Collective Identity

Collective Identity

Key Words:

• Conforms / Challenges
• Male Gaze
• Mediation
• Denotation / Connotation
• Stereotype
• Representation

Blurred Lines.  - Music Video.

Looking at the collective identity of women in the popular music video 'Blurred Lines', we can tell that the process of mediation represents women in a slight stereotypical view. This stereotypical view is based upon women being sexual and desirable, but also more submissive towards the male gender. Due to the denotation of these women; licking their teeth, revealing a large amount of skin but also allowing to be controlled by the male gender, the audience are lead to the connotation that these women are actually sex objects whilst also being used for male pleasure. This leads onto the subject of male gaze. As this music video clearly shows, the male gaze is based upon 'middle aged men' creating this piece of media for an audience of 'middle aged men', with the representation of women and how they're dressed to catch attention. Following on from this, the male gaze is also based on how the singers can appear to be looking at the women in their outfits, in the close up shots of the camera work. This shows that these camera shots that were focused on the close ups of the male singers faces and gazes, were apart of the mediation. The complete music video, conformed to the stereotypes of society. 

Chandelier - Music Video.

In this selected music video 'Chandelier', the representation of a young girl imitating an older women against the song with mature themes, after a million views in the first 24 hours of the actual video being revealed, the audience had extremely mixed opinions. Whilst the denotation reveals a young female wearing; a lot of make-up, a leotard in which makes her look naked but also a more grown up look with a white wig. This follows through to the connotation, that the young girl which imitates an older women, is trying to grow up too quick in the most inappropriate manner. With the mediation, being so focused and carefully processed to create this overall music video, the music video really challenges the stereotypical view of younger females. On the other hand, the denotation does show this young girls extremely fluent yet mainly innocent dance through out the music video except the scene of the imitating a suicidal death with curtians. This connotation alone, shows the ambitions and forms of art this young girl has practised and learnt with procession to develop the overall future. As a following opinion from most of the audience, this revelation of the young girl, is a positive outcome to let her find her own way into success and fame. This keeps the conformation of stereotypes, as the young girl is represented into wanting to be a personal dancer. 

Sket - Film.

The film known as 'Sket' both challenges the stereotypes of females but also conforms, depending on the situation. With the opening scene being carefully processed through mediation, the first full amount of footage denotes a group of young females beating up a man laying on the floor. Their appearances are all not shown to be cared about as they have been shown to have chosen the more 'aggressive' yet 'manly' clothing e.g. hoodies and body warmers. As well as appearances being quite aggressive and more of a male form, the attitudes of these females goes beyond challenging; abusive language, violence, no sympathy and assertive towards strangers. This only leads the audience into the specific connotation of how women can be more focused and assertive than the male figures of this world today. The connotation also develops and furthers into other subjects about how women can change so suddenly due to small impacts on their comfort zones or how women have started to become more of the dominating side of relations with other people than men have. Furthering on from this, a comparison of types of women are also shown through representation. The following scene after this violence was shown to be a more timid female; who gets pulled around by men, tries to hurry away from the trouble and also focuses more on her appearance as she keeps covered and keeps a clean and feminine look. This obviously conforms to stereotypes of women. The mediation purposely chose to show a juxtaposition between what society stereotypes women to have to be, against the challenges women go through to go against anything stereotypical.

Blurred Lines (Parody) - Music Video.

In parody's, women especially can change or copy a selected media copy to make their own edition. This links into and reveals the self representation (image a subject or subjects have of him or herself based on their own interpretation) the figures have. This specific parody of Blurred Lines, obviously has been based on a group of females interpretation that the media does not need to show women as sexual objects, as they can be just as much as anything male figures can be.