Music videos are almost always heavily stereotyped. They are a perfect environment for stereotypes because the actions in videos are easy to stereotype and less-than-ideal messages often go unnoticed in the pounding beat. But even if we don’t notice them, stereotypes in music videos affect us strongly, and only by noticing them can we stop them from programming us. In this article, I’ll talk about the most common ones so we can recognize them on sight.
Female artists are often the main targets of stereotypes. “One of the most pervasive themes of contemporary media is the theme that an attractive appearance and sexy body are among the most important goals young people, especially women, can achieve.” (Aubrey & Frisby, 2011, p.476) Women are shown as sex objects in many of the top hits of today, especially R&B/ hip hop. Music videos are often much more stereotyped than the music itself because of the video’s images. In the music, women’s roles come from their voice. But “in the world of music videos, women’s roles are intimately connected to their sexuality and their ability to adhere to strict appearance standards.”(Aubrey & Frisby, 2011, p.496) It is difficult for women to become successful in the music video industry without adhering to specific standards.
Men are less affected by these stereotypes than women. They are not so strongly held to being a certain way. “A woman who demonstrates masculine...behavior may be considered offensive...yet a man who acts feminine may be seen as merely idiosyncratic.” (Wallis, 2010, p.162) It is more acceptable for men to cross gender-stereotype lines in music videos then it is in women, although men have their own list of pleasing behaviors (being dominant and aggressive is regarded as positive). Male artists are also given points by having stereotyped women in their videos, used as ‘decorative objects’ (Aubrey & Frisby, 2011). This reinforces portrayals of dominance and power, and since so much of women’s stereotype list is physical attractiveness-related, having stereotyped women in a video makes it pleasing to the eye. But the women have little role other than their physical presence in the video. An interesting difference between men’s and women’s stereotyped roles is that a study I read (Aubrey & Frisby, 2011) asked the question, “Does use of male and/or female characters as decorative objects differ by gender of artist?” The answer was yes. 34.3% of male artist’s videos showed (female) characters as decorative, compared to only 2% of female artist’s videos. No male characters in any of the reviewed videos were shown as decorative. I think this shows that female’s attractiveness depends heavily on physicality and not at all on power or other aspects of themselves, and that males are thought of as pleasing when they are powerful and in control of physically attractive women.
Stereotypes are more prevalent and important in some genres of music than others. Most of the information I got on this subject was from one article (Aubrey & Frisby, 2011) but I’ve reviewed its claims and they are true. This review found that country music was the closest to being free of stereotypes. It very rarely contained sexual imagery or stereotypes, but general gender stereotypes regarding power and submissiveness were relatively rare but definitely present. Pop music was in the middle for stereotypes, but higher rather than lower. It had slightly less stereotyped females than R&B/hip hop, which I believe is because of the number of female pop artists, which is higher than R&B/hip hop or country. R&B/hip hop had the highest number of decorative female characters, and the highest attentiveness level to both male and female physical attractiveness. They had the largest percent of very muscular artists, which leads me to believe they also had the largest percent of male artists as being. R&B/hip hop video characters had the highest level of sexualization.
Music videos are mainly a carrier, not a creator, of stereotypes, but they drill these beliefs into our brains. A major theme is portrayals of women, as “Contemporary music videos serve to reinforce the cultural notion that women are valued first and foremost for their bodies and appearance.” (Aubrey & Frisby, 2011, p. 494) So remember that the next time you settle in to watch music videos. Choose what you believe.
Examples
I bet you're wondering what exactly I mean by stereotypes in music videos, so here are some examples. The characters in music videos are often heavily stereotyped, so here are three examples from popular songs.
http://mashable.com/2014/04/23/avril-lavigne-hello-kitty/
http://www.ontheredcarpet.com/Pharrell-Williams-wears-5-hats-in-Marilyn-Monroe-music-video---watch/9514097
The top picture (from Avril Lavigne's 'Hello Kitty') is not really a shocker-the song is a prime environment for stereotypes. The second picture, however (from Katy Perry's 'Roar') is obvious but a shocker. With the song's empowering message, you would thing the video would be empowering as well. But the outfits are very heavily stereotyped. With the whole living-alone-in-the-woods thing she had going on, you would think she wouldn't have to put so much effort into being beautiful. I bet the third picture is a shocker as well. Pharrell Williams, extremely famous for the chart-topping 'Happy',has released another song, 'Marilyn Monroe',which features women taking only a decorative role-important only for their bodies. Even the song is heavily stereotyped. This one shows that if you are going to add an artist to your own Clear Ear Artist list, make sure to check out more than one song. I myself put him on my Clear Ear Artists list before I realized that other songs of his are heavily stereotyped.
The music itself is often stereotyped, but less so than the videos themselves. Here are some examples of stereotyped videos. Be careful-remember they're not real life, they're trying to program you.
Be warned also that these videos have sexually explicit images in them. I'm not suggesting you watch these, but if you are confused as to what I mean, these are examples.
The music itself is often stereotyped, but less so than the videos themselves. Here are some examples of stereotyped videos. Be careful-remember they're not real life, they're trying to program you.
Pitbull-Timber. Sexually explicit lyrics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHUbLv4ThOo&feature=kp
Pharrell Williams-Marilyn Monroe.
Robin Thicke-Blurred Lines.
Jason Derulo-Talk Dirty. Sexually explicitBe warned also that these videos have sexually explicit images in them. I'm not suggesting you watch these, but if you are confused as to what I mean, these are examples.
Stereotypes are yucky...!!!
ReplyDeleteYes they are!
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