Richard Jenkins and 'Collective Identification'

In media we learnt about a media theorist called Richard Jenkins, this is what he said about collective identification.

"We need to interact with others in order to develop an identity - this would also include interaction with media which develop an internal identity which then is influenced by external factors."

He continued to say......

"When we partake in an event with other people with whom we feel an affinity we are involved in collective identification - our identity receive the approval and solidarity of others."

We then linked this to the media, these are the types of media which link to his theory:

• People that watch same T.V.
• Support same football teams.
• Read same news papers/books/magazines.
• Video games/consoles
• Films/music
• Genre
• Social media such as Facebook/Twitter

The media we consume can offer this collective identification in two ways.

• Feeling 'identification,with a particular character`s behaviour and beliefs (and this could be aspirational). 
• Feeling 'solidarity' with others who like the same media products.

Is there too much sex in Music Videos?

Sexualised music videos are having a negative impact on individuals and society.

In one of our classes we had a debate on this topic. For this topic I was on the "For" side; here are some of the points that I wrote down for the argument:

• Copycat Theory - Young people/ children are influence by clothing and attitudes from music videos.
• Feminine - Sexualise females are seen as sex objects.
• Technology has a heavy influence because it is easy to access e.g. TV, Internet and Magazines.  
• Lyrics in the music influence our vocabulary.
• Cultivation - Over again and again we see the same videos.
• Young children may not understand what they are watching, can be naive.
• Most people have access to T.V and Internet etc.
• Mainly all music genres have sexual content in them either by lyrics or the visual.
• Women wear more sexual clothing to express themselves or not.
• As long as people buy and watch the music and the videos, sexualisation will exist and continue to be in music videos. 

By learning about sex in music videos I now have a better understanding of how women are portrayed in the media. This links to my production as my genre is techno music. This affects it as many techno music videos have women scantily clad, dancing in night clubs. Sometimes these women can be seen drunk and very vulnerable.

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.

'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.

Genre

In class we worked on genre. Here is what I learnt and how I shall use it on the music video that I shall be making.

What is Genre?

The type / style / catergory / streotypes / story / conventions of a product.

Why do we feel we should place texts into genres?
This helps give an artist guidelines depending on their video / music.

Who decides what genre a text belongs to?
This would be the artist / companies (producer / manager) / creative media producers (these people would be influenced by other artists) / marketing.

Are 'genres' objective catergories that are out there in the world?
NO! They're created by people.

Who decides what genre a text belongs to?
Creators / producers - This then leads on to the question why would they want to create a 'genre' text? This would be because it makes it easier to create a product; in other words they would have guidelines to follow to attract target audience.

Crictis + analysts - This gives them a guideline of what a music genre should contain.

Audiences - They use text for different ideas which leads on to the audiences expectation. By this they know what there getting and also where to get it from.

So - why do people like them?

Some theorists say that:

Deborah Knight - Satisfaction of having expectations fulfilled.

Steve Neale - "repetition and difference", enjoyment from the subtle deviations and innovations of what is expected.

David Chandler - Interpretive comunity - using tastes to create collective identity.

Steve Neale, John Fiske, Tom Ryall (and others) - Oraganises texts and meanings (Johnathan Culler said genre is a "contract between creator and viewer to make meanings operative").

How institutions use genre?

• They use them as roles for successful films, band, magazines etc. This speeds up creative process.
• It is a good way to market new texts to audiences.
• It is a reliable structure within which innovation can 'safely occur' without risking profits.

Here is a video of different music genres.

 

For my main music video I shall take genre into great consideration as if I can notice which genre I use then I can follow the guidelines for the genre.

Andrew Goodwin Theory

Here is Andrew Goodwin's theory on music videos.

Andrew goodwin from Isaac Harvey