Induction Work

Katy Perry - Roar

Music video

Young women due to strong message of female empowerment

At the beginning of the video, the male taking selfies is a subversion of a typical stereotype of females. The media would have us believe that selfies are exclusively features of the females in our society but this unusual representation forces the audience to consider how men can also be victims of vanity and self-obsession. Knowing that this song was Katy Perry’s first release after her split from Russell Brand, this representation makes sense as he is known for his love of the limelight and there is also evidence to suggest he believes he is very attractive too and ‘full of himself’.

The focus for the song is about female empowerment, sending a message to her fans that women are strong and a force to be reckoned with. To achieve this she represents the female character as submissive, weak and inferior to the male to begin with but once the male is out of the picture, she is able to grow and become stronger, finding an inner strength she hadn’t realised she had.

Quality Street Advertisement

Poster advert

Aimed at men of the middle and upper class due to lower classes not being able to afford luxuries such as chocolate.

The image suggests a male dominated society, he is in control of the product and is centrally framed. This links to Mulvey’s male gaze (but for a female viewer) in relation to the framing. The male character anchors the audience’s eyes to the product which has significant phallic symbolism. 

There is also a secondary meaning, a sense of manipulation with the women distracting the man through romance to get the ‘prize’ that is the product in the males lap, this also makes it seem like the product is an all the women want which is seen as they are looking at the chocolate while kissing the male. This advert could be seen to be representative of the way in which society was moving at this time.

The women's submissive body language to the dominant man. This implies that to be successful you will need to be romantically led by a man and rely off his hard-work.

Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines

TA- Young males due to heavy female appearances with little clothes on.

The video shows 3 female models who are dressed provocatively, this ties into Mulvey's male gaze which is where a woman is presented sexually within a piece of media. The use of this is the main attracting feature to get the target audience of the video which is young males as young males typically enjoy under dressed women. They are mostly shown to be with one of the males showing that they stereotypically need a man. They are literally shown to be a sex object as all they do is stand around, pose and 'look sexy' as if that's all they are needed for.

The lyrics are quite demeaning towards women, the men are also shown to be very dominant through the lyrics as if they own the women and that they are objects. Some lyrics even further show like "I know you want it" showing us that the male knows all what the women want and that they shouldn't have an opinion on what they need.

The video is mainly for males and its as if the males in the video and in the audience are communicating about sexualising women all while women are dancing and looking sexy in the video but mostly being ignored.

Males in the video are seen wearing smart clothes when compared to the women suggesting they are more civilised. They look at the women as purely sex symbols by their facial expression of biting their lips, looking down at them etc. Generally the men are in front frame when both male and female are in the shot, the female is pushed to the back of the scene implying that when the man is present women lose any sort of worth.