Music video analysis

To what extent does the representation of women in contemporary R ’n’ B music videos present stereotypically dominate views of female sexuality?

The first music video I analysed was “Tip Drill” (1) by “Nelly”. In 2003 when the text was released it had a very controversial response because of the way it represented females. One could argue female audiences were most offended and took action. For example The Women’s Studies Group from Spelman College confronted Nelly’s charity “4sho4kids” that were supposed to host a bone marrow drive at the college. Instead they challenged by a march of female students protesting against the misogyny in rap music.

The first shot sees the camera positioned on the floor looking through, and framed, by a woman’s legs reveals Nelly. This sets the tone of a relentless sexist representation of women within the first shot of the whole video.

A key convention that I noticed in RnB/Rap music videos, especially seen in Nelly’s video, is that the majority of women tend to be dressed in a bikini or very little clothing. This again represents the sexist view and representation rappers have cast upon women, as they only seem to see them as sexual objects. “Woman displayed as sexual object is the leit-motif of erotic spectacle”. (4) Audiences, such as teenagers could take what is shown in these videos and think that that is how you are supposed to act in real life. This relates to the technical term of Uses and Gratifications when people lives or actions are influenced through a text, in this case the text is a music video.

The females within “Tip Drill” are also made to look like servants by their narrative role. An example of this is found at the beginning of the video when two women open the door to let “Nelly” and his “crew” in the mansion as if they were butlers. Once in the mansion, numerous women stand on the stairs posing in bikinis greet the men. This shot portrays the women as prostitutes as if they were in a “brothel” and the men are taking their pick. In this example females are represented as passive objects that exist only to please males by their role in the video/society for visual pleasure. “Women who love themselves are threatening; but men who love real women, more so.”(10b) It could be argued that most men think about the looks of a woman over their personality, this is over exaggerated in the ‘Tip Drill’ video. “Naomi Wolf” believes that men who think about the personality first are scarier than women who love their own bodies. This clearly shows that women have become used to being judged on their appearance and being compared to women from music videos, but the men who like them are more deluded.

One of many controversial shots in the video is when “Nelly” swipes a credit card down a women’s backside. This is very controversial and demeaning because it is again portraying the woman as a prostitute and an object that a male can purchase. In addition the most sexist part of the song for me is the lyrics “It must be your ass cuz it aint your face”. This lyric is a clear representation of a male’s perspective of women being only good for one thing, sex. The lyrics also show how the only thing the men care about is the body and nothing else and that the women’s identity is being lost.

The second video I analysed was “Lap dance” by “N.E.R.D”(2). Like “Tip Drill” this video starts with women lap dancing for the band giving a clear representation of women as sexual objects. Again all of the women are wearing hardly any clothes throughout which represents how the men only like them for one thing. Whilst analysing the codes and conventions of RnB videos such as close ups, always a use of water such as a pool or the sea and usually high key lighting. The most dominant themes I noticed are women, money and alcohol. These themes show the mere lack of thought gone into the videos and that all they do is represent women in a sexist fashion.

“Men are visually aroused by women's bodies and less sensitive to their arousal by women's personalities because they are trained early into that response, while women are less visually aroused and more emotionally aroused because that is their training.” (10c) The difference in sexual arousal from both sexes shows that men have more power over the women, as it is easier for them to gain arousal just through sight whereas women don’t. This is indicated in the ‘Lap Dance’ video as the men are receiving lap dances from the women and are getting aroused whereas the women are performing for the men and getting nothing out of it. “What becomes of a man who acquires a beautiful woman, with her "beauty" his sole target? He sabotages himself. He has gained no friend, no ally, no mutual trust” (10d) A male who takes influence from the ideological sexist view that these videos portray will never find true happiness. This is because they seek only for the good looks of a woman and not the personality. You can’t have a good relationship with someone whose qualities are only her looks. The males in the videos may never have a fulfilling relationship if that’s all they care about.

The last video I analysed was “Windowlicker”(3) released in 1999 by “Aphex Twin”. The videos narrative is largely different to a typical RnB song and video. Aphex Twin is an electronic DJ whose music has been considered postmodern in the music industry. The video for his single “Windowlicker” mocks and parodies the classic sexist representation of women, which RnB music videos contain. The video is self-aware and could be considered postmodern along with his genre. "It's futuristic in so much as I try to do something new,"(6). This quote taken from “Aphex Twins” website reinforces the postmodern view of his music and videos. The quote also shows how they are both postmodern; people class it as futuristic because of the samples of machinery used in his songs. These create sounds that the listener is not used to and this along with the videos are made to make it uncomfortable to watch by putting a mans face on a women’s body, or on children creating a visually discomforting video.

The start of the video uses a black male talking to two black females in a very sexist way. He does this by repeatedly calling them both “ho” and “bitch”. The women reply by saying “im not going nowhere with your broke ass”(7). This Quote along with the way the males were talking shows the way that the video mocks RnB videos as the men are treating the women like they are nothing and the women are saying if they haven’t got money there not going anywhere with them. After this “Apex Twin’s” huge limo pushes the mens car away and the women get in, this again reinforces how the video parodies the traditional RnB music video as the women get in just because he has money. When the music starts the faces of the women turn into men’s faces, which creates a quite discomforting feeling. I believe that this has been used in reference to Nellys lyric in Tip Drill “It must be your ass, cuz it aint your face”(8) and also mocks the phrase “Tip Drill” itself as it is means a woman with an ugly face but nice body. By doing this “Aphex Twin” mocks the stereotypical sexist view of women rappers show in their music videos.

“The first, scopophilic, arises from pleasure in using another person as an object of sexual stimulation through sight.”(5) This quote from Mulvey reinforces my opinion that women are treated as sexual objects in RnB music videos. The women in the videos fulfills this ideology as the more money the men throw at them, the more they dance and perform. This also suggests that women are not as stupid as the men think which leads to some people believing that women in RnB videos are actually empowered rather than demeaned. “These imperial discourses are only one branch of a long tradition of cultural representation which produces white and black womanhood as very different”. (9) Clearly white and black woman have very different opinions on many things. It could be argued that black woman believe that the video empowers women whereas white women think it lowers and demeans them.

“A consequence of female self-love is that the woman grows convinced of social worth. Her love for her body will be unqualified, which is the basis of female identification. If a woman loves her own body, she doesn't grudge what other women do with theirs; if she loves femaleness, she champions its rights.” (10a) This clearly shows that some women believe they need to look like the image of woman that society has grown accustomed to. It is the image that these music videos as well as magazines portray to be the norm. It states that when a woman learns to love her body she doesn’t judge what others do with theirs and she praises femaleness. This relates to the RnB music videos because if a woman is uncomfortable with her image then she will say that the videos demean women, whereas women who love their bodies would be the ones to praise the women in the videos.

To conclude the ideological sexist view that RnB music videos portray of women are wrong in many ways. They are also bad for a younger audience as they may take what they have seen in the videos of the celebrities that they look up to and believe that that is how you are supposed to act towards women. If they do accept it as reality then they will never be in a mature relationship. The videos will most definitely give the younger viewer a sexist attitude towards women and for this reason alone the videos could be seen as negative. Another argument is whether it is the artist to blame or the record label/ director. This could be argued because if the majority of the musicians fans are male then what better way to sell records than making videos to be viewed through the male gaze. By using multiple half naked women it automatically attracts a male audience and it will also keep them watching through the whole video. This being said could reinforce the point of it being the industries fault rather than the artists for creating a sexist view of women.


Bibliography

1- Nelly. Tip Drill. (2003) Music Video. Jessy Terrero

2- N.E.R.D. Lap Dance. (2001) Music Video.

3- Aphex Twin. Window Licker. (1999). Music Video. Chris Cunnigham

4- Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975) - Laura Mulvey

5- Originally Published - Screen 16.3 Autumn 1975 pp. 6-18 http://www.jahsonic.com/VPNC.html

6- www.aphextwin.nu. 1997. aphextwin. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.aphextwin.nu/learn/98129247991559.shtml. [Accessed 13 May 13].

7- Aphex Twin. Window Licker. (1999). Quote from Music Video. Chris Cunnigham

8- Nelly. Tip Drill. (2003) Music Video. Jessy Terrero

9- Railton, D, 2011. Music Video and the Politics of Representation. 1st ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

10-Good Reads. 2013. goodreads.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/836516-the-beauty-myth-how-images-of-beauty-are-used-against-women?page=2. [Accessed 20 May 13].