RM - Class Vids Deconstructions

Britney Spears’ Womanizer had a budget of $236,000 and was directed by Joseph Karh. The genre of this song is pop with an audience for teenagers however the music video creates a secondary audience for males due to the male gaze aspect of the music video, thus being a common convention amongst female pop artists. This is done in a number of ways which are close-ups of her face and body, which when in a saner has been “oiled up”, thus objectifying her body as well as trying to brand all females to have a body like hers this is determined by the audience whom features of 12-18 female teenagers. This brings out two different views, one from feminists and the other from post-feminists. The feminist view is critique exploitation whereas the post-feminist view is strong independence that is in control of her sexuality. The oiled up element of the music video is juxtaposed against by the sectary stereotype, thus stereotype features thick framed glasses, below knee pencil skirt, blouse, pearl necklace and conservative hair. Spears’ new brand is juxtaposed to her old “Disney” brand when she started to sell records. However there are examples of pop artists that are binary opposites of her new brand one of these being Cristina Aguilera.

Wolfmother are an Austrian hard rock band, whom only released one album. The music video deconstructed was Dimension. The song only reached number 41 in the UK charts but has an audience between 14 and 25. The music video consists of pure performance with the band playing in front of a black background. The music video is also in black and white. Unlike the Britney Spears music video this one is had a low budget, a possible reason for this is that the band hadn’t broken through yet. The music video also has an appearance of being low-fi and vintage. This is down to the genre of the band which is indie and down to earth, unlike the Britney Spears music video which features special effects whilst this music video looks like a brand practice. As well as this appearance the music video has references to two of the biggest 60s hard rock bands: The Jimmy Hendrix Experience and Cream. Like most music videos the focus is on the lead vocalist and has a master shot of all the band members throughout however there are no close ups of the instruments being played.








Nicki Minaj is trying to replicate Barbie during her music video for her single Superbass. The audience for this genre is teenager whilst the genre is R’N’B. Throughout the music video there are several stereotypes which consist of motorbikes, cars and aeroplanes all in the colour pink, thus playing with the genre stereotypes as well. During these small sections of the music video all the objects have been glossed up to add to the gender stereotype. As well as this during the video the vocalist fills in the male role whilst the males, whom provide female gaze, play the female role. According to Judith Butler gender is not fixed, it is fixed by how we act.

Whilst Abba are a pop act from the 1970s, with an audience from all ages








Periphery is a Prog metal/Djent band. The music video for their single Icarus Lives is a concept and performance based. Whereas Tyler The Creator is an American Rapper. The music video for his single Yonkers is a concept and features three shots which are all long in the entire music video, thus being a counter type to the common convention of quick short takes. The shots are broken up by Tyler throwing a t-shirt at the camera and him walking off screen and back on. Compare this to Periphery’s music video which features the normal common convention of quick short shots, these shots are on screen for a number of seconds showing creditability to the band. Another example of this is Slipknot’s “Before I Forget”. Tyler’s music video was directed by himself. Both music videos feature the use of shadows and silhouettes thus providing a narrative enigma, this is a common convention amongst certain genres. During the Tyler video he uses symbols to emphasis his feelings to America by holding up a cockroach.