‘female’ and ‘feminine’

Laura Mulvey wrote an essay called Visual pleasure and narrative cinema = Visual pleasure, signs of visual pleasure, ‘women as image, man as bearer of the look’, male gaze. ‘ pleasure in looking is split between the active male and passive women’ creates a male fantasy of female. Constructed around male ideology. SCOPOPHILIA- nature pleasure in looking. vouyerism – sexual pleasure gained in looking. Fetishising.

Jacques Lacan ‘this mirror moment’, highlight the parallel between the mirror stage of child development. A complex process of likeness and difference.

MUSIC VIDEO= women sexualized, the late 60s is the second wave of feminism.

RANCH CULTURE

Performers believe they are powerful owners of their own sexuality – Hendry & Stephenson

INTERSECTIONALITY; QUEER THEORY – a pluralistic approach, 3rd and 4th wave feminism.

JUDITH BUTLER

BELL HOOKS – cultural criticism

JEAN KILBOURNE –  internationally recognized for her work on the image of women in advertising

• 2ND WAVE OF FEMINISM
• Work on how women are sexualised in advertising and photo shopped to create unrealistic representations. Effecting the ideas of young girls and women. Also men and sexualized now but less during the second wave of feminism.
• Young girls view on themselves are changed and can cause mental health issues and disorders due to the advertising published.
• The advertising in the media subconsciously effects everyone.
• ‘Turning a human being into a thing, an object, is almost always the first step towards justifying violence against that person. It is very difficult, perhaps impossible, to be violent to someone we think of as an equal, someone we have empathy with, but it is very easy to abuse a thing’ Jean Kilbourne