Music Videos: extended writing exam

      Compare the representations of gender and ethnicity  in this music video  and the video for Dizzee Rascal’s Dream.

In your answer, you must consider: 

·         How representations of gender and ethnicity are constructed through selection and combination of elements of media language 

·         The similarities and differences in the representations of gender and ethnicity

·         How far the representations relate to relevant contexts.

You should refer to Levi-Strauss ( binary oppositions), Barthes ( semiotics), Gauntlett( identity theory ) and Gilroy ( postcolonialism ) in your answer as well as any other relevant theory 

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In this video we can see that everyone is wearing some sort of tribal clothes to represent their status or ethnicity in the video. The women are dressed quite provocatively and the men, on the other hand, dressed in black clothes which don't seem to stand out. Beyonce has a shiny headpiece and looks quite powerful with all her jewellery as she walks dominantly in front of the others. She looks as if she is leading all the other women and they are all standing up to their rights as women together.

The men that stand to her sides are looking blankly in the distance without moving or saying a word in the beginning of the video which could represent they are submissive and do not retaliate or try and stand up to her as she is in charge. This brings up the binary opposition of masculinity vs. femininity.

As the video goes on the men start to join in on dancing with Beyonce and the other women. In plain sight there are not many white/caucasian people which could arise some ideas that the video is meant for empowering black people and not white people, which could be looked upon negatively when really the ideal point of the video is empowering women as a whole. As Paul Gilroy says, even though we no longer have colonies the representation of these groups is still affected by that time. This basically means that there is still similar representations of ethnicity groups even though time has passed because of the effect they had.

The video gives the representation of being more sexist than racist, as it repeats "we run the world, girls" which doesn't appear to be very fair for gender equality, as it is empowering women and degrading men when really they should be going for equal rights.

In Dizzee Rascal's video there is also a hint of racism as the white lady is much bigger on the screen and is controlling Dizzee from his strings like a puppet, while he dances around with other puppets. This could state the higher statuses of people and how they control others, giving the same idea in Beyonce's video where women are more powerful.

In Beyonce's video there is a lot of black and red colours which could symbolise the female gender being over-sexualised, with the women looking much more provocative than the men. On the other hand, Dizzy's video has a lack of colour and there is a hazy look to the video which makes it look quite grim and focuses more on the status rather than genders.

Dizzee Rascal's video makes the black men appear submissive and controlled by the society with the way they are on strings and cannot do what they wish. This shows that the law has a lot of control over people and puts a lot of pressure on how they should live their life and the standards of society.
Black males in today's society have a reputation to commit a lot of crimes, which could mean that they are stuck with the pressure of living their lifestyle like other young black males do. This could be because they want to be wearing the best designers, or having the best "gang" to appear intimidating and feel more powerful to raise their self-esteem and ego. There is the idea in society that if you do not look rich then you won't get far in life, so for this reason black people steal or commit other crimes to get to the top where they want to be so they can be worshipped.

In Dizzee Rascal's video the puppets are painted with very dark, black faces with big eyes and lips which is the stereotypical image of the average black male, which Dizzee is trying to show to his audience to create some sort of reaction. This is quite an important representation In the video so Dizzee makes sure to show this clearly by using a close up shot of the puppets.

The puppets are much smaller in stature as they dance on the piano with the lady playing it, as they just dance around in a crazy manner controlled entirely by the strings. We mostly see the puppets in long shots which shows their identities aren't very important, just the fact that they are on strings is important.

The posture of the puppets shows them standing with a crouched back which shows they are not confident or show any status of power. They look as if they do not have any enthusiasm as they dance which shows the government is draining them and making them not have any freedom.
Dizzee is also small in posture which shows he too doesn't have the same status as the lady playing the piano, yet he doesn't have strings attached to him which shows he is a bit above them in status but still not seen in the same way as the white lady.

In Beyonce's video her posture throughout is tall and she is always standing above everyone and walking very proudly, with the women following her lead. In the beginning of the video we see her in various scenes alone but still she still looks fearless next to animals or in a cage which shows she doesn't need anyone by her side to give her confidence. In between her solitary scenes we see scenes of police men trampling cars in big groups which gives the idea that they are not confident without others by their side.

Beyonce rapidly jumps on a man's back aggressively which gives the impression of her power mounting him as if he is an animal and she is controlling him. Similar representations have been seen throughout as Beyonce wants to appear more dominant than the males. This also shows that humans haven't lost their animalistic features even after a lot of time has passed.



technical codes
posture - how they're standing
camera shots 
lighting
background - setting, props , what's in the scene