Music in the 50's

In class we watched a presentation about music in the 50's. This is what I learnt from the presentation:

An example of music in the 50's is a song called Bobby Rydell - Kissin Time.

I created this poster to show the popular Artists and Genre's of the 50's (click on each artist to find out more and if in the poster there is any big spaces or problems with the video, links are provided below).
 

Links:

Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode (Live 1958)

Elvis Presley -  Jailhouse Rock

The Drifters - Save the last dance for me

Aretha Franklin - Never Grow Old

World War 2 caused great distress as music started to reflect this feeling from big bands such as Crooners. They came from jazz in the 20's, Michael Buble would be seen as today's modern version of this.

Originally white people were scared to listen to black people singing. Young white people started in the 50's dared to go to a black part of town and listen to black music.

Boy bands now follow original boy bands of the 50's. A boy band famous in the 1950's were The Platters.

Chuck Berry established Rock and Roll music by his showmanship, guitar solos, and multi-racial audiences.

Sammy Davis, Jr who was black, joined Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin on stage, which helped black and white singers sing together.

 

Elvis Presley

• He was seen as a culture icon.
• Brought sound of African-American to the mainstream.
• Looked up to Chuck Berry.
• Elvis was a style icon, this was seen from his hair and clothes.
• He has showmanship and performance skills.
• Parents at the time were angered by his swaying and movement of his hips - controversial -dancing sexually. Parents wanted it censored. They did not allow bottom half of his body to be shown. Sent girls into a sex crazes frenzy.
• Elvis became a brand - 1st pop-star for this to happen to.
• Elvis was seen as a sex symbol, narcisstic identification - presence Elvis had.

Demo vinyl
People would hear an artists work and if they liked it, it would be put on radio creative platform. In the 50's a record label 'sun records' was originally a country and western label. Sun Records became well known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis their first recording contracts and thus launching their career.

Sexualised music videos

In media we looked at a video called 'Stacy's Mum' - Fountains of Wayne and linked it to traditional and post feminist views.

This is what we found out:

Traditional feminist:
In the video women are being exploited by the lack of clothing they are wearing i.e. short gym skirt, brief bikini (swim wear), sexy underwear, short dress while cleaning, pole dancing wearing leather boots and stockings scantily clad. Throughout the video of Stacy and especially Stacy's mum are seen as sexual objects.

Male desires also come into play with this video as one of the locations is very significant. This is after 'Stacey's Mum' is cleaning in her kitchen and then it turns into a night club. The night club location can also imitate a strip club by the flashing lights and loud music. Also through the whole video it is seen through the eyes of a male's perspective. This relates to the 'Mulvey's Gaze'. Voyeurism can also be seen in this video as it shows the boy looking at her - daydreaming about her.

We then wrote how a post-feminist and a radical feminist would react to this video.

Post-feminist:
In the video women are using their sexuality to overpower men / boys. This would be seen when Stacy's mum was pole dancing when she knew the boy was staring at her putting him in a daydreaming trance. This can also be seen when the boy was mowing the lawn and Stacy's mum was getting a massage naked and the masseur was making eye movements to the boy suggesting 'nice' which could make the boy feel like he is missing out on something good, whist staring at Stacy's mums bottom when he lifted the towel. All of this shows the boy is seen as weak as his crush on Stacy's mum is all seen as fantasy.

Also in this video women are seen as showing they have confidence in their bodies. This would be seen when Stacy's mum is receiving a massage from the masseur and she is comfortable lying their naked. Her big house, nice car, swimming pool and her business suit (looks as if she has come back from a business trip) shows she is a dominant female and looks as if she is a very successful woman, because of this power her masseur looks as though he is her servant.

During the last scene of the music video we see the boy in the bathroom looking at Stacy's mum coming out of the pool, the boy closes his eyes and his fantasy starts as he is thinking of Stacy's mum walking through the rain undoing her bra, he uses these images to 'pleasure himself'. He is then caught by Stacy walking in on him making him look stupid and depowered.

We also looked at another example which was called Shakira - She Wolf. We did the same as Stacy's mum and analysised it by looking at post and traditional feminist views.

 

Traditional Feminist
This video shows that women are exploited as she is wearing skin coloured and skin tight body playsuit which is extremely revealing to her body. Also thoughout the whole video she is in a cage where two messages can be perceived. One of the messages that can be seen is that she is an animal on show like in a circus, even though you do not see an audience, you can imagine that there is an audience looking at her. Another message that can be seen is that she can be portrayed as being a sex slave to male desire locked in a cage. This can percieved as women being degraded and not having the same rights as men.

Also in the video, Shakira uses provocative movements and behaviour in order to stimulate sexual behaviour. This would be strongly suggestive of male desire.

Post-Feminist
In the video she comes across very confident and looks as if she is enjoying herself. She is also comfortable about being the centre of attention and confident about her body as she does not mind other people watching her dance provoctively. This can also been seen as her using her sexuality to have power over men making them want to watch her.

Change in Gender Roles

During one of my media lessons we had to answer a question which was 'How have perceptions of sex and gender changed over the past century?'. To answer this question we went through historical context for feminism and other changes. I made a timeline of what we learnt:



Also in the lesson we watched a clip from Dynasty centered on a woman who comes across as very dominant and very empowered over men.

 

 

 We then answered questions on this, these were:

 

Why would men feel threatened by this woman?

• Traditionally a man not a woman would be giving orders.
• Her words get straight to the point.
• She speaks with a lot of confidence.
• Straight faced - no funny business.
• She is smart and wearing professional clothing - this makes her look as if she has authority and power so therefore people will listen to her.
• She is elegant with a beautiful face.

Why would radical feminists dislike her behaviour?

• They do not believe in equality.
• Men should be like men and women like women.
• The men should be giving out the orders and women complying.

What does this tell us about men's status in Britain after Thatcherism?

• Women had more equal rights.
• Mens status was lowered.
• Factories were closed, which meant that men were out of jobs.
• Women began to work more which made them see more in control. 





Copyright

During a media lesson my peers explained to us about 'coyright'. This is what I found out:

What is Copyright?
This is the exclusive legal right given to the originator to print. These include:

• Protects types of work: music, photography, film and recordings.
• No one can copy without the owners permission.
• Determines who may adopt their work, perform it and financially benifit from it.

The Intellectual Property Office (I.P.O)
 By having this it protects your creation or invention. This could be a brand, invention, design or song.

Advantages

• Right to authorise
• Protection
• Income

Disadvantages

• Inability to share work
• Copyright does not allow you to permit others to use your work or to distribute it, even if you aren't doing it for profit.

What is Piracy?
This is the unauthorised use or reproduction of copyright or patented materials. Piracy is a big issue within organisations as there is:

• $12.5 billion has been lost on piracy.
• 71,060 jobs have been lost though piracy.
• There is 42% illegal downloadable software.
• 95% of music is downloaded illegally.

 Top 10 music which is pirated

1. Jay Z
2. Kanye West
3. LMFAO
4. Adele
5. Rihanna
6. David Guetta
7. Lil Wayne
8. Neyo
9. Flo Rida
10. Rita Ora

Disadvantages of piracy

• Each year the industry loses about $4.2 billion to piracy worldwide.
• Artists lose out because they do not get the royalties they have earned.
• Record companies lose 85% of recordings released don't even generate enough revenue to cover their cost.
• Consumers lose- illegally downloaded music drives up the cost of legitimate product for everyone.

The RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America is an organisation that supports and promotes the creative and financial vitality of the major music companies.

Legal downloading and streaming!

In media I produced a presentation about legal downloading and streaming. Here is what I produced.

Legal downloading and streaming! from Isaac Harvey

'Music, Money and Hip Hop Honeys' cont.

While watching this documentary we made more notes about how women are represented in music videos. In the documentary there was a specific example which really showed how women and men are represented. This was Timbaland - Carry Out ft. Justin Timberlake. 'Sexual Equality Expert' Julia Long explained how the women were represented during this music video. I shall now explain in more detail.

How are women represented?
Women are seen as sex objects. This can be seen from the type of clothing the women are wearing, for example, some of the women are wearing costumes such as maids outfits. Some of the resons for this is:

• The maids outfit is seen as a service for the men by giving them what they want. 
• The clothing of the maids outfit gives sexual fantisies as a soft porn image is shown.
• Pornographic imagery is shown by how the women wear and show the clothes e.g. breasts hanging out, short skirts, bending over etc.

It dehumanises women. In other words it takes away human qualities from women. This would all link into the cultivation theory as audiences would be influenced by 'opinion leaders' (in this case it would be Timberlake and Timbaland). So, anyone who admires or aspires to these artists would think that it is fine to treat women like this as they would want to be like them.

The women are also seen as disposable objects. It is like the men pick up the women, use them when they want, and when finished they throw them away. This would also link into one of the locations shown in the video. This would be the fastfood places shown as in fastfood restaurants food is dispoable, in this case the food would be seen as the women.

During the video there is close ups of the womens body parts. This sends out messages to men that women are there for the taking and that men can lust after them like they would in a pornographic film.  However this video is not a pornographic piece of work, but a video that is used for mainstream audiences.  Due to this video being accessable to the mainstream audience means younger children are able to watch and so more vunerable and then able to imitiate what they see in the media, this would link to the copycat theory.

How are men represented?
The men in the video are seen as powerful, strong, have a voice and dominant which puts them immediately in a position of power.  Throughout the video Timberlake and Timberland are seen either standing in the middle of the women or sitting surrounded by women.  This can be seen in a variety of places during the video.  One of these places was when Timbaland was sitting in a car with women serving him with food or dancing around the car and him.  This almost shows that they are worshipping him as it looks like he has a lot of power. By this it seems as if the men get the girl just for sex. Another place was when Timberlake was sitting on a throne and women were feeding him while dressed provacatively in their maids outfits this links to Roman times when Kings were fed by their harem of women.

Also in the video both Timbaland and Timberlake can be seen as rich, from the type of clothing that they are both wearing, this being expensive suits. This also shows that they have a lot of power as it gives them importance. Another way they can be seen as rich and have power is the throne that they sit on in the video. This is because thourghout history someone who sits on a throne is seen to have power and a lot of respect.

During most of the video the men can be see in control. This links to how the men / women are treated by each other.  The women in the video are serving the men by giving them what they want / need, by bending down to their level. Whereas the men are just their waiting on the women to do what they please.

What effect might this have on an audience?
This would encorage men to view women as objects instead of a real human being. This then result in disrespect, anger and frustration as real women don't behave in this way. Sexual violence then could arise as some men may think it's cool or the right thing to do to women. The hypodermic model would relate to this as it would be seen as this type of behaviour would be 'injected' into the minds of the viewers.