GCSE MEDIA Controlled Assessment Essay

I will be explaining two videos, Robin Thicke Blurred lines and Jesse J Do it Like Dude. In Robin Thickes video he is very close to the girls and being very active in his video, the women are represented as being very passive not Like Robin. Jesse J comes across as very active as well as the others in the video. Robin Thicke is married and has son, this isn't setting an example for his son or his wife because he his dancing with half naked women in the clean version, but on the dirty version they have no tops on. Jesse J is bisexual and his challenging the stereo type of a video girl, and not just being looked at as sexual desire. It is important to study representation because of the way the men are treated differently to the women.

In Blurred Lines the setting is in a white area with nothing else behind, this can make other props stand out clearly to the audience. When one of the girls comes on she is holding a lamb and the stars are looking at it but they don't make it stand out like it isn't important in the video. I think they are trying to say that the girls are not important as they are wearing white as well, like they are just part of the background plane and simple. There are only the same three girls in the video maybe meaning that it was hard to get in the video, like they are a prop they only need certain things such as people. 

In Jesse J's video it is very dark and black meaning that she doesn't want people to see much. Her lipstick is spiky and her clothes are tattered, in the lyrics she is saying anything a man can do a women can do. Meaning she doesn't want to be looked at like the passive girls in Blurred Lines. There are fingers being chopped up ready to eat, showing that they are manly and act like animals. All of the actors in the video are women, and there costumes are very men like. Where as in Robins video they want to stand out and in Jesses they don't this shows she is challenging gender very well.

The lighting in Blurred Lines is high-key this is achieved because of the bright lighting and the white wall, this connotes that the women will stand out allot clearer like a photo shoot. This makes the women objects of desire because in blurred Lines TI is wearing sunglasses showing that the women's beauty is too much. But in Jesse J's video it is very Low-Key because of where the video is set, in a dark run down abandoned church. Where it is dark and there are allot of shadows making the seen spooky, this could mean that jesse thinks that men are scary and that women don't have to have very bright sets. Jesse doesn't stand out allot and the camera views hr for short periods of time were as in Robin is in all of the video he is on for longer periods of time. Like a photo shoot it will go on for long periods of times with white backgrounds of just them trying to look good. But in do it like a dude she isn't trying to look good, she is very active and vigorous with the camera saying don't look at me.

In Do It Like A Dude all the women are wearing full clothes and not fully showing of there bum and boobs, but in Blurred Lines the women are half naked dancing around Robin who is whispering into there ears. The costumes in Blurred lines are suggest that they don't care as they look very passive through out the video and the men have there shirts unbuttoned at the top

Women Represented in a positive and negative way.

I have chosen Jason Derulo as my negative video - "Talk Dirty" feat 2 Chainz. I chose this video because of the way the girls dance and act in this song. At the beginning of the song Jason Derulo is sitting on a tan machine with a girl, she is  lying down and the mirror on the tan machine makes it look like there is more then one girl. In the video Jason has no top on whilst the camera is zooming from above onto the girl and Jason, so that you can see them both in the whole shot. Also one of the girls is playing the trumpet and has no other part in the video, when she is playing the trumpet she is going up and down but does not seem to be playing it. This Means that she had nothing else to do in the video, so the director has just placed her into one part. I think it is because she isn't good enough to me an actual music girl as she is blacked out in the video. Jason is singing about girls bottoms as they are twerking behind him. The girls are always in the video when they are with jason, because if it was just him on his own not many people would like it. When he says talk dirty to me there is a close up on him and a girl and she is whispering in his ear, this comes across as very sexual. When 2 Chainz comes in he starts singing about sex but isn't with any girls only Jason is. At the end of the video behind the girl there is a drink called neuro bliss, on the drink it says that it's a stress reliever, I think jason has put this in his video so that he can get paid more

Next I have chosen P!NK as my positive video - True Love ft. Lily Allen. I chose this video because it shows what real love is an not just a girl who is shaking her bum. There are no sexual gaze in this video. In most of the video makeup is not needed because her love is true and nothing will change how she looks, She also doesn't throw her self at the boyfriend. There are not many close ups, but it shows her having fun in the video and being her own person not being told what to do. She says really loves him, the man isnt doing anything in this video showing that it is her decision of what to do. They are using rose pettles in a scene and throwing it at each other, as a sign of love and that she is being treated well by the man. In the video she is also saying that the man can push her away but in the end it is her decision if she still likes him. Pink says its true love. I think that P!NK is her own women and is not being told what to do and not shaking her bum.

Grading

1/12

B2

What you have here is very good and you have responded well to the question. You have used examples well to explain your point. 

T: Try to use more key terms (see VCOP Blog) to help you fully develop your answer. Pick out all of the technical aspects (Mise-en-scene, editing, lyrics etc) and how they help you come to your conclusions.

Laura Mulvey Essay

In Christina Aguilera's video of "Dirty" the use of the camera invites sexual gaze by the way the camera does all the close ups on her bum is very sexual and provocative. These angles of the camera invite the audience to view the artists as objects of desire as Laura Mulvey's theory states. Also at the beginning there is a close up of her lips in a very sexual way, because she is talking slowly for the audiences desire. She comes across more as a sexual gaze by the men shouting and surrounding her when she dances and cheering. She dances on a podium like she is in a strip club which is meant for mens desire and the girls to look good.

The audience views this video in a voyeuristic way because of the way she is presented with very short and tight clothes, also she is treated by the men in the video very voyeuristic. Her sexual movement and the way she dances makes the audience look at her in this way because she is in a bikini for the whole video with chaps and no trousers. When she is dance men are grinding on her and they are the audience in this video to her meaning not only the viewers see this in a voyeuristic way.

The actors interact in a way that results in the female being looked at as and object of desire. This occurs when she is being placed in a boxing ring from a cage like an animal. waiting to be let out to dance for men, and Laura Mulvey says the artist interact with the others in the video. Christina Aguilera  is interacting with the men in the video when they are grinding on her like she is there for their desire and pleasure. When she is on the podium it is like she in a strip club and she is being looked at by he men in that way.

In Jesse J's video of "Do it like a Dude" the use of the camera invites sexual gaze by her licking her lips on the close ups at the beginning. Her clothes are old and tattered and ripped which makes it very short and sexual because you can see more flesh on her, as she is pumping her chest out. Also two girls start kissing in the middle of the video, this comes across as very sexual to the audience and how they look at the back up dancers. She is spreading her legs and squatting while holding her crotch meaning she is still in control, being an object of desire.

The audience views this video in a voyeuristic way because she is holding her crotch and squatting very sexually to the viewers. This gives the audience sexual pleasure. Also Jesse is looking at the camera and pumping her chest out, with only a bra on and a ripped shirt. The moves she does when dancing are mainly with ripped clothes so the audience can see more of her body in a voyeuristic way. Jessie is also moving very sharply when the camera is viewing her body. I think this will give the audience some sexual entertainment to the audience making her popular.

The actors interact in a way that results in the female being being looked at as an object of desire. This occurs when the actors are looking at jesse and dancing and when she drops to the floor and starts opening and closing her legs while dancing. Also when she is holding the camera close to her face so you are forced to look and her and nothing else. I think she wants to be looked at even though in the lyrics it seems like she doesn't want to be seen as an object of desire.

The target audience for these two artists is young females. However, the way they represent themselves as sexual objects does not appeal to young girls, it appeals more to men. I believe Christina Aguilera and jesse J choose to represent themselves like this because they want to be popular and get more people to like them. This will allow them to make more money and have a wider range of an audience. Jesse J does not always appeal her audience to men as she is sending a message to men because she knows the men are watching. Christina Aguilera knows her audience is men but she isn't challenging it like jesse is, except she is showing her bum and boobs. I think jesse J is challenging this because she doesn't want to be represented as an object of desire all the time.

In summary, Laura Mulvey's theory applies to these music videos because they are both presented in a voyeuristic way but they are just showing it differently to the audience. The actors in the video may not be challenging this but maybe they are showing that not all girls are different. Also the camera shots in Christina Aguilera and more concentrated on her bum and boobs, and jesse j is more concentrated on he face. Overall Laura Mulveys theory is correct to these videos as they are both showing them selfs in a voyeuristic way.