So what is representation?
To represent something is to portray it, as you are re-presenting it in some form or another, in this case through music video. All media are forms of representation though, not just music videos, and the people behind the representation all have their own beliefs, values and attitudes. This means that no representation is objective, since we all have our own views. The majority of media products reproduce dominant ideologies in the way they represent the world, which has actually led to minorities complaining that they have been misinterpreted by the media.
What is a stereotype?
A stereotype is a particular view of something, or perhaps most commonly, a group of individuals, that may often not reflect reality. For example, a stereotype for someone to adopt may be a belief that all men are stronger than women, when in reality we know this isn't true. Another may be that all people with black skin can run faster than people with white skin, but again this isn't true in reality.
Stereotypes can often offend the particular group they involve, as many stereotypes are negative, such as the one above about women, although this isn't the case the entire time.
As mentioned above, media products can have the ability to offend by mis-representing certain groups. Also, it is important to remember that while a media product can try hard to represent a certain group in a particular way, we still make our own decision as to what we take from media products. A good example of this is the music video for the song "Dirrty" by Christina Aguilera, which can be seen below:
Many would argue that Christina Aguilera is merely representing women as objects to be used to get more male viewers to watch music videos, thanks to elements such as their costume, although Christina Aguilera feels differently;
"OK, I may have been the naked-ass girl in the video, but if you look at it carefully, I'm also at the forefront. I'm not just some lame chick in a rap video; I'm in the power position, in complete command of everything and everybody around me. To be totally balls-out like that is, for me, the measure of a true artist" - Christina Aguilera
So clearly Christina Aguilera feels she is anything but an object, and feels she is the controlling force in her music video.
So what representations were there in my music video?
Within my music video there was one character, a girl. In the narrative we see her boyfriend break up with her and as a result she is very upset. Therefore the representation I gave was one that showed the girl in this relationship to be the less powerful. Clearly she cared much more for him than he did for her and as a result the break up is instigated by him and affects her to a great degree. This means of course that I represented the male as the more dominant, and by the way he breaks up with the girl (by text), much more cold in terms of character, whereas the girl is more warm, kind and quite innocent (as shown by her drawing of her and her boyfriend with a heart on the drawing). Although towards the end of the video the girl is actually represented as quite strong-willed, as she single handedly summons up the courage to return to the place where she was hurt and over the course of the video becomes more and more stable in terms of her emotions, contrasting the earlier representation of her as emotional and weak.
Were there any stereotypes in my music video?
Yes, within my video there were. The stereotype seen in my music video was the typical boy-girl relationship, ending with the boy breaking up with the girl, which is very stereotypical for relationships within music videos. The other sterotype was that women take break-ups very emotionally, as the girl in my music video is seen crying and running away from her troubles after the boy breaks up with her via text. Finally I would like to add that I also subverted a stereotype within my music video, this being that the girl in the relationship gets over the break-up relatively quickly and does so on her own, showing she is very strong-willed and independent. Even though the animations make her feel much better at the end, she overcomes the adversity mainly on her own, as she is only made aware of the animations support near the end of the video. This of course subverts the stereotype that women are very dependant on others and require the help of others to overcome the emotions brought on by being broken up with.
I hope you all enjoyed this post and now have a better idea of what representation and stereotypes are, as well as now knowing the representations and stereotypes within my music video.
See you all next time :)
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