Judith butler describe gender as “an identity instituted though a stylized repletion of acts”. In other words, it is something learnt through repeated performance.

How useful is this idea in understanding how gender is represented? Compare and contrast our ideas in terms of both print media and music videos

Refer in detail to your chosen music video style models, Men’s Health and Oh… (20)

The statement that Judith butler claims, is known as “gender as performativity.” rather gender being part of our nature we “act it out” and the gender is constructed, which is represented in music videos. She suggests that gender is fluid, changeable and plural, meaning society can have the ability to change the way genders should be preserved.

The music video “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke, published in 2013, was a massive controversy, around the third wave of feminism in the mid 1990s. The music video portrays women as highly sexualised passive sex objects. They have constructed a music video in order to get a message across about how women are represented. Society was not happy with this, and decided that this idea of women needed to change, by not taking the video down, but changing its culture of racism and sexism.

According to Barker and Jane, english fiction writers, the third wave feminism is the ‘rebellion of younger women against what was perceived as the prescriptive, pushy and ‘sex negative’ approach of older feminists’ and enhance to characteristics of “sex positive” and the “reappropriation of derogatory terms such as ‘slut’ and ‘bitch’ for liberatory purposes”.

The forth wave feminism began around 2012. The only difference compared to the 3rd wave feminism, is that the forth wave feminism was more active, as there were multiple foundations to suport it, such as the “free the nipple” campaign, where miley cyrus got involved and gave her surport.

In response to the “Blurred Lines” music video, Auckland Uni produced a “parody” version, in order to provoke/enhance the message of how women were represented. The video is a role reversal, where the women act like the men and the men act like the women from the original music video. The aim of the parody was to show how bizarre it is to see men portrayed as women in music videos. This was able to show that the use of new media technologies have been a clear demarcation for broadening out the discussion and arguments that are played out within feminism.

The magazine “Oh Comely” was published by the independent publisher, Iceberg Press, a London based publisher. This magazine is about new ways of looking inside ourselves and out the world. It is a reimagination of women’s magazine, that constructs a representation of femininity with its focus on creativity and quickness. Their front covers show a major theme of empowerment, as they stand with a strong, bold posture, with full face shots. We can apply Stuart halls theory of representation as the absence of men, creates an identity for the brand as they are doing something different and showing how women can have different representations and aren’t just objects, as you would see in various magazines and music videos, such as “Blurred Lines” music video.

From looking at the magazine “Oh Comely”, we can see a major contrast in the Men’s Health magazine, published by the company Hearst communications, where it focuses on the representation of men. This magazine supports Judith Butlers theory considering “a repertoire of acts”, suggesting that something is learnt through a repeated action. Hearst is a large conglomerate, owning other magazines such as Maire Claire and Elle, and with Men’s Health being one of the world’s largest men’s magazine brands, it plays a big role in presenting genders and stereotypes. With its repetitive Men’s Health magazines, with all the men standing in the same position in each magazine (strong, bulky, strong) it creates an ideology of the way men should be perceived. Overtime, when the magazines reach all audiences, it gives the audience an intended message on how they should look. This is enhanced by the various bold text that are featured in the front cover, “blast body fat” “new year muscle” etc.

In conclusion, Judith Butlers theory allows us to understand how gender is presented through media institutions, and how societies stereotype gender. Furthermore, the way gender is constructed through media can majorly contrast each other. In the music video “Blurred lines”, it is seen that the women have been overly sexualized. The theorist Laura Muvely focuses on the Male Gaze, and how women are objectified. The Male Gaze is the act of depicting women in the visual arts, from a masculine perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the male view. This is clearly seen in “Blurred Lines”, through the use of minimal clothing and close up shots, making them be identified as “sex symbols”. Alternatively, with the magazine “Oh Comely”, as it introduces women with long sleeved clothing and minimal makeup. Furthermore, it takes us away from the representation of women being seen as sex objects, therefore creating a radical text for the reader, as they are used to large conglomerates and artists, such as Hearst, more specifically Men’s Health, creating a dominant ideology of how men and women should be seen.

Social, historical and cultural contexts are important to be aware of throughout society , as it not only connects to the media and understanding of the build to certain world events, but it also allows society to grasp a better understanding of postcolonialism, and understand how races are constructed as different, opposite or other – in history and current day. Looking at Commons Letter to the Free, a song written as a soundtrack to the Netflix documentary, the 13^th, its lyrics relate to the 13^th amendment, which was the law for the abolition of slavery in 1865. The song tells of how racism can be seen through the imprisonment schemes in America, as well as how racism can still be seen towards black people who are often seen differently in society. This is evident through his lyrics, “we aint seen as humans”, suggesting that society see Black people as ‘something’ different, not even as human beings. Furthermore, the lyric “will the U.S ever be with us” constructs an ideology of America seeing them as an opposition as though they are choosing to stand against them. 

Ghost Town by The Specials and Letter to the Free by Common represent society in very contrasting ways, however. This is shown mainly through the narratives of the music videos because Letter to the Free is about ending modern slavery and giving more freedom with equal rights for everyone. However, Ghost Town is about the economic depression and the increase of employment rates in London which had become staggering. Also, the music videos themselves have different genres, as Letter to the Free is a rap style song and Ghost Town includes two very different music genres, ska and reggae. Both of these music videos are also seen as quite radical. In the Letter to the Free Common is outwardly proposing from society for equality for black people, which has earlier this year been a hugely pushed issue through the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. In addition, it’s clear to see that the two case studies have ideas pointing towards postcolonialism theorist Paul Gilroy & WEB du Bois. As WEB du Bois first explained the term and idea of an audience having a “double consciousness”- With Paul Gilroy using the term, and concept again, in his book “The Black Atlantic”. Double consciousness defines itself as the internal conflict experienced by subordinated or colonized groups in an oppressive society. This idea is clearly pushed in “letter to the free” with the subject matter being racism against the black community in America. 

Theorist Edward Said draws on the idea from Jacques Lacan about the “Mirror stage”. The term defines the first-time children see themselves in a mirror as the first time they must confront the fact that this “Mirror image” represents themselves and is how everyone in society views them. This links to media because due to colonialist and orientalist ideas, as the orient has often been portrayed as the “other” to the west, as Said points out, leading to under-representation of minorities in Western media and therefore there is a sense of dehumanisation against other cultures; this is recognised by easterners as the mirror image of their cultures and people in western media. Ghost Town and Letter to the Free are both music videos about racial tensions and protesting or a fear of racist institutions. As such, minorities are represented in these videos as ordinary people which again shows the hegemonic struggle by these artists to change the ideas in society. Here though it also done to combat the orientalist ideas of the eastern world in Western society. 

In conclusion, Letter to the Free and Ghost Town can be applied to the concept of post colonialism. Furthermore, they both challenge world ideologies with their more radical views, and it is understandable that in media, such as music videos can influence and be influenced by society and culture. This is evident through Letter to the free, as they talk about how hegemony is a struggle, as there’s a lack of equality. Also, Ghost town aims to bring awareness of the employment rates and violence that occurred through the UK, specifically East London. Overall, music videos can change cultures and show the struggles they are facing/have faced, and this can be enforced with the understanding of postcolanial context.