To what extent does the representation
of women in contemporary R’n’B videos present stereotypically dominant views of
female sexuality
The
purpose of this essay will be to explore the representations of women in an
analysis of three contemporary R’n’B music videos that express the
stereotypical views of female sexuality, I will divide these into three
sections of analysis concerning these texts:- “Lap dance” by N.E.R.D,
“Windowlicker” by Aphex Twin and “Survivor” by Destiny’s child, these texts will
be analyzed to examine the codes and conventions of R’N’B music videos and how
they express representations of female sexuality.
The
first music video I analyzed was for the song “Lap dance” by “N.E.R.D” made in
2001. The video instantly showed a variety of half naked women dancing over the
male singers; this immediately expresses a sexualized representation of these
women as while they are dancing, the camera still centres on the male singer
suggesting these women are part of the background, simply there to be looked at
by the male singers and the audience. It then begins to constantly cut to close
up shots of the women’s bodies, showing their hips, chests and rear, this shows
obvious sexualization of the woman’s body as a form of visual stimuli for the
male audience in the form of scopophilia in which “the subject takes other people as objects of sexual pleasure and
subjects them to a controlling and curious gaze” [Freud, 1905] the act of
obtaining visual pleasure by looking at erotic or sexualized imagery, “to be
looked at” is all the women’s purpose is intended for, as a means of visual
pleasure and entertainment for the male dominated audience. Over the course of
the video the images of the women become more graphic as the women are then
shown in provocative and sexual positions while wearing nothing but underwear
and lingerie. The women are shown engaging in homosexual and erotic activities
with each other, with close ups of the curves of their legs, chests and hips
and the reactions on their faces imitate sexual pleasure. These images express
a representation of women from the viewpoint of a male hyper reality; the women
are engaging in erotic and sexual activities, all of whom are scantily clad in
bikinis and lingerie for the pleasure of the males present. This is something
that would not happen in reality, and yet the video suggests otherwise as the
males are constantly surrounded by women as if it was normal occurrence. Mulvey’s
theory on the “Male Gaze” can be applied to this video, where women are
objectified and used in a visual manner for the entertainment of men, she
states that “ In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously
looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and
erotic impact”[Mulvey, 1975], the women in this music video are constantly
shown as sexualized, often in erotic poses and half naked as means of visual
pleasure for a male audience, and are objectified as if they were noting more
than pieces of background scenery. This is enforced as in one scene of the
video a secondary white male singer is flanked by two half naked girls and
while the camera is focusing on him, the two girls are simply dancing beside
him as part of the background, and when one of them gets too close to the
center he physically pushes her away back into the background, signifying the
objectification of the women by the dominant male presence in the video.
The second music video analyzed was “Window Licker” by “Aphex Twin” released
in 1999, the video starts with two men trying to invite a pair of prostitutes
into their car, the language they use towards these women is vulgar, disrespectful,
calling them “bitch” and “ho”. It mocks the language males might use towards females
of that profession, and shows them treating the women as if they have no
opinion of their own, as objects for simple aesthetic enjoyment. What follows
is the men’s car, being rammed from behind by a white limousine, its length
highly exaggerated and the singer being revealed from inside, this is the
moment when the music actually starts up as the women get in with him. The next
few shots are from inside the limo, they consist of close up shots of the
women’s rears directly in front of the camera, as well as their hands as they
fondle the man in the centre of the seats, one noticeable feature is that now
the women have altered versions of the mans face instead of their own. Whilst this
could be seen as a parody of the conventions found in RnB videos it can also be
viewed as objectification of the women as the man doesn’t seem to care as they
still have a female body. This is enforced by the next shots as the women are
stood in the limo with their torsos above the roof trying to entice the two men
from before who are following the limo, they either do not seem to care or do
not see that the woman now has a male face as they are only interested in the
female body. This video seems to be an intended attempt to satirize the
conventions of RnB videos as it mocks the themes of the hyper realities that
these videos present such as having fame, money and countless females
surrounding you. Through the exaggerated length of the singers limo and also by
being surrounded by scantily clad women, only with male faces attached to
female bodies this could be seen as generally mocking concepts of female beauty
that Naomi Wolf would describe as “features obscured and eyes extinguished, they are being imprinted with
a sexuality that is mass-produced, deliberately dehumanizing and inhuman”[Wolf, 1991]. The next scenes
of the video simply include various close up and establishing shots of scantily
clad women’s rears, breasts and hips as they dance in line with the artist at
the centre. This expresses a clear sense of objectification as the women are
simply dancing in the background and they appear to be there for no other
purpose than aesthetic enjoyment for the audience and the artist’s own visual
pleasure and personal gratification. The ending scenes of the video show the
scantily clad women dancing in formation while the artist sprays them with a Champagne
bottle. The camera focuses on the women’s rears and chests as the liquid falls
onto them, and it is shot in slow motion to exemplify the women’s movements. This
again forms a hyper reality that exaggerates the attitudes of women towards men
of wealth, which could have inverse effects on its active male audiences.
The third video I analyzed was quite different to the previous two in
many aspects as it was “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child made in 2001, this video
unlike the others mainly features three female singers and while it does differ
from the previous videos there are also many similarities. The video begins
with the three women stranded on an island, they are shown running through the
shallow water near the shore and lying in provocative positions on the beach. Immediately
from this starting scene the women are being sexualized as they are purposely
lying in erotic poses on the beach, running through water and the camera is
constantly focusing on close up shots of the women’s curves and their skin.
This immediately sexualizes them as it is showing only their bodies and their
provocative poses, the next few scenes show them running through a forest in
fur bikinis which enforces the sexualization as they are now wearing even less
clothes than before and these clothes change in material very scene, from being
made of fur to being made leaves, something that is easily removable. While the
target audience may seem like it is meant for women it would also attract an
active male audience simply for the visual gratification of looking at the
singers. The video could also be viewed as something that would empower women
rather than objectify them as the video features female singers, being
independent and as the lyrics suggest they are “survivors” yet the way the
singers behave in the video such as posing for the camera and dancing
erotically would suggest that they are still being objectified, it seems to be
targeting a male audience rather than females and this video could possibly
affect the way in which women think of themselves, Naomi Wolf describes it as “Beauty and sexuality are both
commonly misunderstood as some transcendent inevitable fact; falsely
interlocking the two makes it seem doubly true that a woman must be
"beautiful" to be sexual.” [Wolf, 1991]. This video
contains many aspects that could be seen as objectifying to women, while even though
the singers are all female the video seems to use them for visual appeal to its
audience. There is the possibility that these singers have constructed this
video according to their production company in order to appeal to the male
audience. This would suggest that these women are aware they are objectifying
themselves, but proceed to do so anyway as a way to attract a larger audience.
Bibliography
Texts – Music Video
- Lap dance by N.E.R.D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_uDcCZDrxg
- Window licker by Aphex Twin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBS4Gi1y_nc
- Survivor by Destiny’s Child http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmc8bQoL-J0
5. http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/836516-the-beauty-myth-how-images-of-beauty-are-used-against-women
- This site provided a varied selection of passages from Naomi Wolfs book “The
Beauty Myth” which would be useful for selection of relevant information.
Books
6. Three Essays on the Theory of
Sexuality, 1905, Sigmund Freud
7. Visual Pleasure and Narrative
Cinema, 1975, Laura Mulvey.
8. The Beauty Myth: How Images of
Beauty are Used Against Women, 1991, Naomi Wolf, Published by William Morrow
& Company.
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