Representation Theories.

Laura mulvey’s male gaze theory from lewisryan37

A video demonstrating the representation theory;



I think this video is good to illustrate how men and women are represented in today's media. This is because they have used stereotypes in an ironic way and this makes the video entertaining to watch, because it makes the video funny. The artists have represented the males and females in opposing ways in this video which I think is to show their thoughts on the media and how women are treated unequally. The females are shown as the dominant ones in this video and are seen fully clothed, illustrating their power in each shot. This is the other way round in the way the male actors are seen though, as they have short shorts on in scenes and are seen trying to be sexual towards the artists, which is how Laura Mulvey states that women are seen in the media. They are seen to be 'sexual objects' and that they are 'there to please men'.




It is clear from the title of the song that this particular video would have provocative dancing in and would represent the women artists as sexual. In this video, the camera focuses a lot on the curves of their bodies, particularly their bottoms as this is what the song is about. I think that this song was simply created so that they could make this video to appeal to men, maybe spark controversy and receive millions of views from all different age groups and backgrounds. This isn't what the music industry should be about, but in the society we live in today it is what happens whether we agree with it or not.


Because this video is explicit with the swearing, but is implicit with how some of the wording is sexual, I think that this video is inappropriate for this artist to do as she has quite a lot of young fans. Although it is clear that the video is inappropriate for some audiences, I think that this is just how Nicki Minaj has been from the beginning of her career, so I do not see why there was so much controversy with this video. Because of this controversy towards the video, it led to people talking about it and ended up with millions of views in no time. This was how she broke the VEVO record (previously held by Miley Cyrus with Wrecking Ball) for the most views in 24 hours, which received 19.6 million views in just one day.


This video by Rihanna was seen to be so explicit, sexual and outrageous that it was actually taken down by YouTube, but then was allowed to be reuploaded later on. The video contains women swinging on poles and dancing sexually, and the camera represents the women as objects through how it focuses on their curves and the assets that men find sexually appealing. I think that the reason this video was seen by a lot of people as inappropriate was because it is something that Rihanna doesn't usually do. This is due to her young fanbase and their parents being annoyed at how this role model had shown herself in this way, allowing young girls to think that they can do the same things and it is okay.

Stereotypes and labels can sometimes benefit an artist, as it has done for the multi-award-winning American artist Taylor Swift:


(At 10:20pm on the 19/03/2015, this video had accumulated 656,404,554 views)

This song is very ironic and illustrates Tessa Perkins Stereotype Theory perfectly. This song is all about how the media portray Taylor Swift as a woman who dates countless men and easily jumps from one to another. She has illustrated this in the video, which has gone on to be very successful and has sold hundreds od thousands of copies. She has used the media against itself and won, which demonstrates how successful she is and how dedicated her fans are towards her.


(At 10:23pm, on the 19/03/2015 this song had accumulated 669,078,934 views)

This is another music video from Swift, in which she again uses the media's representation of herself against them and has made money from it as the song has proved to be very successful. This is simply about people having negative impressions of her, and how she just ignores it and does what she wants to. This delivers a very positive message to everyone - especially Taylor Swift's fans, who are quite young mainly - and she uses stereotypes within the music video to make it relatable to everyone watching it.